129

A.—4,

The Council is also intrusted with the drainage of the city, and has power to levy sewerage rates, not exceeding one shilling in the pound, on every building assessed for city rates situated within one hundred and fifty feet of any sewer or drain vested in the Council, whether or not there is any communication between such building and the sewer. The Council is endowed with a subsidy of £25,000 a year out of the Consolidated Fund for ten years from 1879. The loans previously advanced to it by the Government for sewerage and water supply are cancelled, and the loans raised for such purposes are made a charge on the Consolidated Revenue. The accounts of the " City Fund," the " Water Fund," and the " Sewage Fund " are kept separate, the first comprising all the general revenue and expenditure of the city, and the two latter the expenditure connected with the watersupply and drainage respectively Full accounts are required to be kept and to be audited by the Auditors in the months of January and July in each year, for the previous half-year; and, if correct, the Auditors are to sign and certify them. In the month of February an abstract of the previous year's accounts is to be made, audited, and gazetted, and laid before Parliament. As soon as the ten years during which the city receives the above-mentioned endowment have expired, but not before, the Council may borrow, by mortgage, debentures, or otherwise, on the security of its property and of the rates, any moneys not exceeding in ■ the- whole the entire revenue of the city for five years, exclusive of any property held in trust for specific purposes, and exclusive of any grant by the Government. Collectors are required to pay all moneys belonging to the Council to the City Treasurer within three days after receiving them, and to render accounts at the times determined by the by-laws or otherwise. The local governments of boroughs and county districts, excepting Sydney, are constituted by the Municipalities Act of 1867 Boroughs and municipal districts created under former Acts are continued and brought under this Act, and power to create new municipalities is vested in the Governor, upon petition from fifty ratepayers, unless opposed by a petition similarly and more numerously signed. A new borough must contain at least one thousand inhabitants, and its area must not exceed nine square miles, of which no one point is more than six miles distant from any other point. A municipal district, which must not include any borough or any part of an existing municipal district, must contain a population of not less than five hundred, and must not exceed fifty square miles in extent, and no point in it may be more than twenty miles from any other point. The constitution, powers, and. duties of boroughs and municipal districts are identical, and are provided for under the name of municipalities. Provisions are made for the division and amalgamation of municipalities, and for their subdivision into wards. The government consists of a Mayor, and a Council of Aldermen varying in number with the population, thus with a population of under a thousand, there are six Aldermen, from one to four thousand, nine Aldermen, more than four thousand, twelve Aldermen. Where two municipalities are united, the number may reach eighteen. The Mayor is elected annually by the Aldermen out of their own body, within seven days after the annual election of Aldermen. A number of Aldermen retire every year proportionate to the number of the Council if it consists of six, two retire ; if of nine, three retire ; of twelve, four , of fifteen, five; and of eighteen, six retire, and the annual election takes place on the first Tuesday in February in each year Two Auditors are elected annually at the same time. The elections are by ballot in the usual manner , each voter receiving as many ballot-papers as he is entitled to give votes. Women apparently may vote, but not be elected. Every " person " of the full age of twenty-one, who on the 7th of January is occupier, lessee, or owner of rateable property within the municipality or in any ward, and is liable to be rated for the same, is entitled to be enrolled on the municipal roll and to vote at all elections on the following 11— A. 4.

The Municipalities Act,