133

A.—4

a qualification of £1,000 in real or personal property, or be rated at not less than £50 a year The burgess roll is made up by collectors appointed by the Mayor, before the last of August, and every male person of the full age of twenty-one years who is the owner or occupier of lands or buildings of the annul value of £10 for six months prior to the last day of August, and who is "an inhabitant householder " within the city or within seven miles of its boundary, and has paid all the rates due up to the 31st May previous, is entitled to be enrolled as a burgess. A Revising Court, consisting of an Alderman and two Assessors, revises the roll before the 15th of October, and the roll comes into force on the Ist November The burgesses originally only had one vote, but by the Act 27 Viet. 178, plurality of voting was introduced. A citizen " assessed at a rateable value of less than " fifty pounds " was to have one vote. "If such rateable value amount to one " hundred pounds and be less than one hundred and fifty pounds," " two votes, and 11 if it amount to or exceed one hundred and fifty pounds," " three votes." Hence it does not appear how many votes a rateable property of from fifty to one hundred pounds would confer Service as Mayor is compulsory under penalty of not less than £50 or more than £100, and as Alderman, Councillor, Assessors, or Auditor, under a penalty of from £25 to £50, the penalty to be fixed by the Council, and on resignation or vacation of office by non-attendance at meetings, the same penalty is incurred. The assessment is made "of all land beneficially occupied in any manner " whatsoever," " according to its full, fair, and average annual value clear of all " out-goings, together with all land not belonging to the Crown," although there may be no building thereon, and " all land attached to and held in conjunction " with any building," "but the annual value of unimproved land" is not to be " estimated at a higher value than six per centum upon the average net value of " the land." A proportionate part of the rates may be remitted on buildings unoccupied for not less than three months continuously. General town rates may be levied after making an estimate of the amount required in addition to the income of the city from other sources, but the original limit of one shilling in the pound has been repealed. The Council may also levy police rates not exceeding sixpence in the pound, and lighting rates not exceeding fourpence in the pound on the portion of the city lighted. The exemptions from rates are buildings the property of the Crown or hired by the Government and used for public purposes, hospitals, buildings used for chaiitable purposes, churches, and " any building used as a school, provided it be " inhabited only by the master or mistress of the school, or his or her family, and " the school be one receiving aid from the Government, or otherwise of a public " character " The Corporation of Melbourne possesses no general powers of borrowing ., but Acts have been passed from time to time for enabling loans to be raised, and the interest and principal are made a " first charge on and are payable out of the " entire revenues of the Corporation, from whatsoever source arising." By the 18 Viet. No. 21, a grant of twenty-five thousand pounds a year for twenty-one years was made out of the public revenue to enable the Corporation to pay interest on a loan of £525,000, which it had been authorized to borrow, and if the principal or interest failed to be paid to the debenture-holders when due, the LieutenantGovernor was empowered to dissolve the Corporation, and to vest all their powers, estates, and revenue in a Board of Commissioners to be appointed by the Lieuten-ant-Governor. Very ample powers are granted by a variety of Acts for dealing with the maintenance of streets, the supply of water, the drainage of the city, the regulation of buildings, and the establishment of markets and public institutions. Collectors must pay in all their collections to the Treasurer when directed, but within seven days after receipt, and the Treasurer must pay in all moneys within four days to the credit of the City Fund.