A.—4

134

Pull accounts are to be kept of all receipts and disbursements, and to be audited half-yearly to the Ist of March and the Ist of September, by the two Auditors and one of the Councillors appointed by the Mayor for the purpose, and if the accounts are correct the Auditors and the Councillor so appointed are to sign them. An abstract of the accounts to the Ist September in each year is to be made up, and a copy given to any ratepayer demanding it, on the payment of a reasonable sum. to be fixed by the Council. No special provision is made for the disallowance of any account by the Auditors. The Local Government Act of Victoria of 1874, consisting of 532 clauses, is the most complete and elaborate Act yet passed in any of these colonies on the subject of local government. Repealing or consolidating all former legislation, it divides the colony into 106 shires and 56 boroughs, the boroughs not being included in the shires. The boundaries of each borough and shire are set out in a Schedule ; and any districts not included in such description are called outlying districts. Pull powers are given for the union and severance of boroughs and shires, for the alteration of their boundaries, and for the creation of new shires and boroughs. A borough having a gross income of £10,000 a year may be declared to be a " town," and of £20,000 a year a "city " All boroughs and shires are included under the name of municipalities, and the same form of government applies to all, the only difference being in the number of Councillors. The number existing under previous Acts is unchanged, but for new municipalities undivided, the Council consists of nine, and, if divided, of three for each ward of a borough, or riding of a shire, not exceeding twenty-four. All creations of new, or alterations of existing municipalities, must be made on petition of the ratepayers not opposed by more numerously signed counter-petitions, or in some cases under the seal of the Corporations concerned. The qualification of a Councillor is the liability to be rated on property of twenty pounds or upwards. One-third of the whole number in an undivided municipality, and one-third of the numbers for each ward or riding in a divided municipality, go out of office yearly The Chairman, who is called Mayor in a borough and President in a shire, is elected out of their own number by the Council, on the fourth day after the annual election of members. The qualification of voters is as follows " Every person of the full age of " twenty-one years, who, on the tenth day of June in any year, is liable to be " rated in respect of any rateable property within any municipal district in " respect of which all sums payable in respect of any rates made three months " or more before such day shall have been paid, shall be entitled to be enrolled in " that year, according to the provisions hereinafter contained, upon the municipal roll, according to the following scale :" Upon property rated in a borough, at less than £50, one vote ; from £50 to £100, two votes; above £100, three votes : and in a shire, at less than £25, one vote ; from £25 to £75, two votes , and above £75, three votes. Owners of less than £10 may not be enrolled unless they are occupiers. A separate list is kept of persons not enrolled for non-payment of rates, for the purpose of enabling them to vote at election of members of Parliament. The list of voters is made out before the thirtieth of June, and revised by the Council in open Court between the fourteenth and twentieth of July, and the roll is printed before the first of August. In a divided municipality a separate roll is made for each ward or riding. The annual election is held on the second Thursday in August. Every candidate must deposit ten pounds with the Returning Officer; any candidate may retire before the poll. The voting is by ballot, each voter receiving as many ballot-papers as he is entitled to give votes. The deposit of any candidate not receiving more than one-fifth of the least number of votes given for a successful candidate is forfeited, and applied towards the expenses of the election. All other deposits are returned to the depositors. No person can hold office as surveyor or engineer to any Municipality, unless he hold a certificate of competency from a Board called the Municipal Surveyors

The Local Government Act.