ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION OF TOWNS (IRELAND!
Chairman—continued.
41.
Why has that been so ; why has it been that any town has preferred to come under a local Act ?—It
is not that they preferred to come under a local Act, but local Acts have been found necessary, quite independent of the Act of 1854.
There was one branch of the law which the Act of 1854 did not touch at all, and that was the divided authority over streets in towns.
The principal cause of local Acts in Ireland both before and since 1854 has been to get authority over the streets.
42.
By a divided authority you mean that the <rrand jury in a county, or a city, have the power of levying a rate, and repairing the streets in lieu of the town commissioners?—The
town com¬ missioners are bound to pave such streets as they choose, and then the grand jury are liable to repair such as go through the town; and then there is a doubt as to lanes which are thoroughfares, whether the grand jury are liable or not, but there is a divided authority over the streets, and that seems to be one of the principal causes of local Acts.
The first town was Rath-mines, which got separated from the county of Dublin in 1847; then Kingstown in 1861; Queenstown from Cork in 1862 ; Blackrock and Pembroke township, and Dungarvan followed Queenstown in 1863 ; Londonderry got separated from the county of Londonderry in 1864; then Belfast got separated from Antrim in 1865 ; Bray from Wicklow and Dublin in 1866 ; Dalkey in 1867; Belfast got separated from Down, and New Kilmainham from Dublin in 1868 ; Sligoin 1S70; Enniskillen in 1870; and Newry in 1871.
Then came the Local Government Act of 1871, ren¬ dering it unnecessary to go to Parliament for this purpose, but allowing the towns to be sepa¬ rated from the counties by a Provisional Order-One town was successful in getting a Provisional Order; that was Wexford; it is a town which I mentioned before that had a charter, and now it has a Provisional Order.
43.
Do you know what the cost of that Provi¬ sional Order was ?—£.
40.
44.
Do you know whether any similar applica¬ tions have been made to the Local Government Board under the Act of 1871 ?—Applications
have been made in Belturbet, in Westport, in Ballina, and in Newtownards.
In all those cases the grand jury imposed the veto that they had.
In rJallina there were two grand juries.
The grand jury of Mayo seems not'to have interposed.
The grand jury of Sligo had also a veto, because Ballina is in two counties, and in the grand jury of Sligo it was only 14 to nine; that is 14 were for exercising the veto, and nine were not; so that out of the two grand juries, or 46 in all, 14 in Sligo were successful in throwing out the proposal altogether.
45.
That prevented the chance of their case being met by a Provisional Order, and left it to them to remedy it by a Local Act if they chose ?
—Yes, they went to Parliament for a Local Act, and then they were met by a point of law, that they wanted to repeal a general Act, because as the general Act gave the grand jury a veto they were trying to get round the general Act, and they were thrown out on Standing Orders after going to a considerable expense for a Local Act, and they were not able to get it done.
It is recited in that Bill that application had been made to the grand juries for the counties of Mayo and Sligo respectively for their assent to 0.105,
Chairman—continued, the transfer of powers, but the assent of the Sligo grand jury was withheld, 14 members of that body voting against the proposition.
Mr.
(yShaughnessy, 46.
What is the population of the town of Ballina where that veto was exercised ?—Ballina
stands at the head of the list of towns which are not urban sanitary authorities, with a population of 5,843.
I should mention that the Local Government Board in their Report (1874, p.
34) say, " There is no likelihood, in the present state of the law, that any such application will again be made, and the question is asked why the consent of the grand jury was made a neces¬ sary preliminary, as it was most natural that the body which it was proposed to deprive of its jurisdiction and its power of taxation should object to the proposal, however beneficial it might be to the parties residing in the district which petitioned to be dis-annexed."
I might explain why that veto was given, and why the Local Government Board complain of its exist¬ ence at present.
The Act of 1871 was passed before the Local Government Board was consti¬ tuted.
At that time the Chief Secretary alone had the power of instituting inquiries, and the Act of 1871 was merely permissive; it was not intended that the Chief Secretary should exercise any executive power in the matter, and therefore being merely permissive, the veto was not incon¬ sistent with the constitution then.
But in 1872, when the Local Government Board was consti¬ tuted, giving them the whole charge, with a staff of inspectors and the whole machinery of the Government, then the veto became quite incon¬ sistent with their present position.
The Chief Secretary was merely to employ an occasional person, not a permanent officer, to make inquiries, and it was only if the paities agreed that they might have it all arranged; but in 1872 the Local Government Board was constituted, and therefore that power of veto was inconsistent with their present position.
47.
When did this Ballina incident occur?—
They applied for a Bill in 1874, and it was thrown out in the Session of 1875.
Chairman.
48.
To what extent have town councils obtained undivided authority over the streets in their towns ?—Dublin,
in 1849, got the whole of the powers of the city grand jury transferred to them; Cork followed suit in 1852, and got the whole of the powers of the city grand jury trans¬ ferred to them; and Limerick obtained it in 1853.
Mr.
Brooks.
49.
Were not there the wide street commis¬ sioners in Dublin?—Yes,
but they were abolished in 1849; besides that, the grand jury had the power of building bridges, and the wide street commission was different.
In Belfast they applied; as I mentioned, Belfast was under a town council, and it got separated from both county Antrim and county Down.
Chairman* 50.
Do the town council of Belfast repair their own streets ?—Yes,
they do; they have the sole control over their streets.
Waterford applied a 3 to
Mr.
W.
N.
Hancock.
X.L.D,
28 April 1676.
