Poor Bate Collection.
xi Since January of the present year, we made similar arrange¬ ments for the instruction of the officers who were to be engaged in the elections of county Councillors, rural district councillors and guardians in urban districts at the end of May and the beginning of June.
Westport Urban District.
An anomalous situation arose in the urban district of West-port out of the triennial elections which were held in January, 1920.
For the 18 vacancies on the urban council, only 4 candi¬ dates were nominared, and of these, only 2 accex->ted office.
The number of members necessary to form a quorum was 5 and, in the circumstances, we communicated with Mayo county council, upon which body, under the provisions of Article 7 (2) of the Sche¬ dule to the Loccd C4overnment (Application of Enactments) Order.
1898, devolved the authority to take any necessary steps for the proper holding of an election and the proper constitution of the urban council.
The county council had the matter under consideration at a meeting on the 21st February, 1920, and they directed a fresh election of urban district councillors in Westport to be held on the 15th March, 1920, and appointed a number of persons to act as urban councillors in the meantime.
At this special election only one candidate was nominated and he was duly declared elected, bringing the number of urban councillors to three, a number still insufficient to form a quorum.
The tem¬ porary members appointed by the county council ceased to hold office upon the newly elected members making the declaration of acceptance of office, and as there is no properly constituted Council in existence, there is consequently no authority competent to strike and levy rates and to carry out the necessary business of the Urban District.
Until a sufficient number of persons are willing to come forward and accept office and thus justify the holding of another special election, the existing state of affairs cannot be remedied except by legislation.
Poor Rate Collection.
The Poor Rate Collection for the yea,x under review was satis¬ factory.
Out of 726 Collection Districts there were only 7 Districts in which the collection was not closed by the appointed time (31st March).
In four of these cases the delay was due to the death or illness of the Collector and the consequent necessity for appointing a successor or substitute.
The remaining three cases are under consideration, and we are taking the necessary disciplinary action in the matter.
The following table gives the number of Districts in each County in which the Collections were closed by the 28th February, and it will be seen from comparison with the previous year's
