B
2&3.
3&4Wm.lV.c.37. after vestry assessments for church purposes had been abolished, by Act of Par¬
liament, it never attained to any similar importance, and never existed as a
civil organization, save for some objects of a limited kind, which may be said
27 Vic. c. 17, sees, to have now either altogether disappeared, or been otherwise more satisfac¬
torily provided for, with the advance of modern legislation.
Local Board Districts and Authorities (No. 5), as constituted in England, are
also unknown in this country, but the functions attaching to them, so far as
they appertain to Ireland, will be found to be provided for in connexion with
other heads of Local Government, to which reference will be hereafter
made.
The various forms of Local Government now existing in Ireland will be
most conveniently classed, and considered under four separate heads, viz.—
1. The Union.
2. The County.
3. The Town.
4. Miscellaneous.
Placing under this last head some special forms of Government appertain¬
ing to certain limited combinations of areas, or to particular places and circum¬
stances, and not properly belonging to either of the three general branches
just enumerated, as Lunatic Asylum Districts, Harbours, Inland Navigation
and Drainage Districts, and the Metropolitan Police District, &c.
To each of these I shall now proceed to refer in the following order—
PART I.
In this division I shall deal successively with each of the four heads already
enumerated, describing in connexion with each—
a. The Areas.
h. The Local Authorities.
c. The Several Matters Administered.
cl. The Expenditure.
PART II.
Under this head I shall enumerate and describe the several matters that are
administered under all the forms of Local Government taken together, exist¬
ing in the country ; and
PART III.
will treat of the general nature and incidence of the taxation of the entire
country, and the relative rate of expenditure and indebtedness under each of
the four heads of Local Government during the last five years, so far as they
â– are ascertainable from the available records, and published accounts of the
different bodies concerned
