As to the powers of the borough. II. And be it enacted, that for the purposes aforecouncil of any said the council of every such borough, and all other persons interested or concerned therein, shall have all the powers heretofore given to them respectively in the matter of the borough rate and watch rate or either of them, by the said act, or by any other subsequent act, for ordering, making, assessing, levying, raising, collecting, or paying the same, or as near thereto as the nature of the case will admit. Act may be amended or repealed. III. And be it enacted, that this act may be amended or repealed by any act to be passed during the present session of Parliament. WATCH-RATES ACT AMENDMENT ACT. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 28. 3 & 4 VICT. CAP. 28. An Act to Explain and Amend an Act of the Second WHEREAS, by an act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the second and third years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled An Act for more equally Assessing and Levying Watch Rates in c. 76. certain Boroughs, after reciting therein that by reason of the restrictions contained in an act passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled An Act to provide for 5 & 6 Will. 4, the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales, the watch rate authorized to be levied upon those parts of the boroughs within the provisions of the said act which were regularly watched was insufficient for that purpose, and the deficiency in many cases was paid out of the borough rate to which all parts of the borough, whether or not regularly watched, were liable; for remedy thereof it was enacted, amongst other things, that it should be lawful for the council of any borough named in either of the schedules to the said act of his late Majesty, to levy a watch rate upon the occupiers of all messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments within those parts of the borough which should be watched by day and by night, and which from time to time, by any order of the council of any such borough, should be declared liable to such watch rate, provided that no such rate should exceed in any one year the rate of sixpence in the pound on the net annual value of the hereditaments rated thereunto, unless in those boroughs in which at the time of passing the said act of his late Majesty the sum authorized to be levied by way of watch rate exceeded the sum which might have been then raised by the said rate of sixpence in the pound: And whereas the said act of her present Majesty was intended to apply to boroughs in which, from the deficiency of the borough fund, it had become or might become necessary S that borough rates should be laid, but doubts have been entertained whether the same act may not apply to cases of municipal boroughs in which there are borough funds sufficient for the purposes of defraying the expenses of the constabulary force of such boroughs, together with all other expenses payable out of the borough fund, with the aid of the amount only of watch rate which could be raised under the provisions of the said act of his said late Majesty, and without the aid of any borough rate; and doubts are also entertained whether by the said act of her present Majesty it is not imperative upon the council of each borough to levy in each borough a watch rate to the extent of sixpence in the pound; and in order to remove such doubts, be it enacted and declared by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that after the passing of this act the said act of to boroughs her present Majesty shall not apply or be deemed Recited act not to apply in certain cases. Proviso. to apply to any borough in which the borough fund is sufficient, with the aid of the amount only of watch rate, which could be raised under the provisions of the said act of his late Majesty, and without the aid of any borough rate, to defray the expense of the constabulary force of the borough, together with all the other expenses legally payable out of the borough fund, by virtue of the said act of his late Majesty, or any other act or acts of Parliament Provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall be deemed to take away or lessen, or Will. 4, c. 76, to vary or affect, the particular benefit or rights to common lands and public stock, and to lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and to the rents and profits thereof, or to any sum or sums of money, chattels, securities for money, or other personal estate, which are reserved by the said recited act* of * See 5 & 6 his late Majesty to every person who then was, or s. 2. thereafter might be an inhabitant of any borough, and also to every person who had been admitted, or who might thereafter have been admitted a freeman or burgess of any borough if that act had not been passed, or who then was, or thereafter might be the wife or widow, or son or daughter, of any freeman or burgess, or who had espoused or might thereafter espouse the daughter or widow of any freeman or burgess, or who had been or might thereafter be bound an apprentice: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall render the borough fund of any borough liable to any expenses with which such borough fund was not chargeable before the passing of the said recited act of her present Majesty. amount of watch rate to II. And be it enacted and declared, that the Limiting amount of watch rate to be levied by the council of any borough, under the authority of the said recited act of her present Majesty, shall be at the discretion of each such council, but not exceeding in any one year the sum of sixpence in the pound, as limited by the same act. be annually levied. 388 CORPORATIONS RATING ACT. 4 & 5 VICT. CAP. 48. An Act to render certain Municipal Corporations Rateable to the Relief of the Poor in certain Cases. [21st June, 1841.] WHEREAS the municipal corporations of cities and boroughs named in the schedules (A.) and (B.) annexed to the act passed in the sixth year of the reign of King William the Fourth, to provide for the regulation of municipal corporations in England and Wales, have been held not to be liable by law to be rated to the relief of the poor in respect of any lands, tenements, and hereditaments being the properties and in the occupation of such municipal corporations, by reason that the income arising therefrom is applicable to public purposes only; and it is expedient that such municipal corporations should nevertheless in some cases be rateable and be rated to the relief of the poor in respect of such property: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present ParliaCertain mu- ment assembled, and by the authority of the same, that nicipal corporations rated the said municipal corporations named in the said schedules shall, from and after the passing of this to the poor. |