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STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
3
COUNTY COUNCILS BILL.
Memorandum.
A COMPLETE measure of Local Self-Govern- ment would deal with all the bodies, representative and otherwise, to whom at present is intrusted the management of local affairs. The present Bill touches only a part of this subject, and directly affects only the government of counties.
It will, however, I believe, be found that so many grievances complained of under our existing system are removed, or may be removed, by a Bill of this kind, that probably it will not be thought worth while for some time to touch the smaller units of Local Self-Government, such as the Union and the Local Board District.
•
The general idea of the Bill is to substitute for Quarter Sessions, so far as Quarter Sessions are an administrative and not a judicial body, a repre- sentative organization based upon that which has been found to work well in boroughs.
The franchise adopted in the counties will be substantially the same as that in boroughs. The qualification for a county representative will be the same as that for a Town Councillor. The elections will be by ballot. The County Council, when elected, will have the right of choosing by co- optation Wardens, who will correspond closely to Aldermen in boroughs; and there will be a Chair- man of the County Council, whose position will resemble that of the Mayor. As in Town Councils, one-third of the members elected by the rate- payers will retire annually and be annually renewed.
The area for election is in the first instance to be the Petty Sessional Division, but where the Petty Sessional Divisions are too small they will have to be merged in larger ones, and where they are too large they will be divided into electoral districts.
Whether the actual electoral divisions and the number of Councillors to be elected in each
[87]
B
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