trict of Lewisham, and arrange with him the time of such meeting Section 46. of the boards of works for such districts; and when such arrangement has been made, notice of the time, place, and object of such meeting shall be given by such clerks respectively in manner required for notices of special meetings of the boards for such districts; and every election to be made as aforesaid by the said boards shall be determined by the votes of the majority of the members thereof present at the meeting; and every such meeting shall, before proceeding to the election, choose a chairman, who shall preside thereat, and shall, in case of an equality of votes for two or more persons, have a second or casting vote. purpose The parish of and district of St. Olave united for electing a the metropolitan board member of 47. The parishes of Rotherhithe, Saint John, Horselydown, Saint Olave, and Saint Thomas, Southwark, shall be united for the of electing from time to time a member of the metropolitan board of works; and the vestries of such several parishes shall, at a joint meeting of such vestries to be holden on the said 12th day of December, 1855, at the place of meeting of the vestry of the parish of Saint Olave, elect a person to be a member of the said metropolitan board; and when any member of the said board elected by such vestries dies, resigns, or otherwise ceases to be such member, of works. such vestries shall, at a joint meeting of such vestries to be holden at the place aforesaid, elect some person in his stead; and such meeting shall be convened as follows; that is to say, the vestry clerk of the parish of Saint Olave shall communicate with the vestry clerks of the said other parishes, and arrange with them the time of such meeting; and when such arrangement has been made, notice of the time, place, and object of such meeting shall be given by the respective vestry clerks of all the said parishes in manner required for notices of vestry meetings; and every election to be made as aforesaid by the said vestries jointly shall be determined by the votes of the majority of the members thereof present at the meeting; and every such meeting shall, before proceeding to the election, choose a chairman, who shall preside thereat, and shall, in case of an equality of votes for two or more persons, have a second or casting vote. 48. One third of the members first elected as aforesaid of the metropolitan board of works shall go out of office on the second Wednesday in June, 1857, one other third of them on the second Wednesday in June, 1858, and the remaining third on the second Wednesday in June, 1859; and such first elected members shall determine by lot among themselves which of them shall constitute the one third to go out of office in the years 1857 and 1858 respectively; and all members of the said board elected to supply any vacancy occasioned by any member's going out of office by the expiration of his term of office shall go out of office on the second Wednesday in June in the third year next following the year of his election; and every member of the said board elected to supply any other vacancy shall go out of office when the term of office of the member in whose place he is elected would have expired by effluxion of time. As to the term of office of members of metropolitan board elected to future Elected members of 49. The members first elected of the metropolitan board of works shall meet at such time and place as one of Her Majesty's principal metropolitan secretaries of state shall by notice in the London Gazette appoint in this behalf, and shall at such meeting, or some meeting to be holden by adjournment thereof (which it shall be competent for the board to chairman. Section 49. members present to appoint), elect a chairman of the said board, and shall also decide upon the amount of salary to be paid to such chairman, such salary not to be less than £1,500 and not to exceed £2,000 per annum; and such members, before proceeding at any such meeting to such election, or to determine the amount of such salary, shall choose from among the members present a chairman of such meeting, and such election of the future chairman of the board shall be determined by the votes of the majority of the members present, and in case of an equality of votes the chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote; and any person may be elected as aforesaid, whether he be or be not a member of the said board; and such chairman shall be subject to be removed by a resolution agreed to by two-thirds of the members present at any meeting specially convened for considering the question of such removal; and in case any elected member of the said metropolitan board be appointed chairman thereof, he shall thenceforth be a member thereof by virtue only of his office of chairman, and his place as an elected member shall become vacant, and another shall be elected in his stead. As to appointment of chairman on any vacancy. Powers of metropolitan board to be exercised at meetings, not less than nine members being present. Meetings of the metropolitan board. 50. Upon every vacancy in the office of chairman of the said metropolitan board a new chairman shall be appointed, and his salary fixed, in manner herein before mentioned, save that the appointment of such chairman may be made at any such meeting as may be provided in this behalf by the regulations for the time being of the said metropolitan board. 51. All powers and duties vested in the metropolitan board of works may be exercised and performed at any meeting (a) of such board at which not less than nine members of the board are present; and at every such meeting all questions shall be determined by the votes of the majority (b) of the members present; and such board may act notwithstanding any vacancies therein, and notwithstanding any omission to elect any member or members of such board in pursuance of this Act, but such board shall not be deemed to be constituted until the first election of a chairman of such board under this Act. 52. The first meeting of the said metropolitan board shall be holden at such time and place as the chairman may appoint, of which notice in writing, signed by such chairman, shall be given to each elected member of the said board, two clear days at the least (c) before the time of such meeting; and the said board may meet at such times and places as they may from time to time appoint; and a special meeting of the said board may be convened by the chairman of the said board, or by the clerk thereof, upon the requisition in writing of the chairman or any five members of the board, by a notice to the several members thereof, two clear days at the least (a) By section 202 the metropolitan board, and vestries, and district boards are empowered to make bye-laws for, amongst other purposes, regulating the business and proceedings at their meetings and those of committees; and by section 23 of 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, post, resolutions of the metropolitan board, authorizing an expenditure amounting to or exceeding £20,000, are not to be valid unless confirmed at a subsequent meeting. (b) As to what constitutes a majority, see note to section 28, ante. (c) This means two clear days exclusive of the day on which the notice is given, and of the day on which the meeting is to be held. See Norton ▼. Town Clerk of Salisbury, 4 C. B. 32. before the time of meeting, such notice to be signed by the chair- Section 52. man or clerk convening the meeting, and to specify the object (d) thereof. 53. The chairman of the metropolitan board of works for the time Chairman to being elected under this Act shall preside at every meeting of such preside at board at which he is present; and in case of a vacancy in the office of such chairman, or in his absence, some other member of such board shall be chosen to preside thereat; and in case there be an equal number of votes upon any question, the chairman presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote. Proceedings concerning Constitution, Procedure, and Officers of meetings. chairman to 54. In case any member of the metropolitan board of works, or of Disqualificaany district board of works, or of any vestry for any parish men- tions of tioned in schedule (A.) or (B.) to this Act, or any auditor of the members of accounts of any such board or vestry, be declared bankrupt, or apply metropolitan to take the benefit of or become subject to any Act for the relief board of of insolvent debtors, or compound with his creditors (e), or accept district or hold any office (ƒ) under the board or vestry of which he is a boards, of member, or of whose accounts he is auditor, other than, in the case of vestries of any such auditor, his office of auditor, or in any manner be con- parishes in (d) As to sufficiency of statement of special purposes for which meeting of vestry held, see Blunt v. Harwood, 8 A. & E. 610; Smith v. Deighton, 8 Moore, P. C. 179. (e) The introductory words in the 19th section of the Public Health Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, "No bankrupt, insolvent, or other person, not qualified as aforesaid, shall be capable of being elected," &c., do not occur in this section, and the enactment merely enumerates the events in which a member after election shall cease to be a member. The Public Health Act, 1875, sch. 2, r. 5, disqualifies for election, on a local board, a person who is a bankrupt, or whose affairs are under liquidation by arrangement, or who has entered into any composition, &c., so long as any proceedings in relation to such bankruptcy, &c., are pending, and r. 64 of the same schedule describes the events working the disqualification of elected members of boards. It was held under 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, that a bankrupt who had not obtained his certificate was not disqualified from being elected as a town councillor; R. v. Chitty, 5 A. & E. 609. Where under the Municipal Corporation Act a town councillor compounded with his creditors and resigned, and the council without declaring the office void elected him again, the election was held invalid; Hardwick v. Brown, L. R. 8 C. P. 406. The term "insolvency" operating as a disqualification under a byelaw of a corporation was held to mean public or notorious insolvency as by stopping in business, calling creditors together, or entering into a deed of composition; R. v. Saddlers' Co., 28 J. P. 36. (f) This clause does not use the expression "of profit," occurring in the 28th section of 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, and in the 9th section of the Commissioners' Clauses Act, 1847. As to the term “holding an office" within the meaning of articles of association of a Joint Stock Company, see Iron Ship, &c., Company v. Blunt, L. R. 3 C. P. 484, and as to the liability of a trustee of a turnpike road accepting the office of treasurer; Delane v. Hillcoat, 9 B. & C. 310. The appointment by directors of a joint stock company, registered under the Act of 1856, of one of their own number as a salaried officer was held valid under the Act and at common law; Eales v. Cumberland Blacklead Co., 30 L. J. Ex. 141. Section 54. schedule (A.) and (B.), and of auditors. Members of metropolitan and district cerned or interested in any contract or work (a) made with or executed for such board or vestry, in every such case such person shall cease to be such member or auditor as aforesaid: Provided always, that no person being a shareholder of any joint stock company shall be disabled from continuing or acting as a member of any such board or vestry by reason of any contract between such company and such board or vestry, or of any work executed by such company; but no such member shall vote upon any question in which such company is interested; and any person who acts as a member of any such board or vestry, or as auditor of the accounts thereof, after ceasing to be such member or auditor as aforesaid, or who, being a shareholder in any joint stock company, votes upon any question in which such company is interested, and any person who acts as a member of any such vestry as aforesaid without being qualified by rating and occupation as required by this Act, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty of £50 (b), which may be recovered by any person who may sue for the same in any of the superior courts of law, with full costs of suit: Provided also, that all acts and proceedings of any person ceasing to be such member or auditor, or disabled from acting as aforesaid, shall, if done previously to the recovery of such penalty, be valid and effectual to all intents and purposes whatsoever. 55. Any member of the metropolitan board of works, or of any vestry elected for any parish mentioned in schedule (A.) or (B.) to this Act, or of the board of works for any district, may at any time was (a) Where, in an action for penalties against a town commissioner, under a local Act, incorporating the Commissioners' Clauses Act, 1847, 10 & 11 Vict. c. 16, a bill addressed by the defendant to the commissioners for lime which he had supplied was produced, it was held to be evidence for the jury that the defendant was concerned in a contract within the 10 & 11 Vict, c. 19, s. 6; Nicholson v. Fields, 31 L. J. Ex. 233. This case distinguished from Woolley v. Kay (infra), where it was apparently the opinion of the court that a mere casual dealing would not be a contract for furnishing, supplying, or selling; per Pollock, C. B. ibid. See Woolley v. Kay; 25 L. J. Ex. 351; 1 H. & N. 307. In Le Feuvre v. Lankester, 23 L. J. Q. B. 254; 3 Ell. & Bl. 230, it was decided that an alderman of a borough who had openly and bona fide supplied some iron railings to a person contracting with the local board, was not liable to the penalty imposed by 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 28. Under section 28 of the Municipal Corporation Act the disqualification of an alderman who has an interest in a contract with the council, only applies during the continuance of the contract, and he incurs no penalty by acts done after its termination; Lewis v. Carr, L. R. 1 Ex. D. 484. A surveyor receiving a commission from the manufacturer of bricks sold for works under the Public Health Act, 1848, but not under a contract with the board, was held competent to make an apportionment of the expenses; Wednesbury Local Board of Health v. Stevenson, 27 J. P. 741. See also Foster v. Oxford &c., Railway Co., Webb v. Commissioners of Herne Bay, L. R. 5 Q. B. 642, and Imperial Mercantile Credit Association v. Coleman, L. R. 6 Ch. 558; H. of Lords 189. For decisions on provisions in statutes relative to workhouses, &c., see Greenhow v. Parker, 31 L. J. Ex. 4; West v. Andrews, 5 B. & Ald. 328; Proctor v. Mainwaring, 3 B. & A. 145; Towsey v. White 5 B. & C. 125; Henderson v. Sherborne, 2 M. & W. 236; Barber v. Waite, 1 A. & E. 514. (b) See the case of Goodhew v. Williams, cited in note to section 6, ante, where it was held that the liability to this penalty was not taken away by the provision in the 4th section of the Amending Act 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112. resign his office, such resignation of any member of the metropolitan Section 55. board of works to be notified in writing signed by such member to the chairman of such board, and such resignation of any vestryman of vestries boards, and or member of any such district board to be notified in writing signed of parishes by such vestryman or member to the churchwardens of the parish for which he was elected. 56. Any member of the metropolitan board of works, or of any district board of works, or of any such vestry, going out of office, shall, if qualified, be capable of immediate re-election. 57. No resolution or other act of the metropolitan board of works, or of the board of works for any district, or of any such vestry, shall be revoked or altered at any subsequent meeting, unless such subsequent meeting be specially convened for the purpose (c), nor unless such revocation or alteration be determined upon by a majority consisting of two-thirds of the members of the board, or of the vestrymen present at such subsequent meeting, if the number of members or vestrymen present at such subsequent meeting be not greater by onefifth than the number present when such resolution was made or such act was done, but if the number of members or vestrymen present at such subsequent meeting be greater by one-fifth than the number present at such former meeting, then such revocation or alteration may be determined upon by a mere majority. in schedule (A.) or (B.), may resign. Retiring members of boards and be re-elected. stances. 58. It shall be lawful for the metropolitan board of works, and Committees the board of works for any district, and any such vestry respectively, may be apto appoint a committee or committees for any purposes which, in pointed. the discretion of the board or vestry, would be better regulated and managed by means of such committee, and at any meeting to continue, alter, or discontinue such committee: Provided always, that (c) As to mode of convening a special meeting in the case of the metropolitan board, see section 52, ante; of vestries, see the Amending Act of 1856, the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112, s. 9, post; and of district boards, section 40, ante. Where at one meeting it was resolved that the name of a street should be altered, and at a subsequent meeting the name was again altered, the latter meeting not having been specially convened in conformity with this enactment, the second resolution was held invalid; Sooby v. Vestry of Kensington, 35 J. P. 343, and by the court, "the object of the section was to prevent the revocation or alteration of a former order without adequate public notice." Where a metropolitan vestry resolved to pave a street out of the general rate under section 106, and by a subsequent resolution determined to proceed under section 105, imposing the cost of the work on the owners of property, it was decided to be unnecessary to rescind the first resolution; Vestry of St. George the Martyr v. Pethebridge, 31 J. P. 279. Where a bye-law under the Public Health Act, 1848, provided that no resolution should be altered or rescinded without a month's notice to each member of the board setting forth the proposed alteration, and the local board having passed a resolution for the making of three separate rates, by a subsequent resolution decided on making one general rate without the notice directed by the bye-law, the general rate was held invalid; Meyer v. Burslem, 39 J. P. 437. Semble, that a resolution of a local board of health dismissing an officer was not a resolution rescinding the resolution by which he was appointed within the meaning of a bye-law relative to the rescission of resolutions; Ex parte Richards, L. R. 3 Q. B. D. 368. See R. v. Jones, 42 J. P. 614, and R. v. Mayor of Ryde, 8 Cox. Mag. Ca. 185. |