Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-09-17
Irish Local Government
Act Will Cause rlany
Changes.
The County Councils Will Give
Something Like Home Rule
i'm Every County.
Cities and Towns viii First
Experience the Operations
of the Act.
FEATURES OF A GOOD MEASURE

The new local government act for Ire
land causes many changes in existing
conditions Section one of the act estab.
fishes in every administrative county a
county council consisting of a chairman
and councillors. To this council is trans
ferred all the fiscal business of the grand
jury, with the exception of the power of
making presentments for malicious in
jury, which passes over to the county
courts. The presentments of the grand
jury had to be formally approved of by a
Judge of assize. This fiat is now abolised,
as is also the traverse before alluded to,
so that in all general matters the county
council is practically an independent
local parliament. Besides the powers of
the grand jury, the county council will
have the power of the board of guardians
with respect to raising and levying the
poor rate; in other words, all the rates in
each county for the future will be raised
by the county council in one general rate.
In addition, the county council will have
transferred to it the administration of the
diseases of animals act, the explosives
act, the acts relating to technical educa-
ton and the management of lunatic asy-
lums, including all the powers of the
board of control, which is abolished.
Upon the county council is also conferred
large powers for acquisition of land for
county purposes, and a number of other
duties and powers to be considered here
after in detail The new councils thus
constituted will be elected by parliament
airy electors for the county, with the adj
dition of women and peers, who are
qualified in other respects, and the elec-
tions will be by ballot. II will beahe
duty Of the local government board, for
the purpose of the first election, to divide
each county into electoral divisions, each
of which, with certain exceptions in the
case of urban districts, will return one
member to the county council. The
county council may co-opt two additional
members from among the electors, and
the grand jury may, as regards the first
county councils, nominate three of their
number to be members of the body.
They will all hold Office for three years
and then go out in a body. So far for
the county councils.
For the discharge of the business of
the more circumscribed local areas with
in the county subordinate bodies, called
district councils, are established. These
are divided into two classes, urban dis
trict councils and rural district councils.
Where there is an urban sanitary author
ity at present existing this council within
its own area will have all the powers of
the grand jury with regards to roads,
etc., and will raise its own rates, while
being subject TO some general control and
answerable for certain contributions to
the county council. In the areas where
no urban sanitary authority exists rural
districts, governed by rural district coun-
ellis, will come into existence. The rural
district will as far as possible correspond
with the existing poor law union, and
will be composed of councillors, elected
on the same franchise as the members
being elected for each electoral division
now electing one guardian, with an in
creased number for electoral divisions or
wards which now elect more than one
guardian.
The district councillors for each di-
vision will also be the guardians for that
division, so that in the rural districts
there will be two distinct bodies consist
ing of the same individual members, but
having separate functions. The district
council will have the powers at present
possessed by the baronial presentment
sessions, and also will take over certain
of the powers of the guardians. Neither
these councils nor the guardians, how
ever, will have any power to make or
levy taxes, this being done by the county
councils, who will provide funds for local
purposes. Like the county council the
rural district councils have the power of
co-option, being authorized to elect three
additional members in this way. AS re-
CARDS the first council, three persons who
have been ex-officio guardians of the
union must also be selected.
Six boroughs, namely Dublin, Belfast,
Cork, Derry, Limerick and Waterford,
will become administrative counties"
for the purpose of the act. The act, how
ever, will not change the constitution OF
their corporations and will, practically
speaking, only operate in two respects,
~ to give them any powers given to
county councils under this act and which
they do not already possess, and (2) to
extend the franchise.
In the case of all these cities except
Belfast and Londonderry, where under
local acts elections on an extended fran
chise have recently taken place, and in
pthe case of councillors and commissioners
of all urban and other municipal districts,
the first elections will take place on Jam
uary 10 next, and all the members Of