The Council have the control of the borough fund ; any surplus in which, after payment of all necessary expenses and of all just demands, they are to apply for the public benefit of the inhabitants and improvement of the borough. If the fund be insufficient, they are to order a borough rate, in the nature of a county rate, to make up the deficiency, for which special purpose alone they have the powers of justices of peace given to them for assessing, collecting, and levying it. They have powers of leasing buildings and laud proper for building. But to prevent the practice of partial and frau dulent transactions, very common in the old corporations, these powers are subject to very considerable restrictions. They have also a power to set aside collusive sales and demises of corporate property made since the 25th June, 1835; many of which were threatened by the refrac tory corporations (§§ 94, 95). They have also a power, if they think it requi site that one or more salaried police ma gistrates should be appointed, to fix the amount of such magistrates' salary, and upon their application her Majesty is empowered to appoint the number of ma gistrates required. To meet the case of delay in any borough, no new appoint ment by her Majesty is to take place after any vacancy, until the council make a fresh application.
When a commission of the peace is granted to a borough, the council provide the requisite police officers. Other sub sidiary and occasional powers are vested in the council, which is thus seen to be effectually the governing body of the corporation.
These powers of the council comprise the whole of the strictly municipal powers affected by the act, and the council will thus be seen to be the whole of the effec tive machinery of corporation govern ment. Their power is carefully limited : the most important check, however, to the renovation of corporation abuses is contained in the provision for the ma nagement of the borough fund, the pe riodical audit of accounts, and their sub sequent publication. The frauds by the officers of the old corporations, the divi sion of the funds for the interest of the governing body, their application to the corruption of the freemen in every shape in which money could be applied, formed the chief heads of accusation against those bodies ; and the uncontrolled and irre sponsible disposition of fluids by the new councils would in the very nature of things eventually lead to the use of them for the benefit of these bodies, however well they might in other respects be con stituted, and the past history of corpora tions would infallibly be repeated. The Municipal Act, however, provides for the appointment of AUDITORS, persons quali fied to be councillors, but not actually of that body, lest identity of interest might lead to partiality in the exercise of their functions. The accounts are to be audited half-yearly, on the 1st of March and the 1st of September, and the Treasurer is, after the September audit, to make out and cause to be printed a full abstract of the accounts for the year, a copy of which is to be open to all the rate-payers; and copies are to be delivered to such rate payers as apply for them, on payment of a reasonable price.
If the constituency be sufficiently large and have interests identical with that of the community, and if the duties of the governing body be well defined and sub ject to effective checks, the mode of eleo tion is of minor importance. Neverthe less it was important that the mode in which the functionaries were to be elected, should be calculated to give to the constituency the utmost opportunity to exercise effectively the franchise with which they are invested.
The qualification of a councillor is chiefly a property qualification, varying in boroughs according to their amount of population. In this it may again appear that property was too exclusively regard ed, for when security was provided for a constituency qualified by property, it might have been presumed that in their choice of officers, if it were left completely free, they would not, when all other quali fications of candidates were equal, prefer the candidate without property. It may, it is presumed, be left to people of pro perty to choose amongst all classes of per sons, without fear that they will choose those whose circumstances or opinions would prompt them to place the tenure of property in danger. The bill was intro duced without the provision of a qualifica tion for councillors, which was inserted after the bill left the Commons. This qualification renders necessary the enact ment of penalties for serving without being qualified. No person is eligible as council lor unless entitled to be on the burgess list, nor unless seised or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, as follows: in all boroughs divided into four or more wards, 10001., or rated to the poor upon the an nual value of not less than 301.; and in all boroughs divided into less than four wards, or not divided into wards, of 5044., or rated to the poor at 151. No minister of religion is capable of being elected a councillor (§ 28).
One-third of the council is to be elected annually on the 1st of November, when one-third of the members, those longest in office, go out. This provision was made, in order that a majority of expe rienced officers might always remain in the council. The practice combining the advantages of an annual infusion of offi cers recently approved by the constitu ency, and this indicating its sentiments, as well as that of securing experience and acquaintance with the detail and routine of business, has in every case, where it has been tried under fair circum stances, been found most salutary.