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‘WHEREAS it is expedient to promote the Establishment and Extension of Museums of Art and Science in large Towns, for the Instruction and Amusement of the Inhabitants thereof:’ Be it 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 Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That it shall be lawful for the Council of any Municipal Borough, the Population of which, according, and the last Account, from Time to Time taken thereof by Authority of Parliament, exceeds Ten thousand Persons, if such Council shall think fit so to do, to purchase Lands, and to erect thereon Buildings suitable for Museums of Art and Science, and to maintain and keep the same in good Repair, and to accept any Gifts, Grants, or Devises of Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, for the Purpose of establishing, improving, or maintaining such Museums, or to contribute toward the Establishment and Maintenance of such Museums in any neighbouring Borough; and that the Costs and Charges of such Lands and Buildings, and the keeping of the same in good Repair, and the Payment of any Principal Money or Interest borrowed under the Authority of this Act, or of such Contribution, shall be chargeable upon and paid for out of the Borough Fund of such Municipal Borough, and for that Purpose the Council may levy with and as Part of the Borough Rate, or by a separate Rate to be levied in like Manner as the Borough Rate, such Sums of Money as shall be from Time to Time needed, so that the whole Amount of the Borough Rate be not increased in any One Year for the Purposes of this Act by more than One Halfpenny in the Pound, or if a separate Rate be levied so that such Rate do not in any One Year amount to more than One Halfpenny in the Pound of the annual Value of the Property in the Borough rateable to the Borough Rate.
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Town Councils may borrow Money for Purchase of Lands, &c.
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II. And be it enacted, That for the Purchase of such Lands, and for defraying the Costs of such Buildings as may be erected thereon, or for contributing to the Cost of such Purchase or building, it shall be lawful for the Council of any such Municipal Borough as aforesaid, from Time to Time with the Approval of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, to borrow at Interest the Amount of Money which may be required for the same, on the Security of the Borough Rates as aforesaid, or the separate Rate authorized by this Act.
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Such Lands, &c., to vest in Town Council.
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III. And be it enacted, That the Lands and Buildings so purchased or erected as aforesaid, and also all Specimens of Art or Science, and Articles of every Description, which may be purchased for or presented to any such Museum, and accepted by the Council thereof, shall be vested in and held upon trust for ever by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough in which such Museum shall be situated, and shall be managed by the Council of the Borough, and kept in fit and proper Order, for the Benefit of the Inhabitants of the Borough, and others resorting thereto.
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Rates of Admission to Public.
Regulations for preserving Contents, &c.
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IV. And be it enacted, That the Council of any such Municipal Borough may from Time to Time fix such Rates of Payment for Admission to any such Museum as the Council may think expedient, not exceeding the Sum of One Penny for each Person admitted, and the Amount so raised shall be employed in defraying the Salaries of the Curators and other Persons employed in charge of such Museum, and in lighting, warming, cleaning, and otherwise supporting and improving the same; and that the Council may also make such Regulations for the Preservation of the Contents of such Museum, and for the Maintenance of Order within it, as may to them seem expedient.
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