Local Government (Galway) Act, 1937

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Number 3 (Private) of 1937.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (GALWAY) ACT, 1937.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SCHEDULE

Number 3 (Private) of 1937.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (GALWAY) ACT, 1937.

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF GALWAY AS A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION UNDER THE NAME OF “THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND BURGESSES OF THE BOROUGH OF GALWAY,” AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CORPORATION BY A BOROUGH COUNCIL IN SUCCESSION TO THE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF GALWAY, AND TO EFFECT THE TRANSFER TO THE CORPORATION OF THE PROPERTY, RIGHTS, FUNCTIONS, DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OF THE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF GALWAY, AND TO IMPROVE THE LAW OF RATING IN THE AREA WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE CORPORATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES CONNECTED WITH THE FOREGOING MATTERS. [10th June, 1937.]

WHEREAS the inhabitants of the Town of Galway enjoyed the privilege of incorporation from the fourteenth century until the passing of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840;

AND WHEREAS the Town of Galway was administered under the provisions of an Act passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth intituled “An Act for regulating and improving the Town of Galway in the County of the same town” until the passing of The Galway Town Improvement Act, 1853, and thereafter by Town Commissioners under the last mentioned Act until the year 1899, when an Urban District Council was established under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, and the Town has since been administered by the said Urban District Council;

AND WHEREAS it is expedient that the inhabitants of the Town of Galway should be incorporated as a municipal borough in manner provided by this Act;

AND WHEREAS it is expedient at the same time to improve the law of rating within the area of the Town of Galway;

AND WHEREAS the purposes of this Act cannot be carried into effect without the authority of the Oireachtas;

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Galway) Act, 1937.

Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the expression “the Borough” means the Borough of Galway established by this Act;

the expression “the Corporation” means the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough incorporated by this Act;

the expression “the Borough Council” means the Council established by and under this Act for the Borough;

the expression “the Mayor” means the Mayor of Galway;

the expression “Borough Election” means (as the case may require) either the first or a subsequent triennial election of members of the Borough Council held under this Act;

the expression “the day of election” means the day appointed by the Minister by order under this Act to be the day of election for the purposes of this Act;

the expression “the appointed day” means the fifth day after the day of election;

the expression “the District Council” means the Council of the Urban District of Galway;

the expression “the District” means the Urban District of Galway;

the word “powers” includes rights, jurisdictions, capacities, authorities, privileges and immunities;

the word “duties” includes responsibilities and obligations.

Incorporation of inhabitants.

3.—On the appointed day the inhabitants of the District and their successors shall become and be one body politic and corporate by the name of “the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Galway” with perpetual succession and a common seal and the right to assume the armorial bearings heretofore borne by the Town of Galway and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name.

Formation of the Borough of Galway.

4.—On the appointed day the District shall become and be a municipal borough by the name of “The Borough of Galway,” and as such Borough shall remain and be part of the administrative County of Galway in like manner as the District is now part of the said County.

Dissolution of the Urban District Council.

5.—On the appointed day the District Council shall be dissolved and shall cease to exist, and thereupon the Corporation shall become and be the successor to the District Council.

Power for Corporation to hold land.

6.—The Corporation shall have power to take and hold any lands, tenements and hereditaments which may be vested in it by or by virtue of this Act and such other lands, tenements and hereditaments, as well within as without the Borough, as may be required for the purposes of the Borough.

Application of powers of a municipal borough.

7.—The Corporation shall have the powers usually vested by law in the corporation of a municipal borough and the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840, and any Act amending or extending the same or otherwise relating to municipal corporations shall extend to the Borough and the Corporation.

Application of law relating to councils of boroughs and corporations of boroughs.

8.—The law in force at the passing of this Act in relation to the councils of boroughs and the corporations of boroughs respectively shall, in so far as the same is not inconsistent with this Act, apply to the Borough Council and the Corporation respectively.

The treasurer of the Corporation.

9.—The Borough Council shall appoint some bank or banking company to act as the treasurer of the Corporation for the purpose only of the receipt and payment of money and of keeping the accounts of the same and the town clerk shall exercise and perform in relation to the Borough all the powers and duties conferred or imposed for any other purpose on the treasurer of a borough.

The borough fund.

10.—(1) On and after the appointed day all the expenses incurred by the Corporation in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties (including the expenses of discharging liabilities existing on the appointed day) shall be defrayed out of the borough fund.

(2) Every fund which immediately before the passing of this Act is maintained out of the produce of any of the rates shall on the appointed day cease to be so maintained, and on that day the moneys (if any) standing to the credit of any such fund shall be paid into the borough fund, and every liability due by any such fund shall be defrayed out of the borough fund.

(3) On and after the appointed day all sums received by the Corporation, whether from rates or from sources other than rates, shall be paid to the treasurer of the Corporation and, save as is hereinafter otherwise provided, the receipt alone of the treasurer shall be a good discharge to the person paying the same and all such sums shall be paid by the treasurer into the borough fund.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-section of this section the receipt of a collector of rates or of a person duly authorised by the Corporation to receive payments of any other particular class shall be a good discharge to a person making a payment (as the case may be) of rates to such collector or of such other particular class to such person but in every such case it shall be the duty of such collector or person forthwith to pay the amount of such payment to the treasurer.

(5) No payments except such payments as are duly authorised in accordance with this or any other Act shall be made out of the borough fund and every payment so authorised shall be made by the treasurer.

(6) No part of the borough fund or of any money under the control of the Corporation shall be applied for any purpose not authorised by this or any other Act, or, in the case of money derived from trust funds, by the trusts affecting those funds.

(7) Every sinking fund or other fund to meet a future or prospective liability which the Corporation is required by or under any statute in force immediately before the passing of this Act to maintain shall be maintained out of the borough fund and nothing in this section shall relieve the Corporation from the obligation so to maintain every such fund.

Removal of limitation on borough rate.

11.—The provisions of section 10 of the Counties and Boroughs (Ireland) Act, 1840, whereby the rate of assessment of the borough rate to be made in any borough under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840, is limited, shall not have effect in relation to any borough rate made in the Borough.

Improvement of the law relating to the contract water rate.

12.—(1) The Corporation may require that all water supplied by them to any house, building, lands or premises for other than domestic purposes shall be taken and measured by meter, and in every such case the Corporation shall not be bound to afford a supply of water otherwise than by measure.

(2) The Corporation may instal and hire such meters and fix and charge a rent for any meter provided by them and shall have the like powers for recovering any such rent as they have for recovering water rates.

(3) The Corporation shall at their own expense keep any meter let on hire by them to any consumer in proper order for correctly registering the supply of water and if they fail so to do the consumer shall not be liable to pay rent for the meter while the default continues.

(4) Where the Corporation supply water under this section by meter the register of the meter shall be prima facie evidence of the quantity of water consumed.

(5) If the meter on being tested is proved to register incorrectly to any material degree the price to be charged by the Corporation to the consumer for the period since the last occasion on which the meter was read shall be calculated by reference to the amount registered in the corresponding period of the year previous.

(6) The price to be charged by the Corporation for a supply of water by meter shall be fixed by the Corporation and may be recovered in the like manner as water rates.

(7) The law for the time being in force at the passing of this Act in the District in relation to meters and the supply of water for other than domestic purposes (in so far as not inconsistent with this section) shall apply in the case of meters hired and water supplied under the provisions of this section in like manner as if the same were respectively hired and supplied by agreement.

(8) The powers conferred upon the Corporation by this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any other power of the Corporation in relation to the supply of water.

Application of Public Health (Ireland) Acts and Local Government (Ireland) Acts.

13.—For the purposes of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts 1878 to 1931 and the purposes of the Local Government (Ireland) Acts 1898 to 1919 as amended by any subsequent enactments the Borough shall be an urban district and also an urban sanitary district and the Borough Council shall be the sanitary authority of such urban sanitary district.

Exercise of corporate authority by the Borough Council.

14.—All and every the powers and duties of the Corporation shall be exercised and performed for and on behalf of the Corporation by the Borough Council subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Composition of Borough Council.

15.—The Borough Council shall consist of twelve members, of whom four shall be aldermen and eight shall be councillors and four members shall be a quorum.

Borough electoral area.

16.—The Borough shall consist of one borough electoral area.

The first election of the Borough Council.

17.—The following provisions shall have effect with regard to the election of the first persons who shall constitute the Borough Council:—

(1) A borough election (in this section referred to as “the first election”) shall be held on the day of election as if the Borough had been established before that day.

(2) The Minister shall appoint a person to act as returning officer at the first election.

(3) The several polling districts and polling places existing in the District at the passing of this Act shall be respectively the polling districts and polling places for the purposes of the first election.

The first meeting of the Borough Council.

18.—(1) The first meeting of the Borough Council shall be a quarterly meeting and shall be held at noon on the tenth day after the day of election in the Town Hall of Galway, and if for any reason such meeting is not held, or cannot be held at such time, day or place, such meeting may be held at such time, on such day and at such place as shall be determined by the Minister.

(2) Until the first Mayor has been elected and has made the declaration accepting office which is required by law, the person, who was immediately before the appointed day, the clerk of the District Council or such other person as the Minister may appoint, shall act as chairman at the first and any other meeting of the Borough Council, but shall not thereby be entitled to vote on any question which is to be decided at such meeting by a vote of the members.

(3) The provisions of sub-section (3) of section 10 of the Local Elections Act, 1927 , as to the first business and as to the time when the Mayor shall come into office and as to his continuance in office shall apply to the first meeting and to the Mayor elected thereat.

Application of section 83 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840.

19.—In case of an equality of votes in any election of Mayor, the alderman qualified to vote who was first elected shall have a second or casting vote and section 83 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840 shall in its application to the Borough and Corporation be read accordingly.

Application of law relating to election, etc., of members of Borough Council.

20.—Subject to the provisions of this Act, the law for the time being in force in relation to the election, qualification, disqualification and tenure of office of members of the council of a borough shall apply in relation to the election, qualification, disqualification and tenure of office of members of the Borough Council.

Application of section 92 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840.

21.—All acts to be done by the Borough Council and all questions of adjournment or others that may come before the Borough Council may be done and decided by the majority of the members who shall be present and shall vote on such acts or questions provided that the number voting thereon shall not be less than four, and section 92 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840, shall in its application to the Borough and Corporation be read accordingly.

Transfer of property.

22.—(1) All property, whether real or personal (including choses in action) which immediately before the appointed day is vested in or belongs to or is held in trust for the District Council and all rights, powers, and privileges relating to or connected with any such property shall, on the appointed day and without any conveyance or assignment but subject where necessary to transfer in the books of any bank, corporation or company, become and be vested in or the property of or held in trust for (as the case may require) the Corporation for all the estate, term, or interest for which the same immediately before the appointed day was vested in or belonged to or was held in trust for the District Council, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the same and then subsisting and capable of being performed.

(2) All property transferred by this section which, immediately before the appointed day, is standing in the books of any bank, or is registered in the books of any bank, corporation, or company in the name of the District Council shall, upon the request of the Corporation, made on or at any time after the appointed day be transferred in such books by such bank, corporation, or company into the name of the Corporation.

(3) On and after the appointed day every chose in action transferred by this section from the District Council to the Corporation may be sued upon, recovered, or enforced by the Corporation in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the Corporation to give notice to the person bound by such chose in action of the transfer effected by this section.

Transfer of powers and liabilities.

23.—(1) All powers vested in or possessed by the District Council shall on the appointed day vest in the Corporation and shall be exercised and applied for the purposes of the Borough.

(2) All duties and liabilities which immediately before the appointed day attached to and were enforceable against the District Council or the property thereof shall attach to and be enforceable against, the Corporation.

Joint committees.

24.—Every person selected by the District Council to act upon a body wholly or partly nominated by the District Council shall cease to hold office immediately before the first meeting of the Borough Council and such cesser shall be deemed for the purpose of any enactment for the constitution of such body to have created a casual vacancy in such body.

Continuance of existing rates, mortgages and contracts.

25.—All rates, assessments, compositions, charges, mortgages, contracts, leases, conveyances, deeds, documents, acts, matters and things made entered into or done before the appointed day by, to or with reference to the District Council shall be as good valid and effectual to all intents and purposes whatsoever for against and with reference to the Corporation as if the same had been made entered into or done by, to or with reference to the Corporation instead of the District Council and may be proceeded on or enforced in the same manner in all respects as if the Corporation instead of the District Council had been party or privy to the same and had been named or referred to therein.

Provision for collection of rates.

26.—Every rate collector of the District Council who is in office as such rate collector immediately before the appointed day shall, on and after the appointed day, unless and until the Borough Council otherwise directs, collect and recover on behalf of the Borough Council all rates which immediately before the appointed day were due or payable to or were accruing due to the District Council and had been given in charge to him for collection.

Continuance of bye-laws.

27.—Every bye-law, rule and regulation and every table of fees and charges in force within the District immediately before the appointed day shall, unless duly repealed, revoked or varied by the Borough Council, continue in force and have effect as a bye-law, rule, regulation or table (as the case may be) made by the Borough Council in like manner as if the Corporation always existed and as if the Corporation or the Borough Council (as the case may require) had been referred to therein instead of the local authority or its officers actually referred to in such bye-law, rule, regulation or table.

Continuance of resolutions, orders and notices.

28.—Every resolution passed, order made, and notice served by the District Council before the appointed day the operation, effect, or term of which has not ceased or expired before that day shall, on and after the appointed day and so far as is not inconsistent with this Act, continue in force and have effect as if it were a resolution passed, order made or notice served by the Borough Council acting for the Corporation on the date on which the same was actually passed, made, or served by the District Council.

Prosecution of pending proceedings.

29.—Any legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any debt, liability, penalty or forfeiture due to or incurred by or on behalf of the District Council before the appointed day may be continued prosecuted or enforced by or against the Corporation.

Audit of accounts of District Council.

30.—(1) The accounts of all receipts and expenditure of the District Council and of its officers up to the appointed day shall, as soon as conveniently may be after that day, be audited and disallowances, surcharges, charges and penalties in relation to such accounts, receipts and expenditure shall be made, recovered and enforced in like manner as nearly as may be as if this Act had not been passed.

(2) Every officer of the District Council whose duty it is to make up any accounts of or to account for any portion of the receipts or expenditure of the District Council and also every member of the District Council shall, until the audit of the accounts of such receipts and expenditure up to the appointed day is completed, be deemed for the purposes of such audit to continue in office and be bound to perform the same duties and render the same accounts and be subject to the same liabilities as if this Act had not been passed.

Transfer of officers of District Council.

31.—Every person who is, on the day before the appointed day an officer of the District Council, shall, on the appointed day be transferred to the service of the Corporation and shall by virtue of this Act become and be an officer of the Corporation and shall be entitled to reckon his period of service with the District Council and his period of service with the Corporation as one continuous period of service with the Corporation.

Transfer of servants of District Council.

32.—Every servant of the District Council shall on the appointed day become and be by virtue of this Act a servant of the Corporation on the same terms as the terms of his service under the District Council.

Admissibility in evidence of minutes of Borough Council.

33.—A minute of proceedings at a meeting of the Borough Council, or of a committee, signed at the same or at the next ensuing meeting by the Mayor, or by a member of the Borough Council or committee describing himself as or appearing to be chairman of the meeting at which the minute is signed, shall be received in evidence without further proof.

Admissibility in evidence of books of District Council.

34.—(1) All books and other documents directed or authorised by or under any statute to be kept by the District Council and which, immediately before the appointed day, would be receivable in evidence shall, notwithstanding the dissolution of the District Council be admissible in evidence after the appointed day as fully as if this Act had not been passed.

(2) Whenever an extract from or certificate of the contents of any book or other document directed or authorised by or under any statute or order to be kept by the District Council would, if verified by a particular officer of the District Council, have been admissible immediately before the appointed day as evidence of such contents, an extract from or certificate of the contents of such book or document shall, if verified by the officer of the Corporation corresponding to such particular officer, be admitted, on or after the appointed day, as evidence of such contents to the same extent as such first-mentioned extract or certificate would have been admitted if this Act had not been passed.

Vocational education.

35.—(1) On and after the appointed day the Vocational Education Act, 1930 , shall apply in and in relation to the Borough in the same manner in which it applies in and in relation to the District immediately before the appointed day.

(2) On and after the appointed day the first schedule to the Vocational Education Act, 1930 , shall be read and construed as if the words “the Borough of Galway” were substituted therein for the words “the Urban District of Galway”.

Coroner.

36.—So long as the person who, at the passing of this Act holds the office of coroner of the West Riding of the County of Galway continues to hold that office, his area of jurisdiction as such coroner shall continue as if this Act had not been passed, but upon his ceasing by death or otherwise to hold his said office the provisions of section 153 of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1840, as amended or extended by any subsequent enactments shall apply to the Borough as if it were one of the boroughs mentioned in the said section and in schedule “A” to the said Act.

Continuance of local Acts.

37.—The local Acts specified in the Schedule to this Act in so far as in force in the District at the passing of this Act shall, subject to the provisions of this Act on and after the appointed day apply in respect of the Borough in like manner as they applied immediately before the appointed day in respect of the District.

The day of election.

38.—The Minister shall by order fix such day as he thinks proper to be the day of election for the purposes of this Act.

Costs of Act.

39.—The costs, charges, and expenses preliminary to, and of and incidental to preparing, applying for, obtaining and passing this Act or otherwise in relation thereto, may before the appointed day be paid out of any fund or proceeds of any rate applicable thereto as if this Act had not been passed, and on and after the appointed day (in so far as then unpaid) shall be paid by the Borough Council out of the borough fund.

SCHEDULE.

Local Acts in force within the Urban District of Galway at the passing of this Act:—

(i) The Galway Town Improvement Act, 1853, 16 and 17 Vict., cap. cc.

(ii) The Galway Commissioners Waterworks Act, 1863, 26 and 27 Vict., cap. clxii.

(iii) The Galway Commissioners Waterworks Act Amendment Act, 1865, 28 Vict., cap. lix.

(iv) The Local Government Board (Ireland) Provisional Orders (Kingstown and Galway) Confirmation Act, 1875, 38 Vict., cap. ii.

(v) Local Government Board (Ireland) Provisional Orders Confirmation Act, 1902, 3 Ed. VII, c. xciv.