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BY J. THACKRAY BUNCE.

The Local Government of Birmingham is administered by five sets of authorities:—

1. Justices of the Peace.

2. Town Council.

3. Drainage Board.

4. Boards of Guardians.

5. School Board.

Justices of the Peace.—The first of these bodies was constituted by Royal Grant in 1838, when the town was incorporated as a municipal borough. A Court of Quarter Sessions was then next established, for the trial of prisoners, and a Recorder was appointed. The Court of Petty Sessions for the borough was instituted at the same time, under special commission of the peace. The duties of the justices are to maintain peace and order in the borough, to administer justice at petty sessions, to appoint visitors to the prison, and to grant licences for public houses, theatres, and concert halls, and licences for music and dancing in houses kept for the sale of liquor. They are invested with powers of control over the police on occasions of actual or threatened disturbance of public order; and any two of them, sitting in petty sessions, are empowered to suspend or dismiss any police constable for sufficient cause.

The Town Council has charge of the general administration of the affairs of the borough; watching; lighting; making, draining, and repairing streets and roads; the care of the public health, by the prevention and removal of nuisances, the enforcement of a system of house inspection, the collection and disposal of night soil and house refuse, and the maintenance of a Borough Hospital; the control of the Borough Cemetery, (for which it acts as a Burial Board;) the provision and management of Baths and Parks; of Free Libraries, Museums, and Schools of Art; and it also has control of the manufacture and sale of Gas, and the provision of Water. The powers of the Corporation, originally and to a limited extent conferred by Royal Charter in 1838, were by degrees enlarged by twenty special local Acts or Orders sanctioned by Parliament, for various purposes. The whole of these were, in 1883, consolidated in the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act, which, together with the Municipal Corporations Amendment Act of 1882, and the Public Health Act of 1875, constitute the Municipal Law under which the affairs of the Borough are administered.

The Drainage Board is a body composed in part of representatives elected by the Town Council, and in part of representatives elected by the Local Boards of districts adjoining the Borough. There are twenty-two members of this Board, two of them, the Mayor of Birmingham, and the Chairman of the Aston Manor Local Board being ex-officio, and the others being elected in the following proportions: Birmingham Town Council eleven; one each from the Local Boards of Aston Manor, Balsall Heath, Handsworth, Harborne, Saltley, and Smethwick; and one each (elected by the respective Boards of Guardians) for Aston Rural District and Sutton Coldfield, King’s Norton and Northfield, and Perry Barr. The Board has charge of the sewage from the districts above named, extending over an area of 45,000 acres. The whole of the sewers are made to converge to a common outlet at Saltley, where the sewage is received into tanks, and is then purified, first by precipitation, and next by passing it through the land of the sewage farm, the effluent water, thus rendered clear and harmless, being poured into the rivers Cole and Tame. The sludge remaining in the sewage tanks is dug into the land. For the purposes of sewage treatment the Drainage Board has acquired about 1,200 acres of land in the Tame Valley. The Board has borrowing powers, exercised to the extent of £400,000 for the acquisition of land and the execution of works; and it has also rating powers for the payment of interest and repayment of capital, and for current expenditure. These powers are exercised by serving precepts upon the several local authorities included in the Drainage area, in proportion to the number of their rated tenements.

The Boards of Guardians have charge of the poor law administration of the Borough. There are three parishes in the Borough, namely, Birmingham, Edgbaston, and part of Aston. The parish of Birmingham is separately administered by a Board of Guardians, originally constituted under a Local Act of 23 Geo. III. (1782) modified by a local Act of 1 and 2 Wm. IV. (1831) and further modified by “orders” of the Poor Law Board, and the Local Government Board; the last of these was issued in 1882. The number of Guardians for the parish is 60, and the twelve overseers (the rating authority for poor law purposes) also have seats on the Board.

The parish of Edgbaston is wholly in the Borough, but it forms part of the King’s Norton Union, and as to the poor law is governed by the Guardians of that Union. The parish of Aston is only partially within the Borough; it is administered by the Guardians of Aston Union. Edgbaston and Aston parochial affairs are governed under the general poor law Acts, there being no local Act for either parish.

The School Board, which consists of fifteen members, was first elected in November, 1870, under the Elementary Education Act passed in that year. It has charge of the Board Schools throughout the Borough.

The above described bodies are all of them representative, but are elected on different franchises, and by different methods.

The Town Council is elected by the votes of all occupiers in the sixteen wards in which the Borough is divided, women householders being entitled to vote; three Councillors being chosen for each ward, and one of the three retiring each year; and the votes being given by ballot. The Drainage Board is elected by the governing authorities. The Guardians of the Poor are chosen, in Birmingham; by ratepayers of £12 annual value, the whole Board being elected at one time, by voting papers delivered at the place of election; and in the other parishes by all occupying householders, by voting papers collected from the electors. The School Board is elected by the votes of all householders, the whole Board retiring at the end of three years, and the votes being taken on the cumulative plan, each elector giving the whole of his votes to one candidate, or dividing them in any other proportion, at pleasure.

Each of the bodies is invested with borrowing and rating powers, limited by local or general acts. The Town Council levies rates on the whole Borough—a Municipal or Borough Rate for general municipal purposes, under the Municipal Corporations Acts, and an Improvement Rate, for purposes specified in the Local Improvement Act. The Drainage Board and the School Board serve precepts upon the Town Council for the amounts they respectively require, and these amounts are included in the Borough Rate. The Guardians of the Poor make rates for their respective parishes for poor law purposes; and they collect, on behalf of the Town Council, the rates levied for municipal expenditure, including the money required by the Drainage Board and the School Board. There is one assessment for local rates, made (under a recent agreement with the Town Council) by the parish overseers.

The preceding statement shortly describes the existing arrangement of local government in Birmingham; but, in order to explain the growth of the system now in operation, it is necessary briefly to sketch the history of local administration. Birmingham has always been what is called a free town, that is, until after the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835, it had no Corporation, with a restricted burgess roll, and consequently the community was open to all who cared to settle in the town for the purposes of residence or trade, a circumstance which largely contributed to the rapid growth of Birmingham in population, industry, and wealth. Down to the year 1769, the government of the place was controlled by the three sets of authorities existing in all non-chartered communities.—1, the justices, to keep the peace, and to punish crime. 2, the court leet (with its elected jury, its high and low bailiffs, its ale tasters, flesh connors, and leather sealers) meeting at irregular intervals, under the direction of the Lord of the Manor, and invested with the care of markets, nuisances, and other matters pertaining to, or interfering with, the rights of the lord. 3, the Churchwardens, who transacted the church and parish business, and held vestry meetings for general town purposes, and for the choice of surveyors of the highways.

In 1769, an Act of Parliament was obtained, constituting a body of Commissioners for the purposes of maintaining, improving, and lighting the town, and invested with general powers affecting the health and safety of the inhabitants, and the common welfare. By subsequent Acts—five in number, the last of these being passed in 1828—the powers of the Street Commissioners were extended, and they were authorised by the last named Act to build a Town Hall. Their authority was confined to what was then known as “the town of Birmingham,” the boundaries of which were co-extensive with the parish of Birmingham. The first Commissioners were named in the Act constituting them, and vacancies were thereafter filled up by the Commissioners themselves, without reference to the inhabitants. The system of local government thus instituted continued unchanged until the year 1838. In 1832, Birmingham was, for the first time, under the provisions of the Reform Act, constituted a Parliamentary borough, with the right of returning two members to the House of Commons. The boundaries of the Borough were so arranged as to include the parish of Birmingham, the parish of Edgbaston, and the hamlets of Deritend and Bordesley, and Duddeston and Nechells, in the parish of Aston, the area thus formed being 8,240 acres. The Parliamentary Reform Act was followed by the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, in 1835. For a considerable time there had been a strong feeling in favour of some completer form of local government than that afforded by the Commissioners Acts, and especially for government founded upon the representative principle. In 1837, steps were taken to obtain a charter of incorporation for the town, under the authority of the Municipal Corporations Act; and in October, 1838, after much opposition, both locally and in Parliament, a charter was granted, and the Corporation of Birmingham came into existence.

The boundaries of the new Municipal Borough were fixed so as to correspond with those of the Parliamentary Borough, above described. The area was divided into thirteen wards (extended in 1873 to sixteen wards), and the Council was constituted of 16 aldermen and 48 councillors. The first elections of councillors took place on the 26th of December, 1838, and on the day following the Council met, and elected the aldermen, the governing body being then fully constituted. Mr. William Scholefield was elected the first Mayor.

Although Birmingham had now obtained a system of representative government, the state of affairs was by no means satisfactory. In the parish of Birmingham the self-elected Commissioners of the Street Act retained their full authority, and in the district of Deritend and Bordesley local government was for certain purposes still exercised by a body of Commissioners constituted by an Act passed in 1791, while Duddeston and Nechells were governed by Commissioners appointed under an Act of 1829. There were consequently four governing bodies within the borough, and the powers of the new Corporation were consequently seriously limited and its action impeded. Other difficulties of a peculiarly embarrassing character speedily developed themselves. The validity of the Charter was contested both in the Law Courts and in Parliament; disputes arose between the Borough Magistracy and the County Bench; hindrances were put in the way of the Court of Quarter Sessions granted for the Borough. In addition to these causes of disquiet the occurrence of the Chartist riots of 1839 furnished a pretext for withdrawing from the Corporation the right of establishing a constabulary or police force for the town, and a special Police Act was passed by which, while paid for by the ratepayers, the police force was placed under the absolute control of a Government Commissioner. In 1842 this perplexing condition of affairs was, however, brought to an end, by the passing of an Act of Parliament confirming the Charters of Birmingham and Manchester, and an Act was also passed transferring to the Corporation of Birmingham the control of the local police force. The powers of the Town Council, however, were still very limited, owing to the conflicting local authorities existing in the Borough, and it became evident in the course of time that, in the public interests, the representative body must finally be made supreme. The minor bodies did not yield without a contest, but in the end the pressure of opinion overcame their resistance, and in 1851 the passing of the Birmingham Improvement Act put an end to all the bodies of Commissioners, and transferred their powers, with others provided by the Act, to the Town Council, as the representative of the ratepayers of the borough, and the Town Council became thenceforward the sole governing authority for all municipal purposes. The Act mentioned further authorised the borrowing of loans for purposes of town improvements and for a system of sewerage, and empowered the Council to levy a special rate for such purposes, in addition to the ordinary municipal rate levied under the Municipal Corporations Act. Ten years later, in 1861, a second Improvement Act invested the Corporation with further powers of administration and of borrowing; and numerous other Acts were subsequently obtained for specific purposes. Among these were the Parks Act, 1854; an order (1873) extending to sixteen the number of Wards in the Borough;—an Act giving the Council power to acquire closed burial grounds and to lay them out as places of public recreation, passed in 1878; Acts for the purchase of the Gas and Water undertakings in 1875; an Act for a Sanitary Improvement Scheme under the provisions of the Artisans’ Dwellings Act, 1876; for the constitution of a Drainage Board, in 1878; and for the issue of Corporation Stock in 1880. The powers of most of these enactments, with additional powers, were embodied in the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act of 1883, which, amongst other provisions, abolished the restriction to one penny in the pound previously imposed upon the Free Libraries Rate (under the General Libraries Act) and authorised the Council to conduct a Municipal School of Art.

The Consolidation Act, therefore, now constitutes the authority under which (in addition to the powers conferred by general municipal law) the government of the borough is now administered. The following statement, extracted from the “History of the Corporation of Birmingham,” explains the scope and working of the system:—

“The municipal government, under the Charter of Incorporation and the Acts of Parliament relating to municipal corporations, is conducted by a council, consisting of forty-eight councillors and sixteen aldermen.

“Three councillors are allotted to and elected by each of the sixteen wards into which the borough is divided, and each councillor is elected for three years, the elections being so arranged that one-third of the councillors (one in each ward) retire every year, and elections for the choice of their successors are held on the first of November. The aldermen are chosen by the members of the Council, and are elected for six years; they may be chosen from amongst the members of the Council, or from fit persons not members of the Council, but who are qualified for election to it. The Mayor is chosen by the Council, on the ninth of November, for a term of one year. Under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, it was obligatory that, at the time of being elected, he should be a member of the Council; but by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882 it is provided (sec. 15) that ‘the Mayor shall be a fit person elected by the Council from among the aldermen or councillors, or persons qualified to be such.’ There is now no property qualification required for any members of the Council.

“The Council, as a whole, is the rating and controlling authority for the Borough. In all matters subjected to its authority it acts upon communications from the Mayor, upon motions made upon its own initiative (regulated by its standing orders for the conduct of business) and upon reports and proposals from the Committees it appoints, and to which it delegates specified branches of municipal work, under such regulations and with such limitations as it may direct.

“These Committees have varied from time to time; at present they are sixteen in number, and are named, constituted, and empowered as follows, taking them in the order in which they are stated in the ‘Borough of Birmingham Municipal Diary,’ issued by the Town Clerk, under the direction of the Council:—

1.—Baths and Parks Committee.—“To have charge of the public baths, parks, gardens, and recreation grounds, and the buildings thereon (excepting the recreation ground in St. Clement’s Road, in charge of the Gas Committee, and the buildings in Adderley Park, in charge of the Free Libraries Committee); to have charge of the trees planted in the streets; to lay out disused burial grounds acquired by the Council; and to arrange for supplies of coal and coke to the several departments of the Corporation, excepting the Lunatic Asylum, Public Works, Gas and Water Committees.

2.—Estates Committee.—“To take charge of all estates and buildings belonging to the Corporation, not in charge of other Committees (including the Council House); to make rules for granting the use of the Town Hall; to sell, let or exchange lands or buildings not required for public purposes, as the Council may resolve; to superintend the arrangements of the Borough Cemetery, and perform the functions of the Burial Board; and to arrange for the acquisition of closed burial grounds.

3.—Finance Committee.—“Generally to have charge of the accounts and financial departments of the Borough, reporting thereon to the Council—and thus to present estimates of income and expenditure for the year; to recommend rates, and to see to the collection of rates; to cause the valuations of rateable property to be maintained, and to hear and decide appeals against assessments; to negotiate loans, and to conduct and manage the Birmingham Corporation Stock, ‘with all the powers conferred upon the Council by the Birmingham Corporation Stock Orders;’ to effect fire insurances, insurances on property belonging to the Corporation (excepting that in charge of the Water and Improvement Committees); to print and issue the Council Minutes; and to make orders upon the Borough Treasurer for payments of interest on loans and annuities, and for accounts for moneys which the several Committees of the Council are authorised to expend.

4.—General Purposes Committee.—“To attend to all business and matters referred to it by the Council, of a general character, not entrusted to the various other Committees, and to suggest to the Council, from time to time, any new business, which, in its opinion, is important to the public interest.

5.—Markets and Fairs Committee.—“To transact all matters relating to the regulation, control, and management of the Markets and Fairs holden in the Borough; to administer the Weights and Measures Act, the Dairies Act (so far as it relates to cow-sheds), and the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act; to regulate slaughterhouses; to inspect meat, game, fish, poultry, and other similar articles of food offered for sale.

6.—Health Committee.—“To exercise the powers conferred by legislation for the regulation of lodging-houses, smoke nuisances, nuisances generally, offensive trades, and infectious diseases; to enforce the powers of the Council with reference to drains, closets, ashpits, &c., to carry out the Acts for preventing adulteration of food and drugs; to have charge of the Small-pox and other Borough Hospitals; to have charge of the collection, removal, and disposal of the night soil of the Borough; to ‘proceed with the work of the interception of the contents of privies and ashpits, so far as the powers of the Council will enable them;’ to enforce the Canal Boats Act, the Factories Act (1883), and the Dairies and Milkshops Orders, so far as relates to dairies and milkshops.

7.—Public Works Committee.—“To have charge of all works connected with draining, paving, maintaining, cleansing, and lighting the streets and roads within the Borough; to submit to the Council (and under its authority to execute) all necessary street alterations and improvements, and to act in all other matters arising out of the Acts and Bye-laws relating to streets and buildings, to fix cab-stands; to take charge of public monuments and statues (excepting the Chamberlain Memorial Fountain in charge of the Water Committee); and to construct and maintain the lines of tramways authorised to be laid within the Borough.

8.—Watch Committee.—“To execute the powers relating to the police force given by law; to take charge of the fire brigade; to execute bye-laws regulating cabs and omnibuses, and to license drivers of such vehicles and of tramway cars; to administer the Steam Whistles Act, the Explosives Act, the Petroleum Acts; to control the public mortuaries; to license marine store dealers; to enforce the provisions of the Consolidation Act (1883) relating to the employment of children, and the means of ingress and egress to and from public buildings; and to enforce the bye-laws for the suppression of shouting in the public streets. [By general Acts of Parliament the Watch Committee is authorised to appoint, dismiss, control, and fix the rate of payment of the police constables.]

9.—Lunatic Asylums Committee.—“To have the management and control of the Lunatic Asylums at Winson Green and Rubery Hill, ‘with all the powers, and subject to all the provisions of the several Acts of Parliament now in force with regard to such lunatic asylums.’

10.—Free Libraries Committee.—“To carry into effect the provisions of the Free Libraries and Museums Act, as amended by the Corporation Consolidation Act (1883); reporting to the Council from time to time for approval.

11.—Industrial School Committee.—“To carry into effect the Industrial Schools Act, and to have charge of the Borough Industrial School (at Shustoke), and the land and buildings connected therewith.

12.—Gas Committee.—“To conduct and manage the Corporation Gas Department, with all the powers conferred upon the Council; reporting from time to time thereon.

13.—Water Committee.—“To conduct and manage the Corporation Water Department, with all the powers conferred upon the Council, reporting from time to time; to have charge of all public fountains; to institute and prosecute proceedings for ‘restraining and preventing the pollution of the river Tame, and of any of the tributaries thereof, of the streams at Witton, Plant’s Brook, and Whitacre, and of all other rivers and streams from which the water supply of the borough is obtained.’

14.—Improvement Committee.—“To receive representations from the Medical Officer of Health with regard to unhealthy areas within the borough, and to submit schemes thereon. To conduct the business arising out of the orders granted under the Artisans’ Dwellings Act, with all the powers thereby vested in the Council, excepting that agreements for sales of land, and for the grant of leases for terms longer than fourteen years, shall be provisional only, until confirmed by the Council, and that no new street shall be laid out, or any existing street widened, until approved by the Council.

15.—Art Gallery Purchase Committee.—“To have the expenditure of £10,000, given by Messrs. Tangye, and of the amounts subscribed in addition thereto, in the purchase of objects of art for the Art Gallery of the Borough.

16.—Museum and School of Art Committee.—“To carry out the powers of the Consolidation Act with reference to the erection of a School of Art, and to superintend the arrangements and completion of the Art Gallery.” This Committee has the charge of the School of Art, and is also empowered to manage the Corporation Art Gallery and Museums.

With the exceptions undermentioned, these committees consist of eight members each. The exceptions are—the Lunatic Asylums Committee (eleven members), the Free Libraries Committee (ten members of the Council and six members elected by the Council outside its own body), the Art Gallery Purchase Committee (consisting of the Free Libraries Committee and nine other members); the Museum and School of Art Committee, which consists of eight members appointed for life by the Society of Arts and School of Art; and the General Purposes Committee, which consists of one member (usually the chairman) elected by each of the committees of the Council. The mayor, by virtue of his office, is a member of all committees.

The Town Council is also invested with a share of the management of the chief educational institutions of the town, with the exception of the School Board. It appoints eight Governors (holding office for six years) on the Board of King Edward the Sixth’s Grammar School; five members (holding office for life) on the Trust of Sir Josiah Mason’s College; and four Governors (appointed annually) on the Council of the Midland Institute, the Mayor for the time being being also a Governor of the Institute, by virtue of his office. It also appoints representative Governors on the governing bodies of Lench’s Trust, and several other charities, and further appoints representative Guardians of the Birmingham Proof House, for the proving of fire-arms.

The progress of Birmingham since the establishment of local representative government is exhibited in the following table:—

	1838.	1884.
Population	170,000	421,000
Parliamentary Elections	7,300	63,718
Burgesses	5,023	74,167
Rateable Value	£407,000	£1,563,000
Rated Tenements	39,000	98,787
Death Rate, 1842 to 1851 yearly average,	24.96
”1872 ” 1881”	23.25
”1882 ” 1884”	21.6