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parishes may be grouped together under a common parish council by order
of the county council if the parish meetings of each parish consent. An
annual parish meeting in every rural parish must be held on the 25th day
of March or within seven days before or after that date; and if there is
no parish council, there must be at least one other parish meeting in
the year. At the annual parish meeting the parish council, if there is
one, is elected, and the members of the council, who originally held
office for one year only, now, under a subsequent act, hold office for
three years. Any person who is a parochial elector, or who has for
twelve months preceding the election resided in the parish, or within 3
m. thereof, may be elected parish councillor, and the number of
councillors is to be fixed from time to time by the county council, not
being less than five nor more than fifteen. Women, whether married or
single, are eligible.

Powers to appoint overseers.

The council are elected in manner provided by the rules of the Local
Government Board. The rules now in force will be found in the
_Statutory Rules and Orders_. They are very similar to those which are
in force with reference to the elections of district councils, which
have already been noticed. If a poll is demanded, it must be taken
under the Ballot Act, as applied by the rules, and for all practical
purposes it may be taken that the election proceeds in the same manner
as that of a district council. The parish council elects a chairman
annually. He may be one of their own number, or some other person
qualified to be a parish councillor. The council is a body corporate,
may hold land in mortmain, and can appoint committees for its own
parish or jointly with any other parish council. Among the powers
conferred upon a parish council are those of appointing overseers and
of appointing and revoking the appointment of assistant overseers.
Churchwardens are no longer overseers, and the parish council may
appoint as overseers a number of persons equal to the number formerly
appointed as overseers and churchwardens. It may be useful to mention
here that for purposes of the administration of the poor law,
overseers no longer act, their duties in that respect having been
superseded by the guardians. They remain, however, the rating
authority so far as regards the poor rate and nearly all other rates,
the exceptions being th