ated
by the schedules to the bill, of common-councillors should be chosen
in each ward. In all the rest of the boroughs it was proposed that the
whole common-council should be elected for three years. They were to be
elected for three years; but one-third were to go out of office every
year, thus taking care that two-thirds of the common-council should
have experience in the transaction of town business. The mayor was to be
elected annually, and he was to be, during the time of his mayoralty,
a justice of peace for the borough and likewise for the county. The
town-council was to have the power of appointing a town-clerk and
treasurer, and it was left to their option whether they would retain
their present town-clerks in their office. If, however, another was
chosen, and the dismissal of the present town-clerk was attended with
any pecuniary loss to the individual, he was to receive compensation.
All the old modes of acquiring the freedom of a corporation, such
as birth and apprenticeship, were to be abolished; but all pecuniary
rights, such as rights of common, exemption from tolls, &c., would
be preserved to the persons now enjoying them, during their lives; in
future, however, no person should be a burgess, or admitted into the
corporations, except in consequence of the permanent occupancy of a
house, and the payment of the borough rates. All exclusive rights of
trade were to be abolished, due regard being paid to the pecuniary
interests of existing individuals. It was proposed, touching the
pecuniary affairs of corporations, that town-councils should have the
power to appoint committees in order to manage their financial matters;
that their accounts should be regularly audited; and that they should
no longer be secret accounts, but regularly brought before the public.
Town-councils were further to become the trustees of charitable funds,
appointing a committee, if they thought proper, to manage them. For the
management o? these funds a separate secretary and treasurer was to
be appointed, and provision was made for auditing them in a different
manner from the general accounts of the borough. The number of persons
chosen for the management of these charitable estates were not to be
less than fifteen, and they were to be chosen from among the general
body of burgesses. The police, as far as regarded the watching of the
towns, were to be placed under the control of the town-council.
The power of granting alehouse licence