XXIII. VICTORIA. 1860. determining the contributions to be paid by the various parishes and places within the district. At a meeting Overseers of of the Board on 4th August, 1856, it was resolved, "That the expense of keeping the pavement in repair, and every other expense, ought to be charged in the same manner on each parish, in proportion to its rateable value; but that, as some portions of the district were not paved at all, and other portions were very insufficiently paved, the expense of bringing the paving of those portions of the district into as good a condition as the well paved portions of the district ought to be borne by the parishes in which those unpaved or insufficiently paved portions were situate." At a meeting of the Board on 23rd February, 1857, it was resolved, "That the recommendation of the Finance Committee, as to a call to be made upon the several parishes and places within the district, be approved and adopted." The call upon Whitechapel was for the sum of 22251. for a general rate, and for the sum of 456l. 11s. 9d. for a sewers' rate. At a meeting of the Board on 2nd March, 1857, the clerk laid before the Board the several contribution orders directed to the overseers of the several parishes within the district, which had been prepared by him for the several amounts determined upon at the last meeting of the Board, and which, upon reference to the minutes of the last mentioned meeting, were found to be correct. It was then resolved, "That the common seal of the Board be affixed to such several contribution orders, and that Messrs. Soper and Freeman be the members of the Board, in addition to the Chairman, to attest the affixing of the seal of the Board thereto." The common seal of the Board was then affixed to such several orders, and the affixing of the seal was attested by the Chair ST. BOTOLPH, V. WHITE CHAPEL Board of 1860. ALDGATE, V. WHITE CHAPEL Board of Works. man, by Messrs. Soper and Freeman and by the clerk. Overseers of The above sum of 22251., charged to the parish of ST. BOTOLPH, Whitechapel under the general rate, is composed of its share of the call, according to rateable value, and of a sum of 855l. 4s. 9d., being a sum required for special paving, chargeable exclusively on Whitechapel, according to the aforesaid resolution of 4th August, 1856. The other sums mentioned in the recommendation of the Finance Committee, with the exception of 2851. for bond debt and interest charged exclusively upon the parish of The Holy Trinity, Minories, represent the shares of the call, according to rateable value, payable by each parish in the district. Prior to and at the time of passing of The Metropolis Management Act, 1855, the said parish of St. Botolph without Aldgate had been and was separately rated for drainage, paving, cleansing, lighting and other purposes named in the said Act for the better local management of the Metropolis, except sewerage; and the affairs of the said parish in respect of those matters were managed under and by virtue of the provisions of a local Act of Parliament, 47 G. 3. c. xxxviii. (a), intituled "An Act for more effectually paving the streets, and other places, within that part of the parish of St. Botolph Aldgate, which lies in the county of Middlesex, and part of a street called East Smithfield, in the precinct of Saint Catherine, and for cleansing, lighting, and watching the same, and for preventing annoyances therein." (This Act was to be taken as part of the case.) If each parish in the Whitechapel district had been required to contribute to the sewers' rate and the general rate for the district, upon the principle of apportioning the whole amount of those (a) Local and personal, public. 1860. ST. BOTOLPH, V. WHITE CHAPEL Board of Works. rates among the several parishes in the district, according to the outlay for those purposes respectively, or accord- Overseers of ing to the benefit directly derived by such parishes respectively therefrom, and not, as was done, upon the principle of requiring each parish to contribute according to its rateable value only, then the sum to be contributed by the parish of St. Botolph without Aldgate, both as regarded the sewers' rate and the general rate, would have been considerably less than the sum which, by the said order of 2nd March, 1857, the said parish was required to contribute towards the said rates respectively. Upon this state of facts the overseers contended that the order of 2nd March, 1857, was made upon an erroneous principle, both as regarded the sum to be contributed for sewers' rate, and the sum to be contributed for general rate, and that it was null and void. On the other hand, the Board contended that the order was made upon a correct principle, and also that they had determined the proportion of benefit according to their discretion, and that their decision was conclusive. The magistrate, being of opinion that the said order was a good and valid order, as regarded both the said rates, gave judgment for the complainants, and ordered his warrant to issue for levying the amount mentioned in the said order, by distress and sale of the goods of the said overseers. The question for the opinion of the Court was, Whether the said order of 2nd March, 1857, was a valid order: it being admitted that, if the order was valid, the magistrate was right in directing a warrant to be issued as aforesaid. And it was agreed that no technical objections were to be taken on either side, but the case was to be decided on the merits. 1860. ALDGATE, V. WHITE- Sir Richard Bethell, Attorney General, for the re Overseers of spondents. The order of 2nd March, 1857, was good ST. BOTOLPH, and valid. It was one object of The Metropolis Management Act, 1855, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120., by dividing the Metropolis into districts, each including several parishes, to put an end to the old system of parochial government, and to secure the benefits derivable from the imposition of rates on wider areas than mere separate parishes. The Board constituted for any such district has, under the Act, to determine what amount is required to be levied for the general expenditure of the district; and that amount is to be charged upon the several parishes constituting the district, in proportions to be determined, not by the outlay in each, but by the aggregate rateable value of the property in each. There is nothing in the Act to shew that the criterion of outlay or direct benefit is to be adopted in determining the rateability of each parish. For rating purposes, the whole district is to be treated as though it were a single parish; through all the parts of which a parochial rate would be equally distributed. The question turns upon the proper construction of sects. 158 and 159. Sect. 158 enacts that "Every vestry and district board shall from time to time, by order under their seal, require the overseers of their parish, or of the several parishes in their district, to levy, and to pay over to the treasurer of such vestry or board, or into any bank in such order mentioned, and within the time or times thereby limited, the sums which such vestry or board may require for defraying the expenses of the execution of this Act (and such orders may be made wholly or in part in respect of expenses already incurred, or of expenses to be thereafter incurred); and every such vestry and board shall distinguish in their orders sums required XXIII. VICTORIA. for defraying expenses of constructing, altering, main- 1860. Overseers of ST. BOTOLPH, ALDGATE, V. WHITE- |