See the General Note at Top of page 47.

Burgh administered wholly or partly under any general or local Police Act, and the boundaries of such Burgh shall, for the purposes of this Act, be the boundaries to which such general or local Police Act extends:

"Parish' shall mean a Parish for which a separate poor rate is or can be imposed, or for which a separate Parochial Board is or can be appointed, and shall be exclusive of the area of any Burgh or part of a Burgh situated therein : "Householders shall mean, in the case of a Burgh, all per

sons whose names are entered on the Municipal Register, and in the case of a Parish, all persons entitled to vote in the election of a School Board in such Parish, under the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and any Act amending the same:

35 and 36 Vict. c. 62.

"Magistrates and Council" shall be applied collectively, and not separately, and shall include Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council, Magistrates and Commissioners of Police, and any other body of persons for the time being in office, by authority of whom the Burgh General Assessment is levied ; and where in any Burgh the Magistrates and Council form a corporate body, and there is also in the same Burgh a Board of Commissioners of Police by whom the Burgh General Assessment is levied, the words "Magistrates and Council" shall, as regards the levying and recovering of the library rate, apply to such Commissioners of Police, but in every other respect it shall apply to such corporate body of Magistrates and Council:

"Chief Magistrate" shall include Provost, and shall apply to any Magistrate legally acting as Chief Magistrate for the time being:

"Board" shall mean the Parochial Board acting under the Act Eighth and Ninth Victoria, chapter 83, and any Act amending the same :

"Committee " shall mean the Committee appointed under any Public Libraries Act affecting Scotland for the time being, or this Act:

See the General Note at Top of page 47.

Municipal Register" shall mean the register, list, or roll of persons entitled to vote in an election of Town Councillors or Commissioners of Police, in a Burgh, made up according to the law in force for the time being:

Burgh General Assessment" shall mean an assessment which, under any general or local Police Act, shall be applicable to the general purposes of such Act:

Library Rate" shall mean the rate or assessment authorised by this Act for the purpose of carrying the Act into execution :

Libraries and Museums" and "Libraries or Museums" shall include Schools for Science, Art Galleries, and Schools for Art, and these expressions, or either of them, when used in the singular, shall include a School for Science, an Art Gallery, and a School for Art:

Words importing the masculine gender shall, when applied to householders, include female householders.

REPEAL.

30 and 31 Vict. c. 37; 34 and 35 Vict. c. 59; 40 and 41 Vict. c. 54; 47 and 48 Vict. c. 37. 50 and 51 Vict. c. 85.

3. The Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, 1867 to 1884, so far as the same relate to Scotland, are hereby repealed; but such repeal shall not invalidate or affect anything already done in pursuance of these Acts, or any of them, and all Burghs and Parishes in Scotland which before the passing of this Act have adopted the recited Acts shall thereafter be subject to the provisions of this Act: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall prejudice or affect the provisions of the Edinburgh Public Library Assessment Act, 1887.

ADOPTION OF ACT.

4. Upon the requisition in writing of the Magistrates and Council of any Burgh, or of ten or more householders in any Burgh or Parish, the Chief Magistrate of such Burgh, or in the case of a Parish, the Sheriff of the County in which such Parish or the greater part of the area thereof is situated, shall ascertain the opinions of the householders in such Burgh or Parish as to

See the General Note at Top of page 47.

the adoption of this Act in the manner set forth in Schedules (A.) or (B.) hereto annexed, which Schedules shall be construed and have effect as part of this Act, provided that where in any Burgh the number of householders exceeds three thousand, the Chief Magistrate shall adopt the procedure, by way of voting paper, set forth in Schedule (A.), but in any other case it shall be optional to the Chief Magistrate or to the Sheriff, as the case may be, to adopt such procedure by way of voting paper, or the procedure by way of public meeting, set forth in Schedule (B.).

IF NOT ADOPTED, NO SIMILAR PROCEDURE FOR TWO YEARS.

5. In the event of the householders determining by a majority of votes that this Act shall be adopted in any Burgh or Parish, the same shall from thenceforth come into operation therein; but if by a majority of votes they shall determine against the adoption, the like procedure shall not take place for the space of at least two years from the date of such determination.

EXPENSES OF DETERMINING AS TO ADOPTION.

6. The expenses of the procedure for determining as to the adoption of this Act shall, if the Act be not adopted, be paid, in the case of a Burgh, out of the Burgh General Assessment, and in the case of a Parish, out of the assessment for the relief of the poor in such Parish, or where there is no such assessment, by a rate which the Board are hereby empowered to levy and recover for this purpose, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as are applicable to the Library Rate; but if the Act shall have been adopted the expenses of the procedure under which it has been adopted shall be payable out of the Library Rate, and it shall be in the power of the Chief Magistrate or of the Sheriff, as the case may be, immediately upon the adoption of the Act to borrow such sum or sums as may be necessary to defray such expenses on the security of the Library Rate to be afterwards levied.

See the General Note at Top of page 47. EXPENSES OF CARRYING ACT INTO EXECUTION.

7. The expenses of carrying this Act into execution, when adopted, including all sums payable in respect of interest and sinking fund for money authorised to be borrowed, and all sums necessary for the maintenance and management of the Libraries and Museums established under this Act, or to which this Act applies, or for the purchase of the articles and things authorised by this Act to be purchased, shall be paid out of the Library Rate, which shall be levied and recovered, in the case of a Burgh, by the Magistrates and Council, from the same description of persons and property, and with and under the like powers, provisions, and exceptions as the Burgh General Assessment, and in the case of a Parish by the Board, from the same description of persons and property, and with and under the like powers, provisions, and exceptions as the assessment leviable under the Act Eighth and Ninth Victoria, Chapter 83.

RATE NOT TO EXCEED ONE PENNY PER POUND.

8. The amount of the Library Rate to be levied in any year shall in no case exceed the sum of one penny in the pound of yearly rent or annual value as appearing on the valuation roll, and where, under the provisions of any general or local Police Act, the Burgh general assessment is or may be levied at a higher rate upon lands or premises above a certain fixed rent than upon lower rented lands or premises, such provisions, so far as they authorise such differential rate, shall not be applicable to or affect the Library Rate.

ACCOUNTS TO BE OPEN TO INSPECTION, AND TO BE AUDITED AND PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.

9. The Magistrates and Council of a Burgh, or the Board of a Parish, as the case may be, shall provide and keep books in which shall be entered true and regular accounts of their receipts, payments, and liabilities with reference to the execution of this Act, which books shall, at all reasonable times, be open, without fee or reward, to the inspection of every person liable to be assessed for the Library Rate; and the Magistrates

See the General Note at Top of page 47.

and Council or Board, as the case may be, shall cause such accounts to be annually audited by one or more competent auditors, not being members of the Committee, after which audit the accounts shall be signed by two of the Magistrates and Council, or two members of the Board, as the case may be, and an abstract thereof similarly signed shall be printed and shall be inserted in one or more newspapers published or circulated in the Burgh or Parish.

LANDS, &c., MAY BE APPROPRIATED, PURCHASED, OR RENTED.

10. The Magistrates and Council or Board, as the case may be, may from time to time appropriate, for the purposes of this Act, any lands or buildings vested in them, and may, out of the Library Rate, or out of money borrowed as herein provided, purchase, feu, or rent any land, or any suitable building; and may, upon the land so appropriated, rented, feued, or purchased, erect any building suitable for Public Libraries, Public Museums, Schools for Science, Art Galleries, and Schools for Art, or for any one or more of those objects, and may alter or extend any buildings for such purposes, and repair and improve the same respectively, and fit up, furnish, and supply the same respectively with all requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences.

PARTS OF 8 AND 9 VICT., CAP. 19 INCORPORATED.

11. The clauses and provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, with respect to the purchase of lands by agreement, and with respect to the purchase money or compensation coming to parties having limited interests, or prevented from treating or not making title, and with respect to conveyances of lands, so far as such clauses and provisions are applicable to purchases, feus, or leases authorised by this Act, and are not herein expressly varied, shall be incorporated with this Act; and the expression "the special Act" used in such clauses and provisions shall be construed to mean this Act; and the expression "the promoters of the undertaking" used in such clauses and provisions shall be construed to mean the Magistrates and Council, or the Board, as the case may be.