No. 14-1868. to Guardian's Fund. then it shall be lawful for the said council to appoint some competent person, to be approved of by the Civil Commissioner of the division, to appraise the value of the land, buildings, materials, springs, streams, or other supplies of water required, and such person shall make oath before some Justice of the Peace, that he hath to the best of his judgment, fairly appraised such value; and, Value to be paid inthereupon it shall and may be lawful for the said council to pay whatever sum such person shall have valued the land, buildings, materials, springs, streams, or other supplies of water in question at, into the Guardian's Fund, to the credit of the party or parties entitled thereto, subject to the same provisions in all respects which are provided by the Ordinance No. 105, bearing date the 5th July, 1833, in regard to moneys placed in the said fund belonging to the persons absent from the Colony; and the said council, upon so paying the said sum, shall be authorised and entitled to take or to use the land, buildings, materials, springs, streams, or other supplies of water in question as freely as if the said sum had been agreed upon between the parties as the sum to be paid, and as if all acts by law required for vesting in the said council sufficient title to the use of, or property in, the land, buildings, materials, springs, streams, or other supplies of water aforesaid, had been duly done and performed. All questions to be votes. decide by majority 54. All acts hereby authorised or required to be done by the council, and all questions that may come before them, shall, except of as hereinafter excepted, be done and decided by the majority of councillors who shall be present at any meeting at which not less than seven members of the council shall attend: Provided that Sections thirty-six nothing herein contained shall extend to alter or affect the provi- and sixty-four not sions of the thirty-sixth and sixty-fourth sections of this Act. 55. An ordinary meeting of the council shall take place at least once in every week, and all such ordinary meetings shall be open to the public. affected. Ordinary meetings of council. 56. The Mayor may at any time call a special meeting of the Special meetings. council; provided that he cause a notice of the time and place of such intended meeting, specifying the object thereof, and signed by him or by the Town Clerk, to be notified to every councillor, either personally or at his usual place of abode, twenty-four hours at least before such meeting. 57. At every meeting of the council, the Mayor, if present, who to preside. shall preside; in case of his absence, the councillors present shall elect a chairman from among themselves., 58. In all cases of an equality of votes, the Mayor or chairman shall have a second or casting vote. 59. Minutes of the proceedings of every meeting shall be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall be read at the next succeeding meeting, and signed by the person presiding thereat, 60. It shall be lawful for the council to appoint, out of their own body, such and so many committees, either of a general or Chairman to have casting vote. Minutes of proceedings to be kept. Appointment of committees. No. 14-1868. special nature, and consisting of such number of members as may seem fit, for any purpose which, in the judgment of the council, would be better managed by means of a committee: Provided, always, that the proceedings of every such committee shall be subMayor ex-officio a mitted to the council for its approval. The Mayor to be ex-officio member of all such committees. member. Appointment and 61. It shall be lawful for the council, from time to time, to removal of officers. appoint fit persons (not being members of the council) to be Town Clerk and Treasurer, and also to appoint such other officers as they shall think necessary for enabling them to carry into execution the provisions of this Act, and to pay all the officers so to be appointed such salaries as the council shall deem reasonable; and, unless it shall be otherwise stipulated in the contract of service, to remove all such officers, upon a notice of not less than three months, or, in case of misconduct, without any notice. Appointment street-keepers, licemen, &c. of 62. The said council are hereby empowered, from time to time, Licet keepers, po to appoint and employ such number of able-bodied street-keepers and policemen as shall be required for the protection of the inhabitants and property, streets and public places, within the municipality, by day and by night; and to provide all such street-keepers and policemen with such clothing, arms, ammunition, and weapons, and shall appoint to them such duties and hours or times of duty, and shall also make such rules, orders, and regulations, relative to such street-keepers and policemen and their duties, as shall be deemed fit. Le levied. Landlord's rate to 63. (1) For the purpose of raising the means for making new roads, streets, market-places, bridges, drains, sewers, watercourses, reservoirs, aqueducts, and other waterworks, for the purchase of such lands or erection of such buildings as may be required in or about the execution of the powers hereby given to the council, for the purchase of water-pipes, fire-engines, and appurtenances, and for the effecting of all other permanent public works and improvements within the municipality, the council shall have the power, as often as shall be deemed necessary, to make and levy, in manner hereinafter provided, a rate or assessment upon all immovable property within the limits of the municipality, such rate or assessment to be called the " landlords' rate," and to be made and levied on an estimate of the value of such property, to be made as hereinafter provided. Market-dues, water rates, pound fees. 64. (2) For the purpose of raising the means for effecting the repairs of all such works as the council are hereby empowered to have made, for the maintaining of waterworks, fire-engines, police establishments, markets, and pounds, for the payment of salaries and all other ordinary current expenses required to be borne by the municipality, the council shall have power to impose, levy, and recover all such market dues, water rates, and pound fees as No. 14-1868. shall be deemed necessary and reasonable, and shall be authorised by any such municipal regulations as aforesaid; and shall also Tenants' rate. have the power, as often as shall be deemed necessary to make and levy, in manner hereinafter provided, a rate or assessment upon all immovable property within the municipality, such rate or assessment to be called the "tenants' rate," and to be made and levied on the annual value or rental of such property, to be ascertained in manner hereinafter provided: Provided that no Norates to be levied such rate, whether " landlords' rate or "tenants' rate shall be unless made or levied by the council unless there shall be present at the present. meeting at which such rate shall be imposed at least fourteen members of the said council; nor on any immovable property belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, nor on public prisons or Certain property police stations, nor on any buildings appropriated to public worship, nor upon burial-grounds, nor upon any buildings solely appropriated to the purposes of education; and provided, also, that no tenants' rate or assessment shall be imposed upon unoccupied land. members not rateable. rate. fourteen shall be 65. In order to ascertain the value of the rateable property Valuation of prowithin the municipality for the purpose of assessing the landlords' perty for landlords rate, the council shall, on or before the 31st day of January next, and thereafter on or before the 31st day of January in every third year, cause a valuation to be made of all such property, which valuation shall lie open for public inspection at the office of the council for a space of not less than one calendar month, of which due notice shall be given for not less than one month in one or more of the newspapers published in the town of Port Elizabeth. 66. At any time within one calendar month from and exclusive Appeal of the day of the publication of such notice as aforesaid, it shall be valuation. lawful for any person who shall think himself aggrieved thereby, to appeal, in writing, against the same to the council, who shall hold a meeting or meetings, at which not less than five members shall be present, to hear all objections which may be urged against any valuation by any owner or occupier or other person on his behalf, and inquire into the merits of such objections, and shall confirm or correct any valuation objected to as truth and justice shall require Provided that any such meeting may, if necessary, be adjourned from time to time upon the appi cation & any person objecting who shall show reasonable grouna ior not being ready with his proofs, or for the purpose of obtaining further evidence in regard to any case which shall be partly heard. The decision of the council upon any objection to any valuation shall be final and conclusive, and shall not be capable of being reviewed or revised by any Court or proceeding whatsoever: Provided that notice of the holding of any meeting as aforesaid shall be published in one or more of the Port Elizabeth newspapers, and posted in some conspicuous place upon or near the Town-hall, fourteen days before the day appointed therein for the holding of any such meeting. against No. 14--1868. to be assessed. 67. In order to ascertain the annual value or rental of the How tenants' rate rateable property within the municipality for the purpose of assessing the tenants' rate, and also to procure the other information required under the provisions of this section, the council shall, in the month of January in each year, cause a printed schedule to be left at the house of every ratepayer, to be filled up by the occupier, under separate and distinct heads, setting forth the names of the proprietor, the occupier, and all inmates, also the annual rental, or, if no rent be paid, the estimated annual value of the property, and such other particulars as the council may, by any such municipal regulation as aforesaid, require; from which schedules, duly signed by the ratepayers, and to be returned or delivered by them, without demand, to the councillors of their respective wards, within seven days from the date of their being left as aforesaid, the council shall cause a roll of assessment to be made within one month from the said date, upon which the tenants' rate, or rates, of and for the current year shall be levied ; and when, in any ward, any schedule shall not have been returned, or where any of the schedules shall appear to the council to misrepresent the value of the properties, or to be in any other respect incorrect, it shall be competent for the council to cite, by due notice, all persons whom they shall think necessary, to appear before them on a certain day, not earlier than three clear days from the service of such notice, in order to afford any evidence or information in regard to any property or other matter relative to any schedule which shall not have been returned by the ratepayer, or of which the correctness of the return made shall be questioned or disputed; and if such persons shall then neglect to attend for the aforesaid purpose, the council shall fix such annual value on all such properties as may appear just and reasonable, and the valuation so fixed shall be binding on all concerned, and Assessment roll to be incapable of being appealed against: And provided that the be open for public roll of assessment aforesaid shall be open for public inspection at the office of the council for the space of one month; and the council shall give notice, in one or more of the newspapers of the municipality, that the same lies open for inspection; and the provisions of the sixty-sixth section of this Act shall apply to the hearing and deciding upon objections against such roll. inspection. Estimates tobe published. More rates sessed. 68. The council shall annually, in the month of February, than one may be as- make an estimate of the amount of money required for municipal purposes, and shall assess the landlords' rate and tenants' rate accordingly and give public notice thereof in one or more of the newspapers of the municipality, and shall in like manner, if any further or unforeseen expenditure shall become necessary during the same year, make a supplementary estimate thereof, and assess a second or further landlords' or tenants' rate, or landlords' rate and tenants' rate, whereof they shall give public notice in like manner: Provided that it shall not be lawful for the council in No. 14-1868. , limitations. any one year to levy any landlords' rate or rates amounting in the aggregate to more than one penny in the pound on the value of But under certain the immovable property subject to such rates, nor any tenants' rate or rates amounting in the aggregate to more than sixpence in the pound on the annual value or rental of the immovable property assessed, without obtaining the consent of the majority of the ratepayers present and entitled to vote, according to the eighth section of this Act at a public meeting to be called for the purpose of considering such rate or rates; of the object and the time and place of holding such meeting, at least seven days' notice shall be given by publication in one or more of the Port Elizabeth newspapers: Provided, also, that the landlords' and tenants' rate so to be assessed and levied as aforesaid shall always bear the relative proportion of one penny to sixpence; and provided Separate accounts that correct accounts shall be kept, showing separately the mode in of expenditure to be which the landlords' rate and the tenants' rate shall have been respectively expended; and all rates assessed under the provisions of this Act shall be and be deemed to be a charge upon the on property. property, and recoverable against the present or any future owner or occupier thereof. 69. As soon as any rate or rates shall have been assessed as aforesaid, the same shall be payable, and the council shall appoint, under the corporate seal, fit persons to collect such rate or rates, which shall, on non-payment thereof, be recoverable at the suit of any such collector, by action in the Court of the Resident Magistrate of Port Elizabeth, or in case any person liable for any rate shall reside within the district of Port Elizabeth, then either in the Court of the Resident Magistrate of Port Elizabeth, or in the Court of the Resident Magistrate of the district in which such ratepayer shall reside: Provided that as often as any ratepayer not resident in the district of Port Elizabeth shall be proceeded against in the Court of the Resident Magistrate of Port Elizabeth, the summons directed to such ratepayer shall be served upon the person, if any, in occupation of the premises in regard to which the rate alleged to be due is claimed. kept. Rates to be charged Collection and re covery of rates. Owner or occupier may be sued together Owner or occupier may recover, one the other, land 70. In case by reason of the non-payment of any rate, whether landlords' or tenants', it shall be necessary to sue for the same as or separately. in the last preceding section mentioned, the council may, through its collector, and it is hereby authorised, to sue the owner or the occupier, either separately, or both of them in one and the same action, each for the whole rate: Provided, however, that the occupier of any property who shall not at the same time be the from owner thereof, and who shall not have entered into such occupation at in pursuance of a contract or agreement for becoming the owner of the same, shall, in the absence of any written agreement to the contrary, be entitled to retain or recover from such owner the amount of any landlords' rate as aforesaid which such occupier shall have paid; and the owner of any such property shall in like lords' or tenants' |