Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/142

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124
Western Australia.

the Council, provided that they have paid all municipal rates and assessments, and have not received public relief during the year. Property rated below £25 qualifies for one vote, under £30 for 2, under £75 for 3, and above that amount for 4. All persons qualified as voters are also qualified as Councillors, but the Chairman must have the qualification to serve on the Grand Jury required by the Jury Act of 1871. Uncertificated and undischarged bankrupts or persons holding office of profit under or having interest in any contract with the Council, are excluded.

The Municipal Councils have power over roads, drains, wharves, public buildings, pounds, boundaries, fences, as well as over all sanitary regulations, whether for food or otherwise, and to appoint Inspectors, make rates, and borrow money for such purposes.

There are Municipalities at Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Fremantle, Geraldton, Guildford, Newcastle, Perth, and York.

By the District Roads Act, 1871, amended in 1876, voters for members of Roads Boards must be seised as in occupation of rateable property within the district to the value of £5, 1 vote for under £10, 2 for under £25, 3 for under £50, and 4 for £50 and upwards. These Boards have not only the care of repairing and making roads and raising money for those purposes, but also {Act No. 12, 1875) of "making regulations directing the manner in which the leading horses in teams shall be driven or yoked."

Schools.—Schools, assisted by Government, were established in Perth and Fremantle in 1833, but the first systematic attempt to organise public schools was made in 1847, when the Governor issued a commission