carrying the provisions of this Act into execution, shall be paid by the local authority; and the amount of such costs, charges, and expenses shall from time to time be certified by the Secretary of State, after first hearing any objections that may be made to the reasonableness of any such costs, charges, and expenses by or on behalf of the local authority; and every certificate of the said Secretary of State certifying the amount of such costs, charges, and expenses, and the amount so certified shall be a debt due from the local authority to the Crown, and shall be recoverable in the same manner as the costs, charges, and expenses contained in any order of the Secretary of State made under section six of the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Improvement (Scotland) Act, 1875.* 28. It shall be lawful for the arbitrator, where he thinks fit, upon the request of any party by whom any claim has been made before him, to certify the amount of the costs properly incurred by such party in relation to the arbitration, and the amount of the costs so certified shall be paid by the local authority; and if within seven days after demand the amount so certified be not paid to the party entitled to receive the same, such amount shall be recoverable as a debt from such local authority, with interest at the rate of five per centum for any time during which the same remains unpaid after such seven days as aforesaid; but no such certificate shall be given where the arbitrator has awarded the same or a less sum than has been offered by the local authority in respect of such claim before the appointment of the arbitrator. Miscellaneous. 29. The arbitrator may call for the pro duction of any documents in the possession or power of the local authority, or of any party making any claim under the provisions of this Act, which such arbitrator may think neces sary for determining any question or matter to be determined by him under this Act, and may examine any such party and his witnesses, and the witnesses for the local authority, on oath, and administer the oaths necessary for that purpose. 30. If any arbitrator appointed in pursuance of this Act die, or refuse, decline, or become incapable to act, the Secretary of State may appoint an arbitrator in his place, who shall have the same powers and authorities as the arbitrator first appointed, and upon the appointment of any arbitrator in the place of an arbitrator dying, or refusing, declining, or becoming incapable to act, all the documents relating to the matter of the arbitration which were in the possession of such arbitrator shall be delivered to the arbitrator appointed in his place, and the local authority shall publish notice of such appointment in the Edinburgh Gazette. 81. All notices required by this schedule to be published shall be published in some one and the same newspaper circulating within the jurisdiction of the local authority, and where no form of service is prescribed, all notices required to be served or given by the local authority, under this schedule or otherwise, upon any persons interested in and entitled to sell lands, shall be served in manner in which notices of lands proposed to be taken compulsorily for the purpose of this Act are directed by this Act to be served upon owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers. 38 & 39 Vict., c. 49, repealed by 53 & 54 Vict., c. 70, which provides that a certificate of costa may be made a rule of a supreme court, and may be enforced accordingly. ACT OF PARLIAMENT ΤΟ Amend and consolidate the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts.-[50 and 51 Vict., c. 42.-16th September 1887.] Whereas it is expedient to amend and consolidate the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, 1867 to 1884: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. Short title.-This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887, and shall apply to Scotland only. 2. Definitions. The following words and expressions in this Act shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction; that is to say, "Burgh" shall include royal burgh, parliamentary burgh, burgh incorporated by Act of Parliament, burgh of regality, burgh of barony, and any populous place or police 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 persons 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: 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 eighty-three, and any Act amending the same: Now the Parish Council and in parishes partly burghal, the Landward Committee,-Local Government Act, 1894, §§ 21 and 23 (2). "Committee" shall mean the committee appointed under any Public Libraries Act affecting Scotland for the time being, or this Act: "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. 3. Repeal-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. 4. Adoption of Act.-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 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.).* 5. If not adopted, no similar procedure for two years.-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.* 6. Expenses of determining as to adoption. 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 * §§ 4 and 5 repealed so far as they relate to burghs, by 57 & 58 Vict., c. 20. 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.* 7. Expenses of carrying Act into execution. 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 eighty-three. 8. Rate not to exceed one penny per pound.—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. 9. Accounts to be open to inspection, and to be audited and published annually. -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 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.† 10. Lands, &c., may be appropriated, purchased, or rented.-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. * § 6 repealed, so far as relates to burghs, by 57 & 58 Vict., c. 20. § 9 repealed, so far as relates to audit of accounts of parochial board, by 57 & 58 Vict., c. 58. 11. Parts of 8 and 9 Vict., c. 19, incorporated.-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. 12. Lands, &c., may be sold or exchanged.-The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, may sell any lands, buildings, or other property vested in them for the purposes of this Act, or exchange the same for any lands, buildings, or other property better adapted for such purposes, and the money arising from such sale, and the property received in exchange, shall be applied and held for the purposes of this Act. 13. Lands, &c., vested in magistrates, &c., and boards.-The lands and buildings so to be appropriated, purchased, or rented, and all other real or personal property whatever, presented to or purchased for any library or museum established under this Act or to which this Act applies, shall in the case of a burgh be vested in the magistrates and council, and in the case of a parish in the board. 14. Powers of borrowing.-The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, may from time to time borrow at interest on mortgage or bend on the security of the rate to be levied in pursuance of this Act, for the purposes thereof, a sum or sums of money not exceeding the capital sum represented by one-fourth part of the library rate, authorised by this Act, capitalised at the rate of twenty years purchase of such sum; and on repayment of such sum or sums, or any part thereof, they may from time to time re-borrow in manner and for the purposes aforesaid, but so that the whole sum borrowed at any one time shall not exceed the amount of the said capital sum after deducting therefrom any sums set apart as a sinking fund as hereinafter provided. 15. Sinking fund.-The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, are hereby required to set apart annually, as a sinking fund for the extinction of capital sums, borrowed under the authority of any library Act in force for the time being, or of this Act, a sum equal to at least one-fiftieth part of the money so borrowed, and such sinking fund shall be from time to time applied in repayment of the money so borrowed, and to no other purpose whatever, and shall be lodged in a joint-stock bank of issue in Scotland, or invested in Government securities, or lent out at interest in the name and at the discretion of the magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, until the same be applied for the purpose before specified. 16. Parts of 10 and 11 Vict., c. 16, incorporated.-The clauses and provisions of the Commissioners Clauses Act, 1847, with respect to the liabilities of the commissioners, and to legal proceedings by or against the commissioners, and with respect to mortgages to be executed by the commissioners, excepting sections eighty-four, eighty-six, and eighty-seven, shall, unless herein expressly varied, be incorporated with this Act, and the several words and expressions, to which by the last recited Act meanings are assigned, shall in this Act have the same respective meanings, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction; and the expression "the special Act" used in such clauses |