Public Assistance Act, 1939

Boards of public assistance.

10.—(1) In every public assistance district which consists of a county borough and a joint district in a county adjoining such county borough, a board of public assistance shall be established to be the public assistance authority for such public assistance district.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to every board of public assistance established in pursuance of this section, that is to say:—

(a) the board shall be styled and known as “the Board of Public Assistance for” with the name of the public assistance district for which such board is the public assistance authority;

(b) the board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and shall provide itself with and shall have a common seal;

(c) the board shall consist of such number of persons as the Minister shall from time to time appoint and such persons shall be elected in such proportions as the Minister shall similarly appoint by the corporation of the county borough included in such public assistance district and by the council of the county in which the joint district included in such public assistance district is situate;

(d) those members of the board who are elected by the corporation of a county borough shall be members of the city council for such county borough;

(e) those members of the board who are elected by a council of a county shall be members of such council;

(f) the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act shall apply and have effect in relation to the board;

(g) subject and without prejudice to the Rules set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act, the Minister may by order make regulations in relation to the conduct of the business and the order of the proceedings at meetings of the board, and every such regulation shall have effect according to the tenor thereof;

(h) whenever any difficulty arises in regard to an election of members of the board or the first meeting of the board after an election (other than an election to fill a casual vacancy) of all or any of the members of the board, or by reason of a defect in the constitution of the board arising in consequence of an election of all or some of the members of the board not being held or being defective or in consequence of any other matter or thing, the Minister may by order do any thing which appears to him to be necessary or proper to meet or remove such difficulty and in particular, may by such order, if he so thinks proper, provide for the holding of an election of all or some of the members of the board or for the holding of a meeting of the board.