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This chapter discusses the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858 by suburbs of Huddersfield. Moldgreen was the first locality in the Huddersfield area to adopt the Local Government Act. It was followed within the next few years by a rush of others. The first group consists of four townships named in the Huddersfield Act of 1848 which lived under the immediate threat of being brought within the jurisdiction of the Improvement Commissioners: Marsh, Fartown, Deighton, and Bradley. The second group includes places lying just a little way further outside the town, which were also incorporated with it in 1868, and the third includes more remote towns and villages which were in no danger of being absorbed by Huddersfield in the 19th century.

This chapter focuses on the Local Government Act of 1858. It was a versatile piece of legislation, which could be adopted by any representative council, or body of commissioners, and places which already possessed local Acts were allowed, like Ryde, to lay down the law in exchange for the general Act, or, like Ventnor, and to a lesser extent Huddersfield, to pick and choose their way through the clauses of the general Act and the model clauses Acts which were embodied in it, taking what they judged they needed to supplement their present powers. The most important feature of the Act was the recognition of the existence of places like Sandown, which were unable to afford a private Act, and unwilling to subject themselves to a General Board of Health. There was still a huge unrealised potential for self-government, and the Local Government Act promised to refresh parts of the body politic which other Acts of parliament had been unable to reach.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858 by ratepayers of East Cowes, Sandown, and Shanklin in the Isle of Wight. In East Cowes, the Local Government Act was adopted in October 1859. Plans were made to construct sewers and a reservoir to supply East Cowes with water. In Sandown, the Local Government Act was formally adopted on 25 August 1860. The Act gave the board power to treat with a company for the supply of water, and a prospectus was brought forward for a new water company. Sandown's example was rapidly followed by Shanklin, which formally adopted the Act on 23 April 1863.

This chapter discusses the ways in which parliament handled the problems of central-local government relations in the middle of the 19th century. One general principle which does seem to have been observed was that of encouraging the spread of ratepayers' and representative institutions. After 1828 parliament insisted on both public general and in private Bill legislation. Finally, in 1858, parliament passed the Local Government Act, which placed before every locality a permissive public bathhouse, or a permissive public library along streets lit by permissively installed gas-lamps.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858 in Ventnor and Newport in the Isle of Wight. The Ventnor Commissioners picked and chose among the options made available to them under the Local Government Act. The first thing the Commissioners did was to adopt the fifth portion of clause 44 of the Act, which gave them powers to police public bathing. On 11 December 1860, they adopted clauses 51 to 53 which would allow them to carry water-mains through the streets, and empowered a water company to sell its works to the Board. In October 1863, the Commissioners voted by the necessary two-thirds majority 10–5 to adopt the Act. It was not until September 1866 that the Town Council of Newport began to take the Local Government Act seriously. In January 1867, the committee reported unanimously in favour of the adoption of the Act.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Public Health Act of 1848 and the Local Government Act of 1858 in Ryde. In 1847, when parliament was getting to grips with the problem of town improvement and public health, the Ryde Commissioners were obliged to obtain a second Act, which released them from the obligation to pay off one-twentieth of all the money they had borrowed every year. But the Act did nothing to change the composition of the Commissioners. In Ryde, there was a strong feeling that the nonrepresentative system ought to be changed to allow the smaller ratepayers and occupiers a voice in the government of their own. The passage of the Public Health Act of 1848 allowed this feeling an expression. The public health party came to terms with the Commissioners that the local Act would incorporate all the important clauses of the Public Health Act of 1848, including the election of Commissioners. In October 1859, the Ryde Commissioners also adopted the Local Government Act of 1858 to increase their powers of borrowing.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Public Health Act of 1848 and the Local Government Act of 1858 in Moldgreen. Moldgreen is a suburb of Huddersfield and lay mainly in the township of Dalton. By the late 1850s it was said to have a population of between 4,000 and 5,000, and people were pouring into Moldgreen and Dalton, where they could dwell in cellars and where the lodging-houses were uncontrolled. This, in turn, meant that Moldgreen was beginning to have a public health problem, and in 1857, a group of residents resolved to invoke the Public Health Act of 1848. However, the principle reason why the petitioners wanted to bring Moldgreen within the operation of the Public Health Act was that they believed that this would help them to obtain a regular supply of fresh water. The public health party also petitioned for the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858. After over two years of vigorous politicking Moldgreen finally became a locality in its own right, and the reformers found themselves in a position of responsibility.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858 by towns and villages connected to Huddersfield by trade and business. The annual reports submitted to parliament by the Local Government Act Office show that, already by 1860, Kirkheaton, Kirkburton, Shepley, Austonley, Holme, Meltham, and Marsden in Almondbury had passed resolutions adopting the Act. Within the year, they were joined by Cartworth, Upperthong, Golcar, and Linthwaithe. Many more townships followed when it became clear that the only way of escaping the threat of being forced into a Highway Union by the Justices was to adopt the Local Government Act.

This chapter discusses the various methods employed by the localities and centre of the Isle of Wight to deal with problems of town improvement and public health. Four towns — Newport, West Cowes, Ryde, and Ventnor — possessed local Acts. In Whippingham and West Cowes, ratepayers took advantage of the Health of Towns Act of 1848 and petitioned the General Board to establish a Local Board of Health, and West Cowes secured one. The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted by meetings of ratepayers of in East Cowes, Sandown, and Shanklin. Finally, the elected Commissioners at Ventnor and the elected Town Council at Newport adopted the Act hesitantly in stages.

This chapter focuses on the passage of the Local Government Act of 1858, which abolished the General Board of Health. The drafting of a Bill to amend the Public Health Act of 1848 in such a way as to make it possible to abolish the General Board was begun in 1857 by Palmerston's stepson, W. F. Cowper, who had succeeded Sir Benjamin Hall as President of the Board of Health. The new Act, which came into force in September 1858, was known as the Local Government Act. The Act enabled the localities to continue to take advantage of the powers contained in the Public Health Act of 1848 in the new circumstances which would exist when the General Board was finally abolished.

This chapter discusses the adoption of the Local Government Act of 1858 by the remaining suburbs in Huddersfield. A second group of localities which had not been named in the 1848 Improvement Act consisted of Longwood, which adopted the Local Government Act on 27 February 1860, followed by Lindley cum Quarmby, 16 March 1860, Newsome, 14 August 1862, Almondbury, 30 October 1862, and Lockwood, 5 February 1863.

This chapter discusses the relations between philanthropic institutions and the State in the 1930s. As a result of the depression and the associated political uncertainty, the King's Fund decided to expand its activities and propaganda. This chapter also discusses the Local Government Act (1929), a disturbing piece of legislation to the King's Fund and its allies. It did more to unsettle relations between the voluntary and public hospital sectors. Its aim was to dismantle the old Poor Law system and bring Poor Law infirmaries and fewer hospitals into line with municipal provision under control of elected local authorities. The Fund then produced a memorandum, signed by Whitley on the future relations between the voluntary and municipal hospitals under the new legislation.

While the movement may have experienced setbacks at home during 1918, the movement progressed in various other countries as the British parliament approved Acts that would have applied in local authorities and parliament elections in Ireland, and in local education authorities across Scotland, India, and in the United Kingdom. These developments may have been initiated from the events that happened in the north-west town of Sligo in Ireland as heavily rated citizens were often outvoted in local elections. Courtney and Lubbock articulated criticisms about how the Local Government Act of 1898 in Ireland failed to include the representation of minorities. Because several ratepayers stopped their attempts at gaining representation in the council and focused their attention more on outside issues, the Ratepayers Association was established.