§ MR. HERBERT LEON (Bucks, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board—(1) whether, in a case where a parish award is in the custody of the clerk of the peace of a county, he has any legal right to charge a parish council a fee for inspecting or taking extracts from it; and (2) whether a parish council, upon providing some safe place, is entitled to the custody of the award?
THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. G. J. SHAW LEFEVRE, Bradford, Central)It is impossible to give a general answer to the first question, as the rights of the clerk of the peace vary according to the 1258 terms of the Act under which the award was made. As a rule, however, a fee is chargeable, and the parish council would have no right to exemption. I may refer generally to the provisions in Section 35 of the General Enclosure Act of 1801, and to the General Enclosure Act, 1845. The parish council are not entitled to the custody of the copy of the award which has been deposited with the clerk of the peace, and which is to be kept with the records of the county.