§ SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAGGREEI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if his attention has been called to the fact that a number of clocks in towers of churches and other buildings abutting on public thoroughfares are not kept going for want of the necessary funds; and that, as the borough councils and other local authorities do not possess the power of defraying the cost of winding them and keeping them in repair, will he consider the advisability of conferring upon them such power in cases in which they think fit to set the clocks going for the convenience of the public.
§ MR. WALTER LONGOutside London, the council of any borough or other urban district can, under the powers conferred by Section 165 of the Public Health Act, 1875, provide a public clock, 1103 and they can maintain a clock so provided. Further, they can, if they adopt Part III. of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, pay the reasonable cost of repairing, maintaining, winding up, and lighting any public clock in their district, although it is not vested in them. A rural district council can, on application, be invested with these powers by an Order of the Local Government Board. As regards London, Section 65 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1903, confers on every Metropolitan borough council powers similar to those possessed by borough councils outside London under the enactments above-mentioned.