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A synopsis of a paper by
JOHN A. WALKER, K.C.
MR. WALKEN states that our
Municipal Institutions are modeled rather after the plan adopted in New
England, where "greater importance is placed upon the Township as
distinguished from the County system," the allotment of land to disbanded
soldiers and their taking up and settling of same necessitated the formation
of Townships, not so much for the purpose of government as for designation
of specific areas or surveys. The practice of gathering at town meetings to
discuss the building of roads and other local affairs prepared the ground
work for the organization of the municipal system as later determined and
adopted. These early townships were designated by numbers until perhaps they
were old enough to name.
On July 24, 1788, the
Governor-General, Sir Guy Carleton divided Upper Canada into four districts,
Lunenburg, Mechlenburg, Nassau and Hesse; the first Legislature in 1792
changed the names to Eastern, Midland, Home and Western respectively.
Quoting Mr. Walker’s words:
The same Act provided for the erection of a Gaol and Court House in each
District, according to plans to be selected by the Magistrates in Quarter
Sessions. The lowest tender for the buildings was to be accepted if the
contractor furnished sufficient security. The Sheriff was to be Gaoler and
it was specially enjoined that he should not be licensed to sell liquor
within the Gaol.
The Constitutional Act of
1791 authorized the Lieutenant Governor to divide each Province into
districts, counties or circles, and determine their limits for the purpose
of choosing representatives for the Legislature. Accordingly,
Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe issued his proclamation dividing Upper Canada
into nineteen counties; Essex and Suffolk, two of these countries, adjoined
each other and were entitled to return one member. Kent was the nineteenth
county and comprised all the territory not included in the other counties.
It extended northerly to the limits of the Province and westerly to include
Detroit and other portions of Michigan, and was entitled to two members, the
first two being elected at Detroit in 1792.
The second Act of the second
session of this parliament provided that two Justices of the Peace within a
parish or township or other place might issue their warrant to a constable
authorizing him on the first Monday in March to assemble all resident
householders, liable to assessment, in such parish or township, in the
parish church or other convenient place, for the purpose of choosing parish
or town officers, a clerk, two assessors, a collector of taxes, and from two
to six persons to serve as overseers of highways and pound-keepers, at that
time very important and necessary officials, who were authorized to impound
cattle trespassing on lands properly fenced, and, further to appoint two
persons to serve as Church Wardens. A subsequent Act gave other powers to
the inhabitant householders in their annual town meetings, but it was many
years before these powers were much enlarged. Magistrates in Quarter
Sessions exercised many privileges in managing and regulating the. local
affairs of towns and parishes, but this method proving unsatisfactory and
irksome to the people, changes were agitated and pressed for, and, from time
to time, separate special Acts were passed bestowing special municipal
authority on towns. The first so favored was the Town of Brockville, which
in procured an act to be passed establishing a "Board of Police" giving the
people control of the Town’s affairs. The Town was divided into two wards,
each entitled to elect two members of this body. The electors were the
tenants or freeholders within the ward rated from the assessment roll; the
fifth member was to be appointed by a majority vote of the four elected,
and, if they could not make a choice, the electors of the Town were to make
the choice. The five members thus constituted elected one of their number
President. Both electors and elected were required to possess a property
qualification. The corporation thus
constituted was given very considerable powers. It could make rules and
regulations for its government, appoint officers, levy rates and pass
by-laws for the good order and general government of the
Town. Thus Brockville blazed the way. Other
towns soon followed, Hamilton, Belleville, Cornwall, Cobourg and many
others, and in 1834, Toronto, or York, as it was then known, procured an
extension of its limits and was formed into a city to be called the City of
Toronto, divided into five wards and power given it to elect a Mayor,
aldermen and common councilmen. Two aldermen and two councillors were to be
elected for each ward and these were to elect the Mayor. Should their votes
be equally divided the member with
the highest assessment gave the casting vote. Very extensive powers were
given which we will not take time to recite and only refer to these acts to
indicate the trend of public opinion.
While the cities were thus
successfully securing a measure of municipal freedom by Special Acts of the
Legislature, there was very little advancement made towards this object in
the rural districts. There the Justices of the Peace in General Sessions
continued to control all local affairs much as they liked. True, the
electors at town meetings soon were accorded the privilege of electing fence
viewers, pound-keepers and road overseers, or commissioners, and, later on,
other officers, but these officers were not entrusted with sufficient
authority for efficient municipal control, and the power of taxation and the
right to raise rates remained with the Quarter Sessions. Matters were in
this position when the rebellion broke out, and afterwards came the vigorous
report of Lord Durham, in which he strongly recommended the establishment of
local municipal institutions.
In 1841 the parliament of the United
Provinces passed the first general Municipal Act establishing municipal
authority, which Act was introduced and piloted by the Honourable S. B.
Harrison, the Provincial Secretary for Upper Canada.
Mr.
Harrison in that year unsuccessfully contested the representation of Kent
with the late Joseph Woods, but he was subsequently returned as the
representative of Kingston. When we read of the determined and violent
opposition to this bill, and the bitter feeling engendered by it, we are at
a loss to realize the cause of all the wasted energy of its opponents, for
the measure was but a very modest advance on the old law. It provided that
there should be a district council in each district to consist of the Warden
and Councillors. The Warden was still to be appointed by the Governor, as
were the Treasurer and Clerk. Each Township was to elect two councillors
when the freeholders and householders on the assessment roll exceeded 300.
Extensive powers were granted to the council, but the serious defect was
that the Act still recognized the Magistrates appointed by the Government,
and there, not unfrequently, arose a conflict of authority between them and
the councils elected by the people. The councils were authorized to pass
by-laws respecting roads, bridges and public buildings, for defraying
certain expenses connected with the administration of justice, for the
establishment and maintenance of schools, assessing, raising and levying
rates, fixing salaries, etc. Several subsequent Acts added to these powers.
The Province had been divided into
twenty-two districts, of which what are now the Counties of Essex, Kent and
Lambton, formed one, known as the Western District. The first Council of
this district elected under the Act of 1841, which went into effect on the
first day of January, 1842, met at Sandwich. There were present
26 members and the Warden, John
Dolsen, appointed by the Government, who continued as
Warden for five years. In this formative period the
Councillors seem to have taken their duties seriously. The first clerk was
John Cowan, Esq., one time Editor, and the minutes are interesting, well
phrased and concisely written.
In 1847 Kent was formed into a
separate district and a provisional Council met at Chatham in August, its
special purpose being the erection of our present Gaol and Court House,
which was completed about the year 1850. It would appear that all the
members also attended the Sandwich meetings.
In 1849 was passed the Municipal Magna
Charta of this Province, the preamble of which declared that ‘It will be of
great public benefit and advantage that provision should be made by one
general law for the erection of Municipal Corporations and the establishment
of Regulations of Police in and for the several Counties, Cities, Towns,
Townships and Villages in Upper Canada.’ The Act took effect on the first
day of January, 1850. Some fifty or more previous Acts of Parliament were
repealed and ample powers of self-government were conferred upon all
municipal corporations, largely as those powers exist and are exercised
today. All minor municipalities were to elect five councillors, who elected
one of themselves Reeve, and, in each Township having five hundred resident
rate-payers, a deputy Reeve. By this and the amending Act passed two or
three years afterwards, the old districts were abolished and counties
defined. The inhabitants of each county became a body corporate whose
council consisted of the Town Reeves and Deputy Town Reeves of the several
Townships, Towns and Villages within the County. The County Council was to
meet at the Shire Hall, if one, and, if none, at the County Court annually,
on the fourth Monday in January. At the first meeting they chose from among
themselves a Warden who should preside at their meetings.
About the end of 1850, possibly after
the Court House was completed, Kent was separated from Essex and Lamb-ton
for municipal purposes, while the two last named remained united for
municipal and judicial purposes until 1883.
"The first Council for Kent as a
Separate County met at the Court House on the 27th February, 1851, and
consisted of ten members of whom George Duck, the Reeve for Howard, was
elected Warden. There were no Deputy Reeves. George Witherspoon represented
the Town of Chatham. William Cosgrove was Clerk and continued to hold office
until 1867."
In 1854 the by-laws and many of the
records and papers of the Council were accidentally destroyed by fire.
In the year 1896, when the membership
of the County Council had reached 36, Kent was divided into seven districts
with two members from each. |
