The Short Title of this Act is “The Counties Act Amendment Act, 1880.”

The expression “public works” in “The Counties Act, 1876” (hereinafter called “the said Act”), and any Act amending the same, shall include works for the purposes of water supply, irrigation, and drainage of land,

Where any non-navigable river or stream runs lengthways between two or more counties wholly or in part, then the boundaries of each such county shall extend to the middle of such river or stream, following its natural course, and the boundaries of any county affected by this provision shall be deemed to be and are hereby altered accordingly.

Each of the counties divided by such river or stream shall bear all cost of cleansing the portion of such river or stream included within its boundaries, and of keeping in repair and maintaining the banks of such river or stream within such boundaries; but nothing herein contained shall control or interfere with any powers conferred upon the Governor or the Minister by “The Public Works Act, 1876,” or any Act amending the same, or control or interfere with the powers or duties of any River Board constituted under any Act or Ordinance.

A copy of every Proclamation issued under the fourteenth section of the said Act shall be laid before both Houses of the General Assembly in the session of Parliament next ensuing after the issue thereof, and within ten days after the commencement of such session.

The fifteenth section of the said Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is enacted that,—

A copy of every such Proclamation shall be laid before both Houses of the General Assembly within ten days from the issue thereof, if the General Assembly be then in session, and if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next session thereof.

If a resolution is passed by both Houses of the General Assembly to the effect that such new county should not be constituted, then such Proclamation shall not come into force.

If no such resolution is passed, the said Proclamation shall come into force on the day after the conclusion of the session of the General Assembly in which such Proclamation has been laid before it, and on and after such day the district described in the said Proclamation shall cease to form part of the county or counties in which it was theretofore included, and shall be a county within the meaning of this Act.

Provided that no resolution shall be passed in respect of any such Proclamation unless and until it has been laid before each House of the General Assembly for one month; and if the said period of one month shall not have elapsed before the end of the session, then such period shall be reckoned from the first day of the next succeeding session.

The Council of any county may, by special order, assume the control and management of any pound within the county established or constituted under any law for the time being in force, and which is the property of Her Majesty the Queen; and, upon such order taking effect, such pound shall be deemed to be a public pound established under the said Act, and all the provisions of the said Act shall extend and apply to such pound accordingly.

Whenever a road district shall be included in two or more counties, each part of such road district shall, for the purposes of the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth sections of the said Act, be deemed to be a separate road district, and may take all necessary proceedings prescribed by the said Act in order to effect a merger in the county within which it is situate, as if each such part were a separate road district. But no merger shall take place unless each of the several parts of the road district so constituted a separate road district as aforesaid shall comply with the provisions of the said section thirty-seven, and all the counties concerned shall respectively have issued special orders under the said section.

Upon such merger being effected, and subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, the corporation of each county and its Council, and all other persons affected, shall have all the powers, duties, and functions mentioned in the said thirty-ninth section in respect of the part of the road district so merged.

The Councils of the counties into which such road district has merged may agree to divide all real and personal property belonging to the Road Board, and to apportion all rates due or payable, and all liabilities, contracts, and engagements of the Road Board, in such manner as they may think fit.

The effect of every such agreement shall be that the corporation of each county and its Council shall stand in the place of the road district and the Road Board respectively in regard to all matters and things in such agreement provided for, and shall be binding and conclusive on all other persons whomsoever.

If no agreement is made within two months after such merger is effected, then any action pending at the time of such merger against the Road Board, or any contract, liability, or engagements of such Board then remaining unperformed or outstanding, may respectively be continued and enforced against either of the corporations of the counties into which such road district has been merged, at the option of any person having the legal right to continue such action or carry on or enforce any such contract, liability, or engagement.

Upon any merger of a road district with a county, the Council of the county in which the road district is merged shall cause a notification of such merger to be gazetted.

When any public reserve is granted to or vested in any County Council for the purposes of a ferry or ferries, or where any ferry is granted to, vested in, or under the control of such Council, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in “The Public Reserves Act, 1877,” or any amendment thereof, or in “The Public Works Act, 1876,” or any amendment thereof, such Council shall have the power of leasing to any person such reserve and ferry, or any part of such reserve with the ferry, for any term not exceeding fourteen years, for such rent and on such terms and conditions as to the maintenance of such ferry as they may think fit, and without submitting such lease to public auction or public tender; but prior to the granting of any such lease the proposed terms and conditions thereof shall be publicly notified in the county for at least two months.

It shall be lawful for any County Council to contract with any person or persons or body corporate for the building by such person or persons or body, at his or their own cost, of a bridge or bridges in connection with any county road or roads, and such contract may provide (subject to such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon) for granting to such builder or builders the right of levying and collecting for any term not exceeding twenty-one years, and applying to his or their own use and profit, tolls or charges for the use of such bridges:

Provided that the scale of rates to be charged shall first be submitted to and approved by the County Council:

Provided also that no such contract shall be entered into until the proposed terms of the same shall have been publicly notified in the county for two months, and that every such contract shall provide for the county being enabled to purchase such bridge at any time, at a price to be fixed by valuation.

It shall be lawful for the Councils of several adjoining counties to unite in such contract as is in the last preceding section mentioned, and all the provisions of such section shall apply to such contract: Provided that, in case of dispute among such Councils respecting the approval of the scale of charges, such dispute shall be settled by the Governor.

It shall be lawful for the Councils of two or more counties to unite for the construction, repair, use and maintenance of bridges, roads, tramways, and ferries, in any of such counties.