Delegation of Powers

A LTHOUGH it is customary for the functions of a library authority in England to be exercised by a committee, it is not compulsory for a library authority to delegate its powers and duties, except in the case of a county council and a county borough council adopting the Acts after 1919. In these cases all matters relating to the exercise of powers under the Acts, except as to rating and borrowing, must stand referred to the education committee. That committee may delegate all or any of their library powers to a sub‐committee. In Scotland, however, the library committee has certain duties conferred upon it by statute and it does not function merely at the pleasure of the council. The power to appoint a committee and delegate powers to such a committee contained in section 15(3) of the Public Libraries Act, 1892, was repealed and replaced, except as to London, by the Local Government Act, 1933, which provides that a local authority may appoint a committee for any general or special purpose which it is thought would be better regulated and managed by means of a committee and it may delegate to such a committee, with or without restrictions as may be thought fit, any functions exercisable by the local authority either with respect to the whole or part of the area of the authority. Certain powers are, however, reserved exclusively to the local authority, namely, the power to levy or to issue a precept for a rate and to borrow money. The powers of the 1892 Act so far as London is concerned are virtually superseded by the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1934, which enables local authorities to appoint committees in terms similar to those contained in the Local Government Act.