555. In 1845 was passed the first Museums Act (8 & 9 Vict., c. 43) “for encouraging the establishment of museums in large towns,” under which the local authorities of towns over 10,000 of population were permitted to erect museums and levy a halfpenny rate. No specimens could be bought, but an entrance fee of 1d. could be charged. This Act was practically inoperative, as only Canterbury, Warrington, Leicester, Dover, Salford and a few other places adopted it, and in 1850 it was incorporated in the first Public Libraries Act, 1850 (13 & 14 Vict., c. 65), which repealed it and added the permissive clauses which existed till 1893. This Act in its turn was repealed by that of 1855, and again this was repealed by the Public Library Act of 1892 and subsequent amendments, which remain the leading Acts under which libraries may be established, with such subsidiary departments as museums and art galleries. A digest of the powers conferred on local authorities by those various Acts appears in [Section 4] of this Manual. The authorities seem to have become aware of the difficulty of supporting so many institutions out of one restricted rate, because in 1891 was passed “An Act to enable Urban Authorities to provide and maintain Museums and Gymnasiums.” Under this Act, which did not apply to Scotland or the County of London, but only to England and Ireland, local authorities were enabled to levy a special rate of 1⁄2d. per pound for museum purposes, and a rate of 1⁄2d. per pound for gymnasium purposes, and to make regulations for the purposes of both kinds of institutions. In 1901 this Act was extended to the County of London by the “Public Libraries Act, 1901.” A resolution of the local authority is sufficient for the purpose of adopting this Act, and the regulations for adoption are similar to those prescribed for the Public Libraries Acts. The principal clauses of the Act are as follows:
Clause 4.—“An urban authority may provide and maintain museums for the reception of local antiquities or other objects of interest, and gymnasiums with all the apparatus ordinarily used therewith, and may erect any buildings, and generally do all things necessary for the provision and maintenance of such museums and gymnasiums.”
Clause 5.—“A museum provided under this Act shall be open to the public not less than three days in every week free of charge, but subject thereto an urban authority may admit any person or class of persons thereto as they think fit, and may charge fees for such admission, or may grant the use of the same or of any room therein, either gratuitously or for payment, to any person for any lecture or exhibition or for any purpose of education or instruction. . . .”
Full power is given by other clauses to make all necessary regulations as to hours, staff, order, etc., in both museums and gymnasiums, and for borrowing money for buildings or other purposes.
Separate accounts are to be kept, and “The amount expended by an urban authority under this Act shall not in any year exceed the amount produced by a rate of a halfpenny in the pound for a museum, and the like amount for a gymnasium established under this Act.”
556.
556. A new provision in legislation of this kind is contained in Clause 12, which empowers an urban authority to sell a museum or gymnasium after seven years’ trial, if it is deemed unnecessary or too expensive, but only with the consent of the Local Government Board. Any moneys received from such sale are to be applied, in the first instance, to the repayment of loans, and if not all required for such a purpose, may, with the approval of the Local Government Board, “be applied to any purpose to which capital moneys are properly applicable.”
557.
557. It is further provided (Clause 13) that the powers given to urban authorities under the Act “shall be deemed to be in addition to and not in derogation of any other powers conferred by Act of Parliament, law, or custom, and such other powers may be exercised in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed.” In other words, the powers conferred by the “Public Libraries Acts,” for example, with regard to museums, still hold good, and the new powers created by the “Museums and Gymnasiums Act” can be exercised as an addition to them. It should be noted that, in addition to the general legislation contained in the Public Libraries and Museums Acts, many private or local Acts have been passed, under which different localities have obtained power to spend money on the provision of museums and art galleries, greatly in excess of the limits imposed by the general Acts.