to state that the Local Government Board has power to unite any
number of districts or parts of districts into what is called a united
district for certain special purposes such as water-supply, sewerage
or the like. This is done by means of a provisional order made by the
board and confirmed by parliament. In such a united district the
governing body is a joint board constituted in manner provided by the
order, and it has under the order such of the powers of a district
council as are necessary for the purposes for which the united
district is created. Thus a joint sewerage board would generally be
invested by the order with all the powers of a district council
relating to the provision and control of sewers and the disposal of
sewage. It may also be convenient here to mention another special kind
of district authority, that is, a port sanitary authority. It is also
constituted by order of the Local Government Board, and it may include
one or more sanitary districts or parts of districts abutting upon a
port. In this case also the authority consists of such members and is
elected in such manner as the order determines, and it has such of the
powers of an ordinary district council as the order may confer upon
it. These relate for the most part to nuisances and infectious
disease, having special reference to ships. It has been thought
convenient to deal here with district councils, whether urban or
rural, together, but the powers of the former are much more extensive
than those of the latter, and as the consideration of the subject
proceeds it will be necessary to indicate what powers and duties are
conferred or imposed upon urban district councils only. It must be
pointed out, however, that when the necessity arises for conferring
upon a rural district council any of the powers exercisable only by an
urban district council, that can be done by means of an order of the
Local Government Board. The necessity for this provision arises
because it sometimes happens that in a district otherwise rural there
are some centres of population, hardly large enough to be constituted
urban districts, which nevertheless require the same control as an
urban district.

Business and offices.

A district council may from time to time make regulations with respect
to summoning, notice, place, management and adjournment of their
meetings, and generally with respect t