71 
district is worthy of much more consideration and discussion 
than the limits of this paper will permit. 
In 1819 the first Act of Parliament was passed for regulating 
the government of the town. The old Police circle of three- 
quarters of a mile was determined, and the Local Government 
was vested in a Board of 16 Commissioners, who were em- 
powered to watch, light, cleanse, pave and otherwise regulate the 
town. The meetings of the Board were held at the Bull Inn, 
and it is related that each Commissioner was entitled to two six- 
penny glasses at the expense of the town. This custom, it is 
said, always ensured a regular attendance. The late Mr. Anthony 
Buck was appointed Clerk to the Commissioners in 1822, and he 
resigned the office in 1828. as he himself relates principally from 
the difficulty he experienced in carrying out the provisions of the 
Act against defaulters in payment of Police Rates, breaches of 
the regulations of the streets, as to stallage and other matters 
which the Magistrates at that time acting for Burnley, did not 
cordially co-operate to enforce, and he was further induced to 
resign in consequence of the remonstrance of the Gas Company, 
who were then contractors for lighting the town, and they became 
apprehensive, if no rates were obtained, they would be in danger 
of losing their gas income from lighting the town. He further 
relates that when he was appointed Clerk to the Commissioners, 
in 1822, nothing had been done under the Act, either to pave, 
sewer, or light the town, except laying a rate for payment of the 
expenses of obtaining the Act, although a period of nearly three 
years had already elapsed. 
In 1846 another Act was passed, by which the number of 
Commissioners was increased to 60. In addition to the confirm- 
ation of the previous powers for governing the town, the Com- 
missioners were empowered to purchase the Burnley Waterworks, 
which had been established in 1819, under the provisions of an 
Act of Parliament passed in that year. 
Another Act giving further powers for governing and regu- 
lating the town, and giving powers to purchase the Gasworks, 
&c. was obtained in 1854. A Charter of Incorporation was 
obtained in 1861, and the powers and duties of the Improvement 
Commissioners were transferred to the Town Council. The Cor- 
poration purchased and obtained possession of the property and 
undertaking of the Burnley Market Co. in 1866. 
. The Corporation procured an Act of Parliament in 1871 conso- 
lidating all their Acts, extending the boundaries of the borough, and 
giving them further powers for governing and regulating the town. 
The various undertakings of the Burnley Corporation have 
had a most important influence on the progress of the town, and 
an examination of their financial results cannot fail to be interest- 
ing to my present audience. 
