Formerly, when the acts had been adopted by the vestry, it was necessary to appoint a burial board to carry the acts into execution and provide and manage burial grounds. Now, in a rural parish which is coextensive with an area for which the acts have been adopted, the burial board is abolished and the acts are administered by the parish council; and the acts cannot be adopted in a rural parish save by the parish meeting. If the area under a burial board in 1894 was partly in a rural parish and partly in an urban district, the burial board was superseded, and the powers of the board are exercised by a joint committee appointed partly by the urban district council and partly by the parish council, or parish meeting, as the case may be. In a rural parish where there is no parish council, though the acts are adopted by the parish meeting, it is still necessary to elect the burial board, and that board will be elected by the parish meeting. The distinction between a burial ground under the Burial Acts and a cemetery provided under the Public Health Acts has already been noticed. A burial ground, properly so called, has to be divided into consecrated and unconsecrated portions, and the former really takes the place of the parish churchyard; and the incumbent of the parish church, the clerk, and the sexton continue to receive the same fees upon burials in the consecrated portion as they would have done in the parish churchyard. It has been mentioned that a portion of the burial ground must be left unconsecrated. But this is subject to one important exception, that the parish meeting may unanimously resolve that the whole of the burial ground shall be consecrated. In that case, however, the parish council may, within ten years thereafter, determine that a separate unconsecrated burial ground shall also be provided for the parish. The expenses of the execution of the Burial Acts are provided by the overseers out of the poor rate upon the certificate of the body entrusted with the execution of them. In the event of the acts being adopted for a portion only of a rural parish, the burial board, or the parish meeting, may by resolution transfer all the powers of the board to the parish council. Public Improvement Act. The Public Improvement Act, when adopted, enables a parish council to purchase or lease, or accept gifts of land for the purpose of forming public walks, exercise or play grounds, and to provide for the expense by means of a parish improvement rate. Before any such rate is imposed, however, a sum in amount not less than at least half of the estimated cost of the proposed improvement must have been raised by private subscription or donation, and the rate must not exceed sixpence in the £. Public Libraries Acts.