The above described bodies are all of them representative, but are elected on different franchises, and by different methods. The Town Council is elected by the votes of all occupiers in the sixteen wards in which the Borough is divided, women householders being entitled to vote; three Councillors being chosen for each ward, and one of the three retiring each year; and the votes being given by ballot. The Drainage Board is elected by the governing authorities. The Guardians of the Poor are chosen, in Birmingham; by ratepayers of £12 annual value, the whole Board being elected at one time, by voting papers delivered at the place of election; and in the other parishes by all occupying householders, by voting papers collected from the electors. The School Board is elected by the votes of all householders, the whole Board retiring at the end of three years, and the votes being taken on the cumulative plan, each elector giving the whole of his votes to one candidate, or dividing them in any other proportion, at pleasure. Each of the bodies is invested with borrowing and rating powers, limited by local or general acts. The Town Council levies rates on the whole Borough--a Municipal or Borough Rate for general municipal purposes, under the Municipal Corporations Acts, and an Improvement Rate, for purposes specified in the Local Improvement Act. The Drainage Board and the School Board serve precepts upon the Town Council for the amounts they respectively require, and these amounts are included in the Borough Rate. The Guardians of the Poor make rates for their respective parishes for poor law purposes; and they collect, on behalf of the Town Council, the rates levied for municipal expenditure, including the money required by the Drainage Board and the School Board. There is one assessment for local rates, made (under a recent agreement with the Town Council) by the parish overseers.