In 1863 an Act was passed giving the Brisbane Council power to erect a town hall on allotment 4 and part of allotment 3 of section 12, with a frontage to Queen street and Burnett lane respectively of 99 ft., and a depth of 138 ft., to be granted by the Government on the passing of the Act. The council were empowered to borrow L20,000 for the purposes of the hall. The Brisbane Waterworks Act empowered the Government to grant a site for the proposed works on the heads of Enoggera Creek, but the Government were to borrow the sum necessary for construction, and to hand over the money to the council as it might be required. In 1864 an amending and consolidating Municipal Institutions Act was passed giving larger and more specific powers to municipal bodies. In the same year a Provincial Councils Act was passed, empowering the Government to appoint such councils in the country districts, and place at their disposal money from time to time voted by Parliament for roads and bridges within their jurisdiction. But the members, not being elective, had no power to levy rates, so that the councils would at best have been no more than bodies delegated with power by the Works Department to carry out works with which the Government could not conveniently grapple. The only provincial council established under the Act, however, was one for the Peak Downs district, of which all the members were Crown lessees. That council had its place of meeting at Clermont, and on first assembling it resolved not to admit the Press to its meetings. This exclusive policy, combined with the class character of its members, made the council at once unpopular, and after spending L2,000 which had been placed to its credit by the Government it ingloriously collapsed. In 1865 an Act was passed dividing the Brisbane Municipality into six wards, each returning two members. In 1868 an amendment of the 1864 and 1865 Acts was passed enabling councils to forbid the erection of inflammable buildings. In the following year an Act was passed which forbade the levy of rates upon Government buildings. An Act of the same year enabled the Governor in Council to rescind any proclamation of town or suburban lands.