48. The school commissioners or trustees shall, every three years, by a resolution passed before the 1st of March, divide their school municipality into wards for election purposes and assign a name or number to each ward, in the following manner:(a) for the election of school commissioners, the number of wards shall be determined according to the number of children under their jurisdiction from 5 to 12 years of age according to the information supplied by the Minister or, failing this, according to the school census that they may carry out for that purpose; it shall vary from 9 to 19 according to the following table:
The number of wards so determined shall not, however, be decreased following a decrease in the number of children.
(b) for the election of school trustees, the number of wards shall be fixed at three.
A description of the boundaries of each ward shall be entered in the minutes. Public notice of the list of the wards must be given before the 15th of March.
If the school commissioners or trustees do not fulfil the obligation contemplated in this section, the Minister may appoint a person to effect the division into wards.
At the time of erection, annexation or union of school municipalities, such division may be effected by the Government for the period it determines, which shall not exceed three years.