Existing abuses and inadequacy of existing remedies. Various causes and kinds of maladministration. Suggestions for remedy of existing abuses and defects by means of a permanent supervision and control. In addition to the information communicated in answer to our own inquiries we have received numerous complaints of mal-administration, and, in many other instances, our advice has been asked by parties desirous of correcting acknowledged defects or irregularities. In a few of the most urgent cases, wherein we have felt justified in giving that advice, the result has been satisfactory, and we have reason to believe that threatened litigation has been obviated. From these several sources of information it has been made evident to us, that the evils and abuses pointed out by former Commissions and Committees of Parliament are still in existence to a very wide extent, and that no sufficient remedy has yet been provided for their correction. The terms of Your Majesty's Commission, and the powers entrusted to us, may indeed enable us, by means of a protracted inquiry, to ascertain a greater number of particular instances of abuse, and to recommend additional cases to be laid before the Attorney-General; but neither are these powers adequate to the task of a general and searching investigation, nor do we conceive that this Commission could ever be made a competent authority for exercising that permanent and vigilant control over these charitable trusts which seems absolutely necessary for securing their due and regular administration. In support of this opinion we proceed to remark, that there are many Charities of which the income has been irrecoverably lost from the want of some proper authority to watch over and guard the trust. Many others have been abused and diverted from their proper objects because persons locally acquainted with the circumstances have declined to incur the pecuniary responsibility or odium of instituting legal proceedings. In others, again, the trustees are unable to carry into full effect the intentions of the founders, by reason of some legal difficulty, or the inadequacy of the funds for sustaining the expense of an application to the Court of Chancery. In others, an ancient and traditional mode of managing the trust has acquired so strong a hold on the minds of all parties concerned, that it cannot be expected of trustees to undertake, on their private judgment, any attempt to break the established usage. There is, moreover, a considerable number of Charities wherein the present mal-administration is wholly attributable to ignorance and want of information on the part of the trustees, who, under competent advice and direction, would be quite willing to correct what is irregular or defective. It appears to us that in order to apply an effectual and permanent remedy to these various abuses and defects it is necessary to create, by legislative enactment, some public and permanent authority, who should be charged with the duty of supervising the administration of all these Charitable Trusts. In the foregoing and following suggestions we are supported by the Reports of late Commissions, and of the Committee of the House of Commons of 1835. Amongst the necessary provisions of a measure for effecting this object, we recommend that trustees should be compelled to make out annual accounts of their receipts and expenditure. That these accounts should be audited before some local authority. That they should then be registered in some local office, where they may be accessible to public inspection, and that copies of them should be transmitted to some public officer or Board, at whose office these accounts and all other information respecting the various Charities throughout the kingdom should be preserved. That this proposed officer or Board should have authority to institute or direct legal proceedings in such manner, and subject to such control, as Parliament may think fit to provide. That in the event of any local jurisdiction being provided for the easier and more economical regulation of Charities of small amount, it should be required that all schemes ordered by such a local Court be revised and confirmed by the proposed officer or Board. We are of opinion that the creation of such an authority as we have described would be the means of saving a large amount of Charity property by putting a stop to many actual abuses, either of neglect or misapplication, by advising a better administration to trustees who are willing to be advised, and, in many instances, by preventing expensive litigation, which would seldom be found necessary when it was generally known that any instance of neglect or malversation would meet with a certain and prompt interference. We abstain from entering more particularly into the necessary details of a measure for effecting the general object we have in view, but we venture to suggest that the expenses of the establishment necessary for the purpose might very fairly be thrown upon the Charities themselves, and we find that a tax of only one penny in the pound, upon those Charities whose income amounts to 10%. and upwards, would provide a revenue of nearly 5,000l. We have already expressed our belief that the aggregate income of the Charities considerably exceeds the sum of 1,209,3957. which we have made the basis of the above calculation. And we humbly submit to Your Majesty, that these large revenues, intended by the founders to secure various and in many instances important benefits to the community, demand from the State some better security than at present exists for their due and beneficial administration. Given under our hands and seals, this twenty-fifth day of June, 1850. The Almshouse at The Almshouse at Ewelme, in the County of Oxford. It appears from the Report of the Commissioners for Inquiring concering Charities (Report 32, Part II., page 660), that this almshouse was founded and endowed by William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and his wife, under license granted by letters patent, dated 15 Henry VI. The establishment was to consist of two chaplains and 13 poor men, who were to live in the almshouse. The founders made certain statutes, whereby, after reciting the objects of the foundation, one of which was the maintenance and daily celebration of divine service by the chaplains, it is enacted:-That one of such chaplains should be the master "to whose "office it should belong well and truly to administer the goods of the said house;" that he should be resident, and that his stipend should be 101. a-year; but that in order to make the office more acceptable to worshipful and well-learned men, he should be allowed to hold, with the said office, a prebend, free chapel, or other benefice, whereby the residence and keeping of the said house should not be hurt or diminished. 66 66 66 It is also enacted that the other chaplain should be the grammar-master, and should be "a well-disposed man, apt and able to teach grammar, to whose office it should belong diligently to teach and inform children in grammar, provided that all the children of "the founder's chapel, and of the tenants of their Lordship of Ewelme and their Lordships pertaining to the said almshouse should be taught freely without exacting any school "hire," ‚” “and if he should at any time have not more than four children actually learning "grammar, besides little ones and readers, he should say matins and evensong daily in "the said (parish) church, with the said master before the poor men." The stipend of the grammar master was also fixed at 107.; but he was to have the liberty, similar to that of the master, of holding with his office a prebend or free chapel, or other benefice, so that the residence and keeping of his school should not be hurt or diminished. It is also enacted that one of the poor brethren, to be called the minister, should receive 16d. weekly (i. e., 3l. 9s. 4d. per year), and the others 14d. weekly (i. e., 31. Os. 8d. per year). It is also enacted that all the buildings belonging to the almshouse should be repaired at the common cost. It is also enacted, that they who should succeed to the Lordship of Ewelme, should for the time that they should hold the same as lords or ladies thereof, be provisors of the house, with power to provide to the same of master, teacher of grammar, and poor men as vacancies should occur by death or otherwise, and also to admonish, suspend, and remove the master or teacher of grammar if found faulty. It is also enacted, that the almshouse should be visited every year, if deemed needful, by the provisors of the house. The Lordship of Ewelme came to the Crown by forfeiture on the attainder of William de la Pole, and the right of patronage (except as to the office of master), was exercised by the Crown, by virtue of the Lordship from that time, until the year 1817. King James the First, in the fifteenth year of his reign, by letters patent granted to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford, the donation to the office of Master of the Hospital of Ewelme, for the promoting good literature, and the increase of the stipend and maintenance of the Regius Professor of Medicine, and declared that the said professor, though a layman, should have and enjoy the said office, with all houses, lands, and hereditaments belonging to the said Hospital, in as full manner and form as any other master or warden had held and enjoyed the same, and the letters patent then added the Royal assent by anticipation, to an Act of Parliament to be passed in the then next Session of Parliament, for giving effect to the appointment of a layman to the office of master, the necessity of obtaining the authority of Parliament for that purpose being admitted by the letters patent. No such Act of Parliament was ever passed, but the mastership of the Hospital has since been held by the Regius Professor of Anatomy, for the time being, by virtue of his appointment as professor. In 1817 the Lordship of Ewelme was sold by the Crown to Lord Macclesfield, to whom it was afterwards conveyed, and the right of patronage to the almshouses has since been claimed and exercised by Lord Macclesfield as owner of that Lordship. Lord Maccles- The Almshouse at field also claims the right of appointing to the mastership of the hospital, notwithstanding Ewelme. the grant of James the First. The estates belonging to the hospital consist chiefly of the manors of Marsh, Gibbon, Ramridge, and Connock, in the County of Oxford, and comprise, in the whole, about 4,566 acres of land. This property is chiefly granted or let on lives, partly by lease and partly by copy of court roll. The reserved annual rental of the whole of this large property is only 1347. 3s. 3d., to which is to be added the fines, heriots, and produce of timber. From 1801 to 1835 the fines amounted to 20,774l. 17s. 2d. making an average for 35 years of 5931. 5s. 7d., though they were extremely uncertain in the amount paid during the several years, the fines in 1817 being 3,2937. 14s. 4d., those in 1833 237., and none at all being paid in 1824. Adding the fixed annual income of 1341. 3s. 3d. to the above average of fines for 35 years, viz., 5931. 5s. 7d., the aggregate annual income of 7271. 8s. 10d., or only little more than 3s. 2d. per acre, appears to have been realized from the Charity Estates during these years under the existing system of management. The fines are divided in the following proportions:- to the master, to the grammarmaster, among the 13 brethren, and to fund for repairs. The present master is Dr. Kidd, a layman, and Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, who is non-resident, and only attends occasionally at the hospital for the purpose of business. The grammar-master is also non-resident, and performs no duty whatever in respect of his office. The house of residence is let for his own benefit. The school is totally abandoned, and the room has been repaired by the late rector of Ewelme at his own expense, and fitted up as a national school for the children of the parish. We have been informed by Dr. Kidd, in answer to our inquiries, that no material alterations in the system of management of the property have been made since the date of the inquiry by the late Commissioners. By adopting a proper system of letting and managing the Charity Estates, we consider that a large certain annual income might readily be secured which would suffice for the maintenance or enlargement of the founder's establishment, the performance of the chaplain's duties, and the application of a considerable surplus annual income in works of charity or education, the whole of which objects have been and are neglected, although they were the primary objects of the founder's benevolence; and this benefit might be obtained whilst the present average annual payment to the Regius Professor might also be provided for (if so thought fit) out of the increased income. The expediency of immediate interference for the reformation of this Charity appears to us to be unquestionable, irrespectively of any question as to the validity of the Royal grant made by King James the First for the benefit of the Regius Professor, and under the circumstances above stated, we think that this case might properly be submitted to the Attorney-General, with the view to the adoption by him of steps for its revision and reformation. The Hospital of the Blessed Trinity, in the Borough of Guildford, in the County of Surrey. It appears by the Report of the Commissioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, (Report 31, p. 881) that this hospital was founded by Archbishop Abbott, about the year 1621, for the habitation of one master, from 6 to 12 poor men, and 8 women, and also for the relief and support of certain other persons, there to work in handicraft trade. The Archbishop having contemplated two distinct foundations, one for the hospital and the other for encouraging manufacturing trade in Guildford, it is convenient to deal with each foundation separately. The Hospital. The Archbishop, under the powers given to him by the letters patent of King James the First, founded the hospital for the maintenance and habitation of a master, from 6 to 12 poor men, and 8 women, and he endowed it with about 789 acres of land, of the then annual value of 2001. In pursuance of the powers contained in the letters patent of King James the First, the Archbishop made certain statutes providing for the election and punishment of the master, brethren, and sisters, the celebration of Divine service, and the keeping of the seal and documents relating to the hospital, and for leasing the hospital lands, with regard to which he directed, among other things, that the hospital should not in any reservation or otherwise increase the rent of the lands to any higher proportion than as the rents then were, unless upon unavoidable necessity some one farm might diminish in the rent, which might then be moderately supplied by raising somewhat upon some other farm which would well bear it, his desire being to keep up the rent with which he had endowed the hospital, but that the master and brethren should be very careful in making such alteration, and that the money raised on fines for leases should be divided into two parts, one moiety being divided between the master, brethren, and sisters, the master taking a double portion, the other moiety being put into the common treasury for bearing public burthens The Hospital of the The Hospital of the as suits at law, &c., and that no timber should be sold except on great necessity or show of decay, and that the money arising therefrom should be put into the common treasury, and not be expended except on great occasions. The statutes further directed that the stipends of the master and brethren were to be The surplus, after providing cloaks, fuel, &c., was to remain for law-suits and reparations, &c., 1007. always being kept in the house. The lands are now let at the same annual rents which were originally fixed by the Archbishop, large fines being paid on every renewal. The reserved rents are divided between the master and brethren. Out of the fines received the master divides one moiety amongst the brethren, and after deducting a double portion for himself out of the other moiety, the balance is invested in the funds, and the dividends treated as income. The fines paid on the last renewals of leases of the hospital property previous to 1836 amounted to 2,5607. 12s., to which sum is to be added 1297. 8s., fines on land purchased with accumulations of income, but treated as part of the original endowment. The money received for timber is carried to the general account, and not put into the common treasury as directed by the statutes. A messuage and 143 acres of land have been purchased with the accumulations of income, and these are let at rack-rent or nearly so, and the rent divided amongst the master and brethren. The fine on the last renewal of this last estate previous to 1836 was 57. The amount of funded property at the time of the Commissioners' Report was 4,0207., 33 per cent. stock. The Commissioners for Inquiring concerning Charities, after commenting upon the unauthorized appropriation by the master of a share of the annual income in addition to his stipend, and his taking his share of the fines out of the moiety directed by the statutes to be carried to the common chest, remark upon the objectionable nature of the distribution of the Charity income, and the expediency of reforming the course of administration and equalizing the benefits of the Charity. The Manufacture Endowment.-By the letters patent of King James the First, after reciting that the Archbishop had built the hospital for the habitation of the master, &c., and for the labour of other persons in manufactures, there to continue for ever; it is ordained that, besides the master, brethren, and sisters, there should be certain other persons employed in manufactures, to be relieved and supported therein, and there to work in handicraft trade or other occupation, according to the appointment of the said letters patent. The Archbishop, under the powers of such letters patent, appears to have granted property for the upholding of the manufacture endowment to the extent of about 219 acres of land, of the then annual value of 1007.; and he expressly directed in his statutes that the rents of the property appropriated by him to the manufacture endowment should be employed solely for that object, and ordained that the 1007. by the year should not be mingled with any other money of his hospital, but should be put into a chest by itself, and all accounts appertaining there to be kept and reserved by themselves. The experiment of a manufacture, first of linen and afterwards of woollen cloth, having been tried, and having failed (being found to be even prejudicial to the town), by a decree made in 1656, the Lords Commissioners sanctioned the distribution of the 100l. to ten or more poor honest tradesmen and housekeepers of the town as should be from time to time agreed on by the Mayor and brethren. The Corporation appear to have distributed the 1007. per annum in sums varying from 5s. to 50s. till 1785, when an information was exhibited complaining that such a distribution had been found to be of little use, and often to operate as an inducement to idleness and drunkenness, and stating that it would be more beneficial to apply one moiety in providing for four additional women in the hospital. A decree was made on the hearing, referring it to the Master to approve of a scheme. The Master by his Report proposed that 50l. a-year should be employed in the maintenance of four additional poor women of the town of Guildford in the hospital. The income derived from the manufacture endowment appears to be thus applied at the present time. £. |