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Rate Commutation Commissioners," with power to hold such real estate as hereinafter mentioned.

2. It shall be lawful for the said commissioners, on having secured to them to their satisfaction such a yearly sum as in their judgment shall be sufficient for the payment of the expenses properly payable out of the church rates of any parish or district having a separate church rate, by an award under their common seal, to declare that no church rate shall thenceforth be raised for such parish or district.

3. The yearly sum to be secured to the said commissioners for the purposes aforesaid shall be secured to them either by the investment in their names of a sum or sums in the Three per Centum Consolidated Bank Annuities, or by the grant of one or more rent-charges in fee issuing out of freehold lands.

4. It shall be lawful for the commissioners, if they shall think fit, to release any rent-charge granted or transferred to them, in consideration of the transfer into their names of a sum in the Three per Centum Consolidated Bank Annuities producing dividends equal in amount to such rent-charge, and also, if they shall think fit, to release any part or parts of the lands out of which any such rent-charge is issuing from the payment thereof, without any consideration, provided the residue of such lands shall, in their judgment, be sufficient security for such rent-charge; and in such case, the rent-charge shall be wholly chargeable on and issuing out of such residue of the lands.

5. This Act shall extend to England only.

CHURCH RATES COMMUTATION.

A Bill to establish a Charge in lieu of Church Rates, for the Commutation thereof, and to afford Facilities for the Provision of other Funds applicable to the Purposes of Church Rates. (Mr. Newdegate and Lord Robert Montague.) 14th February, 1863. (13.)

WHEREAS church-rates have for some years ceased to be made in certain parishes, and in other parishes where church-rates have been made, the levying thereof has given rise to ill-feeling and litigation; and whereas it is expedient that an annual charge upon land should be levied in lieu of church-rates, and that provision should be made for the commutation of such charge, and for the reception, holding in trust, and due application of benefactions and voluntary contributions for the purposes of church-rates, be it therefore enacted, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. After the thirty-first day of December next, after the passing of this Act, no church-rate shall be made in any parish in England or Wales, except as hereinafter mentioned.

2. In every parish where any sums of money shall, before the passing of this Act, have been legally borrowed on the security of, or otherwise become legally charged upon, or payable out of, church-rates to be made and levied in such parish, church-rates shall continue to be made and levied for the purpose of paying off such monies and the interest (if any) thereon,

until the same shall be liquidated; and such church-rates shall be of such amount as shall ensure the liquidation of such monies in a period of not less than ten years from the passing of this Act, except under special circumstances, to be approved of by the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, who may authorize a longer period.

3. Any church-rate made at any time before the passing of this Act may be collected, levied, and recovered in the same way as if this Act had not been passed.

4. All lands, houses, and tenements, in respect of the occupation whereof the occupiers, but for the passing of this Act, would be liable to be assessed to the church-rate in any ecclesiastical parish in England or Wales, in which any church-rate has been made or levied at any time within seven years before the passing of this Act (except as hereafter mentioned), shall be and become, and are hereby made, subject and liable to an annual charge after the rate of twopence for every one pound sterling of the rateable value of such lands, houses, and tenements, and after the same rate for any less amount than one pound sterling of such annual value, and such charge shall be called the church charge; but no parish shall be liable to contribute by church charge to the church charge of any other parish; and all parishes whereof any proof is given in manner mentioned that a churchrate has, three times successively within the last seven years, been proposed to be made therein, and that the making of such rate therein has, on all of those occasions, been rejected upon a poll of the parishioners thereof duly taken on the question, shall be exempt from the church charge created by this Act, and no lands, houses, or tenements, in any such parish, shall be or become liable to such charge.

5. Churchwardens of parish claiming exemption from church charges, to give notice to clerk of the peace, and apply to sessions for order allowing exemption.

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6. If at any time after the making of any order of exemption as before mentioned, one-fourth of the rated inhabitants of any parish to which such order of exemption applies shall sign and deliver to the churchwardens of such parish a notice in writing requiring them to summon a vestry meeting of the parish for the purpose of considering whether a memorial shall be adopted calling upon the justices or town council, as the case may be, to cancel the order of exemption then existing with respect to such parish, the said churchwardens shall, not sooner than four weeks nor later than six weeks after receiving such requisition, summon a vestry meeting in conformity with the terms of such requisition; and if a memorial to the effect in such requisition shall be adopted by the vestry so summoned as aforesaid, and if within fourteen days after the day of the adoption of such memorial the same shall be signed by not less than two-thirds of the ratepayers of such parish, the churchwardens shall forthwith transmit the said memorial to the clerk of the peace, and the clerk of the peace shall lay the same before the justices assembled at the quarter sessions then next ensuing, or before the town council at its next meeting (as the circumstances of the case may require); and if the said justices or town council (as the case may be) are satisfied that the said memorial has been duly made and signed, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, then the order of exemption made touching such parish shall be forthwith cancelled, and be and remain thenceforth of none effect, and the clerk of the peace shall forthwith notify the cancelling of such order to the governors of Queen Anne's bounty.

7. Justices, when they make the first county rate in the year, are to add the church charge, and issue precepts according to the form in the schedule to Act.

8. If no county rate is made before 30th June, the clerk of the peace is to issue precepts before 21st July, for the collection of the church charge only.

9. All guardians, overseers of the poor, and other persons by law liable to assist in the collection of a county rate in any county shall in like manner assist in the collection of the church charge, and shall collect the same with and as part of the county rate to which such charge has been added, or separately if such charge has not been added to a county rate: provided always, that a separate receipt for the church charge shall be given to every occupier; and all churchwardens and other persons having the custody of church rate books and other documents relating to the church rate shall render all necessary and reasonable assistance to all persons lawfully engaged in the collection of the church charge.

10. Every occupier of land, house, or tenement assessed to the church charge, being tenant of the same land, house, or tenement, who shall have paid the sum charged upon such land, house, or tenement, shall be entitled to deduct the amount so paid by him in respect to the rent payable to the landlord for the time being, which deduction shall be made out of the first payment thereafter to be made on account of rent, in like manner as he is entitled to deduct the amount paid by way of property tax under schedule (A.) of "the Property and Income Tax Act, 1842;" and all landlords, both mediate and immediate, their respective heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, according to their respective interests, and their respective receivers or agents, shall allow such deduction, upon the receipt of the residue of the rent, under the same penalty as that under which the landlord and others entitled to the receipt of the rent of property assessed to the property tax under schedule (A.) of the said Act are bound to allow the deduction provided for by that Act, which penalty shall in all respects be recovered and recoverable in the same manner as the penalty given by that Act.

11. The landlord of any land under lease for a term of years, the occupier whereof shall have contracted to pay and discharge all rates and dues payable in respect of such land, shall, in the event of any occupier thereof deducting from the rent thereof, any sum on account of church charge as aforesaid, be entitled to add any sum, not being larger than the sum deducted by such occupier, to the rent under such lease due from such occupier for the ensuing year, and such addition to the rent shall be held and deemed to be in all respects part thereof under such lease; provided, nevertheless, that such landlord shall not be entitled to make such addition to such rent, unless he shall have delivered a notice in writing to such tenant, stating his intention to make such addition, within one calendar month after such occupier shall have made such deduction.

12. All remedies and modes of proceeding by which the justices of the peace for any county, or the town council of any city or borough, being a county within the meaning of this Act, or any guardian or overseer of the poor of any union or parish, or any person acting under them or by their authority, can enforce payment of a county rate for any lands against any person liable to pay the same, or against the goods, chattels, and effects of such person, may be exercised by such justices of the peace, town council, guardians, overseers, or persons against any person liable to pay the church

charge for such land, whether as occupier, owner, or any mesne landlord, and against the goods, chattels, and effects of such person.

13. The county treasurer is to pay over the monies for the church charge to the treasurer of the Queen Anne's bounty, on demand. Governors to have the same powers for enforcing the payment, as the justices or town council, or may recover by any action at law.

14. The county treasurer is to serve a written notice of the amount paid by him to the Queen Anne's bounty to the churchwardens.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICES ABOLITION.

A Bill to render it unnecessary to make and subscribe certain Declarations as a Qualification for Offices and Employments. (Mr. Hadfield, Sir Morton Peto, Mr. Baines and Mr. Kershaw.) 7th February, 1862. (2.)

WHEREAS an Act was passed in the ninth year of the reign of King George IV., intituled "An Act for repealing so much of several Acts as imposes the necessity of receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a qualification for certain offices and employments." And whereas another Act was passed in the first and second years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled, "An Act for the relief of Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists elected to municipal offices." And whereas another Act was passed in the first and second years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled, "An Act for the further relief of Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists." And whereas another Act was passed in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled, " An Act for the relief of persons of the Jewish religion elected to municipal offices." And whereas it is expedient to render it unnecessary to make and subscribe any declaration prescribed by any of the said Acts: Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. It shall not be obligatory for any person who shall hereafter be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the office of mayor, alderman, recorder, bailiff, town clerk, or common councilman, or in or to any office or magistracy, or place, trust, or employment relating to the government of any county, city, corporation, borough, or cinque port within England and Wales, or the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, either before or upon or after his admission into any of the aforesaid offices or trusts, or for any person who shall hereafter be admitted into any office or employment, or who shall accept from her Majesty, her heirs and successors, any patent, grant, or commission, either before or upon or after his admission into any office, employment, or place of trust, or his acceptance of any patent, grant, or commission, to make and subscribe any declaration prescribed by any of the said Acts.

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ECCLESIASTICAL DILAPIDATIONS.

A Bill intituled an Act for the Amendment of the Law relating to Ecclesiastical Dilapidations. (The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.) 20th March, 1862. (20.)

WHEREAS as well for the better sustentation of houses of residence, chancels, and other buildings which incumbents of ecclesiastical benefices and other ecclesiastical persons are, by law or custom, bound to maintain in repair, as also for the relief of such persons and their representatives, it is expedient to amend the law relating to ecclesiastical dilapidations, &c. &c.

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8. On the passing of this Act, and from time to time as occasion require, a sufficient number of fit persons shall be appointed as surveyors of ecclesiastical dilapidations for each diocese.

12. At any time, and from time to time, after the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for the bishop, on the request, in writing, of the archdeacon, or of the patron of a benefice, or at the request of the incumbent, to direct a surveyor for the diocese to inspect the buildings of the benefice.

13. The surveyor shall, fourteen days at least before making his inspection as to any benefice, give the incumbent, or, in his absence, the officiating clergyman, notice, in writing, of the day on which he purposes to attend for the purpose of such inspection; such notice shall be given by a prepaid letter sent by the post, and addressed to such incumbent or officiating clergyman at the house of residence of the benefice or other his usual or last known place of abode.

14. On any such inspection, the surveyor shall make a report of the result of his inspection. The report shall be addressed to the bishop, and shall, as soon as conveniently may be, and not more than three weeks after such inspection, be filed by the surveyor in the registry of the diocese, and the surveyor shall, at the same time, leave with the registrar two copies of the report. As soon as conveniently may be, and not more than one week after the filing of the report, the registrar shall serve one of such copies on the incumbent, by sending the same by the post, by a prepaid letter addressed to the incumbent at the house of residence of the benefice, or other his usual place of abode; or, in case that shall not be known, the letter shall be addressed to one of the churchwardens.

15. Where, in the opinion of the surveyor, founded on such inspection, any works are needed for putting into a proper state of repair any building belonging to a benefice, he shall in his report state,-1. What works are so needed, specifying the same in detail, and distinguishing those (if any) which ought to be executed by the incumbent at his personal cost (hereinafter called ordinary repairs) from those the cost of which ought to be provided by a continuing charge on the benefice (hereinafter called extraordinary repairs): 2. What he estimates to be the probable cost of such works, distinguishing the costs of the ordinary from the costs of the extraordinary repairs: 3. At or within what time or times such works respectively ought to be executed. Nothing in the report or in this Act contained shall render the incumbent subject to any greater liability in respect of dilapidations than he would have been subject to if this Act had not been passed. And if the surveyor shall be of opinion that no works are needed, he shall so report, and such report shall, for the purposes of this Act, be equivalent to a report of the due execution of prescribed works.

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