CHAPTER IV.

Assistant Overseers and Collectors.

SECTION I.

Assistant Overseer.

The inhabitants of any parish in vestry assembled, [or of any township, village, or place, having separate overseers of the poor and maintaining their poor separately, in a meeting of the inhabitants thereof, holden after due and legal notice (a),] may nominate and elect any discreet person or persons to be assistant overseer or overseers of the poor of such parish, &c., and determine and specify the duties to be by him or them executed and performed, and fix such yearly salary for the execution of the said office, as shall by such inhabitants be thought fit; and it shall be lawful for any two justices of the peace, by warrant under their hands and seals, to appoint the person or persons, so nominated and elected to be assistant overseer or overseers of the poor, for such purposes and with such salary as shall have been fixed by the inhabitants; and every person so appointed shall execute such of the duties of overseer of the poor, as shall in the warrant for his appointment be expressed, in the same manner as they may be executed by any ordinary overseer of the poor; and he shall continue to be assistant overseer, until he shall resign his office, or his appointment be revoked by the inhabitants in vestry, &c., assembled ;-and the said inhabitants, upon their electing an assistant overseer, may require and take security for the faithful execution of his office, by bond, with or without a surety, in such penalty as they shall think fit, to be made to the [churchwardens and] overseers, who, on breach of the condition, may put the same in suit by the direction of the vestry, &c. (b).

The appointment may be thus :-Berkshire :-Whereas A. B., of, was on at, duly nominated and elected by the inhabitants of the parish of C. then and there in vestry assembled, to be assistant overseer of the poor of the said parish; and the said inhabitants did then and there determine and specify the following duties of overseer of the poor, which by the said A. B. shall be executed and performed, that is to say: [here specify the duties]; and the said inhabitants then and there did also fix the yearly salary

Holland et al. v. Lea et al., 23
Law J. 123, m.

of the said A. B. to be £- ,for his execution of the said office, to be paid to him [at four quarterly payments in every year, that is to say, at &c.]: we therefore, two of Her Majesty's justices of the peace in and for the said county, in pursuance of the statute in such case made and provided, do hereby appoint the said A. B., so nominated and elected as aforesaid, to be assistant overseer of the poor of the said parish, for the purpose of executing the said duties so specified, and with the said yearly salary so fixed, by the said inhabitants in vestry assembled, as aforesaid. Given under our hands and seals, &c.

If, however, the guardians of the union in which such parish is comprised, appoint a collector of poor rates for the parish, assigning to him also the duties of assistant overseer, by order of the poor law board, as shall be mentioned under the next head: such appointment supersedes the authority of the vestry, and their appointment of an assistant overseer afterwards would be void (c).

SECTION II.

Collector of Poor Rates.

1. In Parishes not in Unions.

In parishes not in unions, it is the duty of the overseers to collect the poor rate; they cannot employ a collector for the purpose, and pay him out of the parish funds (d). But the inhabitants of any parish, in vestry assembled, [or of any township, village, or place having separate overseers of the poor, and maintaining their poor separately, in a meeting of the inhabitants thereof, holden after due and legal notice (e),] may nominate and elect an assistant overseer (ƒ), as mentioned under the last head; and among the duties assigned to him, upon his appointment, may be, and usually is, the duty of collecting the poor rate; and the vestry may require him to give security for the faithful execution of the office.

2. In Parishes in Unions.

His appointment, 58.
Security, 60.

His duties, 61.

His appointment.] In parishes in unions, also, the vestry, in appointing an assistant overseer of the poor, may assign to

(c) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 61. R. v. Greene et al., 21 Law J. 137, m. (d) R. v. Gwyer and Manley, 4 Nev. & M. 158.

(e) Sect. 35.

(f) 59 G. 3, c. 12, s. 7.

him the duty of collecting the poor rate, if the poor law commissioners do not interfere, and order the guardians of the union to appoint a separate officer for that purpose. By stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 84, s. 2, the commissioners have authority to make such orders;—they have the same powers and authorities with respect to all such orders, and to the persons appointed in pursuance thereof, as they have with respect to orders made and issued, under the provisions of stat. 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 76, as to paid officers (g); and every person appointed by guardians of the poor under any such order of the said commissioners, shall have the like powers, authority, privileges, immunities, protections, and remedies, in and for the performance of his duty under such order, as are by law given to overseers of the poor in performance of the like duty (h).

And if the board of guardians of any parish or union make application to the said commissioners, to direct the appointment of a paid collector of the poor rates in such parish or union, or in any parish or parishes of such union, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners by order under their hands and seal, to direct the said board of guardians to appoint such a collector; and the said commissioners shall have the same powers with respect to such collectors as are given to them by stat. 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 76, with respect to paid officers; and all powers of the inhabitants of any parish in vestry assembled, or of justices of the peace, or of any person other than the board of guardians of such parish or union, to appoint any collector for any such parish as aforesaid, and (except when otherwise directed by the said commissioners) all appointments under such powers shall cease (i). But by sect. 61, reciting that it was expedient that such collectors should in certain cases be invested with other of the duties of overseers of the poor, it was enacted that the inhabitants in vestry assembled of any parish situated within the district for which any collector or assistant overseer appointed under any order of the said commissioners now acts, may appoint such collector or assistant overseer to discharge all the duties of an overseer of the poor, in addition to those of collector of poor rates for such parish, and in the same manner as if he were appointed thereto as an assistant overseer under the provisions of stat. 59 G. 3, c. 12; and wherever any such collector or assistant overseer has been or may be appointed under any order of the said commissioners, and whilst the said order remains in force, the powers of any vestry or parish officers, or of any other persons other than the board of guardians of such parish or union (if a board of guardians have been constituted), to

(9) See post, p. 64.

(h) 2 & 3 Vict. c. 84, s. 2. See post, tit. "Paid Officer."

(i) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 62.

appoint any collector or assistant overseer, and (if so directed by the said commissioners) every appointment under such powers shall cease: provided always, that where the appointment of such assistant overseer shall have been made under the powers of any local Act of parliament of a parish containing more than twenty thousand persons, such appointment shall continue, and the powers of such local Act, as to any future appointment of an assistant overseer, shall be exercised, but subject always to the powers of the poor law commissioners, notwithstanding the provisions of this Act: provided always, that no overseer shall be discharged by the appointment of any such collector or assistant overseer from his reponsibility for the provision and supply of monies necessary for the relief of the poor, or for any of the purposes to which the rates made for the relief of the poor may be by law applicable; and every collector appointed or to be hereafter appointed as aforesaid, and every assistant overseer appointed or hereafter to be appointed as aforesaid, in pursuance of stat. 59 G. 3, c. 12, or of the orders of the said commissioners, shall, subject to the rules of the poor law commissioners, obey in all matters relating to the duties of overseer, all directions of the majority of the overseers of the parish for which he acts; and the said commissioners shall have the same powers with respect to all collectors or assistant overseers as are given to them by stat. 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 76, with respect to paid officers (k).

Security.] Every collector or assistant overseer appointed as aforesaid shall be bound to give to the board of guardians of the parish or union, or if there be no such board of guardians then to the overseers of the parish for which such collector or assistant overseer may act, sufficient security for the due performance of his duties; and no bond or any other security entered into in pursuance of this Act, or of the said Act of the fifty-ninth year of the reign of King George the Third, shall be charged or chargeable with, or be deemed to be or to have been subject or liable to, any stamp duty whatsoever; and whereever any parish for which such collector or assistant overseer may be appointed is situated in an union, or is governed by a board of guardians, every bond or security given by any officer, in pursuance of this Act, or of the said Act of the fifty-ninth year of the reign of King George the Third, or of the said firstrecited Act, and not contrary to the rules of the said commissioners, shall, if the guardians shall see fit, be put in suit by the board of guardians of the union in which the parish or district for which the officer acts or has acted may be situated, notwithstanding that such bond or security may have been originally given to the overseers of a parish, or to any other

(k) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 61.

persons; and every bond or security given by or on account of any officer appointed by any board of guardians, for the due performance of the office to which he is so appointed, shall remain in full force and effect, notwithstanding any change in district for which such officer may have been appointed or required to act at the time when such bond or security was given, or the addition of any parish to or the separation of any parish from such union since the giving of such security (7). Where it appeared that on the 24th June, 1840, A. B. was elected assistant overseer of the poor of the parish of Minchinhampton, and by a resolution of the vestry he was to have, instead of salary, 8d. in the pound for all sums under 31. collected by him, and 4d. in the pound for all sums above that; on the 29th June a bond was given by A. B. and two sureties, and the condition, after reciting the election, was for his duly accounting; and on the 10th July he was appointed to the office by two justices on the above terms; in the next year, he was again elected and appointed, but the remuneration was altered, and instead of a poundage, he was to receive a salary of 501.; and the same was continued until the year 1845, when he ceased to hold the office, and he was then deficient in his payments to the amount of about 2007.: in an action on the bond against the sureties, the court of Exchequer held that they were discharged of their liability by the change which had taken place in 1841, in the remuneration agreed to be paid to their principal; he had then in fact entered upon a new office (m).

His duties.] The poor law board, by their order of the 17th March, 1847, have directed, by Art. 5, that every collector already appointed or to be hereafter appointed by any board of guardians or other persons, under any order of the poor law commissioners, or under the provisions of any Act of parliament, shall enter up so much of any books or forms of the overseers relating to the collection of the poor rate, or the relief of the poor herein prescribed, as he may be directed to enter up by the overseers for the time being, and shall enter in the rate book all such particulars of every assessment as he is directed by such overseers to enter therein; and every such collector shall attend before the auditor at the same time as the overseers of the parish for which he acts.

Provided that the signature of any such collector to any book presented to the auditor, shall not be taken to stand for or supply the place of the signature of any overseer which may be otherwise required by this our order.

Art. 6. Every such collector shall in all cases fill up and use, as is herein before directed in the case of overseers of

(1) 7 & 8 Viet. c. 101, s. 61.

(m) Bamford et al. v. Iles et al., 18 Law J. 49, m.