A BILL [AS AMENDED BY THE COMMITTEE, ON RE-COMMITMENT, AND ON CONSIDERATION OF AMENDMENTS] FOR The better assessing and collecting collecting the Poor Rates and Highway Rates in respect of Small Tenements. [Note.-The Clauses marked A. and B. were added in Committee, and Clauses C. and D. on Consideration of Amendments.] W HEREAS the Collection of Poor Rates and Highway Rates Preamble. assessed upon the Occupiers of Tenements of small annual Value is expensive, difficult, and frequently impracticable, and it is expedient to make better Provision for the rating of such 5 Tenements, and for the Collection of such 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, That from and after the passing of this Act it The Vestry to 10 shall be lawful for the Vestry of any Parish, from Time to Time whether 67. and at all Times hereafter, to declare and order that the Owners of Tenements Tenements in such Parish the yearly rateable Value whereof shall shall be not exceed Six Pounds shall be rated and assessed to the Rates for Owners the Relief of the Poor in respect of such Tenements instead of the instead of Occupiers. 15 Occupiers thereof, and the Order so made shall remain in force until rescinded in the Manner herein-after authorized. 272. A II. And determine rated to the CLAUSE A. rescinded by Two Thirds of Persons present at Vestry. II. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Vestry of the Order may be said Parish, by a Majority of Two Thirds at least of the Votes of the a Majority of Persons present at a Meeting duly called for that Purpose, and competent to vote thereat, at any Time after the Expiration of One Year from the Time when any such Order shall have been so made, to 5 order that from and after a Day to be fixed by such Vestry, not being less than Two Years from the Date of such original Order, such Order shall cease and be rescinded, in which Case, from and after such last-mentioned Day, the said Order shall be rescinded and no longer in force: Provided nevertheless, that the Provisions in this Act 10 contained shall remain and continue in force for the Purpose of collecting and recovering any Rate which may have been previously made in pursuance of such Order. Whilst Order Rates to be rated to Owners. Rates. III. And be it enacted, That whilst any such Order is in force the respective Owners of such Tenements shall be rated and assessed 15 (instead of the Occupiers thereof) to the Rates for the Relief of the Poor and to the Rates for the Repairs of the Highways which otherwise such Occupiers might by Law be rated to. Remedies for IV. And be it enacted, That the Rates to be assessed as aforesaid, recovering of together with the Costs and Charges of levying and recovering the 20 same, may be levied on the Goods of and recovered from the respective Owners of such Tenements as aforesaid, by Distress, Action, Suit, or other Proceeding, in the same Way as such Rates, if lawfully assessed on the Occupiers of such Tenements, might by Law be levied on the Goods of or recovered from such Occupiers; and, further, 25 the Goods and Chattels of the Occupiers of such Tenements shall be liable to be distrained and sold for Payment of such of the said Rates as shall accrue due during their respective Occupations, in the same Way as if such Rates were assessed on such Occupiers: Provided always, that such Owners paying such Rates in respect of 30 Tenements continuing to be held by Occupiers under now existing Tenancies for a greater Term than from Year to Year shall be entitled to add what they shall so pay to the Rent payable in respect of such Tenements, and have the same Remedies for recovering the same as for Rent in arrear; and provided further, that Occupiers, 35 other than such as shall continue to hold under now existing Tenancies for a greater Term than from Year to Year, may (whether distrained upon or paying such Rates to prevent Distress) deduct the respective Amount so to be answered by them as aforesaid, together with all Costs and Charges they may have incurred on account 40 thereof, from the Rent payable in respect of such Tenements, and such Amounts shall be deemed Debts due from such Owners to such Occupiers, and be recoverable by Action. have the V. And be it enacted, That every such Owner so rated as afore- Owners said shall have the same Right of Appeal (subject to the same possessed to Conditions) against Rates, and the same Right to vote in Vestry, Privileges of as if he were an Occupier duly rated in respect of the same Occupiers. 5 Tenement. tion Clause. VI. And be it enacted, That the Word "Tenement" in this Act CLAUSE B. shall be construed to include any Land, House, Cottage, Apartment, Interpretaor corporeal Hereditament; the Word "Owner" shall be construed to include any Person receiving or claiming the Rent of any such 10 Tenement for his own Use, or receiving the same for the Use of any Corporation aggregate, or of any public Company, or of any Landlord or Lessor who shall be a Minor, under Coverture, or insane, or for the Use of any Person who shall not be usually resident within Twenty Miles from the Parish in which such Tenement shall be 15 situated; the Word "Person" shall be construed to include any Corporation or public Company as well as any Individual; the Word "Parish" shall be construed to include any Parish, Township, Vill, or Place maintaining its own Poor separately; the Word "Vestry' shall be construed to include any Meeting of the Inhabitants of any 20 such Parish, Township, Vill, or Place, to be held after due Notice for carrying into execution the Laws for the Relief of the Poor; and wherever in this Act, in describing any Person, Matter, or Thing, the Word importing the Singular Number or the Masculine Gender only is used, the same shall be understood to include and be applied to 25 several Persons as well as one Person, and Females as well as Males, and several Matters or Things as well as one Matter or Thing respectively; unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to such Construction. of Act. VII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall extend only to Eng- Extension 30 land and Wales, and shall not apply to any Place where Owners are made liable to be rated to the Relief of the Poor under the Provisions of any local Act. VIII. And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed Act may be by any Act to be passed in this present Session of Parliament. amended, &c. CLAUSE A. Order may be of Persons present at Vestry. II. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Vestry of rescinded by the said Parish, by a Majority of Two Thirds at least of the Votes a Majority of Two Thirds of the Persons present at a Meeting duly called for that Purpose pursuant to Notice, as herein-after mentioned, and competent to vote thereat, at any Time after the Expiration of Two Years from the 5 Time when any such Order shall have been so made, to order that from and after a Day to be fixed by such Vestry, not being less than Three Years from the Date of such original Order, such Order shall cease and be rescinded, in which Case, from and after such lastmentioned Day, the said Order shall be rescinded and no longer in 10 force: Provided nevertheless, that the Provisions in this Act contained shall remain and continue in force for the Purpose of collecting and recovering any Rate which may have been previously made in pursuance of such Order: Provided also, that Notice for calling every such Meeting as aforesaid shall be by Writing, signed 15 by Four Rate-payers of the Parish, affixed on the principal outer Door of the Parish Church or Chapel of the Parish, or on the usual Place of affixing Notices relating to the Affairs of the Parish, at some Time not less than Thirty or more than Forty Days previous to such Meeting. Whilst Order Rates and 20 III. And be it enacted, That whilst any such Order as firstly herein-before mentioned is in force the respective Owners of such Tenements shall be rated and assessed (instead of the Occupiers Rates to be thereof) to the Rates for the Relief of the Poor and to the Rates for the Repairs of the Highways which otherwise such Occupiers 25 might by Law be rated to. Highway rated to Owners. CLAUSE C. Owner to rated on a reduced Scale. IV. And be it enacted, That whilst such Order as firstly hereinbefore mentioned is in force the Owner of every Tenement in every Parish the yearly rateable Value whereof shall not exceed Six Pounds shall be assessed to the Rates for the Relief of the Poor 30 and to the Rates for the Repairs of the Highways in respect of such Tenement at Three Fourths of the Amount at which such Tenement would be liable to be rated in case this Act had not passed; and further, that whilst such Order as firstly herein-before mentioned is in force, if any Owner of One or more such Tenements shall be 35 desirous of paying a Rate for One Year in respect of all such Tenements in any Parish, whether such Tenements be occupied or unoccupied, and shall give Notice in Writing of such his Desire to the Overseers of the Poor and the Surveyors of the Highways within One Calendar Month after the passing of this Act, or in any 40 subsequent Year within Fourteen Days next after the Twenty-fifth Day of March in that Year, then and in such Case such Owner shall be assessed to the Rates for the Relief of the Poor, and to the Rates |