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No. XIV. 22 Geo. III.

c. 83.

Singleparishes

may have a vi

sitor appoint

ed.

A treasurer to

be appointed.

His duty.

Vacancies how

as aforesaid, of the owners or occupiers of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within any single parish, township, or place, which shall adopt the provisions of this Act in manner aforesaid, shall desire to have a visitor appointed, and shall nominate and recommend to the justices of the limit three persons properly qualified for that office, the justices, upon application to them in manner aforesaid, shall appoint one of the persons so recommended, in the manner herein before directed concerning parishes, townships, and places so united as aforesaid.

XII. And be it further enacted, That the guardians of the several parishes and townships united for the purposes of this Act, shall recommend to the justices one of their own body to be treasurer of the poorhouse ; and it shall and may be lawful for two justices of the limit to appoint the guardian so recommended, or any other of the guardians whom they shall think better qualified, to that office, in the form contained in the said schedule, No. VII, or to that or the like effect; which treasurer shall give sufficient security to the satisfaction of the justices, to the other guardians, and their successors, for his duly accounting for the money which shall come to his hands; and shall keep the accounts, receive the money to be contributed by each parish and township, and pay or discharge the several bills and expences which shall be allowed and ordered to be paid by the guardians, at their monthly meeting: and shall lay his accounts before the guardians, at every such meeting, for their perusal and approbation; and shall, once in every year, within fourteen days before the Michaelmas quarter-sessions of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, or place, where such poorhouse shall be situate, make out, or cause to be made out, a just and fair account of the expences attending the same, distinguishing them under the several heads herein specified; and also an account of the number of poor persons, distinguishing their age and sex, which shall be contained in every such house at the time of making such account, and how they have been employed, and how much money hath been earned by the labour of the poor in the year preceding; which shall be laid before the visitor, and signified under his hand, if he approves the same, and shall afterwards be transmitted to the clerk of the peace, or town clerk, of such county, riding, division, city, or place, before or at any time of the said quartersessions, and be by him laid before the court there for their inspection : And every such treasurer shall be allowed, for his trouble in executing that office, such annual sum, not exceeding ten pounds, as the visitor, it not a guardian, shall think fit; and if no such visitor, as two justices of the peace for the limit shall appoint.

XIII. And be it further enacted, That when and as often as any vacancy to be supplied. shall happen in any of the offices aforesaid, by death, resignation, or removal, meetings shall be called, and recommendations offered to the justices in manner aforesaid; and they shall proceed, so soon as conveniently may be, in the manner before directed, to appoint a fit and proper successor to the person so dying, declining to act, or so removed as aforesaid.

At what time the offices of guardian, go

vernor, &c. shall determine.

Justices in a different limit

XIV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That the offices of guardian, governor, visitor, or treasurer, to which any person shall be appointed under the authority of this Act, shall determine in Easter week next after the respective person shall be appointed thereto, on the day upon which the public meeting for such parish, township, or place, shall be held there; when the persons, who, according to this Act, are qualified and have a right to recommend another person to the justices, to be appointed to such office, shall either agree with the persons who held the same to continue in such office, or shall proceed to recommend others, in the manner hereinbefore directed, as if such person had died.

XV. And be it further enacted, That if within any such limit as aforesaid, wherein any poorhouse shall be situate, there shall happen to be no actmay act in cer- ing justice, or only one acting justice of the peace, or if the justice or justices of the peace who usually act in that limit shall be absent, or by any means incapacitated to act, it shall and may be lawful for any justice or justices of any other limit to act in all such cases.

tain cases.

XVI. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the justices of the peace, within their respective limits, to appoint special or privy sessions for executing the several powers and purposes of this Act, causing proper notices to be given of the time and place of holding the same, to the several justices of the peace, peace officers, and guardians of the poor, within such respective limits; and also to adjourn any such privy sessions, to be again holden at such time and place as they shall judge most proper for discharging the business required by this Act, and such other business which may happen to fall under their cognizance, so as to occasion the least trouble to themselves, and to afford the greatest convenience and accommodation to the publick, causing the like notices to be given of every such adjournment.

No. XIV.

22 Geo. III.

c. 83.

Justices may appoint spe

cial sessions,

&c.

XVII. And be it further enacted, That the guardians of the poor of the Guardians several parishes, townships, and places, which shall adopt the provisions shall provide of this Act, shall provide a suitable and convenient house or houses, with houses, and proper buildings and accommodations thereto, when wanted, either by proper utenerecting new ones on land to be purchased or rented by them for that sils, &c. purpose, altering old ones, or hiring buildings for the purpose; and shall fit up and dispose the same, with the advice and approbation of the visitor, if any, in such manner as shall be most conducive to the general purposes of this Act, at the expence of such parish or township, or parishes, townships, and places respectively, in the proportions hereinafter mentioned; and shall provide such utensils and materials as they shall think necessary for their employment, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act. XVIII. And be it further enacted, That the several poor houses or work- Poorhouses houses to be built and provided under the authority of this Act, shall be where to be sisituate within the parish or township for which they shall be used, if single tuated. parishes or townships, and if several parishes or townships shall be united for the purposes of this Act, they shall be built or provided within one of the parishes or townships so to be united, and not in any other parish, township or place, without the consent of three-fourth parts, in number and value as aforesaid, of such owners or occupiers of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within the same, first had and obtained, qualified as hereinbefore mentioned, who shall be assembled at a publick meeting to be holden in the manner, and upon the like notice hereinbefore directed for publick meetings.

XIX. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That all the houses, buildings, and lands, to be hired or rented under the authority of this Act, shall be hired or rented in such manner, for such term or terms, and on such conditions, as are specified in the form of agreement contained in the said Schedule, No. IV.; and all such houses, buildings, and lands, shall be free from all parochial and parliamentary taxes, except such taxes, and to such amount, as they were assessed at the time they were first taken and applied for the purposes of this Act.

XX. And be it further enacted, That when any such buildings shall be agreed to be erected, repaired, or fitted up, at the expence of the parish, township, or place, or parishes, townships, or places, which shall adopt the provisions of this Act as aforesaid, the expences thereof, and the purchase of the land necessary to be used for that purpose, shall be paid by the guardians of the poor of such parish, township, or place, or of the parishes, townships, and places, where they shall unite for those purposes, in the proportions to be settled and adjusted by the persons, and in the manner directed by the agreement to be made as aforesaid; and that it shall and may be lawful for the visitor and guardian of the poor of any such parish, township, or place, when such expences, or their proportion thereof, shall amount to one hundred pounds, or upwards, to borrow the same at interest, and secure such money by a charge upon the poor's rates of such parish, township, or place, in sums not exceeding fifty pounds each, for the greater ease in discharging the same, in the form contained in the said Schedule, No. XI, or to that or the like effect; which charge shall continue upon the said rates until the money so borrowed, and all interest for the same, shall be fully paid and satisfied: And the said guardians and their successors shall, and they are hereby required duly to pay

On what con. ditions lands, &c. shall be rented.

Buildings to

be paid for by the guardians.

Visitors and guardians empowered to borrow money.

No. XIV. 22 Geo. III.

c. 83.

Visitors and guardians to be incorporated.

Their name.

Incapacitated

persons empowered to sell lands, &c.

Money paid for such lands, &c. to be laid out in the purchase of other lands, &c. to be settled to

the same uses.

and keep down the interest of such money so to be borrowed for the use of their respective parishes or townships, as the same shall become due; and that when the principal shall be called for, they may borrow it from some other person or persons; and the same shall be secured to the person advancing the same, by an assignment of such security indorsed on the back thereof, in the form contained in the said Schedule, No. XIV, or to that or the like effect: And that the poor's assessments shall continue at the same rate they were when such poorhouse was first established under the authority of this Act, until the debt so contracted, and the interest thereof, shall be fully discharged: And that the said visitor and guardian, in order to expedite such payments, shall, as soon as the savings in the poor's accounts shall amount to a sum sufficient to pay off and discharge one of the sums which shall have been borrowed, pay off and discharge such sum, and in like manner as to all succeeding savings, until the whole debt so contracted and secured shall be discharged.

and

in

XXI. And be it further enacted, That the visitor and guardian for the time being of every parish, township, and place, or of the several parishes, townships, and places which shall be so united as aforesaid, from and after they shall respectively have adopted the provisions of this Act, shall be, and are hereby respectively declared to be one body politick and corporate, and be called by the name of visitor and guardian, or visitors and guardians, of the poor for the parish, township, or place of the county, &c. of or of the united parishes, townships, or places of in the county, &c. of as the case shall be; and are hereby authorised and enabled by that name to sue and be sued, and to accept, take, and hold, by purchase or lease, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments of inheritance, or for lives or years, or for years determinable on the death of any life or lives, not exceeding in any city or town one acre, and not exceeding in the open country twenty acres of statute measure, for the scite of a house or houses to be built, and for lands to be occupied, for the purposes of this Act; and the said corporation is also hereby authorised and enabled to accept, take, and hold all voluntary grants and donations of lands, tenements, or hereditaments of inheritance, or for lives or years, or for years determinable on lives, or of personal property which shall be made to them for the use and benefit of the poor within such respective parishes, townships, or places.

XXII. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for all bodies politick, corporate, or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, husbands, guardians, trustees, feoffees in trust, committees, executors, administrators, and all other trustees whatsoever, not only for and on behalf of themselves, their heirs and successors, but also for and on behalf of their cestuique trusts, whether infants, issue unborn, lunaticks, idiots, femes-covert, or other person or persons, and to and for all femescovert, who are or shall be seised, possessed of, or interested in their own right, and to and for every other person and persons whomsoever, who are or shall be seised, possessed of, or interested in any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, which shall be necessary to be purchased or rented for the purposes of this Act, to contract for, sell, and convey, or lease the same, or any part thereof, in manner aforesaid, not exceeding the quantity aforesaid, unto the said visitor and guardians, their successors and assigns, or to such person or persons as they shall nominate and appoint, for the use and benefit of such poorhouse, and the poor persons within such parishes, townships, and places respectively, and for all other the purposes of this

Act.

XXIII. And be it further enacted, That all sums of money which are to be paid to any bodies politick, corporate or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, feoffees in trust, executors, administrators, husbands, guardians, committees, or other trustees whatsoever, for or on behalf of any infant, lunatick, idiot, feme-covert, or other cestuique trust, or to any person or persons whose lands are limited in strict settlement, for the purchase of any lands or buildings as aforesaid, shall, in case the same exceed the sum of twenty pounds, by such bodies politick, corporate, or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, feoffees in trust, executors, administrators,

c. 83.

husbands, guardians, committees, or other trustees, person or persons seised, No. XIV. of lands or buildings so limited in strict settlement, be laid out, as soon as 22 Geo. III. conveniently may be, in the purchase of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, in fec-simple, and conveyed to or to the use of such bodies politick, corporate, or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, feoffees in trust, executors, administrators, husbands, guardians, committees, or other trustees, or to and for such other person or persons, and for such estates, and to, for, upon, and subject to such uses, trusts, limitations, remainders, and contingencies, as the lands for or in respect whereof such purchase money shall be so paid as aforesaid were limited, settled, and assured, at the time such purchase was made, or so many of such uses as shall be then existing, and capable of taking effect; such purchases and settlements to be made at the expence of the respective parish, or of the several parishes so uniting, in the proportions aforementioned, and charged by the respective guardians of such parishes, together with the purchase money, in their accounts; and in the mean time, and until such purchase or purchases shall be made, the said money shall be placed out by such bodies politick, corporate, or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, feoffees in trust, executors, administrators, husbands, guardians, committees, or other trustees, person or persons, in some of the publick funds, or on government or real security, in the name of two or more persons, the one to be named by the party or parties interested therein, and the other by the guardian, if it respects a single parish only, and by the visitor, if it respects several parishes, townships, or places, so united as aforesaid; and the interest arising and to be produced from such funds or securities, and also the annual rent, where the said premises shall be rented, shall be paid to such person or persons respectively as would, for the time being, be entitled to the rents and profits of such lands or buildings so to be purchased and settled, pursuant to the tenor and true meaning of this Act.

XXIV. And be it further enacted, That the poor persons who shall be Poor to be sent to every such house, by virtue and under the authority of this Act, maintained at shall be maintained therein at the general expense of the respective the general parishes, townships, and places, so adopting the provisions of this Act as expence of the aforesaid, according to the terms, and in the proportions, directed and respective parishes. prescribed by this Act; and that the treasurer, with the assistance of the governor of every such house, to be appointed as aforesaid, shall provide all fit and necessary provisions for the maintenance of such poor, and keep an account thereof; and that there shall be a meeting of the guardians of Guardians to the poor of every such parish, township, and place, at such house or houses, meet monthly. on the first Monday in every month, at the hour of ten in the forenoon, or on such other day and hour, in the first week of every month, as the said guardians shall at their first meeting appoint, to state, examine, inspect, and adjust the accounts for the preceding month; and that at such Treasurer at meeting, the said treasurer shall produce, fairly written, one account of the each meeting debt incurred in the preceding month, for utensils and materials for the to produce an purpose of manufacture, and for furniture, alterations, or repairs of the account of buildings, and also for the salary or allowance to the governor, or trea- debt incurred surer, and servants (if any), in which account the rent of such house or for utensils, houses, buildings, and premises, if the same shall be rented, shall be charged furniture, &c. in the month next after such rent shall become duc, according to the terms of the agreement for taking the same; which account, when settled and agreed to, shall be signed by the said guardians attending such meeting: And the sums to be paid by each of such parishes, townships, and places, on that account, shall be settled and adjusted at such meeting, in proportion to the sums paid by each such parishes, townships, and places, on account of their poor, on a medium of three years next preceding the date of such agreement (to be settled and ascertained at such first monthly meeting, in the manner to be specified by the said agreement so to be entered into for uniting as aforesaid, and according to the mode or form, and table, contained or referred to in the said Schedule, No. XV,) and in like manner, and in the like proportions, at every succeeding monthly meeting; and the money shall be then, or within one week after, paid into the hands of the said treasurer, to be by him applied in discharge of the VOL. VIII.

H

No. XIV.

22 Geo. III.

C. 83.

and also an

account of the

&c. used in the poorhouse.

several articles and debts contained in such account: And the said trea

surer shall also at the same time produce, fairly written, one other account of the victuals, beer, firing, and other necessaries, for the use and maintenance of the poor, and of the governor, at such house or houses, and all other incidental expences; which shall be then accounted for, and proportioned by the said guardians according to the number of persons which shall have been sent from each of the said respective parishes, townships, victuals, beer, and places, and for the time they shall have resided in such house or houses, within such month, according to the mode or form, and table, and in the manner, for that purpose also mentioned in the said Schedule, No. XVI; and the sum due from each parish, township, or place, shall be specified at the foot of such account, which shall, when settled and agreed to, be signed by such guardians, or the major part of them, and be afterwards inspected by the visitor, if not a guardian, and allowed by him if he shall approve thereof; and in case default shall be made in payment of the respective sums so proportioned to be paid in respect of any such parish, township, or place, for seven days after the same shall be so settled and proportioned, and the money demanded, it shall and may be lawful for any justice of the peace for the limit where such house or houses shall be situate, upon complaint made to him upon oath of such default, to levy the said respective sums, to be settled and proportioned as aforesaid by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of any guardian of the poor for any such parish, township, or place, making such default; and at the end of every year the account shall be finally closed, and the balances paid and received, according to the mode prescribed by the said Schedule, No. XVI. XXV. And be it further enacted, That the churchwarden or overseer of the poor of any parish, township, or place, who shall have the custody of the poor's rates, assessments, or accounts, for such parish, township, or place, shall, and is hereby required to produce the same to the persons who shall be nominated, in the agreement contained in the said Schedule for uniting parishes, on every request made by them for that purpose, after four days notice thereof, in order to enable them to ascertain the expences relative to the poor, on a medium of three years, according to the directions, true intent, and meaning of this Act, or in default thereof shall forfeit the sum of five pounds for every such refusal or neglect.

Penalty on persons refus ing to deliver up poor's rates, &c. after proper demand.

Penalty on guardians who shali neglect to attend monthly meetings.

Waste land adjoining to poor houses

may be inclo

sed with the consent of the lord of the manor, &c.

Persons sent

XXVI. And be it further enacted, That if the guardian of the poor for any parish, township, or place, which shall adopt the said provision as aforesaid, shall not attend each monthly meeting hereby directed to be holden, or send some substantial inhabitant of such parish, township or place, to attend and answer the payments for him, in case he shall be prevented by sickness, or other unavoidable accident, from attending in person, the guardian for every such parish, township, and place, making such default, shall, for every such neglect, forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds, nor less than forty shillings.

XXVII. And be it further enacted, That in order to encourage the salutary and benevolent purposes of this Act, and to afford better accommodations for the poor at such poor houses, it shall and may be lawful for the guardians of the poor, where any such poor house shall be provided, purchased, or agreed to be erected, to inclose from any waste or common land or ground lying near or adjoining thereto, with the consent and approbation of the lord of the manor, and the major part in value of the freeholders or persons having right of common thereupon, signified under their hands and seals, any part or portion of such waste or common land, not exceeding ten acres, for the purpose of building upon, or occupying, cultivating, and improving the same, for the use and benefit of such poor house, and the poor persons within the parish, township, or place, where the same shall be, or within the parishes, townships, or places, which shall be united therewith for the purposes of this Act.

XXVIII. And be it further enacted, That every person or persons, to to poor houses be sent to any house or houses to be provided under the authority of this to deliver an Act, shall, at the time of his or her entering such house, deliver, or cause order signed to be delivered, to the governor thereof, or to his assistant, if any, an order, by a guardian. signed by one of the guardians of the poor of the parish, township, or place

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