Where the sum is small, it will ordinarily be found to be unnecessary to borrow the money; and it will only be requisite for the guardians to come to a resolution according to the Form (A) hereunto annexed; and to issue an order on the churchwardens and overseers of the parish, according to the Form (B) hereunto annexed, as the case may require. When this mode of providing for the expenses of a valuation is adopted, they will not appear in the Union accounts, but the payment by the churchwardens and overseers should be entered in their quarterly statement, No. 4, under the head of "Other Expenses," as a distinct item, and should be included in the column "Other Expenses," in the quarterly abstract, Form 12. But, in order that the Commissioners may be informed of the amounts so disbursed for the purposes of the surveys and valuations, the clerk should make a separate return of these amounts for each parish on the back of the quarterly abstract, Form 12. Where the sum required is large, the proper course will be to borrow the money either from the treasurer of the Union or from some private person willing to lend the same; and, as a security for the repayment thereof, with the interest due thereon, the guardians should execute a deed similar to Form (C) hereunto annexed. Such a deed would, it is conceived, require a mortgage-stamp. It may, nevertheless, sometimes be necessary, even when the sum is small, to borrow the money of the treasurer; as, for example, in cases in which, although the sum is small, it is considerable as compared with the annual expenditure of the parish. In these cases, however, it is probable that the treasurer would not deem it indispensable to be furnished with a formal deed of charge, but would advance the sum required upon the faith of a resolution of the guardians drawn up according to Form (D). When the money is borrowed, it will be necessary for the guardians, from time to time, as the instalments and interest become due, to issue orders, according to Form (E) hereunto annexed, upon the churchwardens and overseers of the parish in respect of which it is borrowed. Where the money is borrowed, it should be placed to the credit of the guardians of the Union with the treasurer, and they should open two accounts in the Union ledger, one in the name of the party who advances the loan, the other under the head "Parish of A.-Valuation Loan." The money advanced by the lender, and the interest as it becomes due, should be credited to the first of these accounts and debited to the second; and as the instalments and interest are received from the parish, they should be paid to the lender by the guardians, and should be debited to his account, and credited to the account of the Valuation Loan. These instalments and interest must be entered by the churchwardens and overseers in their quarterly statement, No. 4, and be included in the quarterly abstract, No. 12, and be separately reported on the back thereof by the clerk, as is above directed respecting the valuation expenses, which are provided for as before mentioned, without having recourse to a loan. As these expenses, however, are matters which concern the individual parishes rather than the Union, and as the entries in the ledger are made principally for the purpose of ensuring an accurate adjustment between the lender and the several parishes, no notice need for the present be taken of the Valuation Loans in the quarterly abstract, Form 11, until the Poor Law Commissioners shall otherwise direct. Signed, by order of the Board, EDWIN CHADWICK, Secretary. A. Resolved-That the valuation of the parish of completed, the costs thereof, amounting to the sum of hereby charged on the poor-rates of the said parish. To A. B., &c. B. having been , be of churchwardens and overseers of the parish of day comprised in the You are hereby authorized and required to pay on or before the from the poor-rates of the said parish, the following sums to the following persons respectively [here insert the particulars]; which said sums, amounting in the whole to the sum of are the costs of [a valuation] made of the messuages, lands, and other hereditaments liable to poor-rates in the said parish, in pursuance of an order of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, bearing date the day of This deed, made the C. day of in the year of our Lord by virtue of an Act passed in the Session held in the 6th and 7th years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to regulate Parochial Assessments," and in pursuance of an order of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, bearing date the in the year Witnesseth that the guardians of the poor of the county of to day of Union, in the in consideration of the sum of Esq., treasurer of the said Union, paid by M. N., of for the purpose of defraying the costs of a [survey, valuation, and map] made of the messuages, lands, and other hereditaments liable to poor-rates in the parish of do hereby charge the poorrates, to be hereafter made within the said parish, with the payment to the said M. N., his executors, administrators, or assigns, of the said principal sum by the instalments following; that is to say, [one-fifth on the &c. &c. &c.] together with interest on the prin day of per cent. cipal which shall from time to time remain due, after the rate of In witness whereof the said guardians have hereunto set their common seal the day and year first above written. D. Resolved-That the [valuation] of the parish of been completed, the costs thereof, amounting to the sum of having be hereby charged on the poor-rates of the said parish, and that K. L., treasurer of the said Union, be requested to advance the same, to be repaid by instalments as follows, namely: With interest on so much of the said sum as shall for the time being remain unpaid, and that the guardians, upon the request of the said K.L., do execute the necessary instruments for securing the payment of the said instalments and interest. You are hereby authorised and required to pay to K. L., treasurer of the Union, at the sum of , on the day of from the poor-rates of the said parish, for the purpose of enabling the guardians of the said Union to pay the instalment and interest mentioned in the margin, which will then be due to in respect of the sum of lent by the said to the guardians of the said Union, for defraying the costs of a [survey, valuation, and map] made of the messuages, lands, and other hereditaments liable to poor-rates in the said parish of in pursuance of an order of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, bearing date the day of No. 6. INSTRUCTIONAL LETTER to Boards of Guardians, and to the Clerks and Auditors of Unions, as to payments under the Acts for the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. Gentlemen, Poor Law Commission Office, Somerset House, January, 1838. THE Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, having recently received various letters from clerks to Boards of Guardians and auditors of Unions, inquiring from what fund and in what manner payments under the Acts for the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages should be made and charged; and having given this subject their attentive consideration, have arrived at the following conclusions: 1. That the expenses incurred by the guardians of a Union, in providing and upholding a register-office, are to be charged in the same way, to the several parishes of the Union, as the expenses of providing and upholding a workhouse, that is, in proportion to their respective declared averages. 2. That the cost of register-books of births and of deaths, and forms of certified copies thereof, and of marriage notice-books, and of marriage register-books, and forms of certified copies thereof, should in the first instance be paid to the superintendent registrar by the guardians out of the Union funds, and (except as is mentioned in Note A) should subsequently be charged to the several parishes in the Union, in proportion to their respective declared averages. 3. That the registrar's fees for births and deaths should be paid in the first instance by the guardians out of the funds of the Union, and should subsequently be charged to the several parishes of the Union in which such births and deaths have respectively occurred. 4. That the sums which the superintendent registrar shall have paid to the clergymen of parishes in the Union, for entries contained in the certified copies of entries in the marriage register-books, should be paid to the superintendent registrar in the first instance by the guardians out of the funds of the Union, and should subsequently be charged to the several parishes in which the celebration of the marriages shall have respectively taken place. 5. Where an extra-parochial place, not maintaining its own poor, and not included in any Union for Poor Law purposes, is annexed to a Union for the purposes of registration, it does not appear that there is any provision in the Registration Acts authorizing the guardians of such Union to charge upon such extra-parochial place any portion of the expenses of providing or upholding the registry-office, or of the books of forms, or of the fees which the guardians may have paid to such registrar in respect to the number of births and deaths which shall have occurred in such extra-parochial place; all these expenses and fees, therefore, will fall on the other parishes of such Union. This will take effect as follows: As regards the expenses of the registry-office, and of the books and forms, the whole will be charged to the several parishes of the Union in proportion to their respective declared averages; as regards the fees which shall have been paid in respect of the extra-parochial place, the amount of these should likewise be charged to the several parishes of the Union in proportion to their respective declared averages. NOTE A.-There is an exception, however, in the case of marriage register-books and certified copies, furnished to the officers of Quakers' meeting-houses and synagogues, which are to be paid for by those officers. The foregoing expenses and charges should be entered in distinct temporary books of account, until the Poor Law Commissioners shall otherwise direct, and it will be proper to distinguish them into two classes. The first class, which may be described under the title "Registration Office, Books, Forms, and Incidental Expenses," should comprise all sums paid by the guardians and repaid by the parishes, 1. For providing and upholding the registry-office. 2. For register-books of births and deaths, and forms of cer- 3. For marriage notice-books, marriage register-books, and 4. For fees in respect of such extra-parochial places (if any) as above mentioned. The other class may be entitled “ Registration Fees," and should comprise all the fees paid to the registrars by the guardians, and also the sums repaid by the guardians to the superintendent registrar, which he may have paid to the clergymen for entries in the certified copies of entries in the marriage register-books as before mentioned. It will be necessary that the registrars should so make out their accounts as to enable the guardians of the Union duly to charge the respective parishes; and if a registrar's district comprises more than one parish, his account should distinguish the number of births and deaths which have taken place in each of the parishes comprised within his district; and, as the first twenty entries are charged on a higher scale than subsequent entries, the registrar's account should show the respective parishes to which such twenty entries relate. The account so made out should be verified and signed by the superintendent registrar, which will be an authority to the guardians for its discharge. So also the superintendent registrar's account of the sums which he may have paid to clergymen for entries in the certified copies of entries in the marriage registry-books, should be made out so as to show in respect of what parishes the sums have been paid. ORDERS and REGULATIONS issued by the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, for the Guidance and Government of the Boards of Guardians of the several Unions in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. To all to whom these presents shall come, We, the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, send greeting. Whereas, in pursuance of the powers given to us, in and by an Act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled, "An Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales," We, the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, appointed under the said Act, did, by an order under our hands and seal, bearing date the , order and declare that the townships and places named in the margin of the said order, which are situated in the county being the same which are day of of now named in the margin at the foot of this page, should, on the day of be, and thenceforth remain, united for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor: And further, that on the and in every subsequent year, on the first Thursday after the twenty-fifth day of March, and in the manner therein mentioned, the said townships and places should respectively elect a guardian or guardians for the said Union. day of And whereas a Board of Guardians of the said Union has already been elected and established in pursuance of the said order, and the said Board have proceeded to the election of their clerk, but have not, as yet, been directed to assume the administration of relief to the poor in the said Union. And whereas, by the said Act it is provided, that the Poor Law Commissioners shall prescribe the duties of guardians, and shall also, as and when they shall see fit, direct the guardians of any Union to appoint such paid officers, with such qualifications as the said Commissioners shall think necessary, for superintending or assisting in the administration of the relief and employment of the poor, either within or out of a workhouse, and for the examining and auditing, allowing or disallowing of accounts in such Union, and otherwise carrying the provisions of the said Act into execution: and the said Commissioners are thereby |