half mentioned, or how otherwise, and what is the amount of the income derived from the same; and whether the farm buildings in the said township of Hough, as well as the said school premises, or some and which of them are not in bad condition, or how otherwise; and whether the management and letting of the said property belonging to the said charity has not been for some and what period left to the schoolmaster alone, or how otherwise; and whether the said defendant [master] from the time of his appointment in the year 1808, till the commencement of his illness in the year 1827, or from some other and what time to some other and what time, did not rarely attend the said school; and whether he did not leave the management thereof to an usher; and whether for some years past, or for some and what time the said usher had not the whole care of the school until the spring of 1829, or some other and what time, or how otherwise; and whether the said usher was not then, or at some other and what time dismissed; and whether thereupon, or upon some other and what occasion, a son of the said defendant [the master] was not appointed by him usher of the said school, with such salary and emoluments as are hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned, or some other and what salary and emoluments; and whether they were not the same as the former usher had received; and whether the said son of the said [master] was not at the time of such appointment in his nineteenth year, or how old was he; and whether the said [master] has personally acted in the conduct or management of the said school except by occasionally receiving the children at his house and examining them, or how otherwise; and whether the said school is not open to all the children, boys and girls, of the poor of the said parish of or how otherwise; and whether they are not taught reading, writing and accounts free from any charge, or how otherwise; and whether they do not provide their own books, and pay 2d. each for coals in winter, or how otherwise; and whether, owing to the neglect of the schoolmaster, or to some other and what cause, the attendance of scholars is not very irregular; and whether in winter the average number is not between sixty and seventy, and in summer between thirty and forty, or what are the average number of such scholars; and whether the said [late master] was not the last master of the said school, and whether he did not hold the same many and how many years; and whether during that time, or some and what part thereof, he had not several scholars who received classical instruction, and whether since the appointment of the said [master] there have been any scholars of that description; and whether the appointment of a practising physician as master of the said school was not highly improper; and whether the same has not been of considerable injury to the welfare of the said charity, or how otherwise; and whether the mode in which the said school has been and is conducted by the said defendant [master] is not detrimental to the interests of the said charity, and contrary to the intentions of the founder thereof, or how otherwise; and whether the said [master] ought not to be removed from the situation of master of the said school; and whether the benefits at present derived by the said parish of ——from the said charity are not greatly, or in some and what degree, inadequate to the income of the said charity property; and whether the said [master] ought merely to superintend the school occasionally, and whether he ought not to employ himself regularly in giving personal instruction therein; and whether trustees ought not to be appointed in whom the charity property may be vested, and by whom the same should be let and managed, or if not, why not; and whether proper rules should not be established for the future regulation of the said charity and disposal of the revenues thereof, or if not, why not; and whether such applications as are hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned have not been made to the said defendants respectively, and whether they have not severally declined to comply therewith, and for what reason; and whether the said defendant [master] has ever acted as master of the said school, save as hereinbefore in that behalf mentioned, since he recovered from his alleged illness; and whether he has not received all the rents and profits of the said school property; and whether by his neglect, or by what other means, he has not suffered the said school to fall into utter decay, or how otherwise; and whether some proper and fit person, who will devote his whole time and attention to the care and conduct of the said school, ought not to be appointed in the room of the said defendant [master]; and whether the said defendant R. E. cannot, and whether he ought not to remove the said defendant [master], or if not, why not; and whether the said defendants [master] and R. E., or one and which of them, have not or hath not in their or his possession or power divers or some and what deeds or a deed, wills or a will, accounts or an account, letters or a letter, papers or a paper, and writings or a writing, relating to the several or some or one and which of the matters aforesaid; and that they may set forth a list or schedule thereof, and leave the same in the hands of their clerk in court for the usual purposes; and whether the said defendants respectively have or hath now in their or his possession or power all such of the aforesaid particulars as at any time have or Prayer. hath been in their or his possession or power, or if not, then that they or he may set forth what is become thereof, and in whose possession or power the same were when they or he last saw or heard of the same respectively. And that the said defendants may answer the matters aforesaid; and that the said [master] may be removed from the mastership of the said school, and that some proper person may be appointed master thereof in his stead; and that the said charity may be established; and that it may be referred to one of the masters of this honourable court to appoint proper persons to be trustees thereof; and that directions may be given for vesting in them the property belonging to the said charity, and that all necessary parties may be ordered to join in such conveyance; and that a scheme may be settled for the future management of the said property and regulation of the said charity; and that your lordship will be pleased to make such further or other decree in the premises as the interests of the said charity may require. May it please your lordship to grant unto his majesty's attorney general his majesty's most gracious writs of subpoena, to be directed to the said [master] and R. E., and the rest of their confederates when discovered, thereby commanding them and every of them, at a day and under a pain therein to be limited, personally to be and appear before your lordship in this honourable court, then and there true, direct, and perfect answer to make to all and singular the matters aforesaid; and to stand to, perform and abide such order and decree therein as to your lordship shall seem meet. INFORMATION filed at the instance of the Charity Commis- IN CHANCERY. To, &c. That, &c. [statement of conveyance, dated December, 1668, of a rectory, manor, lands and other hereditaments to eight trustees for charitable purposes-ante, pp. 561, 562.] And his majesty's attorney general further shows, that by divers conveyances, the said premises have been from time to the charity, time conveyed to and vested in new trustees upon the trusts Present trustees of (d) Ante, pp. 428-430. reversionary son-in-law had come into pos vested in declared concerning the same, by the said deed of trust, and that ultimately by an indenture, bearing date, &c. the said premises were conveyed to the use of [trustees], upon the trusts aforesaid, and they are the present trustees of the said charity. And his majesty's attorney general further informeth Grant of your lordship, that the said as the only surviving trustee lease. under the said indenture of [deed of gift] by indenture, bearing date the 20th day of November, 1696, demised to the said his executors, administrators, and assigns, the premises aforesaid, to hold the same from the expiration of the said term of ninety-nine years for the term of 500 years, at the old rent of 401. per annum, which rent was then greatly below the value of the said premises. And his Lessee majesty's attorney general further informeth your lordship, of trustee. that the said [lessee] was the son-in-law of the said [trustee], and that it so appears in certain old deeds in the possession of the defendants hereafter named, and that the said lease was granted by the said [trustee] in order to benefit his own family at the expense of the charity. And his majesty's attorney That lease general further showeth unto your lordship, that the said term of ninety-nine years having expired, the said reversionary session and term of 500 years hath fallen into possession, and the same defendants. by divers assignments and other acts in the law hath become and is now vested in [some of the defendants] or some person in trust for them, or one of them, and they are and for some time past have been respectively in possession of the said rectory, lands and premises under the said demise, and have, or one of them hath paid unto the said trustees of the said charity for the time being the said annual rent of 401. And his majesty's attorney general further informeth your lordship, that [donor's sister (named in the deed of gift) and all her children have been long dead] and that the said rent of 407. has been or is applied by the trustees of the said charity to the charitable purposes directed by the said indenture of [deed of gift]. And his majesty's attorney general further in- That lease formeth your lordship, that the said reversionary lease for 500 was improyears was an improper and improvident lease, granted at a very inadequate rent, and without any consideration being paid for the same, and that the grant of such lease was a breach of trust by the said [trustee] as such trustee as aforesaid, to which the lessee was party or privy. And his majesty's That partiattorney general further informeth your lordship, that the been certiparticulars of this case have been certified to him by the fied. commissioners for inquiring concerning charities in England, according to the provisions of the act of parliament passed in the fifty-ninth year of the reign of his late majesty King George the Third, entitled "An Act for giving additional facilities in applications to Courts of Equity regarding the vident. culars had Management of Estates or Funds belonging to Charities." Charge as to And his majesty's attorney general charges that the present value of property. was a breach of trust. Charges. annual value of the said rectory, manor, lands, and other hereditaments is very great, independent of the advowson of the said vicarage, and that it would so appear if the defendants would set forth the particulars of which the said hereditaments consist, and what is the present annual value of such part thereof, and how they compute the same, and what has been the gross income, and what has been the net income received from the same, since they have been in That lease possession thereof. And his majesty's attorney general submits that the said demise of the day of was made by the said [trustee] in breach of his duty as a trustee of the said charity, and that the lease ought to be set aside, and that the said [defendants] ought to account for the monies received by them respectively, from or on account of the rents and profits of the said premises, after deducting the said rent of 407., so by them or one of them annually paid as aforesaid. But now so it is, may it please your lordship that the said [defendants] contriving and confederating to and with the said [trustees of the charity], and with divers other persons at present unknown to the said attorney general, but whose names, when discovered, the said attorney general prays may be inserted herein, and they made parties defendants hereto, with proper and apt words and matter to charge them, and contriving to defraud the said charity, refuse to comply with such requests, and sometimes pretending that they, or those under whom they claim, purchased the said term of 500 years without any knowledge that the same had been granted by a trustee for charitable purposes, whereas the attorney general charges the contrary; and that if the said lease was purchased by the said defendants [naming them], or any person through whom they or he claim or claims for valuable consideration, which the attorney general does not admit, the attorney general charges that such purchaser had notice at the time that the person by whom the said term was granted was a trustee of the said lands for charitable purposes, and that in fact it so appears upon the deed granting the said term; and in fact the attorney general charges that the said rent of 401. was at the time of the said purchase regularly applied to charitable purposes, and was frequently paid over by the lessees themselves in the first instance to [the object of the charity] instead of being paid over to the trustees of the said charity. [There were other charges and that defendants had deeds, &c. in their possession]. All which, &c. [ante, p. 896.] To the end therefore, &c. [interrogatories adapted to the previous statements and charges.] And that the said defendants may Prayer. |