answer the premises and that the said demise for the term of 500 years of the said charity estates may be declared to have been a breach of trust by the surviving trustee of the said charity; and that the same may be decreed to be surrendered; and that the said defendants may be decreed to deliver up the said indenture of [date] to be cancelled; and that an account may be taken of the rents and profits of the said charity estates, which have been received by the said defendants, or either of them, and that what they or he shall appear to have received (after deducting the sum of 1. for each year) in respect of the rents and profits of the said estates may be paid over to the said trustees to be applied according to the trusts of the said indenture of [date], or that such further and other decree may be made in the premises as the rights and interests of the charity may require.

SOME STATEMENTS and Charges in, and Prayer of an Information for the Establishment of a Charity for the Poor of a Parish, and for the due administration of the Funds thereof, and for setting aside a Lease, and for an Injunction to restrain the Trustees from granting Leases on Fines of other parts of the Charity Property.

leasing.

AND his majesty's attorney general further informeth your Particulars of property lordship, that the said [defendants] are the survivors of the set forth in trustees named in the last stated indenture, and that the said schedule. trust premises are now vested in them, and the attorney general has set forth in the schedule to this information annexed, the particulars of the property vested in the said trustees upon the charitable trust aforesaid, with the annual value thereof, and the leases on which the same was held in the year 1821 at the time of the inquiry by the commissioners for inquiring concerning charities. And his majesty's attorney Mode of general further informeth your lordship, that the trustees of the said lands have been accustomed for many years to grant leases of the said lands and tenements so vested in them as aforesaid for twenty-one years, at very low rents, and to renew the said leases at the old rents at the end of seven or fourteen years, upon payment of a fine professed to be calculated upon and to be equal to one year's rent of the premises comprised in the lease according to the actual value, but which, in fact, is usually much below one year's value, by reason whereof the said premises do not produce to the said charity any thing like the full or fair value; and the same previously to the renewal in the year 1826 of the lease hereinafter stated, were let at rents amounting in all to 31. 10s. per annum, and

Improper application

of rents.

That lease

newed at

the amount of all the fines paid upon the last renewals of the said leases previous to the renewal in the year 1826, was only 2861., whereas the real annual value of the said premises to be let, was and is 4001. per annum. And his majesty's attor ney general further informeth your lordship, that the whole amount both of the fines and of the rents received from the said premises, has been and is paid by the trustees in aid of the churchwarden's account of the said parish, and no part thereof is applied in aid of the poor of the said parish. whereas a fair proportion of the said rents and fines, or at all events of the said rents, ought to have been applied and ought hereafter to be applied to the relief of inhabitants of the said parish not receiving parochial relief.

[That Notice had been given to Trustees and Lessees that Proceedings would be taken for setting aside the Leases, that none of the Leases had been surrendered, and that a Renewal had been effected since such Notice, &c. &c.]

AND his majesty's attorney general further informeth your had been re- lordship, that such renewal has been granted upon grossly under value. low and inadequate terms, and after such notice as is hereinbefore mentioned had been given on the part of the attorney general, both to the lessees of the said premises and to the trustees thereof, and that such lease ought, as the attorney general submits, to be set aside, upon such terms as may How leases appear to this honourable court to be reasonable. And the ought to be attorney general submits, that proper directions ought to be granted. given for the administration of the said charity, and that the leases subsisting upon the property ought not to be renewed before the expiration thereof, and that new leases ought to be granted when and as the old leases fall in at rack rents, or if any renewals are made upon payment of fines, then a proper proportion of the consideration for the leases ought to be reserved by way of rent, and that a proper portion of the proceeds of the said charity estate ought to be applied to the relief of poor inhabitants of the said parish not receiving parish relief. But now, &c. [ante, p. 902,] that the said trustees object to any alteration in the present mode of administering the said charity, and the said [lessees] insist upon the validity of the said new lease, and allege that the same was granted upon fair and reasonable terms between landlord and tenant, or that by reason of some large expenditure upon the said premises they the said [lessees] had an equitable claim to a renewed lease of the said premises, upon such advantageous terms as were actually thereby granted to them, whereas the attorney general charges the contrary of all such to be true, and that such lease was improperly granted on very low and unreasonable terms, greatly to the prejudice of the said charity, and that the fine paid, and rent reserved as the consideration for the said

Charges.

lease, are greatly below the fair value of the said premises, even supposing the prior lease under which the said premises were held, and which was surrendered upon the new lease being granted, to have been a valid and unimpeachable lease; but in fact the attorney general charges that such former lease was not a valid lease, and ought not to have been so treated or considered by the said trustees. And the said attorney general charges, that no expenditure had been made upon the said premises by the said [lessees] to warrant the granting either of the new lease or of the former lease on the terms on which the same were granted, and that no expenditure had been made by them or by the said [ Jor the person under whom he claims a beneficial interest in the said premises beyond such as they respectively were bound to make or would have made as tenants for twenty-one years at a fair rent; and so the attorney general charges, it would appear if the said defendants [naming them] if they shall pretend that any such expenditure was made, would set forth when the same was made and the amount and particulars thereof, and how and in what manner and to what extent the said demised premises were permanently improved or increased in value by reason of such expenditure. And the attorney general charges, that the granting the said new lease was a breach of trust on the part of the said trustees, and that the said defendants, the lessees, and were parties to such breach of trust, and that the lease ought to be set aside and cancelled. And the attorney general charges, that the said defendants respectively have in their possession or power the said lease and counterpart, and the inquisitions and decrees herein before mentioned or copies thereof, and divers deeds, books, receipts, papers, and writings relating to the several premises herein before mentioned, but that they refuse to produce the same. To the end, &c. [ante, p. 896, interrogatories adapted to the statements and charges.] And that the said defendants may answer the premises, and that proper directions may be given for Prayer. the establishment of the said charity and the due administration of the funds thereof; and that a fair proportion of the rents and profits of the said charity estates may be applied to the relief of poor inhabitants of the said parish of not receiving parochial relief; and that such account may be directed to be taken as the court may think proper, of the receipts and payments of the said defendants, the trustees of the said charity estates for the time past; and that the said lease to the said [names of lessees] of the [date] may be set aside, and that the same may be delivered up by them to be cancelled; and that it may be declared that the existing leases of the said charity estates ought not to be renewed be

fore the expiration thereof, and that the premises ought to be let at their full value, and that the defendants [the trustees] may be restrained by the injunction of the court from renewing such leases, or if it shall appear to the court that the said leases ought to be renewed, or that the same ought to be granted upon fines, then that a proper proportion of the consideration may be reserved by way of rent, and that the full value of such new leases may be secured to the charity and duly applied. And [for further relief.]

PRAYER of an Information to reform Abuses in the Management of the Charity Property, for removing Trustees, and for the settlement of a Scheme.

THAT proper directions may be given under the decree of this honourable court for the due administration of the said charity, according to the decree of the said commissioners of charitable uses, with such alterations as may be necessary. And that the said defendants may be removed from being trustees of the said charity. And that proper persons to be trustees of the said charity, not being tenants thereof, may be appointed by this honourable court or be elected by the inhabitants of according to the aforesaid decree. And that proper measures may be taken for vesting the lands of the said charity in the persons so to be appointed. And that the lands of the said charity may be let at their full value, and that in letting the same, due means may be taken for securing and enforcing the payment of the rent. And that it may be referred to one of the masters of this court to approve of a proper scheme for the purposes aforesaid, and for applying the increased income of the said charity to the purposes thereof, and that in the mean time some proper person may be appointed to receive the rents and profits of the said charity estates with all usual directions. And, &c. [for further relief.]

STATEMENTS and Charges in, and Prayer of Information against the Select Vestrymen, Parish Officers, and Feoffees of a Parish, for the establishment of several Charities, and decision on the Claims of such Charities to certain Property which had been purchased with Charitable Bequests, for an account of Fines, and for a Scheme for the application of the Rents and Profits.

Information for recovering the whole Rents of Estate.

were in

907

[Statement of a gift of 201. to remain as a stock for the poor of a parish to be disposed of in bread or otherwise, at the discretion of the churchwardens, overseers of the poor, and vestrymen of the parish, and of three gifts of money, the interest to be paid yearly to the poor for ever]. And the attorney general further informeth your lordship, That gifts that in the year 1653 the churchwardens and overseers of the vested in poor of the said parish, laid out the said donations aforesaid, the puramounting to the sum of 731. 6s. 8d. together with the fur- lands. ther sum of 26l. 13s. 4d. advanced for that purpose out of the general funds of the said parish, such funds amounting together to 1007., in the purchase of a messuage and two acres of ground hereinafter mentioned, and, accordingly, by an indenture, dated 20th day of December, 1653 [conveyance of property to several parishioners in fee, subject to certain leases whereon the rent of 71. 10s. was reserved].

parish had

And the attorney general further informeth your lordship, That sum advanced by that the trustees of the said charity paid over the rents of the said premises, amounting to 71. 10s. per annum, to the been repaid. churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said parish, who applied 1s. weekly, amounting together to 41. 2s. 4d. per annum, in the distribution of bread to the poor of the said parish, on account of the said several charitable donations, and the residue of the said rents they applied in repaying to the said parish the said sum of 261. 13s. 4d. advanced on account of the said purchase as aforesaid, by means whereof previously to the year 1668, the whole of the said sum had been paid off, and the property so purchased as aforesaid, became and was subject only to the charitable purposes declared by the several wills hereinbefore mentioned, concerning the said several charitable donations. And the attorney general, &c. [statement that property in question had been conveyed in 1668, to trustees, and from time to time to new trustees, and was then vested in the defendants]. And the said attorney general further infor- Mode in meth your lordship, that the trustees for the time being of the had been said premises purchased with the charitable bequests herein- granted. before particularly stated, have with the consent and under the direction of the churchwardens and overseers and vestrymen of the said parish of ever since the purchase of the said premises been in the habit of granting leases for lives of the premises, which have been renewed from time to time, at little more than the old rent, upon payment of fines as the lives have dropped in, and the churchwardens, or the senior churchwarden for the time being, by the consent and permission of the trustees, have received the rents of the said premises, and have at divers times received certain large

which leases