The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-19 00:00:00

IMPORTANT APPEAL.—John Ireland and Richard
Welford, Esqrs., auditors for the parish of St. Mary,
Newington, appellants ; the Trustees of the same parish,
respondents.
This was an appeal by the auditors of the above parish
against the accounts of the trustees, appointed under an
Act of the Ist George IV., for the building of additional
churches.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr. Jemmett, and Mr. Cham-
bers were for the appellants ; and Mr. Platt, Mr. Bod-
kin, and Mr. Wallinger, appeared for the trustees.
The notice of appeal set forth that the trustees had
made certain charges for the maintenance and support
of the churches erected under the authority of the above
Act, and that they had neglected to produce sufficient
vouchers to the auditors to satisfy them of the propriety
of these payments, and that the auditors had therefore
appealed against the whole of the items.
Mr. PLATT took a preliminary objection to the form
of the notice, contending that it should have shown that
all the three auditors appointed by the Act had disap-
proved of the different items, and that as only two ap-
peared to have concurred in this opinion the notice was
informal. He need not apologize to the Court for
taking this objection when be stated that the effect of
the present proceeding against the trustess, if suc-
cessful, would have the effect of compelling these gen-
tlemen to pay 2,0001. out of their pockets, which sum
they had already bona fide paid.
Sir F. POLLOCK contended that the decision of the
major part of the trustees, according to the Act of Par-
liament, was sufficient.
The COURT, after a lengthened argument, over-ruled
the objection.
Sir F. Poramex then proceeded to open his case on
behalf of the auditors. He said that his clients were
appointed under an Act of Parliament passed for the
purpose of enabling parishes to have additional church
accommodation. By the same Act trustees were ap-
pointed who were empowered to raise sums of money by
virtue of the Act, for the purpose specified. The real
question for the Court was whether the auditors' duty
was merely to see that the trustees did not put the
money into their own pockets, or whether they were
not bound on behalf of their fellow-parishioners, by
whom they were elected, to see that all the items in the
accounts of trustees were fair and just, and which ought
legally to be paid by them, and proper vouchers pro-
duced. By the 103 d section of the Act in question,
the trustees were required to lay before the auditors a
just account of all monies received and expended
by them, accompanied by proper vouchers. The
trustees had laid a list of items before the auditors, un-
accompanied by legal vouchers. The auditors consi-
dered the vouchers insufficient, and appealed to the
trustees, as required by the Act, and they dismissed the
appeal, and stated that if a further appeal to the
Quarter Sessions was resolved upon they should be pre-
pared to prove the correctness of their accounts. He
submitted to the Court that the question really at issue
was whether the auditors were merely assessors, and
were bound to allow the accounts presented to them
without any inquiry, or whether the Act of Parliament
did not intend them to act as a check upon any waste-
ful expenditure of the parish funds. The Learned
Counsel proceeded to state that the accounts now ap-
pealed against by the auditors contained a great number of
items, and there were different objections to particular
items. The first was a sum of 5001., alleged to
be paid to her Majesty's Commissioners in part
payment of the debt incurred to them under the Act.
The auditors asked for a voucher for this payment, and
all the voucher they could obtain was the returned check
for the amount, indorsed with the receipt of the Com-
missioners or their secretary. They gave no informa-
tion as to the amount of the debt, or for what it had
been incurred. There was another item of the same
amount for the same purpose, of which no farther infor-
mation could be obtained except that the money had
been paid. The auditors, by the present proceeding,
wished to ascertain whether they ought to be satisfied
that such large sums were properly paid, without the
production of any other document or any other infor-
mation respecting them than that they had been paid.
It was an important circumstance in reference to these
items, that by the Act of Parliament all money borrowed
should have been paid within a period of fifteen years,
and as the Act passed in 1820, it appeared very
extraordinary, without explanation, that payments should
be still going on. The trustees, in a communication to
the auditors upon the subject, had, it was true, stated
that it was notorious that 13,000/, had been borrowed
of the Comtnissioners; for the purpose.'6f building'the
churches, but this was not the sort of information upon
which, he contended, the auditors ought to act. There
were then two items of 701. and 40/. paid to the execu-
tors of two persons named Dean and Lightfoot, for
interest of money borrowed of them. The auditors
asked for information respecting the loan, but none could
be obtained ; all the trustees said was that they had
paid the money, and they produced the receipts. The
auditors did not pretend to say that these sums had not
been paid, but what they contended for was that in
their public capacity, and having the interest of their
t'ellow•parishioners entrusted to their care, they
were entitled to have some more distinct information
upon the subject of these payments than was afforded
to them by the trustees, and it would be for the Court,
by their decision, to say whether that suspicion was well
founded or not, and whether they were to consider a
receipt for the payment of money as a sufficient gua-
rantee that it had been properly paid. The Learned
Counsel then alluded to an item of 401. for black cloth
to hang in the church upon the demise of his late Ma-
jesty, and said that there was no authority in the Act
for the expenditure of money for such a purpose by the
trustees—the same would apply to an expense of eight
guineas for repairing the organ of the old church,
which, clearly, could not be done under the Act for
building the new ones. There was also an item
of 141. incurred by the trustees in taking the opinion
of Counsel, which be said they had no right to charge,
in their accounts. In conclusion, the Learned Counsel
said that the auditors were not actuated by any vindic-
tive feeling, and all they desired was that the Court
should say whether they were entitled to the informa-
tion they required or not.
Mr. John Clutten, the gentleman who acted for the
clerk to the trustees, was then called. He proved the
fact of the accounts having been presented to Messrs.
Ireland and Welford, the appellants, and Mr. Dutton,
their colleague, and that the two former gentlemen re-
quired some further information relative to the payment
of the two sums of 5001. to the Commissioners, and
the payments to the executors of Lightfoot and Dixon.
He produced the receipts to them, and no further in-
formation was afforded to them on the subject. The book
of accounts contained the entries of former payments
made on the same account, and which had been al-
lowed by other auditors, but he did not know whether
their attention was specially directed to them. Mr.
Dutton, the other auditor, had refused to sanction the
present appeal, and he had formerly been auditor, and
had proved other accounts of the trustees.
The book of accounts was produced and referred to.
It appeared that at the usual half-yearly audits for seve-
ral years back, the auditors had complained of the mode
of keeping the accounts, and of the large balance that
was kept in the hands of the trustees. In the year
1832, when Mr. Dutton, above referred to, was one of
the auditors, it appeared that one of his colleagues,
after the passing of the accounts, had placed the fol-
lowing query opposite one of the items :—" Dutton,
how the -- came you to pass this?"—(Laughter.)
Sir F. POLLOCK remarked that the evidence af-
forded by this book of accounts showed pretty clearly
how they had been kept.
Mr. Clutten on cross-examination said, that Mr.
Welford was a barrister and Mr. Ireland a solicitor.
He produced receipts for the payment of the different
sums, and likewise the checks signed by five of the
trustees in accordance with the Act of Parliament.
Mr. PLATT next addressed the Court, and said he
should have expected from the nature of the appeal that
the appellants would have produced evidence to show that
the sums that were contained in the accounts of the
trustees were either not paid at all, or else that they
had been paid illegally. He submitted confidently, to
the Court that the trustees had acted legally, and per-
fectly in accordance with the Act of Parliament.
They were required to lay before the auditors a
full and jus: account of the sums received
and expended by them, with the proper vouchers.
Now he should like to know what a voucher meant,
and what better voucher could possibly be obtained than
a receipt for the payment of money? The trustees
had produced the receipts, but the auditors wanted
something more. They wanted deeds and documents,
which they must have known could not be in the posses-
sion of the trustees. The deeds upon which they had
borrowed money, and the agreement upon which her
Majesty's Commissioners had advanced t hem the money,
could not be in their possession, and they could not pro-
duce them. Were not the auditors well aware that
two new churches had been built, and that the money
must have been obtained from some source to pay for
them, and that they. did not spring out of the earth ?
He submitted that the real cause of this appeal was
to be traced to the fact of the parish having the mis•
fortune to have two auditors who were lawyers, and
who, by the provisions of the Act in question would be
entitled to their costs out of the Poor-rate, whether
they gained or lost the appeal. He concluded by assert-
ing that the trustees had done their duty, and called
upon the Court to confirm this opinion by dismissing
the appeal.
I The MAGISTRATES then retired, and in about an