The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-20 00:00:00

TRUSTEES OF CHARITIES BILL.

Mr. DILLWYN moved the second reading of the bill.
He said that this measure had been so often before the
house and so much ventilated, that he would have wished
to have avoided making many observations on the subject
on the present occasion. However, in consequence of the
measure introduced last session it would be necessary to
trespass on the attention of the house at some length.
The state of the law which, up to last session, required al-
teration, related to the trusteeship of unendowed schools,
and to the quality of the education given. By the bill
passed last session the latter subject was only dealt with,
for it merely provided that the trustees should afford in-
creased facilities for the admission of children into
the endowed schools of the country. However,
the question of the administration of the trusts was
not touched, and no provision was made relative to the
question of the trustees. According to the decision
of the Court of Chancery and the House of Lords
in the Leominster case, Dissenters were declared by the
existing law ineligible to act as trustees of endowed schools.
The effect of that decision would be to impede the operation
of the; act of last session. It could not be expected,
when so large and respectable a body as the Dissenters
found themselves excluded from the management of those
schools, that they would have much confidence in the
quality of the education imparted to the children in such
schools. By this bill he merely proposed that no one shall
be ineligible to act as trustees in the endowed schools
merely because they did not profess a certain form of belief,
except in those cases when the founders of such schools
had expressed a wish in their bequest that such trusteeship
should be limited to members of the Chuith of England.
As this was a modified and moderate measure he hoped it
would receive the adoption of the house.
Mr. SELWYN moved, as an amendment, that the bill
be read a second time upon that day six months. He said
that one of the objects which this bill proposed was to effect
indirectly what the house had refused to grant directly last
session. He objected to the preamble of the bill, as being
calculated to mislead both the members of the Church of
England and Dissenters, for it set forth that some doubt
had arisen as to the eligibility of 'persons not professing
the doctrines of the Established Church to act as trustees
of these endowed schools. The fact was that there was no
doubt whatever on this point, for though no statute law
existed, a practice had been in operation which had been
unchanged and undoubted. The honourable and learned
member then cited various cases which had come
before the equity and law courts to show that the
principle had invariably been adopted of legalising the
appointment only of trustees to endowed chanties who were
of the religion of the sect for which such charities were in-
tended. This was proved by decisions which excluded
members of the Church of England from the trusteeship of
charities which, according to the intention of the founders,
were endowed for the use and benefit of Dissenters. By
this law the contrary was permissible only in the case
where there was sn expression of opinion ix the instrument
which conferred the amount given by the donor; but the
bill went much farther. When the intention of a donor
was clearly expressed, of course no doubt could arise, but
when that was not the case they were to arrive at such from
the opinions of the donor or other surrounding circum-
stances, which, according to the provisions of this bill,
could not be altogether excluded. As a last objection he
contended that the adoption of this bill would lead to dis-
cord in the management of these endowed charities, by
raising a difference of opinion as to the mode of religious
education to be imparted to the recipients of the charity.
This discord would exhibit itself on each recurring election
of trustees, when each party would endeavour to have an
accession of strength in enabling him to carry out his par-
ticular viers. The hon. and learned member then
referred to recent legal decisions which set this
question at rest as regarded the existing law in
respect
.to Church of England charities and mixed
charities, as well as other trusts. Finally, he contended
that it was ungrateful, after the passing of the endowment
act of last session, to bring forward a measure like the pre-
sent until they had seen the working of the former andb.e

In a discussion on the Red Sea Telegraph ques-
tion on the 9th inst. Mr. Gladstone stated that the
dividend to the shareholders was not yet due, and
that he hoped the necessary bill would pass through
Parliament in time to prevent any default. The
statement was erroneous and the hope unfounded.
The dividend was then eight days overdue, and
although a short period has hitherto been allowed for
sending out the warrants, that period in the present
case expired on Friday last. The British Govern-
ment, therefore, are now withholding from a large
number of families the payment of sums to which
it is admitted the moral title of the claimants is
as incontestable as that enjoyed by the holders of
Consuls. Such technical irregularity as exists is
solely to the charged to the carelessness of Govern-
ment functionaries; and at various intervals in
both Houses of Parliament it has been proclaimed
by members, not only of the existing but of the late
Cabinet, that the public might make investments in
this security with perfect reliance as to the nature
of the guarantee. It is believed that no similar
lapse ever before occurred with a public security in
this country, and perhaps the unpleasantness would
not now have been witnessed but for the circum-
stance of a peculiar system of subtle refinement
having crept into our financial dealings. The
amount involved in the temporary breach of
faith was £lB,OOO, and the Ministry had a
sense so delicate of "what was due to Parlia-
ment, and the respect they were bound to pay to
its authority," although Parliament had already
voted the money, that they could not
think of incurring the responsibility of disbursing
it after the Law Officers of the Crown had intimated
the discovery of some flaw in the wording of the
documents relating to it. Probably the House of
Commons, instead of being thankful for this extreme
deference, are simply conscious of the manner in
which their time is being wasted, and of the fact that
ten times £lB,OOO would be well laid out rather
than that the financial character of the Government
and the national credit should even for a moment
be compromised by such questions. There is a
narrow scrupulousness which may lead to results
akin to those from recklessness. If we are
once to establish the practice of appealing to
the Law Officers of the Crown with regard to the
propriety of making payments universally admitted
to be equitably due, there will not be a single lia-
bility of the Government that can be deemed secure.
Happily, however, public sentiment on these points
is in advance of that displayed by the Government,
and t o Ministry can resort to such proceedings with-
out loss of respect. In the present instance, all
spoemrseonsmawchouinlderybe
bgyreawtlhyieph, leawseidthoifut inflictingthereweb
ruinous expense on individuals, an action could_
broutht for interest at 8 per cent. on the delayed
Gity Article.
payments,
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THE MURDER NEAR RYDE, ISLE OF WIGIIT.—
A coroner's inquest was opened on Monday before Mr. F.
Blake, the coroner for the Isle of Wight, at Old-house Farm,
the scene of the murder, about a mile from Hyde, to inquire
into the cause of the death of Jane, the wife of Henry Lacy,
a farmer residing at that place. The proceedings were con-
tinued yesterday, when several witnesses were examined,
from whose evidence it appeared that Lacy had thrown his
wife downstairs, and that she died from the injuries she
received. Susan Wilder, the niece of the deceased, appears
to have been implicated in the occurrence, or, at all events,
she knew of it, and endeavoured to conceal the fact that
Lacy had thrown his wife downstairs, and represented that
she had fallen down. Lacy is a man of drunken habits,
and it is supposed that he was intoxicated when he com-
mitted the crime. The deceased had several bruises, and
marks of blood were found on her clothes and on the
bed where she had been lying. Thejury returned a verdict
of " Wilful Murder" against Lacy, who has been committed
to Winchester Gaol. The woman Wilder, who is of rather
repulsive appearance, has been examined before the magi-
strates of Hyde, and remanded on the charge of " having
on the 17th inst., well knowing that one Henry Lacy had
then and there feloniously killed and murdered one Jane
Lacy, feloniously relieved, comforted, and assisted the said
Henry Lacy."
THAMES EMBANKMENT.--At the meeting of the
Metropolitan Board of Works yesterday the President said
—having received a communicatim from her Majesty's
Chief Commissioner of Works expressing a wish to see him
upon the subject, he had accordingly done so. He (the
President) had again strongly urged the objections enter-
tained by the Board to having this subject referred to a
Commission. The Chief Commissioner said that he still
adhered to the opinion that a Commission would be neces-
sary, and the Government proposed that the Commis-
sioners should bo seven in number, and that the present
.
Lord Mayor should be the CRuirman. He (the President)
had that e
he had replied expressing his willingness to
undertake that responsibility. The Board expressed their
approval of the course which had been adopted,
com-
mittee, Rd nady recei„d s formal request to be one of the cora-