The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-20 00:00:00

CHARITY COMMISSION, 1849.

The following is the first report of the Commission
appointed last year:—
We, the Commissioners appointed by your
jesty's Royal Commission, bearing date the 13th clay
of September, 1849, to inquire into those cases which
were investigated by and reported upon by the Charity
Commissioners, but not certified to the Attorney-
General, and to report what proceedings, if any,
should be taken thereupon, do humbly report as
follows:

We have, in obedience to your Majesty's corn-
mends, proceeded to inquire into the subject referred
to us.

Although our inquiries have been necessarily limi-
ted to a comparatively small portion of this exten-
sive subject, we have decided to report upon a certain
number of selected cases, which appear to U 3 to re-
quire immediate interference or regulation. These
cases, with the information we have obtained respect-
ing them, are contained in the schedule annexed to
this report, and we recommend that they should be
laid before your Majesty's Attorney-General, in order
that he may proceed to deal with them in such man•
ner as he may judge to be expedient.
The number of charities on which reports were
made by the late Commissioners is 28,840 ; of these
about 400 were certified to the Attorney-General,
and about the same number have been, subsequently
to the year 1838, the subject of proceedings before
the Court of Chancery at the instance of relators or
petitioners. We have only a very partial and imper-
fect record of the eases coming under this last descrip-
tion,
by fire
between
of
1819 and 1838, owing to the destruc-
tionthe papers.
The 28,840 charities reported by the late Commis-
sioners, if classified according to income as nearly as
can be ascertained from the printed reports, will stand
thChtlasri:—ties, the incomes of which do not amount
Aratoous/12.tpinege atnontiin
51. and under lot.
1.135000000/
1.1 aaaaannunadadddubuuunannndddddee under
re
under
25135000000
1,/u1
...... 13,331
431;
::,968745 049641 89067
Si
s 4
'44 5001. and under 1,000/.
44 1,000/. and under 2,000/. 209,
2,0004 and upwards
56

Total
Of these charities it appears that the aggregate
COME at the time of the inquiry by the late Commie.
sione re was 1,209,3951., and although in some of the
smaller charities the income may probably be lost, it
hu.s iii other cases been so much increased as to render
the p resent aggregate consideri.bly greater than the
sum above stated.
7 e proceed to lay before your Majesty some fur-
ther results of our inquiries, and some suggestions
whit th arise from a more general view of the whole
matt sr referred to us.
In ftadition to the information communicated in
answ, sr to our own. inquiries, we have received
nume. *u us complaints of mai-administration, and, in
many :her instances, our advice has been asked by
parties s desirous of correcting acknowledged defects
or irreg. alarities. In a few of the most urgent
cases, ierein we have felt justified in giving that
advice, t l ie result has been satisfactory, and we have
reason t. 3 believe! that threatened litigation has been
obviated.
From these several sources of information it has
been ma, 1e evident to us that the evils and abuses
Pointed o . at by former Commissions and Committees