Poor Relief - Law Commission

acting if not duly qualified; Justices of the Peace may act as Vestrymen;
persons exempt from parochial office to continue to be exempt; manner of
voting at Vestry meetings; only inhabitants rated at a value of £6 for a
minimum of 6 months entitled to vote (Sections 4 – 12)
(d) proceedings of the Select Vestry; meetings of the Select Vestry to be held
in the parish workhouse; emergency meetings; Vestrymen to pay their
own expenses; minutes of the Vestry meeting to be kept and made
available for ratepayers to inspect (Sections 13 – 17)
(e) Vestrymen to appoint a Treasurer, Clerk and other officers; officers to
keep accounts of monies received and expended under this Act and to
pay the money due to the Treasurer; penalty for failure to do so; in case of
the death or bankruptcy of officers, their personal representatives must
account to the Select Vestry (Sections 18 – 20)
(f) accounts to be kept by the Vestrymen and made available for inspection
by ratepayers; accounts to be audited at a Vestry meeting held for that
purpose twice a year; audited accounts to be open for inspection; an
abstract of the accounts to be published (Sections 21 – 24)
(g) offices of Clerk and Treasurer to be held by different people; neither to be
the attorney or solicitor of the parish (Sections 25 – 26)
(h) collectors of the poor rate to deliver the money to the Treasurer weekly;
Treasurer to make payments as directed by the Vestrymen; legal
proceedings by the Select Vestry; officers not to demand any fee for doing
anything under the authority of this Act (Sections 27 - 30)
(i) appointment of overseers of the poor; survey to value the land in the
parish; the rates to be based upon the survey valuation; no alterations to
be made to the survey or valuation unless agreed upon at a Vestry
meeting with 5 days notice; surveys not to be made oftener than every 7
years (Sections 31 – 35)
(j) all property and goods provided by the parish for the use of the poor to be
vested in the Select Vestry; Select Vestry to have all the powers of
overseers of the poor; poor laws to continue in force unless altered by this
Act (Sections 36 – 38)
(k) Select Vestry to assess the rates for the poor, 147 the church 148 and the
highways 149 ; notice to be given of all Select Vestry meetings held for the
147
The parish-run poor law system was abolished by the Local Government Act 1929: see
accompanying background note.
148
Compulsory church rates were abolished in 1868: Compulsory Church Rates Abolition Act 1868.
151