be used for the purposes of divine service, either as a chapel or chapels of ease to the parish church or otherwise, or be converted into a mortuary chapel or mortuary chapels; and the vestry room of the church so constituted the parish church shall be held to be the vestry room of the parishes or places constituting such united or separate benefice for the use of the parishioners thereof; provided, that the said bishop shall not make any such decree for the pulling down either the whole or part of any such church or churches until a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of the transfer as hereinafter prescribed of the tombstones, monuments, tablets, and monumental inscriptions in the church so to be wholly or partly pulled down has been collected by voluntary subscriptions, and placed in the hands of two or more trustees to be applied to such purpose.' preserved. Burials. Sect. 4. "The site of any church which shall be wholly Site of disused or partly pulled down, and the churchyard belonging church to be thereto, shall be properly fenced in and preserved and kept free from desecration, and until such churchyard shall be legally closed for interments the persons for the time being having rights of burial in such churchyard shall not be entitled to rights of burial in any other churchyard within the limits of the same united or separate benefice: provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall apply to any proceedings for the union of benefices taken under the provisions of 23 & 24 Vict. c. 142" (t). to be trans church. &c. Sect. 5. "The tombstones, monuments, tablets, and Tombstones, monumental inscriptions in any church so wholly pulled font, altar, &c. down, or in such part of any church as is pulled down, ferred from shall be transferred to the parish church of such united or disused church separate benefice, or in the case where the removal is from to parish such part of a church as has been pulled down, to the part of the church which is suffered to remain standing; and Repair fund, the font, communion table, and plate used for the purposes of the holy communion belonging to or held in trust for any church so wholly pulled down shall be transferred to such parish church; and all lectureships attached to any church so wholly pulled down or disused for the purposes of divine service shall be transferred to the parish church of such united or separate benefice; and all sums of money or other property held by any body or person or persons in trust for the maintenance, repair, or insurance of any church which shall cease to be used for the purposes of divine service or for a mortuary chapel under the pro (t) See p. 540, infra. Rights of parishioners. Bishop to direct the arrangement of the seats in shall be of an uniform pat visions of this act shall thereupon be held upon the like trusts for such parish church." Sect. 6. "When any church shall have been so constituted a parish church the persons residing within the limits of the said united or separate benefice shall, subject as in this act mentioned, have the same rights, be entitled to the same privileges, and be subject to the same obligations in relation to such church as if the same church had always existed as such parish church." Sect. 7. " Upon any union of benefices the bishop of the diocese, under his hand and seal, shall and he is hereby authorized by faculty from his court to alter and readjust church, which the seats and the appropriation thereof in the church of the united or separate benefice, so that not less than onehalf of the sittings in such church shall be left unappropriated; and all the seats whether appropriated or free under any new arrangement made under this provision shall be made as near as possible of the same size and general appearance." tern. Unions within By sect. 2, this act is to be read and construed as one with 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, and 13 & 14 Vict. c. 98. A special enactment (23 & 24 Vict. c. 142) has been the metropolis. made as to the union of benefices within the metropolis; which benefices are therefore exempted from the operation of the last-mentioned act (34 & 35 Vict. c. 90). Contiguous benefices within the metropolis as defined by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, may be united. Power to London or The following are the provisions of this act : Sect. 1. "Two or more contiguous benefices within the metropolis as defined by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, intituled An Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis' (u), may from time to time be united, or a benefice or contiguous benefices and one or more spiritual sinecure rectory or rectories, vicarage or vicarages, contiguous to such benefice or benefices, and situate in the metropolis, may from time to time be united, without regard in any case to aggregate population or aggregate yearly value, and without limitation as to the same, and every such union shall be effected in the manner hereinafter provided." Sect. 3. "Whenever it shall appear to the bishop of the diocese of London or of Winchester, as the case may be, that an union of benefices may with advantage to the interests of religion be effected within his diocese, he may cause a commission to be issued under his hand and seal, addressed to five persons, to be nominated as after mentioned, authorizing and requiring them to inquire into and report upon (u) Sce sect. 250, and schedules A, B and C to the act. the expediency of the proposed union, and such commissioners shall and may inquire into all such matters in anywise affecting such union or connected therewith as they may deem necessary, and the commissioners shall make their return to the commission within six calendar months from the issuing of the commission, or within such enlarged time as the bishop shall, by writing under his hand, from time to time direct, and notice of the issuing of a commission shall be sent by the bishop to the vestry clerk of each parish proposed to be united, and notice thereof shall be published by such vestry clerk by affixing it upon the door of the parish church." nominated. Sect. 4. "Three of the commissioners shall be beneficed Commission clergymen residing within the diocese, of whom one shall how to be be nominated by the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of Saint Paul (x), and two by the bishop of the diocese, and the remaining two shall be lay members of the church of England, and shall be nominated to the bishop by the corporation of the city of London (y); and no commissioner shall be entitled to claim or shall receive any salary or payment for performing the duties imposed on him as such commissioner." quorum, their powers, and the commis sion. Sect. 5. "Three of the commissioners, of whom one The number to shall be a lay commissioner, shall constitute a quorum; constitute a and the commissioners shall have power at their discretion to call for the production before them of any documents the return to not affecting private interests which they may deem necessary for the purposes of the commission, and the persons having the care or custody of such documents shall be bound to produce them to the commissioners upon the requisition in writing of any two commissioners; and the commissioners may examine on oath all persons desirous or willing to be examined by them touching any matter relating to the object of the commission, and may administer the oaths necessary for that purpose, and the churchwardens of the parishes proposed to be united shall have notice of the sittings of such commission, and shall be entitled, with their vestry clerk, to attend thereat; and the commissioners shall in their return to the commission certify all such matters and things as shall appear to them material, together with their opinion as to the expediency or otherwise of the proposed union, and if they, or any (c) By the dean and chapter of Westminster, if the proposed union is within the city of Westminster (s. 30). (y) By the vestries of the parishes affected, if the proposed Disqualification of commissioners, and the issuing a fresh commis sion. Bishop to prepare and transmit proposals for a scheme to and vestry. three of them competent to constitute a quorum, shall deem the union expedient, shall recommend the terms on which in their opinion the same ought to be effected." Sect. 6. "If before the return to the commission any commissioner shall die, or become incapable of acting by removal from the diocese or otherwise, the commission shall continue in full force, unless there shall not be sufficient commissioners remaining to constitute a quorum; and notwithstanding the death or disqualification of any one or more of the commissioners the qualified commissioners for the time being shall continue to exercise the powers given to the commissioners by this act until such vacancy or vacancies shall have been filled up; but if there shall not be a sufficient quorum the bishop may, either before or after the time limited for the return to the commission, issue a fresh commission under the provisions of this act in lieu of the original commission, and the commissioners under such substituted commission shall have all the powers of the original commission, and may adopt the evidence taken under it." Sect. 7. "If the return to the commission shall recommend an union, the bishop shall cause proposals for a scheme, based upon the terms recommended, to be prepared for effecting the union, which proposals, with the churchwardens consent thereto in writing of the patron or patrons of each of the benefices affected, shall be transmitted by the bishop to the churchwardens of each parish proposed to be united, in order that the same may be considered by the inhabitants in vestry assembled; and all such proposals shall have especial regard to the residence of the incumbent on the benefice proposed to be constituted the united benefice, and shall contain all necessary provisions conducing to such residence." Vestry to notify assent or objections, and bishop to transmit final proposals to ecclesias tical commissioners, to prepare scheme, and certify same to the Queen in council. Sect. 8." The vestry of each parish shall, by the vestry clerk or other officer, notify to the bishop, within two calendar months after the receipt of the proposals, their assent or their objections to or any suggestions for the modification of the same, and the bishop shall give full consideration to every such notification of vestry, and shall make such alterations in the proposals as he may think right; and the bishop shall cause such proposals, as finally approved by him, and assented to by the patrons and by the vestries of the parishes to be affected thereby, to be transmitted to the ecclesiastical commissioners for England, who shall thereupon cause to be prepared a scheme for carrying out the proposed union, which scheme may, with the assent of the bishop and patrons, and the vestries of the parishes to be affected thereby, embody any modifications of the proposals, and shall send drafts of such proposed scheme to the churchwardens of the parishes to be respectively affected by the scheme, with notice that they or any of them may, within two calendar months, show cause to the ecclesiastical commissioners against the proposed union or any part or parts of the scheme relating thereto; and if within such period of two calendar months no cause be shown, the ecclesiastical commissioners shall certify the scheme, and the consent thereto in writing of the bishop and of the patron, and of the vestries of the parishes to be affected thereby, to her Majesty in council, and thereupon it shall be lawful for her Majesty in council to make and issue any order or orders for effecting the union and for uniting the parishes of the united benefices into one parish for ecclesiastical purposes, and for such other purposes as are herein provided: provided always, that if any petition or statement is lodged by way of protest, or any appeal is made against the scheme or any part thereof, as hereinafter is provided, no such order or orders in council shall be made or issued until such petition or statement has been duly considered, or the parties to such appeal have been duly heard." shall insert in the scheme. Sect. 9. "It shall be lawful for the ecclesiastical com- What the missioners to insert in any scheme to be prepared by them commissioners all proper directions for the appointment of the first incumbent of the united benefice, and for regulating the course and succession in which the patrons, if there be more than one patron, shall present or nominate to such united benefice from time to time as the same shall become vacant, and they shall have power to insert in any scheme all such provisions in addition to those hereby expressly authorized as may in their opinion be necessary for effectually carrying out the particular measures proposed by the scheme, including any provisions which may be found necessary for the compensation of any of the incumbents of the benefices to be united who may be willing to retire therefrom; and the ecclesiastical commissioners shall and may, for the purposes of this act, exercise all powers and privileges now or for the time being exercisable by them under the acts of parliament relating to their commission, or under the church building acts, particularly as regards the purchase of sites and the erection of churches." benefice may Sect. 10." Whenever it shall be deemed expedient to Part of a beneunite part only of a benefice with some other contiguous fice or united benefice or benefices, any portion of a benefice or bene- be severed fices, or any portion of two or more benefices, which shall and included in scheme. |