MR. H. S. NORTHOOTEasked the Vice President of the Council, If it is the fact that the Charity Commissioners have for some time past withheld from the Trustees of the Griffith Amerideth Exeter Charity the dividends from Stock invested in the names of the Official Trustees of that Charity; and, if so, under what statute, and with what ultimate intention, have the Charity Commissioners thus acted?
§ MR. MUNDELLAIt appears that in 1556 the Founder of this Charity bequeathed the profits of his lands for the purchase of shrouds for prisoners who should suffer death in the city of Exeter. By orders of the Court of Chancery and of the Charity Commissioners, the trust is now administered by municipal trustees, the Stock being held by "the official trustees of charitable funds." The demand for shrouds having happily declined, the income has been applied, without authority, to the purchase of petticoats for old women. The Commissioners have repeatedly suggested to the trustees that they ought to apply for a scheme for the legitimate distribution of the funds; but the trustees have positively refused compliance. The Commissioners, accordingly, under their general powers conferred by Statute, have directed the official trustees to retain the dividends, and they have since received an application from the Home Secretary for a scheme under the Prisons Acts, which 546 will provide for the disposal of the funds for the benefit of discharged prisoners.