§ MR. JOHNSON FERGUSON (Leicester, Loughborough)I beg to ask the hon. Member for Merionethshire 349 whether he is aware that, at the Easter Vestry of the parish of Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, application was made for the production of the balance sheets of the Barrow Hospital Trustees relating to Dr. Humphrey Babington's Charity, and to the Charity of Joseph Clarke, and such accounts not being forthcoming the Vestry meeting was adjourned until 4th May for the production of the accounts; that the clerk to the Trustees of these Charities did not produce the accounts at the adjourned Vestry meeting, and stated, on the 30th May, that—
The Trustees are of opinion that the parish are not entitled to be furnished with the accounts asked for";and whether the Charity Commissioners will cause copies of the accounts of these Charities to be laid annually before the Easter Vestry, or to be otherwise open to the inspection of the parishioners?
§ MR. T. E. ELLIS(1) The Charity Commissioners are informed that the statements in the first paragraph of the question are correct. (2) The only mode prescribed by Statute for the publication in the locality interested of the accounts of the Charities is the transmission in the case only of Parochial Charities of copies of the accounts to the Churchwardens to be presented to the Vestry (Section 44, Charitable Trusts Amendment Act, 1855). The Trustees, in a letter received by the Commissioners to-day, have intimated that they do not wish to withhold any information from the Vestry, and are desirous of complying with the law relating to the publication of the accounts of Charities, and have asked to be advised whether these Charities are Parochial Charities within the meaning of the section. This point, which is not free from difficulty, will be forthwith considered by the Commissioners, who will communicate their opinion to the Trustees.