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2
EVIDENCE RELATING TO CHARITIES INQUIRY,John W. Warren,
Esq.
18 March,
1828.
up by the assistance of some one of the honorary commissioners. Under the
present commission there are ten acting commissioners, and two make a board.
These are now divided into five boards.
What is the annual expense of the establishment?—I cannot state that from the
paper I have before me, but the accounts are here. By the Act, 8000l. a year
are allowed for the expenses of the commission, exclusive of the commissioners
salaries; but the expenses have not amounted to so much, as this paper will show.
The ten commissioners receive each 1,000l, a year, the secretary receives 500l.
a year, the five clerks 300l. each, and there is a permanent messenger and house-
keeper at 80l. a year; those are all the permanent salaries; the commissioners of
course have travelling allowances; their expense are paid.
In what way are those allowances regulated?—They are regulated by a weekly
or daily payment; the tow commissioners receive ten guineas a week, or 1l. 10s.
a day; the clerk receives a guinea a day; the clerks are gentlemen whom we have
selected with a view to their assisting us with their knowledge of the proceedings,
as well as their manual labour.
How many commissioners go together?—Two go together.
What time do they devote to the inquiry?—It would be somewhat difficult to
answer that precisely; I should think that, on the whole, the time expended in the
examinations in London and in the country, is about four months in the year.Time, four months a year
I do not mean consecutively, but at different times; while the commissioners are
in the country the examinations are taken with great diligence every day, and the
whole of every day is devoted to taking them; the commissioners then return to
town, and there they digest their Reports, and a great deal of additional matter is
frequently collected in London.
Have you a short-hand writer attending to take the evidence?—Our clerks take
the evidence, not in short-hand.
Does not that occupy much more time than if it was taken in short-hand?—We
think not; we endeavour so to take the evidence as that it shall in some measure
form a preparation for the Report; the examinations are not in general taken down
in question and answer, they are gone through with the witness, and when we
learn what the witness has to state, the answers are dictated by us to the clerk
who takes the notes, and are taken down in the form of a narrative; the witness,
of course, hearing and confirming it.
What are your hours of examination when in the country?—We commence at
ten, or about that time, and we profess to continue till four; that has been the case
with the board to which I belong; but we frequently sit much later, and often work
in the evenings.
Do you consider that eight months is required to digest the evidence you take in
the course of four?—No, not eight certainly; but I think it requires as much time
to digest the evidence and prepare the Report, as to take the examinations; we find
the correspondence we have to enter into, and the investigation of accounts and
other documents, take much time, and we frequently have to add further exami-
nations to those taken in the country. I should say, from my own experience, for
the amount of eight months in a year in general, we are occupied in the exami-
nation, and the business belonging to it.
What become of theother four months of the year?—That the commissioners
hope they are entitled to consider as their own, to attend to their professional and
other concerns.
Who are the commissioners?—I have not a list, but I can state who they are;
there are ten honorary commissioners, and ten stipendiary commissioners; the
examining commissioners are, myself, Mr. William Grant, Mr. Henry Hugh
Holbech, Mr. William Roberts, Mr. Wilkinson Matthews, Mr. Robert Marsham,
Mr. James M'Mahon, Mr. Daniel Finch, Dr. Burnaby of the Commons, and
Mr. George Daniell.
Have those commissioners any other employment?—They are all barristers.
Are they acting barristers?—They were all so when appointed, but some of them
have now ceased to act as barristers, two of them very lately; they are of consi-
derable standing. I would here beg to add, that the commissioners being all
actively engaged in their profession when appointed, did not conceive it to be ex-
pected of them that they should forego their professional views in consequence of
the appointment. They therefore endeavoured so to arrange the times of taking
the examinations as to admit of their necessary attendance in courts, and on
the circuits and sessions.
Do
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charities inquiry / evidence / taken before the finance committee, and the return laid before the committee in 1828, which were presented to the house upon the 24th day of june 1829 |
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