208 



SECTION FOR STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOaY. 



February 11th, 1862. 



Dr. Angus Smith, F.E.S., in the Chair. 



Mr. David Chadwick, F.S.S., read a paper "On the 

 Responsibilities of Trustees in regard to Charity and other 

 Public Funds." 



Mr. Chadwick considered the great importance of this 

 question, in regard both to its social and statistical bearings, 

 well worth the earnest consideration of the Section. 



He referred to the rule of law that the Sovereign, as 

 parens patricB, is the guardian of all charities, and the 

 Attorney-General, at the relation of an informant, may file 

 an information in the Court of Chancery, to restore any 

 abused or dilapidated foundations ; and also to the various 

 acts in relation to charitable trusts, and to the powers and 

 duties of the charity commissioners. 



Mr. Chadwick then referred to the duties of trustees in 

 relation to public hospitals, schools, religious endowments, 

 sick, burial, and trade societies; savings banks, charities 

 distributed in money, food, and clothing, &c. And he held 

 that, in consequence of the legislature not requiring all 

 trustees to " give an account of their stewardship " in a 

 clear, open, and satisfactory manner, many charities had 

 been lost, and many had been seriously impaired. 



Reference was made to some of the principal charities of 

 Manchester and Salford, and the mode of their management 

 by trustees, and of their distribution; and it was strongly 

 recommended that the trustees, as well as the distributors ,^ 



