Endowed Schools (Ireland) Act, 1813

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ENDOWED SCHOOLS (IRELAND) ACT 1813

CHAPTER CVII.

An Act for the Appointment of Commissioners for the Regulation of the several Endowed Schools of Public and Private Foundation in Ireland. [10th July 1813.]

Appointment and incorporation of commissioners of education in Ireland.

Whereas many of the abuses in schools on public and private foundations in Ireland and the misapplication of their several funds and revenues have proceeded from the delays, difficulties, and expenses attending the usual way of proceeding in such cases by bill or information in the courts of equity: And whereas it is necessary, for the better regulation of the several endowed schools in Ireland, and for the more efficient control of the conduct of the masters and other persons concerned in the management and direction thereof, that commissioners should be constituted and appointed for the purpose of visiting, regulating, and superintending the management and due application of the funds and revenues of the said schools, as well those of private foundation as those which have been founded and endowed by the Crown, or established and confirmed by the authority of Parliament, or for the maintenance and support of which any sum or sums of money have been at any time granted by Parliament, or been devised or bequeathed by private persons, or in any manner granted or appropriated; excepting such only as are herein-after mentioned and excepted: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the lord primate of all Ireland, the lord high chancellor of Ireland, the lord archbishop of Dublin, the lord archbishop of Tuam, all now and hereafter for the time being, and the respective coadjutors of the said primate and archbishops now or hereafter for the time being, the lord chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench in Ireland, and the provost of Trinity College, Dublin, now or hereafter for the time being, and also four of the bishops of Ireland, to be appointed from time to time by the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being (one bishop for each province in Ireland), together with four other proper and discreet persons whom the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being shall think fit to appoint to be commissioners under this Act (such four bishops and four other persons so appointed by the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being to be removable at his or their pleasure), shall be a corporation, and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be called “The Commissioners of Education in Ireland.”

Schools of Erasmu Smith, charter schools, parish schools under Irish Act 28 Hen. 8. c. 15., &c. excepted from jurisdiction of commissioners.

2. Provided always, . . . that none of the schools on the foundation of the late Erasmus Smith, esquire, nor the protestant charter schools, nor any parochial school established under an Act made in the twenty-eighth year of King Henry the Eighth, intituled “An Act for the English order habite, and language,” nor any establishment for the purposes of education now under the controul of visitors appointed by Act of Parliament or charter shall be deemed and considered as subject to the jurisdiction of the said commissioners under this Act.

Appointment of commissioners on vacancies.

3. And . . . whenever the said bishop or other commissioners appointed by the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, or either or any of them, or any other person or persons to be appointed in the place of or in succession to them, or any of them, shall, by death, resignation, removal, or otherwise, cease to be a commissioner or commissioners under this Act, then and in every such case it shall and may be lawful for the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, by warrant under hand and seal, to appoint one other bishop or person in the place and stead of any such bishop or person so ceasing to be such commissioner respectively; and any such bishop or person so to be appointed shall accordingly be and become to all intents and purposes one of the commissioners for the purposes of this Act.

Commissioners may appoint a secretary, &c. with salary.

4. And . . . it shall any may be lawful for the said commissioners and their successors from time to time to appoint a secretary to the said commissioners, with a salary not exceeding the sum of seven hundred pounds, and also such other subordinate officer or officers as they shall think proper, for the carrying into execution the purposes of this Act; and to certify to the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being such sum or sums of money as they shall deem adequate to defray the expense of said officers and the incidental expenses of the board; whereupon it shall and may be lawful for the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland to direct the lord high treasurer of Ireland, or the commissioners for executing the said office, to issue out of the consolidated fund of Ireland such sum or sums of money to defray the expenses of said officers and the incidental expenses of the board as to the said lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being shall seem fitting and convenient.

Commissioners may sue and be sued in the name of the secretary, and hold lands.

5. And . . . the commissioners for executing this Act shall and may sue and be sued in the name of their secretary; and   .    over and above such lands, tenements, and hereditaments as are or shall be vested in the said commissioners and their successors under and by virtue of the Act, it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners and their successors to receive, take, hold, and enjoy any lands, tenements, or hereditaments whatsoever for the purposes of this Act, the statutes of mortmain, or any other statute, Act, or provision whatsoever, in anywise to the contrary notwithstanding.

Quorum of commissioners.

6. And . . . it shall and may be lawful for three of the said commissioners assembled in pursuance of a general notice for a meeting, of whom some one of the commissioners hereinbefore appointed in right of the offices respectively held by them to be one, to do and perform any thing required to be done by the said commissioners under this Act, as fully and effectually as all the said commissioners might do if personally present.

[S. 7 rep. 3 Geo. 4. c. 79. s. 3.]

Secretary to keep minute book of proceedings.

Commissioners to make annual reports.

8. And . . . the secretary of the said commissioners shall keep a book or journal of the proceedings of the said commissioners at their several meetings, shall enter therein the names of such of the said commissioners as shall be present at each meeting, and all the proceedings of every such meeting, and all reports from time to time made to the said commissioners; and the said commissioners shall once in every year, within fourteen days after the twenty-fifth day of March, make a general report of all their proceedings under this Act for the year preceding, ending on such twenty-fifth day of March, to the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, under the hands and seals of the said commissioners, to be laid before both Houses Parliament; and the said secretary shall at any time or times, when he shall be thereto required or directed by the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, or his or their chief secretary, or by the said commissioners, deliver to the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors or his or their chief secretary a true copy of the whole or of so much and such parts of the said proceedings of the said commissioners as shall be from time to time required.

Commissioners may visit endowed schools, &c.

9. And . . . it shall and may be lawful for the commissioners from time to time constituted and appointed under and by virtue of this Act, and the said commissioners and their successors shall have full power and authority, from time to time, and at all times when they shall think proper so to do, to visit each or any of the endowed schools, herein-before described (except only as herein-before excepted), either in person or by deputies to be appointed by them as herein-after directed; and the said commissioners may at such time and at any other times hold visitations of the said schools, and at such visitations administer oaths, and do all other acts appertaining to the office of visitors respectively relating to such schools; and for that purpose it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners to repair to any such school, or to any other place or places which they shall deem necessary or convenient, and there to summon, call for, and examine, on oath or otherwise, all and every person and persons, and to call for all vouchers, books, deeds, evidences, terriers, maps, surveys, and all other documents whatever, and to examine and inquire into all matters whatsoever which the said visitors shall deem requisite and necessary.

Commissioners may appoint deputy visitors;

and may act upon their report.

Proceedings in cases of dismissal of masters for misconduct.

[10.¹ ] Provided always, . . . that if at any time it shall seem requisite to the said commissioners, it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners, by any writing under their hands and seals, to depute and appoint one or more person or persons for them, and in their stead, to visit any of the said schools; and any person or persons so deputed and appointed in any instance as aforesaid shall have and enjoy the same rights and powers in every such instance respectively, as the said commissioners themselves or any of them might or would have had if they had visited the said schools or any of them in person; and the said person or persons so deputed or appointed as aforesaid shall at every such visitation cause and direct their proceedings to be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose by the master of each school respectively, and shall lay an attested copy of the same before the said commissioners at their first meeting after the return from such visitations of such person or persons so deputed or appointed as aforesaid, and shall report to the said commissioners such other matters relating to the state and condition of the said schools or any of them as they shall think necessary to reported; whereupon it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners to make such orders and adopt such measures as they shall judge proper or necessary with regard to each of the said schools respectively; provided that in case of such misconduct of the master, under master or usher of any school being reported to the said commissioners, as they shall be of opinion ought to have subjected him to deprivation, they shall not proceed to such deprivation until they have cited the said master, under master or usher to appear before them, and given notice to the trustee or trustees of the school or foundation to which such master or usher shall belong, and enquired into his misconduct, and examined such witnesses as shall be produced by the master, under master or usher or by such trustee or trustees in relation thereto, and also all other witnesses whom they shall deem proper to summon; and provided also, that the said commissioners whensoever they shall find it necessary to proceed to such sentence of deprivation, shall signify the same to the person or persons to whom such appointment belongs, who thereupon shall be obliged, within three months after such person or persons shall have had notice of such sentence of deprivation as aforesaid, to appoint a proper successor to the said master, under master or usher so deprived; and in case such person or persons shall neglect within the space aforesaid to comply with the said order of the commissioners under this Act, that then and in such case the commissioners under this Act shall themselves proceed to appoint a fit and proper successor or successors to the masters or ushers so deprived; and the person so to be appointed shall not be subject to be removed by the trustee or trustees or person or persons having the power of appointment or nomination to such school, unless with the consent of the said commissioners.

Letters patent of 2 Cha. 1 granting land for the free schools of Armagh, &c.

Letters patent of 4 Cha. 1. as to Banagher and Carysfort schools.

Lands belonging to the said schools vested in the commissioners.

11. And whereas by letters patent bearing date the eighth day of July in the second year of the reign of his late Majesty King Charles the First, the said King Charles granted to his grace the then lord archbishop of Armagh and his successors for ever divers lands, tenements, and hereditaments of great yearly value, situate respectively in the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Donegal, and Cavan, in trust to the sole and proper use and behoof of the respective masters of the several free schools of Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Raphoe, and Cavan; And whereas by letters patent bearing date the sixteenth day of September in the fourth year of the reign of the said King Charles the First, the sovereign and burgesses of the borough of Banagher in the King’s County in Ireland and their successors were incorporated; and by other letters patent bearing date the twenty-first day of August in the same year, the sovereign and burgesses of the borough of Carysfort in the county of Wicklow in Ireland and their successors were also incorporated; and by the said respective charters the said King Charles among other things granted to each of the said corporations divers lands, tenements, and hereditaments lying in the said counties respectively, in trust for the only use and behoof of a schoolmaster to be resident in each of the said towns respectively: And whereas the rents of the lands granted by his late Majesty King Charles the First for the use of the said schools of Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Raphoe, and Cavan, have increased to an amount greater than is necessary for the convenient maintenance of the said masters: And whereas it is necessary for the well ordering of the several schools aforesaid that the commissioners appointed under this Act should have full power over and the entire disposal of the rents and profits of all the lands aforesaid: Be it therefore enacted, that from and after the passing of this Act the several lands, tenements, and hereditaments aforesaid granted by his late Majesty King Charles the First for the use of the masters of the schools of Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Raphoe, Cavan, Banagher, and Carysfort, shall be and the same are hereby vested in the said commissioners and their successors for ever; and the rents, issues, and profits thereof shall from time to time be received by such agent or agents as the said commissioners for the time being shall appoint for that purpose as aforesaid, and shall be paid and applied by the orders of the said commissioners for and towards the maintenance and support of the masters of the said several schools, and for such other purposes as the said commissioners are under this Act directed and empowered to provide for and carry into effect for the benefit of the said schools.

Funds of the said schools to be invested and applied in payment of the masters, building school houses, &c.

12. And . . . it shall and may be lawful to and for the said commissioners under this Act from time to time and at all times to order and direct that any sum or sums of money belonging to any of the said schools, the estates belonging to which are vested in commissioners under this Act, shall be laid out and invested in such government funds and securities as such commissioners shall from time to time think proper, and  .   such share and proportion as they shall think proper of the issues and profits of all funds or estates applicable to the support of each and every or any of such schools shall be paid and applied to and for the sole use and benefit of the schoolmaster of such school for the time being; and if it shall appear to the said commissioners that one or more under master or under masters are necessary for any such school, then it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to order and direct that such other share or proportion or shares or proportions of such issues and profits, as they shall think proper, shall be applied to the sole use and benefit of such under master or under masters respectively; and as to such parts of such issues and profits as shall remain after the payment of such salary or salaries to such head master or under master or masters, it shall be lawful for said commissioners to order and direct that thereout such yearly or other sum or sums as shall be or be deemed necessary for the purpose shall be applied in or towards the purchasing, procuring, building, enlarging, repairing, or furnishing the school house, together with grounds, houses and other appurtenances and accommodations necessary or useful for or towards the convenient and proper keeping of a school therein, according to the powers herein-after given to the said commissioners; and if any residue of such issues and profits shall remain after such yearly or other sums as shall be found or deemed sufficient for the several purposes aforesaid, then it shall be lawful for such commissioners to order and direct that such residue shall be applied to the supporting, maintaining, and providing of such and so many free scholars, according to such arrangements, and in such sums, shares, and proportions, as shall be directed by any such order or orders, and to the endowment of such and so many exhibitions to Trinity college, to be held by such persons, and under such regulations and restrictions as to the said commissioners shall seem proper.

Commissioners may lease the school lands and apply the rents and profits for the purposes of the several schools.

13. Provided always, . . . that the commissioners under this Act shall have all such powers of leasing and demising all and every the lands and hereditaments belonging to the said last-mentioned schools respectively as the several trustees or other persons in whom such lands were vested immediately before the passing of this Act had by law for leasing and demising the said lands or hereditaments respectively; and that the net rents of the lands granted by his late Majesty King Charles the First to each school respectively, after deducting thereout the necessary expences of the agency and management thereof, shall, during the continuance of such of the present masters of those several schools as have been legally appointed under any particular conditions made according to law by persons duly authorized thereto concerning the distribution or application of the incomes, revenues, or emoluments of such school, or of the master thereof, be applied in the same manner as they now are; and from and after the decease, resignation, or removal of such master or any of them shall be applied solely and exclusively to the use and advantage of the said school, and to such endowments or establishments only as are connected therewith, in the manner and for the purposes herein-after described.

Preston’s conveyance for schools at Navan and Ballyroan.

46 Geo. 3. c. 122.

Commissioners may visit the said schools, &c.

Application of rents.

14. And whereas John Preston, deceased, formerly an alderman of Dublin, did by deed, bearing date some time in or about the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-six, grant and convey the lands of Cappaghloughlin in the Queen’s county in Ireland, then producing the sum of eighty pounds yearly, to certain trustees therein named and their heirs for ever, in trust to pay a schoolmaster of the protestant religion, resident in the town of Navan in the county of Meath, the yearly sum of thirty-five pounds; and to pay to a like schoolmaster, resident in the town of Ballyroan in the Queen’s county, the yearly sum of twenty-five pounds; and to pay the sum of twenty pounds yearly to the hospital of King Charles the Second, in Oxmanstown, Dublin; the nomination of the said schoolmasters to be in the eldest son of the said John Preston and his heirs male, and the said trustees and their heirs, or the major part of the said persons for ever; and in case of any increase in the rents of the said lands, the overplus to be disposed of by the said persons or the major part of them for the convenience of the said schools, or such other pious uses as the same persons or the major part of them should from time to time appoint: And whereas an information was in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six filed in the Court of Chancery in Ireland to enforce the due and proper management of the said schools of Navan and Ballyroan, which cause is still depending in the said court, in which it has been found necessary from time to time to make divers orders for affecting the beneficial purposes of the said suit: And whereas the rents of the lands of Cappaghloughlin, granted by the said John Preston, deceased, for the payment of the masters of the schools of Navan and Ballyroan, have greatly increased; and it appears from the second report made by the commissioners of enquiry appointed under an Act made in the forty-sixth year of his present Majesty’s reign, intituled “An Act to revive and amend an Act made in the Parliament of Ireland, for enabling the lord lieutenant to appoint commissioners for enquiring into the several funds and revenues granted for the purposes of education, and into the state and condition of all schools in Ireland,” that great abuses and mismanagement have taken place in the application of the rents of the said lands, and that a considerable part thereof remains yet unappropriated: Be it enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the commissioners under this Act for the time being, for the purposes of ascertaining the due management of the said trust and the application of the funds arising out of the said lands, from time to time to make such visitations, enquiries, and reports, and to direct that the issues and profits of the said lands and the overplus or accumulation of such issues and profits shall be applied, in like manner as the said commissioners are empowered to do with respect to any other schools of private foundation under or by virtue of this Act; and that from and after the passing of this Act the net rents of the said lands of Cappaghloughlin aforesaid shall at all times be divided into three parts, in the proportion of the annuities to be paid in pursuance of the grant of the said John Preston to the said hospital in Oxmanstown, and to the masters of the said schools of Navan and Ballyroan; (that is to say,) in the proportion of four sixteenths to be paid to the said hospital, seven sixteenths to be applicable to the use of the school of Navan, and five sixteenths to the use of the school of Ballyroan.

Commissioners may visit and regulateschools of private foundation and endowment.

15. And whereas there are in different parts of Ireland various other schools of private foundation and endowments, many of which are mentioned and specified in the twelfth and thirteenth reports of the said commissioners appointed under the said recited Act of the forty-sixth year aforesaid for enquiry into the several funds and revenues granted for the purposes of education, and into the state and condition of all schools in Ireland; and some of the said schools are possessed of considerable estates in land and other property, with respect to the application of which for the purposes of the several schools, and to carry into effect the intentions of the founders, certain regulations may be required: Be it therefore enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners under this Act, for the purpose of examining into the management of the funds of such private schools, and the due application of the same, to visit and regulate all such schools of private foundation and endowment in Ireland, as are endowed and supported by the bequests or donations of the founders thereof, or are assisted by any parliamentary grants from time to time; except always such private schools as are supported by the voluntary occasional contributions of private individuals and which have no settled or permanent funds or endowments; and except also all schools of private foundation for the education of persons professing any religion or religious persuasion, other than that of the United Church of England and Ireland.

Commissioners may apply to the lord chancellor to enforce their orders and regulations respecting schools of private foundation.

The lord chancellor may remove trustees, &c. of schools of private foundation, and vest the revenues and management thereof in commissioners, &c.

16. And . . . in case of the disobedience of any order or regulation of the commissioners under this Act, or of any other persons acting as visitors under their authority, made respecting the said schools of private foundation, whenever it shall seem expedient to the said commissioners that an application should be made to the lord high chancellor, or to the commissioners for the custody of the great seal of Ireland for the time being, for the enforcing of any order or proceeding of the commissioners under this Act, for the better regulation or management of any such endowed schools of private foundation in Ireland, as well as of any of the other schools already described in this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the commissioners under this Act to make a summary application by petition to the lord high chancellor, or to the commissioners for the custody of the great seal, praying that an order may be made by the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal on the subject of said application; whereupon it shall and may be lawful for the lord high chancellor, or the commissioners for the custody of the great seal, upon such summary application, to make such order and to give such direction respecting any such endowed school in Ireland of private foundation, as to him or them shall seem fitting and expedient for the purposes aforesaid, or any part thereof, and to direct that the costs of such application shall be paid out of any fund or funds appropriated to the use or benefit of the school respecting which such application shall be made as aforesaid: Provided always, that in all cases in which an application shall be made to the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal by the said commissioners under this Act, whensoever it shall appear to the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal, that the mismanagement of any such endowed school of private foundation, or the misapplication of its funds and revenues, are so great as to render the directors, managers, or trustees thereof unfit to continue to have the management of such endowed school of private foundation, or the direction or application of the funds and revenues thereof, that then and in such case it shall and may be lawful for the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal, and they are hereby empowered, to declare and decree such directors, managers, or trustees to be removed from the trusts of such endowed school of private foundation, and the management thereof; in which case the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal may further direct that the execution of the said trust or trusts shall devolve upon and be vested in the commissioners under this Act, or be provided for in such other manner as the lord high chancellor or commissioners for the custody of the great seal shall by his or their order think fit to direct; which commissioners under this Act, and their successors, or the other persons on whom the trust or trusts shall so be decreed to devolve, shall in that case have the funds and revenues, direction and management, of the said schools vested in them.

[S. 17 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35. (S.L.R.)]

Appointment of masters and under masters.

18. Provided always, . . . that the schoolmasters of the said several endowed schools in Ireland included within this Act shall continue to be respectively appointed in the same manner in all respects as if this Act had not passed; and that the under master or masters, if any shall be under this Act endowed at any of the said schools, shall and may be appointed by the head master, by and with the consent and approbation of the several persons in whom the appointment of the head master or masters is vested.

Commissioners may apply to lord lieutenant for advance of money to build schools, &c. to be repaid out of the revenues by annual instalments.

19. And . . . it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners under this Act for the time being, whenever they shall deem it expedient so to do, to present a petition to the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, setting forth the necessity of purchasing, building, rebuilding, enlarging, or repairing any school house belonging to any school under the jurisdiction of the said commissioners by virtue of this Act, or any of the appurtenances or accommodations belonging to or necessary for the convenient use of such school, together with a particular estimate thereof and the sum required for such purpose, and also setting forth that the profits of the lands belonging to such school are insufficient to supply so large a sum in convenient time, and praying that the same may be advanced out of the consolidated fund of Ireland to some person or persons to be named in such petition for that purpose, and setting forth what yearly sum, being not less then ten per centum on the sum required, can be paid out of the revenues of such school to replace the sum so to be advanced; and thereupon it shall and may be lawful to and for the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, if he or they shall think proper so to do, to direct that such sum as he or they shall think proper, not exceeding the sum required by such petition, shall be advanced out of the consolidated fund of Ireland, to such person or persons as shall be so named for that purpose, either altogether or in such payments or by such instalments as the said lord lieutenant shall think proper: Provided always, that no such sum or any part thereof shall be so advanced until such person or persons shall have given good and sufficient security by recognizance with two sureties, to the satisfaction of the lord high treasurer of Ireland, or the commissioners for executing the office of lord high treasurer for the time being, or any three of them, for the faithful expenditure of the same, according to particulars and an estimate mentioned in the said petition.

Repayment of sums so advanced.

20. And . . . from and after the advance of any such sum and sums out of the consolidated fund of Ireland as aforesaid, the yearly sums mentioned in such petition for the repayment of the same shall be from time to time paid into the office of the receiver general of the duties of customs and excise in Dublin, until the whole of each and every such sum or sums so advanced shall be duly discharged; and all such money so repaid and received shall be carried to and made part of the consolidated fund of Ireland.

Commissioners may direct tenants and lands to be assigned for payment of annual instalments.

21. Provided always, . . . that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said commissioners under this Act to order and direct that any tenant or tenants of any lands belonging to any such school, for which any such sum or sums shall be so advanced, together with the lands occupied by such tenant or tenants, shall be assigned over to such person or persons as shall be named for that purpose by the lord high treasurer or commissioners for executing the office of lord high treasurer or any three of them for the time being; and from thenceforth, until such tenant or tenants, and the land so occupied by such tenant or tenants, shall be re-assigned, such tenant or tenants having received notice of such assignment shall be bound to pay his or their rent or rents to such person or persons as if a regular attornment had been executed; and it shall and may be lawful for such person or persons to recover any such rent, by distress, ejectment, or otherwise, as the person or persons entitled to the said rent might lawfully do; and all and every sum and sums so received by such person or persons, his and their reasonable costs being first deducted, shall by him or them be paid into the office of the said receiver general, to be applied in the manner and for the purposes aforesaid.

Irish Acts, 12 Eliz. c. 1.

12 Geo. 1. c. 9

29 Geo. 2. c. 7.

Dioceses may be united into one district and the schools consolidated.

22. And whereas by an Act passed in Ireland in the twelfth year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, intituled “An Act for the erection of free schools,” it was among other things enacted, that there should from thenceforth be a free school within every diocese of Ireland, and that the salary of the schoolmaster therein should be paid, one-third thereof by the ordinary, and the other two-third parts by the parsons, vicars, prebendaries, and other ecclesiastical persons of the same diocese: And whereas further provisions for the more effectual erecting and better regulating of free schools in Ireland were made by two Acts passed in the Parliament of Ireland, the one in the twelfth year of his late Majesty King George the First, and the other in the twenty-ninth year of his late Majesty King George the Second: And whereas it hath happened from various causes that in several dioceses in Ireland such schools are not now duly kept and maintained, and it may be convenient that two or more dioceses should be united for the purpose of keeping and maintaining such schools: Be it therefore enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners for the time being under this Act, in all cases in which they shall deem it expedient, by and with the consent and approbation of the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, by warrant under hand and seal, to direct and declare that any two or more adjoining dioceses in Ireland shall be united into one district, and to direct that the free schools of such two or more dioceses shall be consolidated into one free school, to be thenceforth kept and held in such place within the said dioceses as the said commissioners, with such consent and approbation as aforesaid, shall in and by such warrant direct for that purpose; and thereupon and from thenceforth all and every salaries and salary payable to the schoolmasters of the said several dioceses so united shall from thenceforth be payable to the schoolmaster of such district only for his own sole use; and every such schoolmaster shall have the same right to the said salaries, and the same remedies and advantages for and in respect of the raising, collecting, and enforcing the same respectively, as the several schoolmasters of such dioceses so united would or might respectively have had in case such union had not taken place under or by virtue of the said recited Acts or this Act.

Appointment of school-masters in united dioceses.

23. Provided also, . . . that if in case any two or more dioceses shall be united into one district under the provisions of this Act, the masters of the free schools whereof are not appointed by the same person, then and in every such case the first appointment of a schoolmaster for such united district shall be made by the person, who if such union had not taken place, would have the right of appointment in that diocese from whence the master of the school in such district shall derive the largest portion of his salary; and the second turn shall in like manner follow the portion of salary next in amount, and so on to the lowest; after which the same rotation shall take place again, and continue from thenceforth.

Salaries, &c. of schoolmasters of diocesan and district schools.

24. And . . . it shall be lawful for the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being by and with the advice of the privy council in Ireland, to appoint what provision, stipend, or salary shall be paid to the schoolmaster of every diocesan or district school, and what portion and portions of such salary shall be raised and paid in each and every diocese of any such districts where such district school shall be established; one third part of all which sum or sums of money shall be levied on and paid by the said bishops in their respective dioceses, and the remaining two third parts of such sum and sums of money shall be levied on and paid by the said parsons, vicars, prebendaries, and other ecclesiastical persons, by an equal contribution according to the values of their respective benefices, to be from time to time ascertained by the bishop of every diocese, by and with the consent and concurrence of the archbishop of the province in which such diocese shall be situate.

Bishops may appoint collectors to levy sums charged in respect of such salaries.

25. And . . . it shall be lawful for the bishop of every diocese in Ireland to appoint one or more collector or collectors to receive all and every such sum and sums of money as shall be so charged on and payable by such bishops and by such parsons and other ecclesiastical persons within such diocese; and to allow and pay to such agent any sum or sums of money, not exceeding the amount of one shilling in the pound, on all money collected by him, as such bishop shall think fit; and to take security from such agent for the due payment of all such sums and sum of money to the schoolmaster or schoolmasters of the school in such diocese or in the district of which such diocese may form a part, according to the provisions contained in the said recited Acts and this Act; and if any such parson or other ecclesiastical person shall, for the space of three months after the sum payable by him shall be demanded by such collector, refuse or neglect to pay the same to such collector, it shall and may be lawful for the archbishop or bishop to sequester the profits of the benefice belonging to such parson or other ecclesiastical person for the payment thereof, until the same shall be levied and paid.

Bishops, &c. may convey land to commissioners for sites of diocesan schools.

26. And . . . it shall and may be lawful for every archbishop, bishop, dean and chapter, dean, dignitary, prebendary, or rector of any parish, or for any tenant in fee simple, tenant in tail, or tenant for life with remainder in fee or in tail general or special to his or her issue, or any of them, by deed to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery in Ireland, to set apart and convey to the said commissioners and their successors, for the use of any diocesan or district school, any piece or parcel of ground, not exceeding two plantation acres, which may be agreed to be chosen or appointed as aforesaid for the scite of such diocesan or district school; and   .    such piece of ground so set apart and conveyed shall from thenceforth be the scite of such school; and   .   all and every piece or parcel of ground now held or used as and for the scite of any diocesan school, and which at any time hereafter shall cease to be used as such, shall stand and be vested in the said commissioners and their successors, who shall have power to demise the same for any term not exceeding thirty-one years without fine and for the best rent that can be reasonably got for the same; and to apply the rent thereof for the use of the school of such diocese or district, in such manner as they shall think proper; or to sell the fee and inheritance thereof, or such term or interest therein as shall be so vested in them, and to apply the purchase money in like manner.

Commissioners may purchase houses or lands, and exchange school lands, &c. for sites of schools.

Limited owners may grant lands, &c.

Irish Act, 2 Ann. c. 10.

27. And . . . for the obtaining and providing of school houses in such situations as the commissioners under this Act may deem proper and convenient, it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners under this Act for the time being to purchase to them and their successors respectively houses already built, with conveniences thereunto belonging, or lands and tenements fit for such buildings and conveniences for school houses, and for the habitations of schoolmasters and their successors for ever, thenceforth to be part of the demesne and land belonging to any school unalienable, and not to be let or disposed of to any other use whatever; and   .   it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners under this Act for the time being by deed or deeds to exchange any part of the demesnes or lands belonging to any school under the jurisdiction of the said commissioners, with any person or persons, or body corporate or politic, for lands of equal value, worth, and purchase, lying more convenient for the scite of any such school than such demesnes or lands of the said schools so to be exchanged; and   .   it shall and may be lawful to and for all and every persons and person being seized of an estate tail in possession, and for all and every persons and person being seized of an estate for life in possession, by his or their deed or deeds under his or their hand and seal or hands and seals, to grant, sell, and exchange such his or their lands or any part thereof for a demesne for any free school, or for any master of a free school, in such manner and to such effect as persons seized of any estate tail in possession or any estate for life in possession are enabled to grant, sell, or exchange such lands under or by virtue of any Act or Acts in force in Ireland relative to exchange of glebe lands, or for the encouragement of protestant schools there, and under such restrictions and regulations as are contained in an Act made by the Parliament of Ireland in the second year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne for the exchange of glebes belonging to churches in Ireland, or any Act or Acts for amending the same, or for extending the benefits thereof.

Presentments by grand juries to build school houses, &c.

28. And . . . it shall and may be lawful for the grand jury of any county, in which any diocesan school or district school or the scite appointed for the same shall be, to present on the county any sum or sums which they shall think proper for purchasing, providing, building, or repairing any such school house or a dwelling house for the master thereof, or any of the offices or appurtenances properly belonging to such schcol house or dwelling house, or for purchasing or procuring a scite for the same, not exceeding the said quantity of two plantation acres: . . . . . . . . .

Penalty on persons summoned before commissioners and not attending or refusing to be examined, &c.

29. And . . . if any of the persons liable to be summoned under any of the provisions in this Act contained, or having the care or custody of any papers, vouchers, books, deeds, evidences, terriers, maps, surveys, or other documents required to be produced by the commissioners under this Act, shall after being duly summoned omit to attend, or shall refuse or decline to be examined on oath, or to produce any of the said papers, vouchers, books, deeds, evidences, terriers, maps, surveys, or other documents, then and as often as it shall so happen, every such person shall be deemed guilty of disobeying this Act, and, being duly convicted thereof before any one magistrate, for every such offence shall be fined such sum, not exceeding twenty pounds, as such magistrate shall think proper.

Penalties of perjury on persons swearing falsely under this Act.

30. And . . . if any person or persons, who by this Act are required to be examined on oath, or to take any oath in the execution of this Act, shall wilfully swear falsely, such person or persons being thereof duly convicted according to law shall be subject and liable to such pains, penalties, and disabilities, as persons guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury are subject and liable to by any law or laws in force in Ireland.

[¹ So much of this Act as provides that any deputation or appointment of a visitor shall be under the hands and seals of the commissioners, rep. 3 Geo. 4. c. 79. s. 6.]