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Houses of industry, &c. to vest in commissioners, &c.
Gradual reduction, &c. of foundling hospitals.
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34. When any union shall have been declared, every house of industry, workhouse, and foundling hospital which has been either wholly or in part supported by parliamentary tax, grant, grand jury aid, or by any compulsory rate or contribution, situate within the limits of such union, and all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and real property, and chattels real, and the produce of any tax, of and belonging thereto, shall vest in the poor law commissioners for the time being, according to the nature and quality, estate and interest of and in the same property and premises respectively, and subject to the debts, charges, and incumbrances affecting the same respectively, and to the repayment of any advances which, conformably with previous usage, have been made for the lawful purposes of any such house of industry, workhouse, or foundling hospital; and upon the death, resignation, or removal of the present commissioners, or any or either of them, or of any future commissioner or commissioners, all such property and premises shall be vested in and be held by the succeeding commissioners, jointly with the continuing commissioner or commissioners, if any there be, and so in perpetual succession, in trust for the several purposes for which the same are respectively applicable, but subject nevertheless to the powers and provisions of this Act; and every such house of industry, workhouse, or foundling hospital shall, if and when the commissioners shall so direct, be a workhouse of the union in which the same may be situate; but every such house of industry, workhouse, or foundling hospital shall, subject always to the control and orders of the commissioners, be maintained and supported in the manner in which the same is now by law maintained and supported, until the commissioners shall by order otherwise direct: Provided always, that such commissioners shall take measures for the gradual reduction of the number of the inmates in such foundling hospitals, and from time to time shall direct so much only of any such tax as aforesaid to be levied for the support of such foundling hospital and the inmates therein as may appear to them to be thenceforth necessary for such support, due regard being had to the welfare and protection of the objects of the charity.
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