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REPORT OF THE VESTRY CLERK.
Gentlemen,
Having entered upon the duties of Vestry Clerk at Ladyday
last—the period when the official year of the Vestry terminates—
I shall be able to present you with but little information from my own
resources, but I have requested the officers in each of the departments
to make a report upon the proceedings of the Vestry in connection with
those departments. As the business of the Vestry is chiefly to raise
money, to expend the same upon necessary works, and to secure the
proper sanitary condition of the inhabitants, the reports, therefore, of
the Accountant, the Surveyor, Medical Officer, and Sanitary Inspectors
will present a complete epitome of the progress of the Vestry for the
period which those reports will embrace.
LEGISLATIVE CHANGES.
I may, however, mention that, during the last year some important
changes have been effected by the Legislature in Parochial administration.
The great difficulties raised by the abolition of the system of
compounding, effected by the "Representation of the People Act,'
have been removed by the passing of the "Poor Rate Assessment and
Collection Act, 1869," by which owners may again compound for rates,
and may also be compulsorily rated and rendered liable, and by which
occupiers of houses let for less periods than three months may deduct
the rates paid by them from the rent. This Act is now in full
operation. A. large number of owners have compounded, and take
the deduction of 30 per cent. Some have been rated and are allowed
15 per cent., and the clause enabling tenants of short holdings to
deduct the rates from the rent is beginning to work satisfactorily.
The magistrates, as a rule, decline to excuse the rates of occupiers
of this class of property, as such relief would be rather to the owner
than the occupier. At the last petty session there was a marked