4.—That in place of the 109th Clause, the following be inserted:—“The two hundred and thirty-fourth section of the firstly-recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that all penalties or forfeitures payable or recoverable under the firstly-recited Act, or this Act, and all penalties or forfeitures recovered by any Vestry or District Board acting as the local authority for the execution within their respective parish or district of ‘The Nuisances Removal Act for England, 1855,’ shall go and be paid in manner hereinafter mentioned, anything contained in an Act made and passed in the session holden in the Second and Third years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-one, or in any other Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding;—that is to say, shall go to the Vestry or District Board of the parish or district in which the offence was committed, or to the Metropolitan Board of Works in case the injury shall have been sustained by, or the offence committed in respect of that Board; and all sums which shall go to or be recovered by any Board or Vestry on account of any penalty or forfeiture, shall be paid to their treasurer, or into such bank to their account as they may direct, and shall be applicable towards the general expenses of such Board or Vestry.”
_The Articles in the_ West Middlesex Advertiser _referred to in Mr. Druce’s letter at page_ 20, _in the Report_.
The peculiar position in which the parish of St. Luke’s, Chelsea, at the present moment stands, induces every one interested to prevent by every possible means the occurrence of future discord arising from what may in after years be difficult to correct. Probably for many years, no period has ever existed in which the parish of Chelsea has been more dependent on the wise action of its patrons, property holders, and inhabitants in general than at the present moment. Circumstances having afforded us opportunities of acquiring much knowledge of its affairs generally, and deeming that the kindest act would be to communicate some portions of that knowledge to our fellow-parishioners, we venture to intrude the following matters on their attention. Our readers are aware of the movement made with reference to the assessments, but they may also know from personal experience, the great difficulty of the question, and from having been for some years, careful observers of the actions of many of those gentleman who bestow so much of their time and ability on parochial affairs, we are thoroughly convinced, that such matters are carefully and honestly administered; and although the watchful check of the ratepayers and other Societies is very beneficial, we doubt whether much good would arise from any material change. The attention of the Vestry, and the separation to some extent of church matters from the general interests of the parish, has deprived its officers of the advantage of a “legal vestry clerk,” and thus the local authorities in whom are vested many of its charities have lost their best and proper adviser, and many of the charity interests are not in such a state as they should be in a well-ordered parish; for instance, the sums of money belonging to the St. Luke’s, Chelsea, parochial school stand thus—