SEVENTY-FIFTH REPORT OF THE CHARITY COMMISSIONERS FOR ENGLAND AND WALES. TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, WE, the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Report of our proceedings during the year 1927. (1) The Transfer of Educational Endowments. During the past year 41 cases have been dealt with for the purpose of determining, under the Board of Education Act, 1899, and Orders in Council, 1900 to 1902, what endowments, or parts of endowments, are held for, or ought to be applied to, educational purposes, with a view to the transfer of the jurisdiction over such endowments to the Board of Education. Of the 41 cases thus dealt with, 27 endowments have been determined as solely educational and eight as partly educational, while six have been found to be in no part solely educational. The number of cases dealt with in 1926 was 29. For the reasons stated in our 56th Report, a certain number of cases will continue to come before us for determination. (2) The War Charities Act, 1916. During the past year we have received from Registration Authorities notification of the registration of 35 Charities, the exemption from registration of one, and the refusal of applications for the registration of three. In the case of two of the refused applications the applicants appealed to us under Section 2 (4) of the Act. One of these appeals was allowed and the other disallowed. Three Charities have been removed by Registration Authorities from the Register during the past year for failure to comply with the conditions required for registered Charities under the Act. There was no appeal to us in any of these cases, and we have taken steps. in each case for ascertaining what part of the remaining funds were subject to trusts for such purposes as are indicated in Section 10 of (B 12/102)Q A 3 the Act and for appropriation of such part of the remaining funds cy-près. The number of registered Charities known to us to be in existence at the end of the past year and to be either in active operation or not proved to our satisfaction to have been completely wound up was 1,319. The total number notified to us as having been registered since the Act came into operation is about 12,000. During the past year, as in previous years, our work in connection with the winding up of War Charities has extended to some which were exempted from registration and to a considerable number neither registered nor exempted. The total number notified to us as exempted from registration and included in the Combined List kept by us under Section 2 (6) of the Act is about 6,500. We are unable to say how many War Charities were neither registered nor exempted from registration. In this class we have found Charities which were formed between the beginning of the War and the passing of the Act and made no appeal to the public for subscriptions after the Act had come into operation. In all the cases of the kind mentioned in this paragraph which have come before us, our practice in entertaining proposals for the appropriation of surplus funds of Charities which have ceased operations has been the same as that adopted by us and indicated in our previous Reports in respect of Charities which have been registered. (3) The Blind Persons Act, 1920. During the past year the number of Charities for the Blind entered in the Combined Register kept by us of all Charities registered under the Act was four, and the number entered in the list of Charities of which registration has been refused was one. The number of Charities for the Blind entered in the Combined Register during the year 1926 was nine. One appeal was made to us under Section 5 (1) of the War Charities Act, 1916, as re-enacted by the Blind Persons Act, 1920, from a decision of the Registration Authority removing the Charity from the Register. The appeal was disallowed. We have not, during the year, made any Order under Section 5 (2) (a) of the War Charities Act, 1916, as re-enacted by the Act. We have, in one case, given our decision upon the question whether a Charity is a Charity for the Blind within the meaning of the Act, and by Order under Section 9 (2) of the Act of 1916, as re-enacted, consented to the institution of proceedings for an offence against the Act. In the result, the person charged with the offence was convicted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Bow Street Police Station. In the case of one Charity represented to us by the Registration Authority under Section 7 of the War Charities Act, 1916, as reenacted and modified by the Act, the funds have been transferred to the Committee of another Charity for administration. (4) Sales of Charity Land. The total number of Orders for sale in the 74 years, 1854-1927, has been 24,822, and the purchase money has amounted to £25,218,025 in cash, besides £214,996 of stock. In the past year the sales under our Orders have produced £679,401 in cash, besides £2,400 of stock, and, in addition, yearly payments in respect of land sold were created amounting to £171 15s. 9d. The amounts in 1926 were £780,071 in cash, £1,200 of stock and yearly payments £36 17s. 10d. The quantity (so far as ascertainable) of the land sold in 1927 under our Orders was 9,408 acres. For 1926 the corresponding quantity was 3,510 acres. The value of land bought has been £51,349 in 1927, and £76,572 in 1926. (5) Classified Statement of Orders. The following table specifies the number and description of the Orders which we have made during the past three years. For the reasons stated in previous Reports, the figures in this table must continue to furnish a very inadequate measure of the amount of business transacted in our office, a large proportion of which, especially of that which arises from the recourse to our Board by trustees of Charities for the protection and assistance afforded by our advice, is disposed of by correspondence or in personal conference. The table shows that we have made 562 Orders during the past year in exercise of the authority first conferred upon our Board by the Charitable Trusts Act, 1860, for the appointment or removal of trustees, for the establishment of Schemes for the regulation of Charities, or for vesting their real estate, through an easy and simple course of procedure, free from technicalities and almost wholly free of cost. The numbers of such Orders made by us in the years 1926 and 1925 were 500 and 627 respectively. Number during year. Schemes Description of Orders. .. Orders for appointment or removal of Trustees, or vesting real estate, or for one or more of these purposes Authority to compromise claims Authority for improvements or for expenditure on improvements, buildings, or otherwise, and for raising, adjusting, or discharging loans Authority to grant pensions or special remuneration to officers of Charities .. Description of Orders. Number during year. 1925. 1926. 1927. Opinion and advice for the indemnity of Trustees Certificates authorising applications to the High Certificates to the Attorney-General with a view Requisition to produce Accounts and Documents, Orders under Various Special Enactments Authority to sell or convey real estate, and to Authority to grant building, mining, or other Authority to purchase real estate 25 24 Supplemental Orders by way of extension or ༢༣ ༣ ། 93 13 Orders authorising the transfer of Stock or the ment of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds 194 Total 5,047 4,772 4,832 *The powers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to make exchanges of Charity Lands being more summary and beneficial than the powers vested in our Board for the same purposes, such transaction are generally referred to their cognizance. + Separate orders authorising the enrolment of Deeds are no longer made. |