c. 56, 1838. mode of 1 & 2 VIC. vision, to direct a Meeting of the RateIRISH POOR payers of such Division to be held, after RELIEF ACT, Fourteen Days' previous Notice given and published in such Form and Manner as the proceeding. Commissioners shall direct, at some Place within the Division to be named in such Notice; at which Meeting, the Guardian of the Division, or if there be more than One, such One of the Guardians present as shall have been first named in the Return for such Electoral Division, (and in the Absence of any such Guardian, some Rate-payer to be elected by the Majority present at the Meeting,) shall be Chairman; and if at any such Meeting, the Majority in Value of the Rate-payers present shall agree to and sign an Application to the Commissioners for the raising of a Rate to assist Emigration, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners from Time to Time, by Orders under their Seal, to direct the Guardians to raise such Sums as the Commissioners shall think requisite for assisting Emi-. gration, such Sums not to exceed in any One Year One Shilling in the Pound upon the net of Expense annual Value of the rateable Property of such Division: and the Sums in such Orders mentioned shall be raised by the Guardians by a Rate under this Act on such Division, or by a Charge on the future Rates of such Division, so that One Fifth at least of the whole Sums so to be raised under any such Order shall be paid in the first and each subsequent Year until the whole shall be discharged; and the Sums so raised shall be applied, under the Directions of the Commissioners, by the Guardians of the Union, in conducting or Limitation for Emigra tion under this Act. • For provisions as to borrowing money on the security of charge upon the Rates, see § 89-91 (pp. 64-67). 1 & 2 VIC. c. 56, assisting and in defraying the Expenses connected with the Emigration to British Colonies, IRISH POOR of poor Persons resident in such Division". APPLICATION OF RATES. RELIEF ACT, 1838. under this any other than are 52. And be it enacted and declared, That Money raised it shall not be lawful for the Commissioners, Act, not to or any Guardians or other Persons acting in be applied to the Execution of this Act, to apply, directly Purposes or indirectly, any Money raised under the expressly Authority of this Act, to the Relief of desti- provided for tute Poor in any other Manner than is herein expressly mentioned, or to any Purpose not expressly provided for in this Act". LIABILITIES OF PAUPERS AND THEIR RELATIONS. in the Act. maintain his and her Chil 53. And be it declared and enacted, That Husband to for the Purposes of this Act, every Husband wife and his shall be liable to maintain his Wife and every dren, until 15 Child under the Age of Fifteen, whether Years of Age. legitimate or illegitimate, which she may have had at the time of her Marriage with such Husband; and every Father shall be liable to Fathers, maintain his Child, and every Widow to main- Mothers of Further provisions as to Emigration are contained in 6 & 7 Vic. c. 92, § 18 (p. 118); the 10 Vic. c. 31, § 13-15 (pp. 132-134); and the 12 & 13 Vic. c. 104, § 26-28 (pp. 193-196). b See § 94, 95, as to the disallowance and recovery of payments contrary to the Act (pp. 69-71): and further provision for recovery of sums disallowed by the Auditor, in 10 Vic. c. 31, § 28 (p. 145). The 6 & 7 Vic. c. 92, 10 Vic. c. 31, 11 & 12 Vic. c. 25, 14 & 15 Vic. c. 68, and other statutes hereafter inserted, impose additional charges on the Poor-rates. e A case having been laid before the Right Hon. F. Blackburne, when Attorney-General for Ireland, on this clause, the following opinion was given by him thereon: "The 53rd section enacts, that every husband shall be liable to maintain his wife, and shall be so for the purpose of this Act. I therefore think that a husband cannot set up any justification of his desertion of her, when he is sued or proceeded against by virtue of any clause in this statute. I think evidence that a man and a woman lived together, and were reputed to be man and wife, is admissible to prove them legally married. "The King v. Flinton, 1 Ad. and E., 227, was decided in the absence of liability at Common Law; but here, for all the purposes of the Act, liability exists, even though there was an end of it at Common Law." Widows, and Bastards, to c. 56, RELIEFACT, 1838. maintain 1 & 2 Vic. tain her Child", and the Mother of every IRISH POOR Bastard Child to maintain such Bastard Child, until every such Child respectively shall attain the Age of Fifteen Years: Provided always, and be it declared, that nothing herein contained shall be taken to remove or lessen the Obligations to which any Husband or Parent is by Law liable in regard to the Maintenance of his Wife or Children, legitimate or illegitimate respectively, independently of this Act. their Children, until age of 15. Relief to is Relief to 54. And be it enacted, That all Relief Wife or Child given under this Act to a Wife or Child' shall Person liable be considered as given to the Person declared by this Act to be liable to maintain such Wife or Child". to maintain them. Relief may be declared to be a Loan; any 55. And be it enacted, That the Cost Price of Relief which the said Commissioners shall by any Order declare or direct to be given by way of Loan, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be a Loan from the Guardians of the Union in which the same recoverable shall be given, and shall be recoverable from the Person to whom the same shall be given or considered as given under this Act, by such and the same Actions and Proceedings as Money lents. from Person relieved. Pensions, 56. And be it enacted, That when any to Guardians Relief shall have been given to any Person of Relief to entitled to or in Receipt of any Pension, in repayment Pensioners. a By the 14th section of the Married Women's Property Aet, 1870 (33 & 34 Vic. c. 93), it is provided that a married woman having separate property, shall be subject to all such liability for the maintenance of her children, as a widow is now by law subject to for the maintenance of her children. b See note on § 53 (p. 39). с e § 53. d See also 10 Vic. c. 31, § 8, which contains a similar provision in regard to relief under that Act. e See Commissioners' General Regulations, article 23 (Part III) f See § 53, 54. 8 By the 13th section of the Married Women's Property Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vic. c. 93), the cost price of relief given under the Irish Poor Relief Acts to the husband of any woman having separate property is declared to be a loan from the Guardians, and recoverable from such woman as if she were a feme sole, by such and the same actions and proceedings as money lent. c. 56, RELIEF ACT, 1838. Superannuation, or other Allowance in respect 1 & 2 VIC. of his Service in the Navy, Royal Marines, IRISH POOR Army, or Ordnance, or to his Wife, or to any Child whom he may be liable to maintain, it shall be lawful for the Guardians, by Minute, stating the Particulars of the Relief so given and the Person to whom given, to require that the next Payment which shall become due of such Pension or Allowance shall be made to such Guardians; and such Guardians shall transmit a Copy of such Minute, attested by their Clerk, at least One Month before such Payment shall become due, addressed to Her Majesty's Paymaster General, provided the Pension or other Allowance shall have been granted for Service in the Navy or Marines, or to the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital, provided the Pension or other Allowance shall have been granted for Service in the Army or Ordnance,-with the Words "Chelsea Pensioner" or "Greenwich Pensioner," (as the Case may be,) written thereon; which said Paymaster General shall thereupon, and upon sufficient Proof being given to the Satisfaction of the Paymaster General or Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital respectively, that the Person whose Pension or other Allowance shall be so required to be paid shall be living when the same shall become payable, and would have been otherwise entitled to receive the same, cause Payment to be made to such Guardians; and the said. Guardians so receiving any Pension or Allowance shall retain and apply so much thereof as will repay the Cost of Relief actually given. as aforesaid, for the Use and Indemnity of the Union, and shall pay the Surplus, if any, to the Pensioner or Person entitled thereto; and upon the Receipt of any such Minute as afore Dee § 53, 54. c. 56, RELIEF ACT, 1838. 1&2 VIC. said, the Payment of the Pension or other IRISH POOR Allowance mentioned therein shall be suspended until sufficient Proof shall have been given to entitle the Guardians named in such Minute to receive the Money thereby required to be paid to them". Children liable to maintain Parents: If Parents relieved, order Chil for such Roliof. 57. And be it enacted, That where any poor Person shall, through old Age, Infirmity, or Defect, be unable to support himself, every Child of such poor Person shall be liable, according to his Ability, to support or contribute to support such poor Person"; and in Justices may case Relief shall be given under this Act to dren to pay any poor Person whose Child shall be liable to support him or contribute to his Support, it shall be lawful for any Two Justices of the Peace of the Jurisdiction within which such Child may dwell, on the Application of the Guardians of the Union in which such Relief shall have been given, by their Order, to direct what Sum, not exceeding the Cost Price of such Relief, shall be paid by such Child to such Guardians in respect of the Relief which shall have been so given, and also what weekly or other periodical Payments shall be made by such Child to such Guardians in respect of such Relief as shall subsequently be given to such poor Person; and the Sum so directed to be paid, and also such weekly or other periodical Payments, when and as they shall become due, shall be recoverable by such Guardians in the same Manner as any Penalties are recoverable under this Act. a See provisions of the Act of 19 Vic. c. 15, for further regulating the payment of the out pensioners of Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals (Part II.) See also provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, (17 & 18 Vic. c. 104, § 192, 193,) for reimbursement of relief afforded out of the poor-rates to the families of Seamen in the Merchant Service (Part II.) b The provisions of this section are extended to relief given under 10 Vic. c. 31, by § 8 of that Act (p. 129). e See Form in Part IV. d See § 99, 103 (pp. 74-77). |