WISTOW CHARITIES.

EXTRACTED FROM THE 10TH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR INQUIRING CONCERNING CHARITIES.-PAGE 749.

ARCHBISHOP MOUNTAYN'S,

OR THE APPRENTICING CHARITY.

HE property belonging to this charity consists of 13: acres of copyhold land, in the parish of Wistow, called "The Far Newlands," which according to an entry in the tablet of benefactions in the church, was purchased with money left by Archbishop Mountayn; on examination, however, of the Archbishop's will, in the registry office at York, it does not appear that he bequeathed any money for charitable purposes, except £100, to be distributed among the poor of Cawood.

It appears by an entry in the court-rolls of the manor of Wistow, of which, and of the manor of Cawood, the Archbishop of York for the time being is lord, that " on the 28th Sept., 1655, Abraham Clough and Dorothea his wife, surrendered the close called "The Far Newlands," containtaining by estimation 12 acres of penny land, to the use of the lord of the manor of Wistow for the time being, the lord of the manor of Cawood for the time being, the ministers of Wistow and Cawood for the time being, and Christopher Hewley, Thomas Hewley and John Baines being appointed trustees as by the order of the 17th June, 1654, forth of the court of Chancery might appear, the yearly rents of the said

close to be employed to the uses mentioned in an order of the court of Chancery of the 12th May, in the 17th year of King Charles, for the placing of poor children apprentices; and that upon the death of the said Charles Hewley, Thomas Hewley and John Baines, or any of them, the rest of the said trustees should elect some other fit persons in his or their place or places, for the execution of the said trust, as by an order also of the second of December, 1654, in the said court of Chancery might appear."

From another entry in the Court Rolls, it also appears that on the 15th of November, 1655, Dorothy Baines, spinster, surrendered the same land to the same parties, "being appointed trustees, as it might appear in the report made by Thomas Harrison, knight, one of the masters extraordinary in the Court of Chancery, dated the 18th of October, 1654, grounded upon an order of the 17th June, 1654," and the uses or purposes of the surrender are described in the same manner as in the surrender already mentioned, of the 28th September, 1655.

A search has been made in the register's office in Chancery in order to discover whether any more specific directions are contained in the report as to the method of applying the rents and profits of the charity estate, but the only order found is that of the 2nd December, 1654, which, as far as relates to this matter, does no more than confirm in general terms the report of the 18th October, 1654, and that report does not appear to have been filed, and is not to be met with.

No appointment of trustees, in lieu of Christopher and Thomas Hewley and John Baines, appears even to have taken place, and in the tablet of benefactions the trustees are described to be "the Lord Archbishop of York, the ministers of Cawood, and the vicar and churchwardens of Wistow, for their time being respectively," being the same persons by whom the charity is at present administered.

The sixteen acres of land in Wistow, called Newlands, are let at the yearly rent of £25 4s., which is the full value.

It has been the practice to pay a premium of £5 with each boy put out as an apprentice, and to defray, out of the

charity funds, one-half of the expense of the apprenticeship indentures, the premium being paid by instalments of £2 at first, £1 10s. after the end of a year, and £1 10s. on the termination of the service, and the sum thus expended in apprenticing since February, 1819, (to June 1823,) has been £53 15s. 11d, all boys having been apprenticed for whom application was made; but the demand for the application of the funds has been much less than sufficient for many years past to exhaust the annual income.

The receipts and payments are made by a receiver appointed by the trustees, and since the appointment of the present receiver in 1819, he has been paid by his predecessor a balance of £89 4s., which, it seems probable, was all, or nearly all that was due; though, from the confused manner in which the accounts had been kept, it would be difficult to ascertain the balance with complete precision. At present their is a balance in the receiver's hands of £73 5s. 1d., and there are due for arrears of rent from the tenant up to Lady Day, 1823, £75 12s. The rent had been permitted by the receiver to remain in the tenant's hands, the former considering himself responsible for it.

It is alleged that there is considerable difficulty in getting boys apprenticed with sums so small as £5, and there is reason to believe that applications for the charity would be far more numerous if the allowance for apprenticing in each case were greater. Considering, therefore, the amount of the income and of the balance unapplied, it seems expedient that the premiums to be given should be increased; and it appears to us that the trustees would be justified in varying the premiums from time to time as occasion may require, in the exercise of a proper discretion, as no positive regulation to the contrary is to be found.

It is proper also to notice, that as the direction contained in the order of the Court of Chancery, respecting the appointment of three persons as trustees, in addition to those officially vested with that office, was probably given with a view to obviate any inconvenience which might arise from absence or frequent change of the latter, or to give them the assistance of persons possessing local knowledge of the

exigencies of the poor, it would be right that the acting trustees should take into consideration the expediency of carrying that direction into effect.

The tablet of benefactions contains the following entry :

"Mr. Harford gave 20s. a year out of his lands; that is 12s. 8d. out of Mr. Sugar's land, adjoining Robert Jefferson's; and out of Friarpark and Carr, 4s.; and out of Whiteringham's Cross Close, 3s. 4d.; to be distributed at Christmas and Easter by the churchwardens."

This dole is regularly received by the churchwardens; that part of the land which is subject to payments of 12s. 8d. and 4s. being now the property of J. B. S. Morritt, Esq., and the other close, subject to 3s. 4d. a year, belonging to James Waterhouse Smith, Esquire. The dole is distributed with the sacrament money.

Robert Shaw, by will dated 29th December, 1719, devised all his freehold and copyhold messuages, cottages, lands, grounds, and premises in Wistow, except such lands as should be thereafter by him devised, unto William Storr, Richard Pierson, and James Smith, in trust by them, or two of them, to be disposed of at any time within one year after his decease, for the best price; and he thereby gave unto his son-in-law, John Romans, the clear yearly rent of £5 during his natural life, to be paid him by the said trustees, and after his decease the testator gave and bequeathed the said clear yearly rent of £5 for the mainten

ance of a schoolmaster, he teaching for the same yearly salary ten poor boys in English and writing, which said. schoolmaster and the scholars should be from time to time appointed by the said trustees and their heirs, and not otherwise; and for the payment of the testator thereby charged his above said messuages, cottages, lands, and tenements above by him bequeathed.

The yearly sum of £5 given by the will has been usually paid by the persons in the occupation of an estate at Wistow, the property of Mr. Anthony Ward, of Leeds, and which, it may be presumed, is the estate devised by the will to be sold. A late occupier, John Warner, who became bankrupt, used to pay the annuity of £5 with regularity, but having taken some objection to the appointment of a late schoolmaster, he afterwards withheld the annuity for the space of ten years or thereabouts; at present, however, he sends ten poor children to a master of his own choice, and pays for their education, intending, as he alleges, to apply the arrears that became due from him in that

manner.

The present schoolmaster was appointed in 1818, with the approbation of the churchwardens and parishioners, by the late Nicholas Smith, Esquire, who acted as sole trustee of the charity, and claimed the right of nomination as representative of James Smith, one of the trustees named in the will; and he teaches ten poor children to read and write. He received from John Birkenshaw, who was lately, for a short time, the tenant of the estate, some payment on account of the annuity, but in consequence of the late occupier having been in bad circumstances, the annuity has not been regularly paid. It does not appear that the liability of the land to the charge is disputed, and it may be expected that the payment will be properly continued.

It appears by entries in the tablet of benefactions that Mrs. Dorothy Wright, by her will, gave an acre of land in