Churchwardens Manual | Page 5

affairs of the church, includes the distribution of offertories or other collections made in any church (sec. 75).
It may be well to add that the expression Parochial Charity, when used in the Act, means a charity the benefits of which are, or the separate distribution of the benefits of which is, confined to the inhabitants of a single parish, or of a single ancient ecclesiastical parish divided into two or more parishes, or of not more than five neighbouring parishes. (Ibid.)
These also come under the management of the Parish Council.
The provision of parish books and of a vestry room or parochial office, parish chest, and the holding or management of parish property not being property relating to affairs of the Church or held for an Ecclesiastical charity, are also in rural parishes transferred to the Parish Council.
The custody of the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, and of all other books and documents containing entries wholly or partly relating to the affairs of the Church or to Ecclesiastical charities, except documents directed by law to be kept with the public books, writings, and papers of the parish, remains as provided by law before the passing of the Local Government Act, i.e., in the hands of the incumbent.
The Parish Council have a right to reasonable access to all such books and documents referred to above, and the incumbent and Churchwardens have a similar right with respect to books, etc., in the custody of the Parish Council (xvii, 8).
There is one matter connected with the particular section of the Local Government Act, 1894, now under consideration, which has given rise to some discussion. In whose custody should the Tithe Map and Award be placed? Should the Incumbent or the Parish Council have the charge of them? Now, I am no lawyer, and I should be very sorry to be supposed to give any opinion on a question which admits of so much argument on both sides. But I do very strongly deprecate any litigation on the matter. It is a very doubtful point, and he who takes the question into a Court of Law must at any rate be prepared to have to back up his opinion with a well-filled purse. The final paragraph of Section 17, Sub-section 8, almost seems as if the draughtsman of the act expected questions to arise under it. It runs thus:--"The Incumbent and Churchwardens on the one part, and the Parish Council on the other, shall have reasonable access to all such books documents, writings, and papers, as are referred to in this Sub-section, and any differences as to custody or access shall be determined by the County Council." Is it not just a case in which, if there is no cause for complaint, and no reasonable access refused, these documents should remain in their existing custody (usually that of the Incumbent), and that if differences arise, an amicable appeal should be made to the County Council, and the decision of that body acquiesced in by both parties?
This is evidently the opinion of the President of the Board of Agriculture (Mr. Chaplin), who on February 8th, 1897, in the House of Commons, replied as follows to a question on this subject:--
I am aware that questions have arisen with regard to the custody of documents under Sub-section 8 of Section 17 of the Local Government Act, 1894. The Act contemplated that this would be the case, and has provided that any questions as to such custody shall be determined by the County Council. The Local Government Board have no jurisdiction to determine questions as regards the Tithe Map, and it has been their practice to inform Parish Councils to this effect. I am advised that Tithe Maps are under the Tithe Commutation Act, 1886, to be kept "with the public books, writings, and papers of the parish," and the Sub-section to which I have referred requires therefore that they shall either remain in their existing custody or be deposited in such custody as the Parish Council may direct.
It may be well to mention here that when there is in a rural parish an existing Vestry Clerk appointed under the Trustees Act, 1850, he shall become the Clerk of the Parish Council, holding office by the same tenure as before, and while performing the duties shall not receive less salary or remuneration than before (sec. 81, 2, 4).
In our canons, which date from 1603, no fewer than eighteen refer to the duties of Churchwardens. One canon enjoins them to present to the ordinary those guilty of notorious crimes and scandals, hinderers of the Word of God, disturbers of Divine Service, and non-communicants at Easter. Other Canons refer to their duties in not allowing loiterers near the Church in time of Divine Service, in providing bread and wine for