Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 9.djvu/674

200 XV. And be it enacted, That the Church-wardens of the said Parish of St. James for the time being are hereby required from time to time to pay the yearly Sum of thirty pounds to the Clerk, appointed, as aforesaid, out of the Profits of the Pews in the said Church, and other the Duties Profits and Perquisities to them accruing, as aforesaid, by four quarterly payments ; that is to say on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the Birth of our Lord God, the Annunciation of the' blessed Virgin Mary, and St. John the Baptist, or ten. days after every of the said respective Feasts by equal and even portions ; the first payment to be accounted due and payable from the first of the said Feasts that shall happen after the end of this present Session of Parliament.

XVI. And be it enabled by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Church-wardens and Vestry-men, or any six or more of them, shall and are hereby authorized and required within ten days after the end of this Session of Parliament, to make or cause to be made, an Estimate in writing, under the Hand or Steeple and Hands of some sufficient person or persons qualified for the same, of the Charge of finishing the Steeple building of the said Church, and providing a Clock, and one or more Bells for the same, and other Works necessary and requisite in and about the said Church and Steeple, and of building a convenient House for the Rector. And such sum or sums of Money as shall appear to them upon such Estimate to be in their Judgments competent to accomplish the Premisses, and to satisfie and pay the Debts incurred for or by the reason of the said Church, shall be by them, or any six or more of them, charged upon all and every of the Inhabitants Owners and Occupiers of Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, or any Personal esate within the said Parish, to be by them paid in four years by sixteen quarterly and s}uccessive payments the first whereof to commence and become payable to the Church- wardens for the time being, (who are hereby authorized to receive the same at the first of the Feast-days aforesaid, as shall happen after the assessing and taxing thereof) and the rest to be successively to them also quarterly paid at the succeeding Feast-days aforesaid, until all the said sixteen quarterly payments shall be made and finished ; and the said Church-wardens and Vestry-men, or any six or more of them, are hereby required and authorized within ten days after the first of the Feasts that shall happen after the end of this Session of Parliament, to assess, tax and rate the first of the said quarterly payments after a pound-rate, according to the improved yearly values of the Premisses, or otherwise as they shall think meet, and in like manner to assess every other of the said quarterly payments within ten days after the time of payment of the next preceding quarterly payment,  all which said Assessments shall be confirmed and allowed by the two Justices of the Peace of and dwelling within the City and Liberty of Westminster, under their Hands Seals, and be collected by such persons Inhabitants of the said Parish, as the said Vestry-men, or any six or more of them, shall from time to time under their Hands and Seals appoint.

XVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That no Tenant or Occupier of any of the said Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments shall be rated for his or her Personal Estate in any one quarterly payment, at less than a fifth part of the Sum assessed upon the Landlord of the same.

XVIII. And that if the Estimate and Computation to be made, as aforesaid, shall not be sufficient to discharge the Debts incurred about the building of the said Church, and finish the said Steeple, and other the Works hereby intended to be done, The said Vestry-men, or any six or more of them, shall and may charge and assess any such additional Sum or Sums upon the said Inhabitants, Owners and Occupiers, as shall be needful to perfect and accomplish the same, so as such additional Sum, together with the sum hereby charged and payable by the said sixteen quarterly payments exceed not in the whole, the Sum of two thousand pounds.

XIX. And be it enacted, That the several and respective Tenants or Tenant of all Houses and Lands which shall be taxed or rated by virtue of this Act for the purposes aforesaid, are hereby authorized and required to pay such sum or sums of Money as shall be taxed, rated Or assessed upon such House or Land, or upom them or, any of them in respect thereof, and to deduct out of their Rent so much of the said Rates, as in respect of the said Rent of every such House and Land, the Landlord should or ought to pay and bear, and the said Landlords mediate and immediate, according to their respective Interests, are hereby required to allow such Deductions and Payments upon the Receipt of the residue of the Rents ; and every Tenant paying the said Tax or Assesment, shall be acquitted and discharged for sp much Money as the said Tax or Assessment shall amount unto, as if the same had been actually paid unto such person or persons unto whom his or her Rent should have been due and payable.

XX. And be it further enacted, That the Church-wardens of the said Parish of St. James shall cause all the Debts, Credits and Contracts made and to be made, with or by the Artificers and Workmen imployed or to be imployed for any Work or Building to be made or done in or about the Premisses, to be entered and registred in one or more Book or Books (to be kept for that purpose) and the said Vestry-men, or any six or more them, out of the Money collected and paid to the said Church-wardens upon the said quarterly payments, shall in the first place pay and discharge, or cause to be paid and discharged, all such Debts, Mortgages and Incumbrances wherewith any of the Houses hereby settled on the Rector, are in any manner affected or incumbred, and after the discharge thereof, shall then issue and pay, or cause to be issued and paid to the Artificers and Workmen imployed or to be imployed in and about the finishing of the said Steeple, House and Premisses, all and every sum and sums of Money now or hereafter due and payable unto them, their Executors, Administrators or Asigns proportionably, according to the dates of the Registring of their Debts and Credits, as aforesaid, with moderate Interest for their forbearance thereof. XXI. And