When the annual parliamentary grant for the expenses of the nonconforming, seceding, and Protestant dissenting ministers in Ireland, commonly called the Regium Donum, and in this Act referred to by that name, is discontinued, the Commissioners shall as soon as may be after such discontinuance ascertain and declare by order the amount of the yearly sum theretofore received thereout by each minister of any Protestant nonconforming congregation in Ireland, or which he would have been entitled to receive if such grant had not been discontinued, and shall pay to each such minister, so long as he lives and is continued in the ministry, by and with the consent of the governing body of the church or religious community to which he may belong, an annuity equal to the yearly amount so ascertained as aforesaid.
The Commissioners shall also on such discontinuance as aforesaid ascertain and declare by order the amount of any yearly sum to which any assistant successor to a minister in such congregation may be prospectively entitled, and shall secure to such successor a deferred life annuity of the same value and payable in the same events as the yearly sum for which it is substituted. The Commissioners shall also ascertain and declare by order what Protestant nonconforming congregations were on the first day of March one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine fulfilling the conditions necessary for eventually obtaining out of the Regium Donum the payment of yearly sums for their respective ministers, and what would have been in each case the amount of such yearly payment, and the time at which the same would have begun to be payable, and shall as from that time pay to the minister of each such congregation a life annuity, subject to the same conditions as aforesaid, equal to the amount of the yearly payment which he would have become entitled to receive on the fulfilment of the necessary conditions if the 'grant of the Regium Donum had not been discontinued : Provided always, that no minister placed in a congregation, or becoming assistant successor, for the first time after the passing of this Act shall be entitled to any annual sum by way of compensation.
Any minister or assistant successor of any Protestant nonconforming congregation, to or for whom any annuity is paid or secured under this Act by reason of the discontinuance of the said grant called the Regium Donum, may apply to the Commissioners to commute his annuity for a capital sum to he paid to him, and the said Commissioners, if satisfied that the annuity of the applicant is not incumbered, or if incumbered that the incumbrancers consent to the commutation, shall cause the then present value of the annuity to be estimated, and shall pay the amount of such estimated value to trustees, such trustees to be appointed in the case of any such minister or assistant successor as aforesaid by such minister or assistant successor and the General Assembly or synod or presbytery, as the case may be, of the church or religious community to which such minister or assistant successor may belong.
On and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, the Act of the Irish Parliament of the fortieth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, chapter eighty-five, except the fourth and fifth sections thereof, the Act of the eighth and ninth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-five, except the first three sections thereof, and the Act of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years of the reign of Her said present Majesty, chapter one hundred and four, shall he and the same are hereby repealed, save in respect of any pecuniary and individual interests at present existing against the trustees.
When the annual sums herein-after mentioned cease to be paid, compensation shall be made in respect thereof by payment of capital sums as follows, that is to say :
(1)In respect of the annual sum paid out of the said Regium Donum to the fund for supporting the widows and orphans of ministers of the synod of Ulster, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to the Presbyterian Widows Fund Association :
(2)In respect of the several annual sums paid out of the Regium Donum to the said association, and also to the trustees of other widows funds of certain Protestant nonconforming bodies respectively, such sums to be ascertained on an average of such number of years as the Commissioners may think fit by payment of the capital sums herein-after mentioned to the said association and trustees of the said widows funds respectively:
(3)In respect of the several sums paid annually by ministers in receipt of Regium Donum to the said widows funds respectively out of their first year's income derived from the Regium Donum on such average as aforesaid, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to the said association and the said trustees respectively:
(4)In respect of the annual sum paid out of the Regium Donum to or on account of the clerks of the synod, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to trustees to be appointed in that behalf by the moderator of the General Assembly or of the synod or presbytery for whose benefit such annual payment was heretofore made as aforesaid :
(5)In respect of the annual sums granted by Parliament for the salaries of the theological professors, and for the incidental expenses of the General Assembly's college at Belfast, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to trustees, not exceeding seven in number, consisting of the existing trustees of the said college, and additional trustees to be appointed in that behalf by the said General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, or by the majority of them :
(6)In respect of the buildings of the said college, a sum not exceeding fifteen thousand pounds to the said trustees as last aforesaid:
(7)In respect of the annual sums granted by Parliament for the salaries of the theological professors of the non-subscribing associations of Presbyterians, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to trustees to be appointed in each case by the professors and presidents of such associations:
(8)In respect of the annual sum paid during the financial year ending the thirty-first day of March one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine to the trustees of the College of Maynooth in pursuance of the Act of Parliament in that behalf, by payment of the capital sum herein-after mentioned to the trustees of the said college.
The capital sum to be paid by the Commissioners in respect of each of the annual sums aforesaid shall be fourteen times the amount of each such annual sum. And provided further, that in case of the retirement or removal from office of the present president or vice-president, or of any of the existing masters or professors, of Maynooth College, on account of age, permanent infirmity, or any cause other than his own wilful default, such president, vice-president, master, or professor shall be entitled to receive from the trustees by way of retiring allowance an annual sum equal to two thirds of his actual salary at the time of his retirement or removal.
Any sums of money remaining due from the trustees of the said College of Maynooth to the Commissioners of Public "Works in Ireland in respect of advances made by the said Commissioners on the security of the sums payable to the said trustees under the sixth section of the said Act of the eighth and ninth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-five, shall be and the same are hereby released.