2. Curates or ministers in charge are appointed in a variety of cases. (_a_) If a benefice is vacant, the sequestration of it is granted by the bishop to the churchwardens or some one or more other persons; and subject to the direction of the bishop, if he gives any, the sequestrators are charged with the selection of the person or persons to serve the cure during the vacancy, and the bishop may assign to him or them a stipend not greater in the case of each than at the rate of £200 per annum, and so that the aggregate amount assigned do not exceed the net annual income of the benefice. The sequestrators pay the costs of serving the cure out of the revenue of the benefice, and account for the balance to the succeeding incumbent, upon whom on the other hand any deficiency falls if these costs exceed the net revenue received by the sequestrators.[118] (_b_) Where under the bankruptcy of the incumbent, or under a judgment recovered against him, a benefice remains under sequestration for six months, the bishop from the expiration of the six months till the close of the sequestration is to take order for the services in the church of the benefice, and may appoint and license for the purpose one or more curates or additional curates to reside in and serve the parish, subject to revocation at any time, and with such stipends out of the revenue of the benefice as he thinks fit within certain prescribed limits according to the population of the parish, and not exceeding in the whole two-thirds of the annual value of the benefice.[119] (_c_) Where an incumbent is absent from his benefice for a period or periods exceeding altogether three months in any one calendar year, he must leave a curate or curates licensed or approved by the bishop to perform the ecclesiastical duties of the benefice. If he fails to do so, or if after the death, resignation, or removal of any such curate he does not within one month notify the fact to the bishop, or does not within four months nominate another proper curate to the bishop, the bishop may appoint and license a proper curate, with directions as to residence and with a stipend according to a prescribed scale, varying with the value of the benefice and the population of the parish and the grounds of the non-residence of the incumbent. A curate who is appointed to serve in a benefice on which the incumbent does not reside during four months in the year is to be required by the bishop to reside within the parish, or within three miles of the church of the benefice, if no convenient residence can be procured within the parish, except in cases of necessity approved by the bishop. If the population of the benefice exceeds 2000, the bishop may require the incumbent to nominate two or more curates, and, if this is not done, may himself appoint them. A scale of curates' stipends where the incumbent is non-resident is provided by law, varying according to the annual value