Metropolitan Police (Receiver) Act 1861

1861 CHAPTER 124

An Act for amending the Law relating to the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District; and for other Purposes.

[6th August 1861]

WHEREAS by an [10 G. 4. c. 44.] Act passed in the Tenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, Chapter Forty-four, intituled An Act for improving the Police in and near the Metropolis, after providing for the Establishment of a Police Force within the District to be called " the Metropolitan Police District," and including the Metropolis and its Neighbourhood, it is provided amongst other things that it should be lawful for His Majesty to appoint a proper Person to receive all Sums of Money applicable to the Purposes of the said Act, who should be called " the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District;" and it was provided that such Receiver for the Time being should receive all Sums of Money applicable to the Purposes of the said Act, and should pay the same into the Hands of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England to an Account intituled " The Account of the Public Monies of the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District," inserting the Name of the Receiver for the Time being, and shall draw on such Account in manner therein mentioned for all such Sums of Money as might be necessary for the Payment of the Expenses of carrying the said Act into execution; and there were in the said Act contained Powers for the Receiver to purchase and hold Lands, Buildings, and other Real and Personal Property for the Purposes of the Act, and it was thereby declared that it should be lawful for him, in obedience to Directions to be given by any One of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to sell, assign, or dispose of the whole or any Part of such Property as aforesaid, and to execute all such lawful Matters for carrying the said Act into execution as such Principal Secretary of State should from Time to Time direct: And whereas Provisions were made, by the said Act for defraying the Expense of the said Police Force by means of Contributions from the several Parishes and Places within the Metropolitan Police District, and for the Purpose of enforcing such Contributions it was declared that it should be lawful for the Justices appointed under the said Act forthwith and so from Time to Time, subject to the Approbation of One of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to issue a Warrant under their Hands to the Overseers of the Poor of every such Parish or Place, commanding the Overseers to pay the Amount mentioned in the Warrant for the Purposes of the Police under the said Act, or to levy the same in manner therein mentioned ; and it was further provided that the Overseers to whom any such Warrant as aforesaid should be issued should pay the Amount mentioned in the Warrant out of such Monies as therein mentioned to the Receiver within the Time specified for that Purpose, and at the Time of making any Payment to the Receiver should deliver to him a Note in Writing signed by them specifying the Amount so paid, which Note should be kept by the Receiver as a Voucher for his Receipt of that particular Amount, and the Receipt of the Receiver specifying the Amount paid to him by the Overseers should be a sufficient Discharge to the Overseers for such Amount, and should be allowed as such in passing their Accounts with their respective Parishes, Townships, Precincts, or Places: And whereas the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have from Time to Time granted Pensions and compassionate Allowances for the Benefit of the Widows or Children of Police Constables who have been killed or who have died from the Effects of Injuries received in the Execution of their Duty: And whereas it is expedient that further Provision should be made with respect to the Property vested in the Receivers for the Metropolitan Police District for the Purposes of their Office, and that Provision should be made for charging on the Monies received by the Receiver such Pensions and compassionate Allowances as may hereafter be awarded to the Widows and Children of such Police Constables as aforesaid:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows: