eight hundred and sixty-six, all stations, fire-engines,
fire escapes, plant, and other property belonging to or used
by the fire engine establishment of the insurance companies
in the metropolis shall vest in or be conveyed or assigned
to the Board for all the estate and interest of the said
companies therein, upon trust to be applied by the Board to
the purposes of this Act, but subject to all legal
liabilities and obligations attaching thereto, including the
payment of all pensions that have been granted to the
members of the said Fire Engine Establishment, according to
a list that has been furnished to the chairman of the said
Board by the chief officer of the said fire-engine
establishment, and all trustees for the same shall be
indemnified against such liabilities and obligations. The
Board may also, if they think fit, purchase the stations,
fire-engines, and plant belonging to any parish, place, or
body of persons within their jurisdiction.
7. The force of firemen established under this Act,
hereinafter called the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, shall be
under the command of an officer, to be called the chief
officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
The chief officer and men composing the said fire brigade
shall be appointed and removed at the pleasure of the Board.
8. The Board shall pay such salaries as they think expedient
to the said fire brigade. They may also make such
regulations as they think fit with respect to the
compensation to be made to them in case of accident, or to
their wives or families in case of their death; also with
respect to the pensions or allowances to be paid to them in
case of retirement; also with respect to the gratuities to
be paid to persons giving notices of fires; also with
respect to gratuities by way of a gross sum or annual
payment to be from time to time awarded to any member of the
said force, or to any other person, for extraordinary
services performed in cases of fire; also with respect to
gratuities to turncocks belonging to waterworks from which a
supply of water is quickly derived.
9. The Board may by byelaws make regulations for the
training, discipline, and good conduct of the men belonging
to the said fire brigade, for their speedy attendance with
engines, fire escapes, and all necessary implements on the
occasion of any alarm of fire, and generally for the
maintenance in a due state of efficiency of the said
brigade, and may annex to any breach of such regulations
penalties not exceeding in amount forty shillings, but no
byelaw under this section shall be of any validity unless it
is made and confirmed in manner directed by the Metropolis
Local Management Acts; and all the provisions of the said
Acts relating to byelaws shall, with the necessary
variations, apply to any byelaws made in pursuance of this
Act.
10. The vestry of any parish or place in the metropolis may
allow such compensation as they think just to any engine
keeper or other person employed in the service of fire
engines who has hitherto been paid out of any rate raiseable
in such parish or place, and who is deprived of his
employment by or in consequence of the passing of this Act,
and any compensation so allowed shall be paid out of the
rate out of which the salary of the officer so compensated
was payable.
11. The Board may make such arrangements as they think fit
as to establishing fire escapes throughout the metropolis.
They may for that purpose contribute to the funds of the
Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, or of
any existing society that provides fire escapes, or may
purchase or take by agreement the property of any existing
society in their stations and fire escapes, and generally
may maintain such fire escapes and do such things as they
think expedient towards aiding persons to escape from fire;
and any expenses incurred by them in pursuance of this
section shall be deemed to be expenses incurred in carrying
into effect this Act.
12. On the occasion of a fire, the chief or other officer in
charge of the fire brigade may, in his discretion, take the
command of any volunteer fire brigade or other persons who
voluntarily place their services at his disposal, and may
remove, or order any fireman to remove, any persons who
interfere by their presence with the operations of the fire
brigade, and generally he may take any measures that appear
expedient for the protection of life and property, with
power by himself or his men to break into or through, or
take possession of, or pull down any premises for the
purpose of putting an end to a fire, doing as little damage
as possible; he may also on any such occasion cause the
water to be shut off from the mains and pipes of any
district, in order to give a greater supply and pressure of
water in the district in which the fire has occurred; and no
water company shall be liable to any penalty or claim by
reason of any interruption of the supply of water occasioned
only by compliance with the provisions of this section.
All police constables shall be authorized to aid the fire
brigade in the execution of their duties. They may close any
street in or near which a fire is burning, and they may of
their own motion, or on the request of the chief or other
officer of the fire brigade, remove any persons who
interfere by their presence with the operations of the fire
brigade.
Any damage occasioned by the fire brigade in the due
execution of their duties shall be deemed to be damage by
fire within the meaning of any policy of insurance against
fire.
_Expenses._
13. Every insurance company that insures from fire any
property in the metropolis shall pay annually to the
Metropolitan Board of Works, by way of contribution toward
the expenses of carrying this Act into effect, a sum after
the rate of thirty-five pounds in the one million pounds on
the gross amounts insured by it, except by way of
reassurance, in respect of property in the metropolis for a
year, and at a like rate for any fractional part of a
million, and for any fractional part of a year as well as
for any number of years for which the insurance may be made,
renewed, or continued.
The said payments by insurance companies shall be made
quarterly in advance, on the 1st of January, 1st of April,
1st of July, and 1st of October in every year; the first of
such payments to be made on the 1st of January one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six, and such first payment and the
other payments for the year one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six to be based upon the amounts insured by the
several companies in respect of property in the metropolis
in the year ending the twenty-fourth of December one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four: provided that any
insurance company which at the time of the passing of this
Act contributes to the expenses of the said fire engine
establishment may, in respect of all payments to be made by
it in the years one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six and
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, but not
afterwards, contribute after the yearly rate of thirty-five
pounds in one million pounds of the business in respect of
which it contributes to the said fire engine establishment
for the present year, according to a return which has been
furnished to the chairman of the said Metropolitan Board,
instead of in the manner in this Act provided.
14. All contributions due from an insurance company to the
Board in pursuance of this Act shall be deemed to be
specialty debts due from the company to the Board, and be
recovered accordingly.
15. For the purpose of ascertaining the amount to be
contributed by every such insurance company as aforesaid,
every insurance company insuring property from fire in the
metropolis shall, on the thirtieth day of December one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, with respect to the
amounts insured in the year one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four, and on the 1st of June one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six, and on every succeeding 1st of June,
or on such other days as the Metropolitan Board of Works may
appoint, make a return to the said Board, in such form as
they may require, of the gross amount insured by it in
respect of property in the metropolis.
There shall be annexed to the return so made a declaration
made by the secretary or other officer performing the duties
of secretary of the company by whom it is made, stating that
he has examined the return with the books of the company,
and that to the best of his knowledge, information, and
belief, it contains a true and faithful account of the gross
amount of the sums insured by the company to which he
belongs in respect of property in the metropolis.
The return made in the June of one year shall not come into
effect till the 1st of January of the succeeding year, and
shall be the basis of the contributions for that year.
16. If any insurance company makes default in making such
returns to the Board as are required by this Act, it shall
be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every
day during which it is so in default.
17. The secretary or other officer having the custody of the
books and papers of any insurance company that is required
to pay a contribution to the Board in pursuance of this Act
shall allow any officer appointed by the Board to inspect,
during the hours of business, any books and papers that will
enable him to ascertain the amount of property insured by
such company in the metropolis, and the amount for which it
is insured, and to make extracts from such books or papers;
and any secretary or other such officer as aforesaid of a
company failing to comply with the requisitions of this
section in respect of such inspections and extracts shall be
liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding five
pounds for each offence.
18. The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall pay or
cause to be paid to the Board by way of contribution to the
expenses of maintaining the fire brigade such sums as
Parliament may from time to time grant for that purpose, not
exceeding in any one year the sum of ten thousand pounds.
19. For the purpose of defraying all expenses that may be
incurred by the Board in carrying into effect this Act which
are not otherwise provided for, the Board may from time to
time issue their precepts to the overseers of the poor of
every parish or place within the metropolis, requiring the
overseers to pay over the amount mentioned in the precepts
to the Treasurer of the Board, or into a bank to be named in
the precepts, within forty days from the delivery of the
precept.
The overseers shall comply with the requisitions of any such
precept by paying the sums mentioned out of any monies in
their hands applicable to the relief of the poor, or by
levying the amount required as part of the rate for the
relief of the poor, but no contribution required to be paid
by any parish or place under this section shall exceed in
the whole in any one year the rate of one halfpenny in the
pound on the full and fair annual value of property rateable
to the relief of the poor within the said parish or place,
such full and fair annual value to be computed in all parts
of the metropolis, exclusive of the city of London,
according to the last valuation for the time being acted on
in assessing the county rate, or, where there is no county
rate, according to a like estimate or basis; and no liberty,
precinct, or place, shall be exempt from the rate leviable
for the purposes of this Act by reason of its being
extra-parochial or otherwise; and in default of proper
officers in any liberty, precinct, or place, to assess or
levy the said rate, the Board may appoint such officers, and
add the amount of any expenses so incurred to the amount to
be raised by the next succeeding rate in such liberty,
precinct, or place.
Overseers shall, for the purposes of levying any amount
required to be levied by them under this Act, have the same
powers and be subject to the same obligations as in levying
a rate for the relief of the poor.
The word "Overseers" shall include any persons or bodies of
persons authorized or required to make and collect or cause
to be collected rates applicable to the relief of the poor;
and such persons or bodies shall pay to the Board the amount
so mentioned in the precept out of the said rates.
20. In case the amount ordered by any such precept as
aforesaid to be paid by the overseers of any parish or place
be not paid in manner directed by such precept and within
the time therein specified for that purpose, it shall be
lawful for any justice of the peace, upon the complaint by
the Board or by any person authorized by the Board, to issue
his warrant for levying the amount or so much thereof as may
be in arrear by distress and sale of the goods of all or any
of the said overseers, and in case the goods of all the
overseers be not sufficient to pay the same, the arrears
thereof shall be added to the amount of the next levy which
is directed to be made in such parish or place for the
purposes of this Act, and shall be collected by the like
methods.
21. The Board may, with the consent of the Commissioners of
Her Majesty's Treasury, borrow any sum not exceeding forty
thousand pounds, and apply the same for the purposes of this
Act; and all powers contained in the Metropolis Local
Management Acts authorizing the Board to borrow money, or
any commissioners or persons to lend money to the Board, and
all other provisions as to the mode of borrowing, the
repayment of principal or interest, or in anywise relating
to borrowing by the Board, shall be deemed to apply and to
extend to this Act in the same manner as if the monies
borrowed in pursuance of this Act were monies borrowed for
the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Metropolis
Local Management Acts, or one or more of those acts. The
Board shall apply the monies received by them under this Act
in liquidation of the principal and interest of the monies
so borrowed, but no creditor shall be concerned to see to
such application, or be liable for any misapplication of the
monies received or borrowed by the Board in pursuance of
this Act.
MISCELLANEOUS.
22. Where any chief officer, or other person who has been
employed by the Board in any capacity under this Act, and
has been discharged therefrom, continues to occupy any house
or building that may be provided for his use, or any part
thereof, after one week's notice in writing from the Board
to deliver up possession thereof, it shall be lawful for any
police magistrate, on the oath of one witness, stating such
notice to have been given, by warrant under his hand to
order any constable to enter into the house or building
occupied by such discharged chief officer or other person as
aforesaid, and to remove him and his family and servants
therefrom, and afterwards to deliver the possession thereof
to the Board, as effectually, to all intents and purposes,
as the sheriff having jurisdiction within the place where
such house or building is situate might lawfully do by
virtue of a writ of possession or a judgment at law.
23. If the chimney of any house or other building within the
metropolis is on fire, the occupier of such house or
building shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty
shillings; but if such occupier proves that he has incurred
such penalty by reason of the neglect or wilful default of
any other person, he may recover summarily from such person
the whole or any part of the penalty he may have incurred as
occupier.
24. All penalties imposed by this Act, or by any byelaw made
in pursuance thereof, and all expenses and other sums due to
the Board in pursuance of this Act, in respect of which no
mode of recovery is prescribed, may be recovered summarily
before two justices in manner directed by the Act of the
session holden in the eleventh and twelfth years of the
reign of her present Majesty, chapter forty-three, or any
Act amending the same, and when so recovered shall be paid
to the treasurer of the Board, notwithstanding any police
act or other act of parliament directing a different
appropriation of such monies.
25. Any dispute or other matter which is by this Act
directed to be determined summarily by two justices shall be
deemed to be a matter in respect of which a complaint is
made upon which they have authority by law to make an order
for payment of money within the meaning of the said Act of
the session holden in the eleventh and twelfth years of the
reign of her present Majesty, chapter forty-three, or any
Act amending the same.
26. Any act, power, or jurisdiction hereby authorized to be
done or exercised by two justices may be done or exercised
by the following magistrates within their respective
jurisdictions; that is to say, by any metropolitan police
magistrate sitting alone at a police court or other
appointed place, or by the Lord Mayor of the City of London,
or any alderman of the said City, sitting alone or with
others at the Mansion House or Guildhall.
27. The accounts of the Board in respect of expenses
incurred by them under this Act shall be audited in the same
manner as if they were expenses incurred under the said
Metropolis Local Management Acts, and the Board shall in
each year make a report to one of her Majesty's principal
Secretaries of State of all acts done and expenditure
incurred by them in pursuance of this Act, and that report
shall be laid before Parliament within one month after the
commencement of the session.
28. The Board may delegate any powers conferred on them by
this Act to a committee of their body; and such committee
shall, to the extent to which such powers are delegated, be
deemed to be the Board within the meaning of this Act.
29. If the companies insuring property within the
metropolis, or any such number of them as may in the opinion
of the said Board be sufficient, establish a force of men
charged with the duty of attending at fires and saving
insured property, it shall be the duty of the Fire Brigade,
with the sanction of the Board, and subject to any
regulations that may be made by the Board, to afford the
necessary assistance to that force in the performance of
their duties, and, upon the application of any officer of
that force, to hand over to their custody property that may
be saved from fire; and no charge shall be made by the said
Board for the services thus rendered by the fire brigade.
30. It shall be lawful for the Board, when occasion
requires, to permit any part of the fire brigade
establishment, with their engines, escapes, and other
implements, to proceed beyond the limits of the metropolis
for the purpose of extinguishing fires. In such case the
owner and occupier of the property where the fire has
occurred shall be jointly and severally liable to defray all
the expenses that may be incurred by the Fire Brigade in
attending the fire, and shall pay to the Board a reasonable
charge for the attendance of the Fire Brigade, and the use
of their engines, escapes, and other implements. In case of
difference between the Board and the owner and occupier of
such property, or either of them, the amount of the
expenses, as well as the propriety of the Fire Brigade
attending such fire (if the propriety thereof be disputed),
shall be summarily determined by two justices. In default of
payment, any expenses under this section may be recovered by
the Board in a summary manner.
The Board may also permit any part of the Fire Brigade
Establishment to be employed on special services upon such
terms of remuneration as the said Board may think just.
31. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade shall in the morning of
each day, with the exception of Sundays, send information,
by post or otherwise, to all the insurance offices
contributing for the purposes of this Act, of all fires
which have taken place within the metropolis since the
preceding return, in such form as may be agreed upon between
the Board and the said companies.
32. All the powers now exercised by any local body or
officer within the metropolis as respects fireplugs shall
henceforth be exercised by the Board, and the Board shall be
entitled to receive copies or extracts of all plans kept by
any water company under the provision of the Act of the
session of the fifteenth and sixteenth years of her Majesty,
chapter eighty-four; and every such water company shall
provide at the expense of the Board in any mains or pipes
within the metropolis plugs for the supply of water in case
of fire at such places, of such dimensions, and in such form
as the Board may require, and the Fire Brigade shall be at
liberty to make such use thereof as they may deem necessary
for the purpose of extinguishing any fire; and every such
company shall deposit keys of all their fireplugs at such
places as may be appointed by the Board, and the Board may
put up on any house or building a public notice in some
conspicuous place in each street in which a fireplug is
situated, showing its situation.
33. "Owner" in this Act shall mean the person for the time
being receiving the rackrent of the premises in connexion
with which the word is used, either on his own account or as
agent or trustee for some other person, or who would receive
the same if the premises were let at rackrent.
_Repeal._
34. On and after the first day of January, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six, there shall be repealed so much
as is unrepealed of an Act passed in the fourteenth year of
his late Majesty King George the Third, chapter
seventy-eight, and intituled an Act for the further and
better regulation of buildings and party walls, and for the
more effectually preventing mischief by fire, within the
Cities of London and Westminster and the liberties thereof,
and other the parishes, precincts, and places within the
weekly bills of mortality, the parishes of St. Marylebone,
Paddington, St. Pancras, and St. Luke, at Chelsea, in the
County of Middlesex, and for indemnifying, under certain
conditions, builders and other persons against the penalties
to which they are or may be liable for erecting buildings
within the limits aforesaid contrary to law, with the
exception of sections eighty-three and eighty-six which
shall remain in full force, but such repeal shall not affect
any penalty or liability incurred under the repealed
sections.
35. On and after the first day of January, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six, section forty-four of an Act
passed in the session holden in the third and fourth years
of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter ninety,
shall be repealed so far as respects any parish or place
within the limits of the metropolis as defined by this Act;
provided that the repeal of the said section shall not
affect the power of the churchwardens and overseers of any
parish or place to contribute to the funds of any society
that at the time of the passing of this Act maintains fire
escapes in such parish or place, unless and until the Board
purchase the property of such society, or otherwise provide
fire escapes in such parish or place.
* * * * *
In accordance with the provisions of the above recited Act of
Parliament, the London Fire Brigade of the Insurance Offices is now
being extended to meet the requirements of the whole of London, under
the title of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, with Captain E. M. Shaw,
Mr. Braidwood's successor, as chief officer.
LONDON:
SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Variations in spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, and punctuation
have been retained from the original book. The Table of Contents and
List of Illustrations do not exactly match the chapter, section, and
illustration titles in the text.
The following changes have been made:
Page 70: Missing word "of" added (avail themselves of the means).
Page 183: Typo estalishment changed to establishment (establishment of
telegraphic communication).
Tables in the Appendix have been modified in format, but not in
content, to fit the plain-text spacing constraints.