§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ SIR HENRY WILLOUGHBYsaid, he wished to know whether the Bill would impose any additional charge upon the country? Instead of two Commissioners at £1,200 a year each, it was proposed to have one Commissioner at £1,500, and two assistant-commissioners at £800 a year each, the consequence of which appeared to be an increased charge of £700 a year. He should also like to know under whose authority the Police Commissioner would be placed, and whether he was to have the power of issuing proclamations in his own name?
§ SIR GEORGE GREYsaid, that under the present Police Act the two Commissioners received £1,200 a year each, but in addition to their salaries there was that of the inspecting superintendent, who received £600 a year, which officer, under the proposed measure, would be dispensed with. In addition to their salaries the Commissioners now received £200 from the Treasury for superintending the hackney carriages of the metropolis; but it was intended that the £1,500 allowed to the future sole Commissioner should be his remuneration for all the duties he might be called upon to perform under any Act of Parliament. The result of the changes would be a saving of £100 per annum, instead of an increase of £700 per annum as anticipated by the hon. Member for Evesham. With respect to the other points adverted to by the hon. Baronet, he (Sir G. Grey) could only say that there was no intention to change the authority under which the Police Commissioners at present acted, and which was defined in the Metropolitan Police Act. As to the 263 proclamations which hail been mentioned, they were always submitted to the Secretary of State before being issued, and were usually of a strictly police character, referring to the duties of the police, or warning the public against infraction of the law, and he was not aware of any inconvenience having arisen from their being signed only by the Commissioner of Police.
§ Bill read 2o.