§ MR. LOCKEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he has received any information regarding the insufficiency of the Metropolitan Police Force; whether any steps are likely to be taken for increasing the number of Constables; and whether there is any balance unappropriated in the hands of the Receiver for such Force; and, if so, whether he has any objection to state the amount of such balance?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYSir, for several years the police force in the metropolis has been deficient in numbers. In January last there was a deficiency of 300 men; but since the augmentation of pay that then took place, the force has been brought up to its full amount. It is necessary that there should always be a balance of £70,000 in the hands of the Receiver, as otherwise there would be no means for paying the wages and pensions of the men in advance, before the sum levied on the different parishes, which takes six weeks to collect, is received. Last year there was a balance of £104,000, out of which. £11,000 was required to supply the deficiencies of the usual expenses. There is now a balance of £92,850 in the hands of the Receiver, out of which, as I have before said, £70,000 is required for the pay in advance of the men and the pensioners. The force having been brought up to the proper numbers, the resources at the disposal of the police authorities have been exhausted.
§ MR. LOCKEsaid, he would beg to ask, Whether the right hon. Gentleman has received any information regarding the insufficiency of the Metropolitan Police Force?
§ MR. GATHORNE HARDYI have not received any particular information on this subject. The Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police certainly told me that he had been spoken to as to the insufficiency of the supply of men at different places, but this would apply not to the whole force, but to its distribution in certain localities.