London Hackney Carriages Act 1850

1850 CHAPTER 7

An Act for consolidating the Office of the Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages with the Office of Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis, and making other Provisions in regard to the consolidated Offices.

[25th March 1850]

WHEREAS it is expedient to abolish the Office of the Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages, and to provide for the Execution of the Duties of the Office of the Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages by the Office of the Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis:

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, That the Office of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages be hereby abolished.

II Duties of abolished Office transferred to Commissioners of Police.

And be it enacted, That all the Jurisdiction, Powers, Authorities, Privileges, Interests, and Duties now vested in or exercised by the Office of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages hereby abolished shall be transferred to and vested in and shall hereafter be exercised by the Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis, in as full and ample a Manner to all Intents and Purposes as they were vested in and might have been exercised by the said Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages.

III Retiring Allowances may be granted to Officers whose Office abolished.

And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and they are hereby empowered, to grant such retiring Allowances and Compensation as under the Circumstances of the Case they may deem reasonable and proper to any Officer or Person who may be deprived of his Office or Employment, or be superseded under the Provisions of this Act; and all such retiring Allowances and Compensations shall be paid by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue out of any Monies to arise from any of the Duties under their Care and Management.

IV Standings for Hackney Carriages to be appointed.

And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of Police from Time to Time to appoint Standings for Hackney Carriages at such Places as they shall think convenient in any Street, Thoroughfare, or Place of public Resort within the Metropolitan Police District, any Law, Statute, or Custom to the contrary thereof notwithstanding, and at their Discretion to alter the same, and from Time to Time to make Regulations concerning the Boundaries of the same, and the Number of Carriages to be allowed at any such Standing, and the Times at and during which they may stand and ply for Hire at any such Standing, and also from Time to Time to make such Regulations as the said Commissioners shall deem proper for enforcing Order at every such Standing, and for removing any Person who shall unnecessarily loiter or remain at or about any such Standing; and the said Commissioners shall cause all the Orders and Regulations to be made by them as aforesaid to be advertised in the London Gazette, and a Copy thereof, signed by One of the said Commissioners, to be hung up for public Inspection in the Office of the Commissioners of Police in the City of Westminster and at each of the Police Courts, and such Copy shall be received in Evidence in the said Courts as if it were the Original of which it purports to be a Copy, and shall be taken to be a true Copy of such original Order or Regulation, without further Proof than the Signature of the said Commissioner,

V Repeal of Local Acts.

And whereas Doubts have arisen whether the Powers given to the said Commissioners of Police by an [6 & 7 Vict. c. 86.] Act passed in the Seventh Year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled An Act for regulating Hackney and Stage Carriages in and near London, to appoint, alter, and regulate Standings for Hackney Carriages, supersede the Powers and Provisions relating to the same Matters or Subject contained in local and other Acts applicable to certain Parishes and Places within the Metropolitan Police District: Be it therefore enacted, That so much of the several Acts in force before the passing of the said Act of the Seventh Year of the Reign of Her Majesty as relates to the appointing, continuing, altering, directing, or regulating Standings for Hackney Carriages or Chairs within any Part of the Metropolitan Police District shall be and the same is hereby repealed, save and except so far as the Provisions of the said Acts may repeal the whole or any Part of any other Acts in relation to the Matters aforesaid, and except as to Offences and other Matters committed or done before the Commencement of this Act, which shall be dealt with and punished as if this Act had not been passed.

VI Saving of Bloomsbury Square Act.

Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act or in the said [46 G. 3. c. 134.] Act of the Seventh Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty contained shall alter or repeal, or be construed to alter or repeal, or invalidate, or in anywise prejudicially affect, either wholly or in part, an Act passed in the Forty-sixth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act for ornamenting and embellishing the Centre or Area of Bloomsbury Square in the Parish of Saint George Bloomsbury in the County of Middlesex, and for preventing Hackney Coaches standing or plying for Hire in or near the said Square.

VII One Police Commissioner may act.

And be it enacted, That all Things herein authorized to be done by the Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis shall be done by such One of the said Commissioners as One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State shall from Time to Time be pleased to appoint.

VIII This Act to be construed with 6 & 7 Vict. c.86.

And be it enacted, That this Act shall be construed as One Act with the said Act passed in the Seventh Year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled An Act for regulating Hackney and Stage Carriages in and near London, and that all the Provisions of the said Act, except so far as is herein otherwise provided, shall extend to this Act, and to all Things done in execution of this Act.

IX Commencement of this Act.

And be it enacted, That this Act shall commence and take Effect from the Fifth Day of April One thousand eight hundred and fifty.

X Act may be amended, &c.

And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this Session of Parliament.