Paymaster General Act, 1835

PAYMASTER GENERAL ACT 1835

CHAPTER XXXV.

An Act for consolidating the Offices of Paymaster General Paymaster and Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital, Treasurer of the Navy, and Treasurer of the Ordnance.[1] [25th August 1835.]

[Preamble.]

His Majesty may abolish certain offices and constitute one office in place thereof.

[1.] It shall be lawful for his Majesty, by warant under the royal sign manual, countersigned by the Treasury, to abolish the said offices of receiver and paymaster general of his Majesty’s guards, garrisons, and land forces, of paymaster and treasurer of all moneys for the maintenance or relief of the disabled and superannuated non-commissioned officers and soldiers entertained in his Majesty’s royal hospital near Chelsea, of treasurer of his Majesty’s royal navy, and of treasurer of his Majesty’s ordnance; and in place of the said several offices to constitute and appoint one office for the discharge of the duties now executed in the several offices so authorized to be abolished.

[S. 2 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35. (S.L.R.)]

Style and establishment of the office of paymaster-general.

3. The office to be created to execute the several duties now discharged in the said offices so to be abolished shall be styled “The Office of his Majesty’s Paymaster General”; and the establishment thereof shall consist of a paymaster general, with such number of officers, clerks, and assistants, and with such salaries as shall be fixed and regulated from time to time by the Treasury.

Appointment to office.

4. The said office of paymaster general shall be granted by warrant under the royal sign manual, countersigned by the Treasury, and such grant when so made shall be and continue in force during his Majesty’s pleasure, in the same manner as the offices by this Act authorized to be abolished are granted and held.

Office not to be deemed a new office under 6 Ann. c. 41.

5. The said office of paymaster general shall not be deemed or taken to be a new office within the meaning of an Act passed in the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Anne, intituled “An Act for the security of her Majesty’s person and government, and of the succession of the crown of Great Britain in the protestant line.”

[S. 6 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35. (S.L.R.)]

Duties, &c. transferred to new office.

7. From and after the abolition of the said offices, and so soon as the appointment of a paymaster general shall have been made under the authority of this Act by his Majesty, all the interest, titles, powers, authorities, privileges, and duties now exercised by or vested, either by law or usage, in any of the said offices so abolished, shall be and the same are hereby declared to be transferred to, exercised by, and vested in the said paymaster general in as full and ample a manner to all intents and purposes as they were exercised by or vested in the persons holding the said offices so abolished, except only so far as any of such interests, titles, powers, authorities, privileges, and duties are or shall be by this Act controlled, diminished, or varied.

[Ss. 8, 9 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35. (S.L.R.)]

Treasury may make regulations for new office.

10. [Recital.] It shall be lawful for the Treasury, and they are hereby empowered, to prescribe such rules and regulations, and to issue such orders, from time to time, in all matters and things relating to the said office, for the safety, economy, and advantage of the public service, as they shall see fit; which rules, regulations, and orders shall be of full force and authority, and shall be observed by the comptroller general of his Majesty’s Exchequer, and by the Bank of England, when certified to them by the Treasury, and by all bodies and persons whatsoever, in relation to all matters and things therein contained, any thing in any Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding.

Regulations to be laid before Parliament.

11. A return, setting forth all rules, orders, and regulations which shall have been issued and prescribed by the commissioners of the Treasury, shall be laid before Parliament within six weeks from the date of their being promulgated, if Parliament be then sitting, and if not then sitting, within six weeks from the day of the next ensuing meeting of Parliament.

[S. 12 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35. (S.L.R.)]

[1 So much of this Act as relates to the payment and management of Greenwich out-pensioners by her Majesty’s paymaster general, rep., 9 & 10 Vict. c. 10. s. 1.]