Paymaster General Act, 1848

PAYMASTER GENERAL ACT 1848

CHAPTER LV.

An Act for consolidating the Offices of Paymasters of Exchequer Bills and Paymaster of Civil Services with the Office of Paymaster General, and for making other Provisions in regard to the consolidated Offices. [14th August 1848.]

[Preamble recites 48 Geo. 3. c. 1; 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 15; 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 35.]

[S. 1 (authorizing Treasury to abolish offices of Paymasters of Exchequer Bills and of Civil Services and to make provision for the discharge of duties thereof by the Paymaster General) rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67. (S.L.R.)]

Duties of abolished offices transferred to Paymaster General.

2. All the interests, titles, powers, authorities, privileges, and duties now vested in or either by law or usage exercised by the said offices so abolished respectively shall be and the same are hereby declared to be transferred to and vested in and may be exercised by the said Paymaster General, or by such person or persons as may be duly authorized from time to time to perform the duties of such Paymaster General, in as full and ample a manner to all intents and purposes as they were vested in and might have been exercised by the Paymasters of Exchequer Bills and Paymaster of Civil Services respectively.

Letters of attorney to continue in force.

3. No letter of attorney or other authority for the payment or receipt of all or any part of any salary, allowance, incident, or other charge now payable by the said Paymaster of Civil Services shall be invalidated or revoked by the abolition of the office of such paymaster, but every such letter of attorney and other authority shall continue in force and may be acted upon in relation to and by the said Paymaster General in the same manner as the same might have been acted upon in relation to and by the Paymaster of Civil Services if his office had not been abolished.

Treasury to make new regulations for office of Paymaster General.

4. [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 her Majesty’s Exchequer, and by the Bank of England, and by all bodies and persons whatsoever, in relation to all matters and things therein contained.

Regulations to be laid before Parliament.

5. A return, setting forth all rules, regulations, and orders which shall have been prescribed and issued by the Treasury in relation to the duties of the said office, shall be laid before Parliament within six weeks from the date of the issue thereof, if Parliament be then sitting, and if not then sitting, within six weeks from the day of the next ensuing meeting of Parliament.

Balance of Naval Prize Account to be transferred to cash account of Paymaster General.

6. [Recital of 10 Geo. 4. c. 26. and of the Naval Prize Account kept, in pursuance of that Act, at the Bank of England.] The Bank of England shall, on being required so to do by her Majesty’s Paymaster General, transfer the balance of the said Naval Prize Account to the cash account opened in the books of the Bank of England in the name of the Paymaster General for the time being.

Army Prize Fund Account.

7. [Recital that 100,000l. Three per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities arisen from unclaimed and forfeited shares of army prize money, are now standing in an account at the Bank of England.] There shall be opened an account in the books of the Bank of England, to be intituled “The Stock Account of the Paymaster General and Secretary at War, as Trustees for the Army Prize Fund,” and such account shall be a public account; and upon the death, resignation, or removal of both or either of them the said Paymaster General and Secretary at War for the time being, and upon the appointment of their or his successors or successor, the balance of the said account shall vest in the then Paymaster General and Secretary at War jointly, and when and so long as the office of one only of them the said Paymaster General and Secretary at War shall be vacant, the said balance shall vest in the other of them the said Paymaster General or Secretary at War for the time being, without any transfer or act in any of the cases aforesaid.

Transfer to such account of stock arising from unclaimed and forfeited shares of army prize money.

8. The said sum of one hundred thousand pounds three per centum consolidated bank annuities . . . shall stand transferred to the said account, so that the same may be held by the said Paymaster General and Secretary at War, subject nevertheless to the direction of the said Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital as to the application thereof; . . .

Powers of attorney for sale or purchase of stock, and for receipt of dividends and application of moneys.

9. It shall be lawful for the said Paymaster General and Secretary at War, and during the vacancy of the office of either of them then for the other of them the Paymaster General or Secretary at War for the time being, by letter of attorney duly executed and attested as is required by law, to authorize all or any of the cashiers of the Bank of England from time to time to sell and transfer all or any part of the stock for the time being standing on the account herein-before authorized to be opened, and to purchase stock on the said account, and to receive the dividends due and to become due on stock standing in the said account, and by the said letters of attorney, or by writing under their or his hands or hand, to direct the application of the monies to be received in respect of such sales and dividends; and every such power of attorney shall be exempted from stamp duty; and it shall not be necessary for the Governor and Company or the said cashiers to require any evidence of the direction of the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital as to the matters so authorized by such letters of attorney and directions of the said Paymaster General and Secretary at War, or, during the vacancy of the office of either of them, by such letters of attorney and directions of the other of them the Paymaster General or Secretary at War for the time being.

[S . 10 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]