town, or place, until after constables shall have been appointed under stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, in each of such counties. 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, s. 20.

And upon the day mentioned in such notice as last aforesaid, all watchhouses and watchboxes in any such parish or place, and all arms, accoutrements, and other necessaries provided at the public expense for the watchmen or constables therein, shall be given up to such persons as shall be named by the said chief constable, for the use and accommodation of the constables to be appointed under stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93; and in case any person having the charge, control, or possession of any watchhouse, watchbox, arms, accoutrements, or necessaries as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to give up the same as hereinbefore required, every such offender being convicted thereof before any two justices of the peace, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay, over and above the value of the property not given up, such sum, not exceeding five pounds, as the said justices shall think meet; and where there shall be any building in any such parish or place as aforesaid, a part only of which building shall have been heretofore used as a watchhouse, such part shall be given up every day, from the hour of four in the afternoon until the hour of nine in the forenoon, for the use and accommodation of the constables to be appointed under the first recited Act; and if any person, having the charge, control, or possession of any such building, shall neglect or refuse to give up such part thereof for the purposes aforesaid, or to permit free access thereto or egress therefrom during any portion of the time above prescribed, every such offender, being convicted thereof before any two justices of the peace, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay such sum, not exceeding five pounds, as the said justices shall think meet. Id. s. 21.

And any rate authorized by the said Act, 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 90, or by any such local Act, for defraying the expenses of the constables or watchmen in any parish or place, made previous to the day on which the said chief constable shall undertake the charge thereof, shall be levied and collected in the same manner as if stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, or this Act had not been passed; and nothing herein contained shall be deemed to affect or alter any powers or authorities for assessing and levying any rate in such parish or place, so far as such rate may relate to paving, lighting, cleansing, or any other object, except the constables or watchmen, or any expenses incident thereto. Id. s. 22.

And whereas there are certain parishes and places in which monies have been borrowed or advanced, and debts contracted, under some one or more of such Acts as last aforesaid, for the building of watchhouses, and for various expenses connected with the constables or watchmen therein, and such monies and

debts remain unpaid, and it is expedient that the same be discharged; be it enacted, that all such monies and debts, in any parish or place of which the said chief constables shall undertake the charge, shall, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, be chargeable upon the rates out of which such monies or debts have been heretofore in part paid, or would have been payable if stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, or this Act had not been passed; and such rates shall be from time to time assessed and levied for the payment of such monies and debts until the same shall be entirely discharged and satisfied. Id. s. 23.

And by stat. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, s. 18, until the constables or watchmen appointed in and for any parish, town, or place under the Act passed in the session holden in the third and fourth years of King William the Fourth, chapter ninety, or under any local Act authorizing the appointment of constables or watchmen, and authorizing rates to be made and levied for the purpose of defraying the expenses of such constables or watchmen, are discontinued as a separate force in manner provided by section twenty of the said Act of the third and fourth years of Her Majesty and by this Act, all the provisions of this Act applicable to the constables of any borough acting under the said Act of the fifth and sixth years of King William the Fourth shall be applicable to the constables or watchmen appointed under the said Act of the third and fourth years of King William the Fourth, or under such local Act as aforesaid, in and for such parish, town, or place, and until such discontinuance all the provisions of this Act applicable to the watch committee of a borough shall be applicable to the inspectors, commissioners, or other persons having the appointment of constables or watchmen in and for such parish, town, or place, and the police of such parish, town, or place shall be visited and inquired into by the inspectors under this Act; and the provision in this Act enabling the commissioners of Her Majesty's treasury to make payment towards the expenses of the police of a borough having a population exceeding five thousand, shall, until such discontinuance, extend to the police of such parish, town, or place as aforesaid having the like population. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, s. 18.

Provided, that where any such parish, town, or place, having such constables or watchmen as aforesaid, contains, according to the last parliamentary enumeration, a population of fifteen thousand persons or upwards, the chief constable of the county in which such parish, town, or place is situate shall not give notice, under the said section twenty of the said Act of the third and fourth years of Her Majesty, that he is ready to undertake the charge of such parish, town, or place, without the previous authority of one of Her Ma

jesty's principal secretaries of state; and notice of the intention of the chief constable to apply to the secretary of state for such authority shall be published by such chief constable in such parish, town, or place, in manner directed by the said section twenty respecting the publication of the notice therein mentioned, fourteen days at least before such application is made. Id. s. 19.

Their power and duties.] The watchmen, serjeants of the watch, and patrols shall be sworn in as constables before any justice of the peace, and act as such while in execution of the powers and authorities of this Act; and they are hereby invested with and shall have and enjoy the like powers and authorities, privileges, and immunities, and shall be subject and liable to such and the like penalties and forfeitures, as any constable or constables is or are invested with, or shall or may have and enjoy, or is or are or shall be subject or liable to by law. 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 90, s. 42.

And all such watchmen, serjeants of the watch, patrols, and other persons to be appointed by virtue of this Act shall, during the time they shall be on duty, use their utmost endeavours to prevent any mischief by fire, and also to prevent all robberies, burglaries and other felonies and misdemeanors, and other outrages, disorders and breaches of the peace within the limits of the parish adopting the provisions of this Act, and to apprehend and secure all felons, rogues, vagabonds, and disorderly persons who shall disturb the public peace, or any person or persons wandering, secreting, or misbehaving himself, herself, or themselves, or whom they shall have reasonable cause to suspect of any evil designs, and to secure and keep in safe custody every such person, in order that he or she may be conveyed as soon as conveniently may be before one of His Majesty's justices of the peace, to be examined and dealt with according to law; and it shall and may be lawful to and for the said watchmen, serjeants of the watch, patrols, and other person or persons so appointed as aforesaid, to call and require any person or persons to aid and assist them in taking such felons, rogues, vagabonds, and all disorderly or suspected persons as aforesaid; and in case any person or persons shall assault or resist, or shall promote or encourage the assaulting or resisting any of the watchmen, serjeants of the watch, patrols, or other person or persons so appointed as aforesaid, in the execution of their duty, every such person shall for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding forty shillings; and in case any such offender shall not, on conviction, pay the said forfeiture, such justice is hereby required to commit him, her, or them to the house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour, if the said justice shall so order, for any time not exceeding three calendar

months, unless such forfeiture shall be sooner paid; or, instead of committing the said offender as aforesaid, the said justice may, by warrant under his hand and seal, cause the said forfeiture, as well as the costs (if any), to be levied by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the offender, returning the overplus (if any) of the money raised or recovered, after discharging the said forfeiture, and the costs and expenses of recovering and levying the same, to the owner of the goods and chattels so seized and distrained. Id. s. 41.

And in all cases, in which any of the duties usually performed by constables shall have been executed by any of the officers appointed by the inspectors as herein-before enacted, all fees and allowances for the performance of such duties shall be paid over to the said inspectors, to be by them applied in aid of the rate levied under the provisions of this Act. Id. s. 43.

Lamps, gas, &c., 455.

5. LIGHTING.

Taking of damaging lamps,

watchboxes, &c., 455.

Lamps, gas, &c.] It shall be lawful for the said inspectors and they are hereby empowered from time to time to cause such lamp irons or lamp posts or other posts to be put or fixed upon or against the walls or palisadoes of any houses, tenements, buildings, or inclosures, (doing as little damage as may be practicable thereto,) or to be put up and erected in such other manner within all or any of the said roads, streets, and places within the limits of this Act, as they shall think proper; and also to cause such number of lamps, of such sizes and sorts, to be provided and affixed and put upon such lamp irons and lamp posts, as they shall think necessary for lighting all or any of such roads, streets, and places, and cause the same to be lighted with gas, oil, or otherwise, for such number of hours in every twenty-four hours as they shall think necessary; and also to cause such a number of watchhouses or watchboxes to be provided, erected, or affixed, as they shall think necessary for watching all or any of the streets, roads, and places within the limits of the Act (Id. s. 45). The Act then states a number of provisions as to the laying down of the gas pipes, contracting for gas, &c., which it is unnecessary to notice here. See sects. 46-54, 57-59.

Taking or damaging lamps, watchboxes, &c.] If any person shall wilfully break, throw down, spoil, or damage any watchhouse, watchbox, or lamp, lamp iron, lamp post, pale, rail, chain, or other furniture thereof, or wilfully extinguish the light of any such lamp, it shall be lawful for any person or

persons who shall see the offence committed to apprehend, and also for any other person or persons to assist in apprehending, the offender or offenders, and by the authority of this Act, and without any warrant, to deliver him or them to any constable, who is to keep him, her, or them in safe custody, and with all reasonable dispatch to convey him, her, or them before any justice of the peace; and such justice shall examine upon oath any witness or witnesses who shall appear to be produced to give evidence touching such offence; and if the party accused shall be convicted of any such offence, either by his, her, or their confession, or upon such evidence as aforesaid, he, she, or they shall forfeit any sum not exceeding forty shillings for every lamp, lamp iron, or lamp post so broken, thrown down, or damaged, and shall also make full satisfaction for the damage which shall have been done thereby, and not exceeding five pounds for any other such offence as aforesaid, and shall also make full satisfaction for the damage which shall have been done thereby; and one moiety of such forfeiture shall be paid to the person or persons apprehending such offender, and the other moiety shall be applied for the purposes of this Act, and shall be levied and recovered in the same manner as any forfeiture is by this Act herein before directed to be levied and recovered in the case of any person assaulting any watchman or other person in the execution of his duty. Id. s. 55. As to the mode of proceeding for penalties given by the statute, see sects. 62-66.

Also, the property of and in all lamps, lamp irons, lamp posts, watchhouses, watchboxes, posts, chains, pales, and rails in, about, or belonging to the said streets and places within any parish or part of a parish adopting the provisions of this Act, or any of them, and of and in all the iron, timber, stone, bricks, and other materials and furniture and things of, in, and belonging thereto, (except when the same shall be otherwise regulated by contract with the said inspectors,) shall be and the same are hereby vested in the said inspectors, and may be sold and disposed of from time to time as they shall think proper; and the money arising from such sale or sales shall be applied towards the purposes of this Act; and the said inspectors are hereby authorized and empowered to bring or cause to be brought any action or actions in such name or names and in manner as herein is provided, or to prefer or order and direct the preferring of any bill or bills of indictment, against any person or persons who shall steal, take, or carry away (as the case may be) all or any part of such lamp irons, lamp posts, watchhouses, watchboxes, iron, timber, and stone, bricks, furniture, posts, chains, pales, rails, or other materials and things as aforesaid; and in all such actions or bills of indictment it shall be and be deemed and taken to be sufficient to state generally that the article or articles, thing or