The Sun.
London, England, 1821-05-03 00:00:00

ported progress and obtained leave to sit again

On Fridy.- •
METROPOLIS POLICE. BILL.

On. the Order of the Day for the second read-
ig of the Metropolis Police Bill being read,
Mr. BERNAL wished that there should be a
clause added to give the Magistrates power to
grant the expenses of employing police officers
for the detection of robbers in the houses of per-

sons too poor to afford these expences. He wished
also for other facilities to be given for enabling
the constable of the night to allow persons charged
with petty misdemeanours to go out on bail till

e morning.

Mr. G. BENNBT expressed his dissatisfaction
at the general tendency and provisions of the
Bill, which he thought altogether unwise and in-
'dequate t( th- "roposed He com-

adequate to e purposes p. )poi, .
plained of the unaltered system of police ma-
nagement ; the machinery was the same as
before; that which had been proved to exist be-
fore the Police Committee was left unreformed—
great service, great temptation, and little pay :
such was the system, and such was it to
main. He could prove it on the evidence of
the police people, that there was no offender
tried at the Old Bailey who could not com-
promise if he had money. The pay of the first
police-officei was a guinea a week; some of them
derived a trifling advantage from attending on the
Royal Family, or occasions of a similar nature,
but besides this they had no allowance except
their pay—no provision for their widows_if they
should be killed in the performance of their duty.
He read Vickery's evidence from the Report of
the kit Committee, to shew the arduous duty
and small remuneration of Police-officers. Mo-
ney they must have, however, and for want of
fair and adequate remuneration, the system had
become generally corrupt. It pervaded the de-
partment of constables, three-fourths of whom
served by deputy at night. The deputies were
frequently no better than thieves. He mention-
ed the case of a cons,able who had applied to a
Magistrate to be sworn, to whom he was known
to be a thief, and threatened to sue for a man-
damus, because the Magistrate refused to swear

him. To give an example of the system, he re-
minded the House that a Bill had passed to do
away the reward to the chief witnesses in
capital felonies. The witness was to swear
that he had heard the confession of the cri-
minal, and while the reward existed that
sort of evidence was never wanting ;
since its abolition there had not been one
instance of it. The head constables were

frequently bankrupts, and their predilection for
coal-dealing was miraculous—they supplied ale-
houses, brothels, and gin-shops with them. The
police was better served within Temple-bar than
without, as Mr. Bill Soames acknowledged. The
City police had 30s. a week. The Westminster
police was very 41-proportioned to the popula-
tion, and, there were as many officers for the
Queen-square Office, where the district contained
24,000 souls, as at the Marlborough-street Of-
fice, where the district contained upwards of
300,000. He wished to see more equality in
those proportions, and the officers better paid.
Penury in these cases was extravagance. He
thought that the Bill would fall perniciously on
the Irish labourers ; they being guilty of po-
verty would be laid hold of, and brought to the
offices for the sake of the reward given by the
Bill for apprehending those who are found with-
out means or employment in the public streets.
He recommended that the Bill should be sent for
modification to a Committee up stairs.
Mr. 11. CLIVE observed, that the principle of
the Bill was the same as had passed in 1814.
The Magistrates had been consulted, and their
uggestions adopted. The Reports of several
Committees had also been acted upon. The ob-
ject of the Bill was to enable Magistrates to re-
ward meritorious officers, and instead of a guinea
the pay of officers was proposed to be 255. a
week. The town was to be divided into sixteen
districts, and each to have patroles. It was also
proposed, that the watchmen should be put under
the modified control of the nearest Police Office,
and none could be appointed above the age of 40
years. To relieve the Marlborough district, the
office of Whitechapel had been removed to Mary-
le-Bone.
Mr. DENMAN said, that some of the clauses re-
minded him of the power possessed in a neigh-
bouring country. The latter part of the Bill had
no connection with the former, and the whole of
the Bill was liable to ,many constitutional objec-
tions, and gave by far too much power to the
Magistrates. He would recommend the intro-
duction of a new Bill.
Mr. BATHURST thought that all officers ought
to be adequately paid, as well Magistrates as
Police Officers, otherwise, a conscientious dis-
charge of duty could not be expected from them.
The present system had continued for several
years. Would the Hon. Gentleman who had
spoken last maintain that the whole system
ought to be abolished by the non-passing of the
present Bill, as it would take place, if a few
clauses were to have the Bill thrown out ? The
details which were objected to could be modified
in the Committee. He hoped, therefore, that
the Bill would be allowed to go into the Com-
mittee.
Mr. BENN•ET explained.—The whole system
contained within it the seeds of corruption.—
Mr. DENMAN and Mr. CLIVE also explained.
Mr. Alderman WOOD was of opinion that the
pay of the Police Officers was far too small. The
Officers in the City having been better paid, were
far more active than those outside could be ex-
pected to be. lie thought the best course would
be to refer the whole Bill back to a Committee
up stairs.
The Bill was then read a second time, and or-
dered to be committed on that day fortnight.
On the motion for the second reading of the
Irish Court of Chancery Compensation Bill, Mr.
S. RICE said he thought the Bill highly objec-
tionable. The Hon. Member proposed several
verbal amendments, which, after a few observa-
tions from Mr. C. GRANT, Mr. DENMAN, and Sir
G. HILL, were adopted. The Bill was then
read a third time and passed.—The other Orders
of the •Day were then disposed of, and the House
adjourned at TWELVE O'CLOCK..