Authorizing justices to make orders respecting pensions in certain cases.

such assignment, the same shall be determined in a summary
way by one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace, and his
order and determination therein shall be final and conclusive:
Provided always, that no such assignment shall entitle the said
guardians, or churchwardens and overseers, or heritors and
kirk session, to whom the same shall be made, to receive the
pension or allowance purporting to be thereby assigned, if the
same shall not have been transmitted within seven days after
the same shall have been executed, if the party assigning the
same shall die before the time when such pension would have
become payable to him, as if no such assignment thereof had
been made: Provided also, that all assignments not made in
conformity with the provisions of this Act shall be null and

void.

When any pensioner or other person entitled to or in receipt 2 & 3 Vict., of any army, naval, or other pension or allowance as aforesaid, c. 51, sec. 4. shall leave his wife or family in any union or parish, or shall suffer them to become chargeable to any union or parish, it shall be lawful for two or more of Her Majesty's justices of the peace for the county or place in which such union or parish is situate, upon complaint thereof made on oath to them by any one or more of the guardians of any such union or parish, or any one of the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of such parish where no union or Board of Guardians is established, or by the relieving officer of such union or parish, or the heritors and kirk session in Scotland, and upon due and satisfactory proof being given to the said magistrates that the person so left is the lawful wife of the said pensioner, or the lawful child (as the case may be), by order under their hands and seals, as to army pensions payable at Chelsea Hospital or by the Commissioners thereof in the form set out in the schedule to this Act marked (F), and as to Greenwich out-pensions in the form set out in the schedule to this Act marked (G), and as to all other the before-mentioned pensions and allowances payable by Her Majesty's Paymaster-General in the form set out in the schedule to this Act marked (H), to direct that one half of the next payment which shall become due of such pension or other allowance, in case it shall be the wife or one child only who shall have been so left or suffered to become chargeable, or two thirds thereof in case a wife and child, whether his own or a step-child, or two or more children, shall have been left or suffered to become chargeable, shall be made to the guardians of such union or parish, or to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish, or heritors and kirk session, to which such wife or family shall have become chargeable; and such guardians or churchwardens and overseers of the poor, or heritors and kirk session, shall transmit or cause to be transmitted such order as to such army pensions as aforesaid to the Commissioners for the affairs of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and with respect to such naval and other pensions as aforesaid to the Paymaster-General, Whitehall, London, in like manner and within the like period as any

3 Vict.,

assignment is herein-before directed to be transmitted, which
said Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital and Her Majesty's
Paymaster-General respectively shall thereupon, and upon
sufficient proof being given to their satisfaction respectively
that the person whose pension shall be directed to be paid
shall have been living when the same has become payable, and
would have been entitled to receive the same if no such order
had been made, cause the said payment of one moiety or two
thirds, as the case may be, to be made to the said guardians of
the union, or churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the
parish, or heritors and kirk session, for whose security such
order shall have been made; and the guardians or church-
wardens and overseers of the poor, or heritors and kirk session,
receiving any such pension by virtue of any such order, shall
retain and apply the same, or so much thereof as shall have
been actually expended for the purposes aforesaid, for the use
and indemnity of the said union or parish, and shall pay the
overplus (if any there shall be). to the pensioner or person
entitled thereto; and upon the receipt of any such order as
aforesaid by which the pension to be mentioned therein shall
be directed to be paid as aforesaid, the payment thereof shall
be suspended until sufficient proof, by the personal appearance
of the pensioner before the collector of excise, or in such other
manner as shall be directed by the Lords and others Commis-
sioners of Chelsea Hospital, or Paymaster-General, shall have
been given, to entitle the said guardians or churchwardens and
overseers of the poor of the parish in such order named, or
heritors and kirk session, to receive the money thereby directed
to be paid to them; and upon the like proof, the other moiety
or one third, as the case may be, of the quarterly payment of
the said pension shall be paid by the Commissioners of Chelsea
Hospital and Her Majesty's Paymaster-General respectively to
the pensioner entitled thereto, upon his own receipt: Provided
that in all cases where it shall be made to appear to the said
justices that the woman relieved or to be relieved as the wife
of the said pensioner shall be notoriously profligate, or cohabit-
ing with any other person than her said husband, it shall be
lawful for the said justices and they are hereby required to
refuse making any order with respect to the payment of the
said pension.

become

"And whereas by an Act passed in the eleventh year of the When officers 1, sec. 6. reign of His late Majesty King George IV., to amend and con- or seamen solidate the laws relating to the pay of the Royal Navy, power lunatic their is vested in the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord pensions payHigh Admiral to direct pensions payable to the officers and able to their wives, &c. seamen of the Royal Navy, and to the officers of marines and to marines, who shall become lunatic, or so much of such pensions as the said Commissioners shall think fit, to be disposed of in the maintenance of such lunatic persons, and it is expedient that such power should be extended to the pensions, superannuations, and other allowances made to persons for services in the civil departments of the navy"; be it therefore

Orders and

relating to the

enacted and declared, that in all cases when any such persons
as last mentioned are or shall become lunatic, such pensions,
superannuations, or other allowances, or so much thereof as the
said Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High
Admiral shall deem expedient, shall and may be paid by the
Paymaster-General to the wife, relative, or other person having
the care and maintenance of the lunatic, to be applied towards
his support; and the receipt of the wife, relative, or other
person as aforesaid to whom the same shall be so paid shall be
a sufficient discharge to the said Paymaster-General for the

same.

C.

If it shall happen that the minute of any Board of Guardians, 2 & 3 Vict., assignments and any assignment by the person entitled, and any order of c. 51, sec. 7. same quarter's justices relating to the same pension, or any two of such pension to be instruments, shall, as to such army pensions, be received at paid according Chelsea Hospital, and as to such Greenwich out-pensions be to priority of received at the Pension Office, Tower Hill, London, or as to dates. any other of such pensions or other allowance as aforesaid be received at the office of the Paymaster-General at Whitehall, in any one quarter, the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital or Her Majesty's Paymaster-General respectively shall pay the quarter's pension upon such one of the said respective instruments as shall have been first executed according to the date thereof, and duly transmitted, so as enable the Commissioners and Her Majesty's Paymaster-General respectively, according to their usual course of forwarding the receipts for quarterly pensions, to confer such priority; and in the event of any such instruments being dated and received the same day, then a proportionate part of the pension to which such instruments relate shall be paid upon every or each of the said instruments.

To prevent frauds in assignments.

"And whereas great frauds have been practised, and exor- Ibid, sec. 8. bitant and usurious interest obtained from pensioners, upon assignments made under colour of the said Act of the fiftyninth year of the reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, and according to the form set out in the said Act, although the money advanced thereon has not been advanced out of parish funds, nor to reimburse a parish for relief given to the prisoner by the churchwardens and overseers": be it therefore enacted, that if any person entitled to pension or other allowance shall assign or aid or assist in making an assignment thereof, or of any quarterly or other payment thereof, to any person or persons whatsoever, except to the guardians of any union or parish, or to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish wherein such pensioner resides, or to the heritors and kirk session of any place in Scotland where such pensioner resides, and except for relief granted out of the funds of such union, parish, or townland to such pensioner, or his wife or family residing with him in such parish, it shall be lawful for the Lords and others Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital, so far as relates to army or other pensions payable by such Commissioners, and for the Lord High Admiral, or Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, with

2 & 3 Vict., c. 51, sec. 9.

respect to naval and marine pensions or other allowance, imme-
diately to take away the pension from the person so offending,
or to suspend for any definite period the future payments
thereof; and if any person or persons shall procure or induce a
pensioner to make or aid or assist him in making any assign-
ment of pension, superannuation, or other allowance as aforesaid,
to any person or persons other than the guardians of any union
or parish as aforesaid, or the churchwardens and overseers of
the parish wherein such pensioner resides, or any heritors and
kirk session in Scotland as aforesaid, or shall make or aid or
assist in making any assignment which shall not be given by
the said pensioner or person entitled to other allowance as
aforesaid, and received by the said guardians, parish officers,
or heritors and kirk session as a security for relief given or
money granted or advanced out of the funds of such union,
parish, townland, or place, and for reimbursing the guardians,
churchwardens and overseers, or heritors and kirk session
advancing the same, or shall receive or accept as payment or
security for money or for goods advanced or agreed to be
advanced to or lent or given to any such pensioner or person
entitled as aforesaid, or shall demand or charge any interest or
pecuniary or other compensation for advancing money upon
any pension or other allowance so assigned or taken, or pre-
tended to be assigned or taken, such person or persons shall for
every such offence be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall upon every conviction thereof be punished by such fine or
imprisonment, or both, as the court before which such person or
persons shall be convicted shall adjudge.

felony.

If any person shall forge or counterfeit or alter, or cause or The forging procure to be forged, counterfeited, or altered, or knowingly documents and willingly act, aid, or assist in forging, counterfeiting, or altering, any minute, copy of minute, assignment of pension, superannuation, or other allowance as aforesaid, order, certificate, receipt, document, or authority whatsoever relating to or in anywise concerning the claiming or obtaining payment of any pension money or other allowance as aforesaid, or shall utter or publish as true, or knowingly and willingly act, aid, or assist in uttering or publishing as true, knowing the same to be forged, counterfeited, or altered, any such minute, copy, assignment, order, certificate, receipt, document, or authority relating to or anywise concerning the claiming or obtaining payment of any pension money or other allowance as aforesaid, or the name of any pensioner, justice of the peace, guardian, parish officer, or other officer, or any other person authorized, or supposed or purporting to be authorized, to sign any such minute, copy, assignment, order, certificate, receipt, document, or authority, with intent or in order to obtain, or to enable any other person to obtain, the payment of any such pension or pension money or other allowance as aforesaid from the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital or Her Majesty's Paymaster-General respectively, or from any officer, under officer, clerk, or servant of the said Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital or of Her Majesty's

Definition of

parish."

Secretary-at-
War to regu

Paymaster-General respectively, or from any person authorized
or supposed to be authorized to pay any pension or pension
money or other allowance as aforesaid, every such person so
offending shall be guilty of felony, and shall and may be trans-
ported for such term of years, or suffer such other punishment,
as the court before which such person or persons shall be
convicted shall adjudge

The term "parish" shall extend, wherever the context shall 2 & 3 Vict., so require, to all places separately maintaining their own poor. c. 51, sec. 10. The 9th Vic., c. 10, sec. 4, repealed so much of the 7 Geo. IV., 9 Vict., c. 10, c. 16, as related to the payment and management of the out- sec. 4. pensioners1 thereof, and this section is unrepealed.

The 19 & 20 Vict., c. 15, which received the Royal Assent on the 11th April 1856, regulates the payment of out-pensions, late payment and the provisions of the Act, are as follows

of out-pensioners.

Accounts to

:

By the 2nd section, the Secretary at War is authorized 19 & 20 Vict., to make such rules and regulations for the management and c. 15, sec. 2. payment of the Chelsea and Greenwich out-pensioners, whether residing in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, as shall appear

to him best calculated for their and the public advantage, and be audited as upon the production of such proof of title to pension as he may Army effective consider necessary.

services.

All payments made by the said Secretary at War to or on Ibid, sec. 3. account of the pensioners aforesaid, and the expenses of every Nothing to description connected with their management and payment, interfere with shall be audited and passed in the same manner as the accounts powers of the of the Army effective services are now audited and passed. Admiralty and Chelsea Nothing in this Act contained shall be held to interfere with Ibid, sec. 4. Hospital as to the powers of the Lord High Admiral or the Lords Comgranting, &c., missioners of the Admiralty and the Commissioners of Chelsea of pensions, Hospital respectively, in regard to granting, increasing, reducing, suspending, taking away, or restoring of pension, or to abridge, take away, or interfere with any power, authority, or duty of the said Lord High Admiral or Commissioners respectively, other than by this Act is expressly provided.

&c.

Penalty for frauds re

specting pen

sions.

Any person guilty of fradulently receiving or endeavouring Ibid, sec. 5. to receive pension money, or money in the nature of pension, from the Secretary-at-War, or from any officer or person employed or authorized to pay pensions, shall upon conviction be subjected to the same pains and penalties as are prescribed by law in the cases of frauds committed or attempted to be Power to re- committed upon the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital, the store pensions Lord High Admiral or the Commissioners of the Admiralty, the to Greenwich Treasurer of the Navy, and the Paymaster-General.

pensioners convicted of

felony.

The Secretary-at-War, with the concurrence of the Lord Ibid, sec. 6. High Admiral or the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, may restore any Greenwich pensioner who shall have been convicted of felony, and thereby shall have forfeited his pension, either to his original pension or to any less rate of pension.

Sections 7 to 10 inclusive will be found printed in pages 133 and 134, post.

1 As to enrolled pensioners, see Vol. I., p. 337.