Offences relative to the Driving of Cattle improperly, usually termed Bullock Hunting, are also determined by the Magistrates, in the same summary way, under the authority of an Act 21st Geo. III. cap. 67; by which every person is authorised to seize delinquents guilty of this very dangerous offence.
The last great feature of useful Municipal Police which the Author will mention, consists in the excellent regulations relative to Buildings, Projections, and Fires; first adopted after the Fire of London in 1666, and extended and improved by several Acts of Parliament passed, from that time, down to the 14th of his present Majesty.
The Act of the 14th of George III. cap. 78, which repeals the former Acts, besides regulating the mode of building houses in future, so as to render them ornamental, commodious, and secure against the accidents of fire, established other useful rules for the prevention of this dreadful calamity; by rendering it incumbent on Churchwardens to provide one or more engines in every parish, to be in readiness, on the shortest notice, to extinguish fires, and also ladders to favour escapes; And, that every facility might be afforded with regard to water, it is also incumbent on the Churchwardens to fix stop-blocks and fire-plugs at convenient distances, upon all the main pipes within the parish; and to place a mark in the street where they are to be found, and to have an instrument or key ready to open such fire-plugs, so that the water may be accessible on the shortest possible notice. That every thing also might be done to ensure dispatch, the person bringing the first parish engine to any fire is entitled to 30s. the second to 20s. and third to 10s. paid by the parish; excepting in cases where chimnies are on fire, and then the expence ultimately falls upon the person inhabiting the house or place where it originated.
This excellent Statute, so salutary in its effects with regard to many important Regulations of Police, also obliges all Beadles and Constables, on the breaking out of any fire, to repair immediately to the spot, with their long staves, and to protect the sufferers from the depredation of thieves; and to assist in removing effects, and in extinguishing the flames.
These outlines will explain, in some measure, by what means the System of the Police, in most of its great features, is conducted in the Metropolis—to which it may be necessary to add, that the Beadles of each Parish, are the proper persons to whom application may be made, in the first instance, in case of any inconvenience or nuisance. The City and Police Magistrates, in their respective Courts, if not immediately authorized to remedy the wrong that is suffered, will point out how it may be effected.
It is, however, earnestly to be wished, that (like the Building-Act just mentioned), one general Law, comprehending the whole of the excellent regulations made for the City of London, so far as they will apply, could be extended to every part of the Metropolis, and its suburbs; that a perfect uniformity might prevail, in the penalties and punishments to be inflicted for the several Offences against the comfort or convenience of the Inhabitants.—At present it often happens, that an Offence in one Parish, is no act of Delinquency in another.
The great object is to simplify every System as much as possible;—complicated Establishments are always more expensive than is necessary, and constantly liable to abuses.
The annual expence to the Inhabitants, in consequence of all those Municipal Regulations just detailed, is, perhaps, higher than in any other City in the world.—Including the Poor's-rate, it amounts, on an average, to full 25 per cent. on the gross rental of the Metropolis; and is supposed to exceed one million sterling a year!
A Superintending Police would, in many instances, correct the want of intelligence, which is apparent, and enlighten the local Managers in such a manner, as not only to promote objects of œconomy, calculated to abridge and keep within bounds an enormous and growing expence, but also to suggest improvements by which it might be reduced, and many solid advantages be acquired by the Community.
It is impossible to examine, with the mind of a man of business, the various Establishments which have become necessary for promoting the comfort and convenience of great Societies, without lamenting, in many instances, the unnecessary waste that prevails, and the confusion and irregularity which often ensue, merely for want of system, judgment, and knowledge of the subject.