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the owners of the vessels and the merchants, whether shippers or consignees of the goods which they carry. In the principal ports of this kingdom almost all ship-brokers are insurance-brokers also, in which capacity they procure the names of underwriters to policies of insurance, with whom they settle the rate of premium and the various conditions under which they engage to take the risk, and from whom they receive the amount of their respective subscriptions in the event of loss. Should this loss be partial, it becomes the duty of the broker to arrange the proportions to be recovered from the underwriters. The business of an insurance-broker differs from that of other brokers in one particular. Other brokers, when they give up the name of the party for whom they act, incur no responsibility as to the fulfilment of the conditions of the contract, but an insurancebroker is in all cases personally liable to the underwriters for the amount of the premiums. He does not, on the other hand, incur any liability to make good the amount insured to the owner of the ship or goods, who must look to the underwriter alone for indemnification in case of loss. Under these circumstances, it is the duty of the insurance-broker to make a prudent selection of underwriters. Merchants frequently act as insurancebrokers.

Exchange-brokers negotiate the purchase and sale of bills of exchange drawn upon foreign countries, for which business they should have a knowledge of the actual rates of exchange current between their own and every other country, and should keep themselves acquainted with circumstances by which those rates are liable to be raised or depressed; and they should besides acquire such a general knowledge of the transactions and credit of the merchants whose bills they buy, as may serve to keep their employers from incurring undue risks. Persons of this class are sometimes called billbrokers; and there is another class called discount-brokers, whose business it is to employ the spare money of bankers and capitalists in discounting bills of exchange which have some time to run before they become due.

Every person desirous of acting as a broker for the purchase and sale of goods within the city of London must be licensed by the lord mayor and court of aldermen, and must be a freeman. The number of admissions annually is from fifty to sixty, and the number retiring is about the same. The applicant must present a petition accompanied by a certificate signed by at least six respectable persons, who must state how long they have known him. He must next attend the court, and answer questions put to him as to his connections and business, and whether he has been insolvent. The question as to his admission is then put, and if carried in the affirmative he is required to attend at the town-clerk's office with three sureties (who need not be freemen), two for his good behaviour as a broker, and one (who may be one of the former two) for his annual payment of the sum of 51. to the city. He is bound himself in the penalty of 1000, two of the sureties for 2501. each, and one for 50l. The annual payment claimed by the city can be traced back to the time of Henry VIII., when it was 40s., but was increased to 51. by 57 Geo. III. c. 60. When the above conditions have been complied with, the applicant must attend another court of aldermen, when he is sworn for the faithful discharge of his duties, without fraud or collusion, and to the utmost of his skill and knowledge. He further binds himself not to deal in goods upon his own account-a stipulation which is very commonly broken. It is the indispensable duty of a broker to keep a book in which all the contracts which he makes must be entered, and this book may be called for and received as evidence of transactions when questioned in courts of law. Twelve persons of the Hebrew nation are appointed sworn brokers in the city; and on a vacancy the appointment is sold to the highest bidder, according to Mr. Montefiore's Dictionary of Commerce, and has sometimes fetched 1500l. Any person acting as a broker without having procured a licence or paid the fees, is liable to a fine of 100l. for every bargain which he may negotiate. The court of aldermen have power to discharge a broker for miscon

duct, but only three cases occurred in the twelve years preceding 1837, in which the penalty of the bond had been enforced. Many persons are allowed to remain on the broker's list who have become bankrupt. The list comes annually under the review of the Committee of City Lands, but solely with reference to the annual payment. There is a condition in this bond, which the brokers are sworn to, that renders it imperative on them to declare in writing the names of all whom they shall know to exercise the office unauthorisedly; but as few persons are willing to appear in the invidious light of an informer, the rule is not observed. The Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry remark, in their Report:-"It seems to be the prevalent opinion in the City of London, that some superintendence of brokers is necessary, and that traders, especially strangers, are liable to gross frauds if it is not efficient;" but they are not satisfied that it is now lodged in the proper quarter, and they doubt, if, in the case of stock-brokers, the present conditions of the sworn broker's bond could be enforced at all. There is an officer, appointed by the city, called the collector of broker's rents, who is paid 7 per cent. on the gross amount collected. His income is from 2651. to 275l. per annum. He requires the brokers to renew their sureties when necessary, and looks generally to the carrying out of the regulations of the court of aldermen.

In the Guild Roll of Leicester, under date 1289-90, there is an entry of an order which prohibits any broker or any other stranger approaching the balances in the merchants' houses, except they were buyers or sellers; and for a fourth breach of this regulation the offender was to be placed under the "ban" of the guild for a year and a day.

The business of a stock-broker is that of buying and selling, for the account of others, stock in the public funds, and shares in the capitals of joint-stock companies. They are not a corporate body, but belong to a subscription-house, and are admitted by a committee. About one-half of them are sworn brokers. A few years ago the City obtained a verdict in a prosecution of some members of the

| Stock Exchange for acting as brokers without being duly admitted by the Court of Aldermen. The brokers object to the regulation which requires them to make known the name of the principal for whom they act and prohibits them from dealing themselves; both of which conditions are incompatible with the nature of their business. The acts of parliament, by which the proceedings of stockbrokers should in certain cases be regulated (7 Geo. II. c. 8, and 10 Geo. II. c. 8), have long been dead letters; more especially the enactment that every bargain or contract for the purchase and sale of stock which is not made bonâ fide for that purpose, but is entered into as a speculation upon the fluctuations of the market, is declared void, and all parties engaging in the same are liable to a penalty of 500l. for each transaction.

Within the last few years there has been a large increase in the number of share-brokers, not only in London, but in all the large towns, where formerly there were scarcely any persons of this class. They transact business and effect transfers in canal and railway shares, and in the shares of joint-stock banks, gas, water, and other local works which are estab lished by a numerous body of proprietors. The capital already invested in railways is not less than 80,000,000l., or one-tenth of the national debt, and this large sum is divided into shares of from 257. to 100l. each, which fluctuate in value from day to day, and by the facility with which they may be transferred encourage speculative purchasers amongst persons of almost every class, from the large capitalist to those who can only raise a sufficient sum to buy a single share. The business of this comparatively new class of brokers is also much increased by the immense number of new railroads projected, of which in 1844 there were above two hundred brought forward, the shares in all of which soon become an object of traffic. It has been said that one hundred and thirty-one of the railways of 1844 would require capital to the amount of 95,000,000%. The Bankers' Magazine' (December, 1844) gives the following as the scale of charges in use among

share-brokers: when the purchase-money | distress for rent, for the performance of

of the share is Under £5

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10 0 per cent. There is besides a stamp-duty payable on transfers of railway-shares and shares in joint-stock companies generally. The stamp-duty is 10s. when the purchasemoney of the share is under 207.; above 201. and under 50l. it is 17.; and rises by a graduated scale according to the amount of purchase-money.

which functions they must provide themselves with a licence, and they come under the regulations of an act of parliament (57 Geo. III. c. 93). [APPRAISER]

Custom-house brokers, or, as they are more commonly termed, agents, are licensed by the commissioners of Customs, and no person without such licence can transact business at the Custom-house or in the port of London relative to the entrance or clearance of ships, &c.

The business of a pawnbroker is altogether different from that of the commercial brokers here described. [PAWNBROKER.]

BROTHEL. [PROSTITUTION.]

On completing a transaction in railway or other shares of a joint-stock company, the brokers give a "contract note" to their employers as evidence of the nature of BUDGET. The annual financial the business done on their account. By statement which the Chancellor of the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 110, the sale and transfer Exchequer, or sometimes the First Lord of railway shares before the "complete of the Treasury, makes in the House of registration" of the Railway Company is Commons, in a committee of ways and placed on the same footing as "time bar-means, is familiarly termed "the Budget." gains" on the Stock Exchange, and cannot be enforced in a court of law. § 26 enacts, "with regard to subscribers and every person entitled or claiming to be entitled to any share in any Joint-Stock Company," formed after 1st November, 1844, that "until such Company shall have obtained a certificate of complete registration,' and until such subscriber or person shall have been duly registered as a shareholder" in the office of the London Register, "it shall not be lawful for such person to dispose by sale or mortgage of such share, or of any interest therein," and all contracts to this effect shall be void, and "every person" entering into such contracts shall forfeit not less than 107. All Companies begun after the 5th of September, 1844 (the date when the act was passed), are subject to this enactment (§ 60).

It is usual to apply the name of broker to persons who buy and sell second-hand household furniture, although such an occupation does not bear any analogy to brokerage as here described: furniture dealers buy and sell generally on their own account, and not as agents for others. These persons do indeed sometimes superadd to their business the appraising of goods and the sale of them by public auction under warrants of

The minister, whichever of them it is, gives a view of the general financial policy of the government, and shows the condition of the country in respect to its industrial interests. This is of course the time to present an estimate of the probable income and expenditure for the twelve months ending the 5th of April in the following year; and to state what taxes it is intended to reduce or abolish, or what new ones to impose; and this is accompanied by the reasons for adopting the course which the government proposes. The speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in bringing forward the budget is naturally looked forward to with great interest by different classes: if the revenue be in a flourishing condition and a surplus exists, all parties are anxious to learn how far their interests will be affected by a reduction of taxes; and if the state of the national finances render it necessary to impose additional taxes, this interest is equally great. The Chancellor of the Exchequer concludes by proposing resolutions for the adoption of the committee. These resolutions, "when afterwards reported to the House, form the groundwork of bills for accomplishing the financial objects proposed by the minister." (May's Parliament, p. 331.)

BUILDING, ACTS FOR REGÚ.

LATING. Provisions for regulating | the construction of buildings are generally introduced into acts for the improvement of towns. To permit houses of wood or thatched roofs in confined and crowded streets, would be to sacrifice the public welfare to the caprice or convenience of individuals. There is no general measure ensuring uniformity of regulations for buildings throughout the country. In the session of 1841 the Marquis of Normanby, then a member of the government, brought in a bill " for the better Drainage and Improvement of Buildings in large Towns and Villages," but it did not pass; and a bill of a similar nature was unsuccessful in the session of the fol

cution of the law; and it did nothing to discourage the erection of imperfect buildings in districts which have become a part of the metropolis since it was passed. Whether the new act (7 & 8 Vict. c. 84) contains regulations equally impracticable remains to be seen. Some of them probably are of this nature, as may be expected in attempts to legislate on technical matters of detail; but the object of the act is excellent, and any defects in carrying it out may be corrected without much difficulty. The removal of sources of danger and disease in crowded neighbourhoods, by enforcing ventilation and drainage, and by other means, is in itself both wise and benevolent. The window tax will prove, in several respects, a great impediment to theact being fully carried out.

lowing year. In the session of 1844, however, an act was passed (7 & 8 Vict. c. 84) entitled An Act for Regulating the Construction and the Use of Build- The objects of the Metropolitan Buildings in the Metropolis and its Neighbourings Act may be gathered from the prehood; and this measure, though applica- amble, which is as follows:-"Whereas ble at present only to London, promises by the several acts mentioned in schedule to be an important step towards improv- (A.)* to this Act annexed provisions are ing the condition of large towns, and with made for regulating the construction of certain modifications it will probably be buildings in the metropolis, and the neighextended to other places. The act came bourhood thereof, within certain limits into operation on the 1st of January, 1845. therein set forth; but forasmuch as buildLondon has had Building Acts ever since ings have since been extended in nearly the reign of Queen Anne; but their object continuous lines or streets far beyond was chiefly to enforce regulations calcu- such limits, so that they do not now inlated to check the spread of fire. The clude all the places to which the provilast Building Act, commonly called Sir sions of such acts, according to the purRobert Taylor's Act (14 Geo. III. c. 78), poses thereof, ought to apply, and morewas passed in 1774, "for the further and over such provisions require alteration better regulation of buildings and party and amendment, it is expedient to extend walls, and for the more effectually pre- such limits, and otherwise to amend such venting mischiefs by fire." It extended acts: and forasmuch as in many parts of to the cities of London and Westminster, the metropolis and the neighbourhood and their liberties and other places within thereof, the drainage of the houses is so the bills of mortality, and to the parishes imperfect as to endanger the health of of St. Marylebone, Paddington, St. Pan- the inhabitants, it is expedient to make cras, and St. Luke's, Chelsea. The ad- provision for facilitating and promoting ministration of the act was confided to the improvement of such drainage; and district surveyors, each of whom had in- forasmuch as by reason of the narrowness dependent authority within his own dis- of streets, lanes, and alleys, and the want trict; but the magistrate at the nearest of a thoroughfare in many places, the police-office might enforce or not, at his due ventilation of crowded neighbourown discretion, the decisions of the sur- hoods is often impeded, and the health of veyor. The technical regulations of this the inhabitants thereby endangered, and act were many of them, generally speaking, of so impracticable a nature that their evasion was connived at by the officers appointed to superintend the exe

These acts are 14 Geo. III c. 78. partly repealed; 50 Geo. III. c. 75, wholly repealed; and 3 & 4 Vict. c. 85, repealed so far as it relates to flues and chimneys.

from the close contiguity of the opposite | houses the risk of accident by fire is extended, it is expedient to make provision with regard to the streets and other ways of the metropolis for securing a sufficient width thereof and forasmuch as many buildings and parts of buildings unfit for dwellings are used for that purpose, whereby disease is engendered, fostered, and propagated, it is expedient to discourage and prohibit such use thereof: and forasmuch as by the carrying on in populous neighbourhoods of certain works, in which materials of an explosive or inflammable kind are used, the risk of accidents arising from such works is much increased, it is expedient to regulate not only the construction of the buildings in which such dangerous works are carried on, but also to provide for the same being carried on in buildings at safe distances from other buildings which are used either for habitation or for trade in populous neighbourhoods: and forasmuch as by the carrying on of certain works of a noisome kind, or in which deleterious materials are used, or deleterious products are created, the health and comfort of the inhabitants are extensively impaired and endangered, it is expedient to make provision for the adoption of all such expedients as either have been or shall be devised for carrying on such businesses, so as to render them as little noisome or deleterious as possible to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood; and if there be no such expedients, or if such expedients be not available in a sufficient degree, then for the carrying on of such noisome and unwholesome businesses at safer distances from other buildings used for habitation: and forasmuch as great diversity of practice has obtained among the officers appointed in pursuance of the said acts to superintend the execution thereof in the several districts to which such acts apply, and the means at present provided for determining the numerous matters in question which constantly arise tend to promote such diversity, to increase the expense, and to retard the operations of persons engaged in building, it is expedient to make further provision for regulating the office of surveyor of such several districts, and to provide for the

appointment of officers to superintend the execution of this Act throughout all the districts to which it is to apply, and also to determine sundry matters in question incident thereto, as well as to exercise in certain cases, and under certain checks and control, a discretion in the relaxation of the fixed rules, where the strict observance thereof is impracticable, or would defeat the object of this Act, or would needlessly affect with injury the course and operation of this branch of business: now for all the several purposes above mentioned, and for the purpose of consolidating the provisions of the law relating to the construction and the use of buildings in the metropolis and its neighbourhood, be it enacted," &c.

The principal officers appointed to carry the act into effect are two Official Referees, a Registrar of Metropolitan Buildings, and Surveyors. The immediate superintendence of buildings is confided by the act to the surveyors, who are appointed for each district by the court of aldermen in the city, and by the justices at quartersessions for other parts of the district. In all cases of dispute or difficulty the official referees appointed by the Secretary of State and the Commissioners of Woods and Forests will determine the matter, instead of the appeal being to the police magistrates, as was formerly the case. The official referees are also empowered to modify technical rules. The registrar, who is appointed by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, is required to keep a record of all matters referred to the official referees and to preserve all documents connected with their proceedings.

The third section of the act defines the limits to which the act shall extend, which are as follows:-"To all such places lying on the north side or left bank of the river Thames as are within the exterior boundaries of the parishes of Fulham, Hammersmith, Kensington, Paddington, Hampstead, Hornsey, Tottenham, St. Pancras, Islington, Stoke Newington, Hackney, Stratford-le-Bow, Bromley, Poplar, and Shadwell; and to such part of the parish of Chelsea as lies north of the said parish of Kensington; and to all such parts and places lying on the south side or right bank of the said river, as are within

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