t is expedient to make further provision for the
protection of life and property from fire within the
metropolis: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as
follows:

_Preliminary._

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the
"Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act, 1865."

2. For the purposes of this Act the "Metropolis" shall mean
the City of _London_ and all other parishes and places for
the time being within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan
Board of Works:

"Insurance Company" shall include any persons corporate or
unincorporate, or any person carrying on the business of
fire insurance.

3. The expression "Metropolis Local Management Acts" shall
mean the Acts following; that is to say, "The Metropolis
Management Act, 1855," "The Metropolis Management Amendment
Act, 1856," and "The Metropolis Management Amendment Act,
1862."

_Establishment and Duties of Fire Brigade._

4. On and after the first day of _January_ one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six the duty of extinguishing fires
and protecting life and property in case of fire shall
within the metropolis be deemed for the purposes of this Act
to be entrusted to the Metropolitan Board of Works; and with
a view to the performance of that duty it shall be lawful
for them to provide and maintain an efficient force of
firemen, and to furnish them with all such fire engines,
horses, accoutrements, tools, and implements as may be
necessary for the complete equipment of the force, or
conducive to the efficient performance of their duties.

5. The said Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board, may
take on lease, purchase, or otherwise acquire stations for
engines, stables, houses for firemen, and such other houses,
buildings, or land as they may think requisite for carrying
into effect the purposes of this Act, and may from time to
time sell any property acquired by or vested in them for the
purposes of this Act:

The Board may also contract with any company or persons
authorized to establish the same for the establishment of
telegraphic communication between the several