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Transfer to Admiralty of Postal Contracts Act 1837
(7 Will 4 c.3, 14th June 1819)

An Act for transferring to the Commissioners of the Admiralty all Contracts, Bonds, and other Securities entered into with the Postmaster General in relation to the Packet Service.
[l8th March 1837]

'WHEREAS it has been deemed expedient that the Superintendence and Management of the Business relating to the Packets and other Vessels employed in conveying the Mails and Letters by Sea should be transferred from the Department of the Postmaster General to that of the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and it is therefore become necessary, for the better Security of the Public, to provide for the Transfer to the said Commissioners of all the Interests, Powers, and Authorities at present existing in the Postmaster General, by virtue of any Contracts, Bonds, and other Securities taken in his Department, as far as relates to the Packet Service and to the Persons employed therein:’ Be it therefore enacted by the King'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, That from and after the passing of this Act all the Interests, Powers, and Authorities at present existing in the Postmaster General under any Contract or Contracts entered into with him or any of his Predecessors in Office, or with any Person or Persons on his or their Behalf, by any Body Corporate or Company, or Person or Persons, for the Conveyance by Sea of Mails and Letters by Steam Boats or other Ships or Vessels, or under any Bond or Bonds given for the due Execution of any such Contracts, and also under any Bond or other Security entered into by any Agent, Officer, or other Person hitherto employed under the said Postmaster, or entered into by any of the Sureties of any such Persons, either for the due Execution of any such Contract, or for the due Execution of the Duty of any such Agent, Officer, or other Person employed as aforesaid, shall be transferred to and vested in the said Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral aforesaid for the Time being, and shall be acted on, enforced, and carried into effect by such Commissioners in the same Manner as if they had been named in the same Contracts, Bonds, and Securities respectively instead of the Postmaster General; and all and every the Orders and Directions of the said Commissioners shall be as fully observed, obeyed, and performed by the Contractors, and by the said Agents and Officers respectively, as if the same had proceeded from and been issued and given by the Postmaster General.