At the Court at Windsor, the 5th day of December, 1865

Present:

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Whereas by the Naval Agency and Distribution Act, 1864, it is enacted (among other things) that the several shares of any money in the several cases in the said Act enumerated distributable among the officers and crew of any of Her Majesty's ships-of-war shall be paid to the persons entitled thereto, in such manner and subject and according to such restrictions, conditions, and provisions as might from time to time be directed by Order in Council.

And whereas it is by the said Act also enacted that that Her Majesty in Council may from time to time make such orders as may seem meet for the better execution of the said Act:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by virtue of the powers in this behalf, by the said Act, or otherwise, in Her vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:-

Preliminary.

1. This Order shall commence from and immediately after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
2. The Order in council of the first day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, under the said Act, is hereby repealed ; but not so as to revive any regulation, practice, or other thing thereby abolished, or to affect the past operation of that Order, or the validity of anything done thereunder.
3. Terms used in this Order have the same respective meanings as in the said Act.

Payment of Prize Money into Bank, &c.

4. All money distributable among the officers and crew of any of Her Majesty's ships-of-war, within the meaning of the said Act (all which money is comprehended under the term "Prize Money" where hereafter used in this Order), shall be forthwith paid to the account of Her Majesty's Paymaster-General at the Bank of England, on account of Naval Prize, or into the hands of some official accountant (belonging to the Naval, Commissariat, or other department), in order that it may be transferred to the said account.

Gazette Notice.

5. Before any money distributable as aforesaid is actually distributed, notification shall be given by advertisement inserted in the 'London Gazette,' under the direction of the Admiralty.

Prize Remittance.

6. For the purposes of the provisions of this Order respecting Prize Remittances, the proper certifying authority shall be (in the several cases hereinafter mentioned) the following, namely:-
1. Where the payee resides in England Wales Scotland, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands, the minister and churchwardens or elders of the parish or district parish wherein the payee resides.
2. Where the payee resides in Ireland, the inspector or sub-inspector of constabulary for the county, and a churchwarden of the parish wherein the payee resides.
3. Where the payee resides at Sierra Leone, the Commissariat officer there.
4. Where the payee resides in any other British possession out of the United Kingdom, two of the principal merchants or tradespeople of the place of residence;

and the ministers, churchwardens, elders, inspectors sub-inspectors, commissariat officer, merchants, and tradespeople aforesaid (when respectively the proper certifying authority), are hereby required to furnish, in the several cases in this Order provided for, such certificates as are requisite for the purposes of this Order, in case they respectively are satisfied of the truth of the matter required to be certified.

7. At a place where there is not any resident naval cashier, paymaster, or accountant, payment of a share of any prize money shall be made in the United Kingdom and at Sierra Leone on a remittance bill, and at other places out of the United Kingdom in such manner as the Admiralty from time to time direct.
8. Remittance bills shall be paid in the United Kingdom by any officer of the revenue, and at Sierra Leone by the commissariat officer, who respectively shall comply in all respects with the instructions of the Admiralty printed on the authority for payment addressed to the paying officer.
9. The amounts so paid shall be repaid to the respective departments in the same manner as at present subject to such alterations as the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury and the Admiralty from time to time direct.
10. A remittance bill shall not be paid without a certificate from the proper certifying authority that the holder of the duplicate of the authority issued to the paying officer is the person named as payee in the duplicate.
11. Payment shall only be made to the payee personally, unless on any occasion the payee is unable from illness or bodily infirmity to appear personally, in which case payment on that occasion shall be made to the person producing:-
1. The duplicate authority, together with the payee's order in writing, signed and witnessed, for payment to that person ; and
2. A certificate from the proper certifying authority of the payee's being unable from illness or bodily infirmity to appear personally; or
3. A like certificate from the payee's legally qualified medical attendant ;

provided the paying officer does not doubt the authenticity of the order or the truth of the certificate.

12. Payment shall not be made unless the paying officer is satisfied of the title of the claimant.
13. If on any application for payment the paying officer entertains any doubt as to the claimant's title to payment, he shall enquire into the matter, and may require from the claimant such statutory declaration or declarations of the claimant alone or with any other person or persons as the paying officer thinks requisite.
14. On paying a prize remittance bill, the paying officer shall take a receipt on the authority for payment addressed to him, and shall certify thereon (where so required) to his having satisfied himself of the title of the claimant.
15. Every certificate under this Order shall state the character in which each person certifying subscribes the same.

Assignments by Warrant Officers.

16. Any assignment made by a warrant officer of any prize money shall be void, unless it truly expresses the consideration money actually paid by the person in whose favour it is made to the person making it, and upon any such assignment there shall be paid so much money only as appears to have been actually paid as consideration for the same, with interest thereon, at five per centum per annum.

Prize Orders of Subordinate Officers, Seamen, and Marines.

17. In this Order the term "subordinate officer, seaman, or marine," includes every person belonging to Her Majesty's naval service, or being a supernumerary attached thereto, except commissioned and warrant officers, and assistant engineers of the second class.
18. The share of any subordinate officer, seaman, or marine, of any prize money, shall not be paid to any person other than such subordinate officer, seaman, or marine himself, or the person named in an order drawn by him as hereafter in this Order prescribed; but this restriction shall not apply to any money (being such a share or part thereof) remaining unpaid on the promotion of a subordinate officer to the rank of commissioned officer, or of a seaman to the rank of warrant officer
19. Every such order shall be drawn on a printed form issued for the purpose by the Accountant General of the Navy.
20. Every such order shall be drawn in favour of some one or other of the following persons, by name:

The drawer's wife ;
The drawer's father or mother ;
The drawer's son or daughter ;
The drawer's brother or sister,

the payee being so described in the order.

21. Every such order shall be signed by the drawer in the presence of the person or persons who is or are to certify according to the directions subjoined to the form of order.
22. Every such order shall be irrevocable during the life of the payee unless in special circumstances the Admiralty think fit to allow of revocation.
23. Every such order shall be absolutely revoked by the death of the payee, so that no interest therein shall pass to the payee's personal representatives.
24. Nothing in this Order shall affect any order drawn by a subordinate officer, seaman, or marine, before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
25. If at any time a person formerly licensed as an agent or his representative has a lawful claim against the share of any subordinate officer, seaman, or marine, of any prize money, in respect of advances made by such agent before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, the claim shall be duly discharged under the direction of the Admiralty, nearly as may be as if the said Act had not been passed.

Unclaimed and Forfeited Shares.

26. If the share of any person of any prize money is not duly claimed within six years after it is payable to him, it shall be deemed unclaimed and shall be dealt with accordingly.
27. Notwithstanding that any such share has been forwarded or is unclaimed, the Admiralty may, if they see good cause, pay the same out of the naval prize cash balance.

Closing of Accounts.

28. All accounts relative to any prize money (whether the same became distributable before or after the commencement of this Order) shall be deemed finally closed at the expiration of forty years from the date of distribution.

Persons of Unsound Mind.

29. Where it is made to appear to the satisfaction of the Admiralty that any person entitled to a share of any prize-money is of unsound mind (though not found lunatic by inquisition), the whole or any part of such share may be paid over under the direction of the Admiralty to the wife or relative or other person having the care and maintenance of such person, to be applied for his maintenance and benefit.

Repayment from Greenwich Hospital.

30. All sums from time to time certified by the Accountant-General of the Navy to have been paid to claimants and others proving themselves entitled to shares of any prize-money, which was, before the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, paid into Greenwich Hospital, shall from time to time be repaid under the direction of the Admiralty out of the property held for the benefit of Greenwich Hospital.

Annual Account.

31. An account showing all the receipts and expenditure on account of prize-money made up to the thirty-first day of March in each year, and signed by the Accountant-General of the Navy, shall be annually laid before the House of Commons.

And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively appertain.

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