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Fees payable to Custodian. 5 & 6 Geo. 5, c. 105, s. 13.
Payment by Custodian of debts due to
enemy
subjects.
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12. The Custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Second Amendment Ordinance, 1915, and the Trading with the Enemy Third Amendment Ordinance, 1915, has and shall be deemed always to have had power to charge such fees in respect of his duties under those Ordinances and this Ordinance, whether by way of percentage or otherwise as the Governor in Council may fix, and such fees shall be collected and accounted for by such persons in such manner and shall be paid to such account as the Governor in Council directs, and the incidence of the fees as between capital and income shall be determined by the Custodian.
13. The Custodian shall not make any payment to au enemy subject without the permission of the Governor.
Objects and Reasons.
The object of this bill is in introduce the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1916, 5 and 6 Geo. 5, c. 105, with the exception of certain provisions which appear to be unnecessary here.
Clanses 1, 2, 3, 5 and 12 are formal or deal with minor details.
Clause 4 gives the Governor power to cancel contracts with enemy subjects which are injurious to the public interest.
Clauses 6, 8 and 9 give the Governor power to vest in the Custodian any property belonging either to an enemy or to an enemy subject, and they enable the Governor to confer on the Custodian such powers of dealing with such property as he may think fit.
Clause 7 provides that the various restrictions on dealing with enemy property shall continue after the conclusion of the war until they are removed by Order of the Governor in Conncil.
Clause 10 imposes certain restrictions on the exercise by enemy subjects of rights in respect of limited companies.
Clause 11 gives power to wind up any company registered in the Colony which has traded with the enemy through some branch or agent outside the Colony.
Clause 13 is intended to make it quite clear that the Custodian of enemy property, like every other person in the Colony, requires the permission of the Governor before he can make any payment to an enemy subject.
The following are the sections of the Act which have not been adopted:
(a.) Section 1 gives power to restrict, or wind up, firms of enemy nationality or enemy associa- tions. This is unnecessary here an account of the existence of the Alien Enemies (Winding up) Ordinances.
(b.) Section 5 requires enemy subjects within the United Kingdom to report to the Custodian all shares and all property of the value of £50 or upwards. This is also obviously unnecessary here.
(c.) Section 6 deals with the vesting of patent rights in the Custodian, and enemy patent rights are not being dealt with in any way here,
J. H. KEMP,
Attorney General.