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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
15. Section 12 makes any payment under this Ordinance a charge on the general revenue.
16. Section 80 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, 1891, lays down the procedure to be followed with regard to unclaimed dividends and funds in bankruptcy proceedings. Such unclaimed amounts are paid to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, who has to hold them for a period of five years. During that time he has authority to pay out any amount to any person who satisfies him of his title to such amount. Sub-section (4) of section 80 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance directs that at the end of this period of five years the Registrar is to pay any unclaimed money to the Treasurer for the use of the Colony, and it also provides that all claims thereon shall be thenceforth barred. It is considered desirable to leave this procedure untouched, and accordingly section 12 provides that nothing in the present Ordinance is to affect the provisions of the Bankruptcy Ordinance with reference to unclaimed dividends and funds in bankruptcy proceedings. The section refers to the Bankruptcy Ordinance generally, and not to section 80 because it is probable that the present Bankruptcy Ordinance will soon be replaced by an amending and consolidating Ordinance, and it is not possible at present to say how or where the special provisions with regard to unclaimed dividends and funds will appear. The reference to the Bankruptcy Ordinance, 1891, will, by virtue of section 14 of Ordinance No. 31 of 1911, be construed as a reference to the new Bankruptcy Ordinance when it becomes law.
17. Section 13 repeals the Unclaimed Balances Ordinance, 1885.
18. Section 14 repeals section 25 of the Probates Ordinance, 1897. That section lays down that the provisions of the Unclaimed Balances Ordinance, 1885, in relation to unclaimed balances of the estates of persons dying intestate shall mutatis mutandis apply to moneys received or taken possession of by the Official Adminis- trator under section 14 or section 19 of the Probates Ordinance, with a certain proviso. There are several objections to this section. A mutatis mutandis clause is to be avoided if possible because there is sometimes doubt as to what should be changed and as to how it should be changed. Again section 14 of the Probates Ordinance gives the Official Administrator power to take possession of all kinds of movable property. Section 25 makes Ordinance No. 1 of 1885 apply only to moneys actually taken posses- sion of under that section 14, and makes provision for no other property taken possession of under that section or for the proceeds: of such property. Similarly, section 25 of the Probates Ordinance makes Ordinance No. 1 of 1885 apply only to moneys actually taken possession of under section 19, and does not make it apply to the balance of the estate when the estate has been realised and the liabilities paid. Section 14 of this Ordinance therefore repeals
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