CO129-516-2 Unclaimed Balances Ordinance- 1929 11-3-1929 - 11-3-1929 — Page 8

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balance amounting to $100 or upwards this power can only

be exercised on production of a certificate by the

Official Administrator that the advertisements required

have been published and that five years have elapsed since

such advertisements and that no further claim can

reasonably be expected.

11. Section 7 provides that interest shall run on any

unclaimed balances paid into the Treasury under the

provisions of section 6. The interest will cease on

transfer to the general revenue. No interest will run

on amounts under $100.

12.

Provision is made by section 8 for the transfer to

general revenue of unclaimed balances, other than those

of intestates estates, remaining in the Supreme Court for

five years or longer, and the Court is empowered to require notice to such parties as it may think fit.

13.

Section 9 provides that every transfer to the

general revenue under the provisions of this Ordinance

shall be subject to the provisions of the Ordinance as

regards refunds.

14. Section 10 provides that any claimant to any money

transferred to the general revenue under the present

Ordinance, or under the Unclaimed Balances Ordinance, 1885,

may prosecute his claim by a petition to the Supreme Court,

but it is laid down that no such petition shall be presented

except within the same time and subject to the same rules

of law and equity in and subject to which an action for

the like purpose might be brought against a subject.

This limitation of time is based on the provisions of

section 3 of the Intestates Estates Act, 1884, 47 & 48

Vict, c. 71.

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15. A further safeguard is provided by section 11,

which empowers the Governor in Council to entertain any

moral claim to any sum of money which may have been

transferred to the general revenue under this Ordinance

or the former Ordinance.

16.

Section 12 makes any payment ordered under this

Ordinance a charge on the general revenue.

17. Section 30 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, 1991,

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 30 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 13 provides

that nothing in the present Ordinance is to affect the

provisions of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, 1891, 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, 1991, will, by virtue of section 14 of

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Ordinance No.31 of 1911, be construed as a reference to

the new Bankruptcy Crdinance when it becomes law.

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Section 14 repeals the Unclaimed Balances

Ordinance, 1885, Ordinance o.1 of 1885.

19. 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

Administrator 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 possession 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 section 25

of the Probates Ordinance. Words have been inserted in

section 4 of this Ordinance to bring the balances of small

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