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13. No act of any liquidator appointed under the princi- Validity of pal Ordinance to wind up the trade or personal affairs of acts of

liquidators. any person shall be deemed invalid by reason only of the fact that at the time when the act was done such person was not an alien enemy, or had died, or had ceased to exist.

14. No legal proceeding of any kind whatsoever, civil Protection or criminal, shall without the permission of the Governor

of liquidators and public be brought against any liquidator or any public officer in officers. respect of any act or omission connected in any manner whatsoever with any winding up under the Alien Enemies (Winding up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1916, whether such act or omission have occurred before the commencement of this Ordinance or may occur hereafter.

15. The powers conferred on the Governor by the Alien Duration of Enemies (Winding up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1916, and the powers of

Governor rights and powers of the liquidators for the time being in and of office, shall continue not only during the continuance of liquidators. the present war but thereafter until such time as they may be revoked by Order of the Governor in Council, and Orders in Council may be made revoking all or any of those rights and powers either simultaneously as respects all the liquidations or at different times as respects dif- ferent liquidations or as respects different classes or items of property.

16. Section 13 of the Alien Enemies (Winding up) Repeal of Amendment Ordinance, 1914, is repealed.

Ordinance

No. 30 of

Objects and Reasons.

The object of this bill is to deal with certain points which have arisen in the course of the liquidations and with others which may arise hereafter.

Clause 1 is formal.

Clause 2 has the effect of expressly including arbitrations among the proceedings which may not be begun without the permission of the Governor where the other party is an alien enemy or a liquidator.

Clause 3 makes the discretion of the Court to stay actions brought against liquidators somewhat wider than at present.

Clause 4, read with clause 2, gives the Court power to stay an arbitration to which an alien enemy is a party, and it widens the discretion of the Court to stay proceed- ings generally brought against alien enemies.

With regard to the two clauses last referred to, it must be pointed out that cases may conceivably arise in which justice could not be done during the war owing to the impossibility of obtaining instructions or evidence or for some similar reason, and it seems desirable that the decision of any such point should rest with a judicial tribunal and not with the executive. It is possible that the Court already has inherent jurisdiction in the matter.

Clause 5 is declaratory and has been drafted with reference to cases which have actually occurred.

Clause 6 is intended to allay any possible doubts as to the powers of the liquidators to pass the legal estate.

Clause 7 expressly provides that a liquidator's powers pass to his successors in office.

Clause 8 provides that liquidators shall be at liberty to distribute the assets in the first instance on the footing that no interest accrues on any debt after the commence- ment of the winding up. This provision has been borrowed from the law relating to bankruptcy. The clause does not take away the right of the creditor to interest, if his debt carries interest, and any surplus assets may be applied in payment of such interest. The rights of secured creditors are saved.

1914, s. 13.