A

BILL

INTITULED

An Act to amend the Bankruptcy Act, 1914.

E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty,

Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, 5 as follows:

A.D. 1926.

of 4 & 5

Geo. 5.

c. 59. s. 26.

1.-(1) So much of subsection (2) of section twenty- Amend. six of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914 (hereinafter referred to as the "principal Act "), as requires the Court to refuse the discharge of a bankrupt in all cases where he has 10 committed a felony or misdemeanour connected with his bankruptcy unless for special reasons the Court otherwise determines, and so much of the said subsection as requires the Court, where on proof of any of the facts mentioned in subsection (3) of the said section the Court 15 suspends the discharge of a bankrupt, to do so for a period of not less than two years, shall cease to have effect, and in the said subsection (2)

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(a) there shall be substituted for the words from
the beginning of the first proviso down to the
word "either the words following, that is to
say:-

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"Provided that where the bankrupt has "committed any misdemeanour under this Act, or any enactment repealed by this "Act, or any other misdemeanour connected "with his bankruptcy or any felony con"nected with his bankruptcy, or where in

A.D. 1926.

Explanation of 4 & 5

s. 33.

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any case any of the facts hereinafter mentioned are proved, the Court shall "either-"; and

(b) there shall be substituted for paragraph (ii) of the said first proviso the following paragraph, 5 that is to say :

"(ii) suspend the discharge for such period "as the Court thinks proper; or "

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(2) There shall be substituted for paragraph (h) of subsection (3) of the said section twenty-six of the 10 principal Act the following paragraph, that is to say:(h) That the bankrupt has brought on or "contributed to his bankruptcy by incurring "unjustifiable expense in bringing any frivolous 66 or vexatious action;

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2. For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared that the priority given by section thirty-three of the Geo. 5. c. 59. principal Act to the wages or salary of any clerk or servant in respect of services rendered to a bankrupt during four months before the date of the receiving 20 order, not exceeding fifty pounds, applies to any such wages or salary as aforesaid whether or not earned wholly or in part by way of commission.

Amendment of 4 & 5

3. For section thirty-nine of the principal Act (which relates to second or subsequent bankruptcies) 25 Geo. 5. c. 59. there shall be substituted the following section, that is to say:

s. 39.

"(1) Where a second or subsequent receiving "order is made against a bankrupt, or where an "order is made for the administration in bank- 30 "ruptcy of the estate of a deceased bankrupt, then "for the purposes of any proceedings consequent

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upon any such order, the trustee in the last preceding bankruptcy shall be deemed to be a "creditor in respect of any unsatisfied balance of 35 "the debts provable against the property of the bankrupt in that bankruptcy.

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(2) In the event of a second or subsequent "receiving order made against a bankrupt being "followed by an order adjudging him bankrupt, 40 or in the event of an order being made for the

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“administration in bankruptcy of the estate of A.D. 1926.
"a deceased bankrupt, any property acquired
by him since he was last adjudged bankrupt,
which at the date when the subsequent petition
was presented had not been distributed amongst
"the creditors in such last preceding bankruptcy,
"shall (subject to any disposition thereof made
by the official receiver or trustee in that bank-
ruptcy, without knowledge of the presentation
"of the subsequent petition, and subject to the
provisions of section forty-seven of this Act)
"vest in the trustee in the subsequent bank-
ruptcy or administration in bankruptcy as the
case may be.

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"(3) Where the trustee in any bankruptcy "receives notice of a subsequent petition in bankruptcy against the bankrupt or after his "decease of a petition for the administration "of his estate in bankruptcy, the trustee shall "hold any property then in his possession which "has been acquired by the bankrupt since he was adjudged bankrupt until the subsequent petition has been disposed of, and, if on the subsequent petition an order of adjudication or "an order for the administration of the estate "in bankruptcy is made, he shall transfer all "such property or the proceeds thereof (after

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deducting his costs and expenses) to the trustee in the subsequent bankruptcy or administration "in bankruptcy, as the case may be.'

without

4. Where any money or property of a bankrupt Recovery of has, on or after the date of the receiving order but property before notice thereof has been gazetted in the prescribed transferred manner, been paid or transferred by a person having knowledge 35 possession of it to some other person, and the payment of receiving or transfer is under the provisions of the principal Act order. void as against the trustee in the bankruptcy, then, if the person by whom the payment or transfer was made proves that when it was made he had not had 40 notice of the receiving order, any right of recovery which the trustee may have against him in respect of the money or property shall not be enforced by any legal proceedings except where and in so far as the court is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for the

A.D. 1926. trustee to recover in respect of the money or property or of some part thereof from the person to whom it was paid or transferred.

Amendments of

c. 59. s. 154.

5.-(1) Section one hundred and fifty-four of the principal Act (which provides among other things that 5 4 & 5 Geo. 5. any person who has been adjudged bankrupt or in respect of whose estate a receiving order has been made, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour if he commits any of the acts or omissions mentioned in paragraphs (4), (5), (9), (10), (11) and (12), of the said section within six 10 months next before the presentation of the bankruptcy petition by or against him, or if he commits any of the acts mentioned in paragraphs (13), (14) and (15) of the said section within six months next before the presentation of the bankruptcy petition by or against him, or, 15 in the case of a receiving order made under section one hundred and seven of the principal Act, before the date of the order), shall have effect as if in the said paragraphs (4), (5), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14) and (15) thereof, the words "twelve months" were substituted 20 for the words "six months" wherever those words occur.

(2) The said section one hundred and fifty-four shall have effect as though the following subsections were inserted therein, that is to say:

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"(2) Any person guilty of a misdemeanour in 25 "the cases mentioned respectively in paragraphs (13), (14) and (15) of the last foregoing sub"section shall be liable on conviction on indict"ment to penal servitude for any term not

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exceeding five years, or, on summary conviction 30 "to imprisonment for a term not exceeding "twelve months.

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"(3) Where any person pawns, pledges or disposes of any property in circumstances which "amount to a misdemeanour under paragraph (15) "of subsection (1) of this section, every person 35 "who takes in pawn or pledge or otherwise "receives the property knowing it to be pawned,

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pledged or disposed of in such circumstances as aforesaid shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, " and on conviction thereof liable to be punished 40 “in the same way as if he had received the "property knowing it to have been obtained in "circumstances amounting to a misdemeanour."