The Short Title of this Act is “The Savings-banks Act, 1908.”

This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:—

Savings.

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Governor shall be the President of every savings-bank proclaimed by him to come within the operation of this Act.

All savings-banks proclaimed or established under any of the enactments mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, and subsisting on the coming into operation of this Act, shall be deemed to be proclaimed or established under this Act.

It shall be lawful for the Governor, by writing under his hand, from time to time to delegate to any person or persons whomsoever all or any of the powers vested in him by virtue of this Act, and every such delegation at pleasure to revoke.

The management of the affairs of every such bank shall be vested in not less than five or more than thirty-six trustees, who shall be nominated by the Governor, of whom one shall be styled “vice-president,” to be elected by the said trustees.

Any trustees appointed under this Act may from time to time be removed from office and be reappointed, or others may be appointed in their place in case of any such removal or of any vacancy, as the Governor thinks fit; and every such nomination, reappointment, or fresh nomination of any trustee shall be made by the publication of an order to that effect in the Gazette.

All acts, matters, and things (save as hereinafter excepted) which the trustees, by any of the provisions of this Act, are authorised or required to do shall and may be done by a majority of the trustees assembled at a meeting to be called for the purpose in the manner hereinafter provided; and such majority may from time to time adjourn any meeting as they think fit:

Provided that in order to constitute a meeting four trustees at the least shall be present.

At all meetings of the trustees the vice-president, and in his absence the senior trustee in the order of appointment present, shall preside as chairman, and may not only vote as a trustee, but shall also in case of equality of votes have a casting-vote.

The trustees of any such savings-bank, subject to the approval of the Governor, may appoint fit persons to be managers, accountants, clerks, or other subordinate officers of the bank, or of any branch thereof, and from time to time may remove from office any such manager, accountant, clerk, or subordinate officer, and reappoint him or them, or appoint others in his or their place, as the trustees think fit; and any such appointment, reappointment, or fresh appointment of any such manager, accountant, clerk, or subordinate officer shall be signified by the publication thereof by a notice to that effect in the Gazette.

The trustees, subject to such approval as aforesaid, may determine the amount of salaries to be paid to such managers, accountants, clerks, or other subordinate officers.

Every such manager and accountant shall give security for the due and faithful discharge of the duties of his office, by bond, with two or more sureties to be approved of by the trustees, which sureties shall join with the said manager or accountant in such bond, and they and he shall bind themselves jointly and severally to the vice-president of the savings-bank in such penal sum as is named by the trustees and approved of by the Governor.

The trustees, out of the interest received by them on moneys lent out as hereinafter directed, may pay the salaries so appointed to be paid to the manager, accountants, clerks, or other subordinate officers of the bank, as the trustees, with the consent and approbation of the Governor, think fit and allow; and all other incidental charges and expenses as are necessarily incurred in conducting the business and keeping the accounts of the savings-bank shall be paid by the trustees out of the same source, and no other:

Provided that if at any time the interest arising from money so lent out as aforesaid is insufficient for the purposes hereby appointed, all such salaries and other charges shall be reduced rateably; and if no interest at all is received, the business of any such bank shall at once cease and determine.

There shall be payable out of the profits of a savings-bank, as the trustees may from time to time determine, to each trustee a sum not exceeding one pound for each meeting which he attends, and not exceeding twelve pounds in any one year.

When a meeting of the trustees is required for any of the purposes of this Act, the same shall be called by a notice signed by the vice-president, manager, or accountant, and published in one or more of the local newspapers, giving at least three clear days’ notice of the time and place of the intended meeting.

If any trustee, without leave, absents himself from three consecutive meetings, he shall thereupon be deemed to have vacated his office.

The trustees of any such bank may make such rules and regulations for the conduct and management of the bank as they deem meet:

Provided that no such rules or regulations, or any revocation, alteration, or modification thereof, shall be valid or be acted upon until the same have been submitted to the Governor for his approval, and confirmed and allowed by him under his hand.

All such rules and regulations which are so confirmed and allowed as aforesaid shall be forthwith transcribed on parchment and deposited with the Registrar of the Supreme Court for the district in which the bank is situated, and the transcript shall be filed by such Registrar and preserved among the records of the said Court without any fee or reward in respect thereof, and a copy of the same shall be kept in the bank open to the inspection of the depositors during the hours of business.

The rules and regulations so deposited shall be binding on the several members and officers of the bank, and on all depositors therein, and their representatives, all of whom shall be deemed to have full notice thereof.

The transcript of the rules and regulations so deposited as aforesaid, or a true copy thereof examined with the original and proved to be a true copy, shall be received as evidence of such rules and regulations; and every copy of such transcript so deposited as aforesaid shall be made without fee or reward, except the actual expense of such copy.

No trustee of any such bank shall be answerable or accountable for the other or others of them, but each and every of them only for his and their own acts, receipts, neglects, or defaults respectively; and the said trustees or any of them shall not be amenable or accountable. for any banker, broker, or other person with whom or in whose hands or custody any part of the moneys of such bank are deposited or lodged for safe custody or otherwise in the execution of the trusts hereby in them reposed, or for the insufficiency or deficiency of any security in or upon which any moneys are invested, or for the defect of title or value of any lands or for any other misfortune, loss, or damage which may happen in the execution of the aforesaid trusts or in relation thereunto, except the same happens by or through their own wilful neglect or default respectively.

No person being a trustee or district trustee of any such bank, or being in anywise concerned in the management thereof, shall be allowed to deposit any sum of money therein, or to borrow any money therefrom, or to derive any benefit from any deposit made in the bank, or shall act in the capacity of manager, accountant, or clerk, or district manager, accountant, or clerk, of such bank, or receive directly or indirectly any salary, allowance, profit, or benefit whatsoever from the funds of the bank, except as provided by section ten hereof.

If any person being a trustee or district trustee of any such bank offends in any one of the particulars mentioned in this section, he shall be liable to a fine of one hundred pounds, to be sued for in the Supreme Court by any person having money deposited in the bank to the amount of thirty pounds, and such fine shall be paid, one-half to His Majesty for the public uses of New Zealand and the support of the Government thereof, and one-half to the informer.

If any person holding any office in such bank or any branch thereof, and having in his hands or possession any moneys or effects belonging to the bank, or any deeds or securities relating to the same, becomes bankrupt, or makes any conveyance or assignment of his estate for the benefit of his creditors, or against whose lands, goods, chattels, or effects any execution, attachment, or other process has issued, or if any such officer dies, then and in any such case it shall be lawful for any two or more of the trustees of the bank to apply to such officer or to his assignees, or to his executors or administrators, or to the Sheriff, or other person executing such process, or to any other person having legal right, as the case may require, and to demand that such moneys or effects belonging to the bank, and all deeds, securities, or papers relating to the same, shall be paid over or delivered up to the said trustees or to such persons as they appoint.

The party so applied to and having the same shall, within forty days after such demand as aforesaid, deliver over to such trustees, or to any person whom they may appoint to receive the same, all effects or other things belonging to the bank, and all deeds, securities, or papers relating to the same, and shall pay out of the assets or effects of such officer all sums of money belonging or due by such officer to the bank before any other of the debts of the said officer are paid or satisfied, or before the money directed to be levied by such process as aforesaid is paid over to the party issuing such process, as the case may be, and all assets, goods, chattels, and effects shall be bound to the payment and discharge thereof accordingly.

The trustees of every such bank shall, within one month after the close of every year, cause a balance-sheet to be prepared, containing a true statement of the receipts and payments on account of the bank during the past year, and of the balance of money deposited as hereinafter provided, and of all sums of money which may in any manner be due to the trustees of the bank as such trustees as aforesaid, and shall certify that they have counted the cash in hand, and have to the best of their belief ascertained the correctness of the said account or balance-sheet, to which they shall subscribe their names.

The trustees shall, within ten days after such subscription, cause the same to be laid before or transmitted to the Governor for his approval, and the same, after being approved by him, shall be published in the Gazette, and in a newspaper circulating in the district where the bank carries on its business.

It shall be lawful for any one or more of such trustees, together with the manager or accountant, or in his absence for any two or more of such trustees, at such time and place as are fixed by such rules as aforesaid, and at no other time or place whatsoever, to receive from any person in the way of deposit any sum of money not being less than one shilling.

No interest shall be allowed or payable upon any greater sum than one hundred pounds, and all sums deposited in excess of one hundred pounds shall be as deposits without interest, but subject to the same rules for withdrawal as are hereinafter provided.

The amount of the money so received shall be entered in a book to be provided for that purpose to the credit of the party making such deposit, or to the credit of such other person as he appoints.

No sum of money shall be paid by way of deposit into any bank established under this Act by any person whatsoever without disclosing his name, together with his profession, occupation, calling, and residence, to the persons receiving the same; and such name, profession, occupation, calling, and residence shall forthwith be entered by the persons receiving such deposit in the books wherein the entry of the said deposit is hereinbefore directed to be made.

The amount of such deposits and all other sums of money received into any such bank shall, with all convenient speed, be deposited in any incorporated bank; and in places where no such bank is established, then in some convenient place of security approved of by the trustees, and the same shall then be placed to the credit of such savings-bank in an account to be called “The Account of the Trustees of Savings-bank.”

No money so paid into any such account shall be withdrawn without the written order of the manager and accountant and one trustee, or of two or more trustees countersigned by the manager or accountant, or one of the persons for the time being acting in that capacity, being first had and obtained.

The depositor of any sum of money in any such bank, or any person duly authorised by such depositor, or his executor or other lawful representative, may claim and receive back such sum of money, together with the interest due thereon or any part thereof, in the manner and upon the conditions following, that is to say:—

All interest shall cease from the date of such notice on the sum so notified to be withdrawn, and shall not be thereafter payable thereon.

Any person on whose account any deposit by one or more payments of not less than twenty shillings or more than one hundred pounds has been paid, and to whose credit it is placed in the books of any such bank, is entitled to receive interest upon the same at the rate of five pounds by the year for every one hundred [pounds, and in the same proportion for any shorter time.

No interest shall be allowed on any sum less than one pound, or on odd shillings and pence, and the interest shall be calculated by months, omitting odd days, but any sum deposited within the first seven days of a month shall be entitled to bear interest for the whole of that month.

The trustees may and shall pay such interest as aforesaid out of the interest received by them on sums lent out as herein provided:

Provided that if the moneys so received by the trustees, after paying therefrom the salaries, charges, and expenses of the bank, are insufficient to pay interest on deposits at the rate which is or may be fixed, the sum required to make up such deficiency shall be payable, by warrant under the hand of the Governor, out of the general revenue of New Zealand.

The trustees of any such bank, at a general meeting to be held in the month of January in every year, may reduce, with the consent of the Governor, the rate of interest hereinbefore prescribed;

Provided that no such reduction in the rate of interest shall be made until after three months’ notice has been given by advertisement published in the Gazette.

Interest, subject to the rules and regulations aforesaid, shall be added to and incorporated with the sum which may be then standing in the books of the said bank to the credit of each party, and shall bear interest, subject to the rules aforesaid, from the first day of the said month of January, and interest shall be allowed to him upon the total sum so long as the same remains deposited in the bank:

Provided that nothing in this Act shall entitle any person to receive interest on any greater sum than one hundred pounds.

Whenever the surplus profits of any such bank, after paying all salaries, charges, and expenses in the management thereof, together with all interest due to the depositors, are sufficient to build proper offices for the purpose of carrying on the business of the bank, the trustees are hereby empowered to select and purchase a suitable site and erect thereon such offices; but if such surplus profits admit only of the purchase of a site for the same, then the trustees are hereby authorised and empowered to mortgage the same for the purpose of erecting a suitable building on the site so purchased, or for completing any building thereon.

All land so purchased shall be conveyed and vested in the vice-president for the time being upon trust for the benefit of the bank for which the same was so purchased.

And whereas by reason of the funds of any such bank being invested in manner herein provided, the trustees of the bank may, without the assistance of the Government, be unable to meet the demands made upon them from time to time by depositors desirous of withdrawing their deposits: Be it therefore enacted that it shall be lawful for the Governor to guarantee the repayment of any loan which it may be necessary for the trustees to negotiate in order to meet the demands of such depositors:

Provided that no loans outstanding at any time and so guaranteed shall exceed the sum of one thousand pounds in respect of any one bank.

In case the trustees of any such bank receive any deposit of money from or for the use and benefit of any person under the age of twenty-one years, the trustees may pay such person his share and interest in the funds of the bank in the manner and upon the conditions herein appointed in the case of other depositors, and the receipt of such person shall be a sufficient discharge for any money paid to him as aforesaid, notwithstanding his incapacity or inability in law to act for himself.

In case any deposit has been made in any such bank by a married woman without notice of her marriage, or in case any deposit has been made by any woman who marries subsequently to making such deposit, the trustees may pay any sum of money in respect of any such deposit to any such woman.

In case any depositor in any bank dies leaving a sum of money in the bank which, with the interest thereon, does not exceed in the whole twenty pounds, the trustees are hereby authorised, in case they are satisfied that no will was made and left by such deceased depositor, and that no letters of administration will be taken out of his goods and chattels, to pay the same at any time after the decease of such depositor according to the rules and regulations of the bank; and in the event of there being no rules or regulations made in that behalf, then the trustees are hereby authorised to pay out of such sum of money all just debts due or owing by such deceased depositor, and to defray the expenses of his funeral, so far as the said sum of money will extend, and to pay and divide the surplus (if any) to and amongst the persons entitled to the effects of the deceased intestate according to the law relating to the distribution of intestate estates.

In case any depositor dies leaving any sum of money in any such bank, or there are any dividends or interest due thereon belonging to him at the time of his death, which said several sums exceed in the whole the sum of twenty pounds, the same shall not be paid to any person claiming to be the representative, next-of-kin, or creditor of such depositor unless such person delivers or causes to be delivered to the trustees or to the manager or accountant of the bank a notice in writing, signed with his name in the presence of two credible witnesses, setting forth the grounds on which he claims to be entitled to receive the said sum of money belonging to such depositor at the time of his death, or any part thereof:

Provided that the said notice shall have been previously published thrice or oftener in the Gazette and in some one or more newspapers in New Zealand, at the discretion of the trustees, and three months at least has elapsed subsequently to the last publication before payment is made in satisfaction of any such claim or demand.

If any creditor of the deceased, whose debt does not exceed the sum of ten pounds, puts in his claim to be paid, the trustees may pay the same without such public notice as aforesaid.

The above provisions shall not be taken to interfere with the legal title and claim of any representative of such deceased depositor, who procures probate of his will or letters of administration of his effects, or with the action of the Public Trustee.

If any payment is made from the funds of any such bank by the trustees thereof as hereinbefore directed, and the party claiming and receiving the same is afterwards proved not to be the lawful representative of the depositor so deceased as aforesaid, or otherwise not entitled to the same, such payment shall be valid against any demand of any person as representative of the said deceased depositor, or any other person whomsoever; nevertheless such lawful representative or other person shall have a remedy for such moneys so paid as aforesaid against the person who so wrongfully received the same.

The trustees of any such bank may lend any sum of money on security by mortgage of any lands held for an estate of inheritance in fee-simple in New Zealand:

Provided that such lands are free from all incumbrances, and within such distance of the bank as is in that behalf appointed by the rules of the bank.

The said trustees may cause any proportion of the funds of the bank, with the approval of the Governor, to be invested in Government securities or to be deposited in any bank in New Zealand at such rate of interest as is agreed upon between the directors of the bank and such trustees as aforesaid:

Provided that the total amount of funds lent out at interest, or in the aggregate invested in mortgage or Government securities in New Zealand, or deposited in any bank at interest, shall at no time exceed nine-tenths of the total deposits.

The trustees of any savings-bank may from time to time cause any proportion of the deposits in the bank (not exceeding one-third part of the total deposits in the bank) to be invested in debentures issued or mortgages executed under authority of law by or on behalf of any local body in New Zealand, and secured upon general or special rates, or upon real estate held in fee-simple as provided by any such law, at such rate of interest as may be agreed on between the governing authority of such local body and the trustees of the savings-bank.

Nothing herein shall authorise any local body to pay or agree to pay a higher rate of interest than such body is authorised by law to pay; nor authorise the trustees of any savings-bank to make any investment under this section which, together with any other investment of the deposits in such savings-bank, exceeds in the aggregate nine-tenths of the total deposits therein.

For the purposes of this section “local body” means any body or authority, however designated, having power under an Act of the General Assembly to borrow money at interest on the security of a general or special rate.

When a savings-bank has by investment of its deposits realised a profit exceeding in amount ten per centum on the aggregate amount of deposits, the trustees may, by a majority of their number, declare that any portion of such profits in excess of the said ten per centum shall be paid over to any institution or institutions.

No such declaration shall take effect until the same is approved by the Governor in Council, and the Governor may, before such approval, require the trustees of the bank to furnish him with such information as he directs respecting the debts or liabilities of the bank, and may require any such declaration to be modified or altered as he thinks fit, but not so as in any case to increase the amount proposed to be paid.

Upon the approval of the Governor in Council the sum or sums mentioned in any such declaration or amendment thereof shall be paid over to the governing authority of the institution, and the receipt of such governing authority, or of the treasurer or other duly appointed officer thereof, shall be a sufficient discharge to the savings-bank and the trustees and officers thereof in respect of the sums therein mentioned.

The moneys paid to any such institution shall be held upon trust as a permanent endowment for the objects for which such institution was originally established, and shall be invested as hereinafter provided.

All moneys received by any institution under this Act shall be invested in real or Government securities in New Zealand, and the annual or other produce thereof, after payment of the expense’s (if any) of managing such investments, shall be applied in and towards the maintenance of the institution for the purposes for which it was originally established.

Where an institution is by law empowered to invest moneys belonging to or becoming its property in any other manner than is herein prescribed, such institution may, with the consent of the Governor in Council, invest any moneys paid to it under this Act in the same manner as such institution is empowered to invest other moneys belonging thereto.

If any such institution has no lawful means of investing moneys becoming its property, the governing authority thereof may, at any duly constituted meeting, in such manner as may be thought fit, elect not less than three nor more than five persons resident in the place where such institution is established to be trustees for the purposes of this Act.

All moneys paid over to any such institution as mentioned in this section, and the annual and other produce thereof, shall vest in the trustees so elected as aforesaid and their successors in office, and all bonds, debentures, mortgages, or other securities for any such moneys shall be taken in the names of such trustees.

In case of the death, resignation, or absence from New Zealand for a period of three months of any of the trustees so elected as aforesaid, the governing authority of the institution that elected the trustee or trustees so dying, resigning, or being absent may elect another or others in his or their stead as occasion may require; and upon such election all moneys and property then vested in the remaining trustees shall vest in them and in the new trustees without any conveyance, assignment, or transfer.

The certificate in writing of the chairman or other person presiding at a meeting of the governing authority of any such institution as aforesaid shall be sufficient evidence to the trustees of the savings-bank, and to all other persons whomsoever, that any such election has been duly made.

The receipt of any one of such trustees, together with that of the treasurer or secretary of any institution on whose behalf any such money has been invested, shall be an effectual discharge for the same, and the mortgagee, purchaser, or other person shall not be obliged to see to the application, or be accountable or answerable for the loss, misapplication, or non-application thereof.

All lands mortgaged to any such bank as aforesaid shall be mortgaged to the vice-president thereof, subject to redemption on payment of all principal money and interest, and to a power of sale in default of payment of principal money or interest; and all other securities shall be taken in the name of the vice-president.

Every mortgage vested in a vice-president under this Act taken under and in pursuance of the provisions of “The Land Transfer Act, 1908,” shall be deemed to be a mortgage duly authorised by this section; and the provisions of “The Land Transfer Act, 1908,” in respect of mortgages shall apply, and may be acted on accordingly.

Every mortgage vested in a vice-president under this Act taken under and in pursuance of the provisions of “The Property Law Act, 1908,” shall be deemed to be a mortgage duly authorised by this section; and the provisions of “The Property Law Act, 1908,” in respect of mortgages shall apply, and may be acted on accordingly.

In addition to the powers conferred on mortgagees under “The Land Transfer Act, 1908,” or “The Property Law Act, 1908,” it shall be lawful for a vice-president, in respect of any mortgage vested in him, to exercise any of the powers or do any of the acts following, namely:—

No deed or transfer shall be valid unless the same is executed in the presence of and attested by the manager or accountant of the bank, and any act to be done or power to be exercised by any vice-president under this Act shall not be valid unless authorised by a majority of the trustees assembled at a meeting to be held in pursuance of section five hereof; but no person bona fide dealing with a vice-president shall be required to see that he is authorised as aforesaid.

All bonds, mortgages, warrants of attorney, and other securities which are taken in the name of any person as vice-president of any such bank for and on account of the same shall and may be put in suit and be sued and prosecuted in the name of the vice-president in whose name the same are taken, or in the name of any person who has succeeded to that office at the time of such proceedings being instituted, notwithstanding that the name of any such succeeding vice-president is not inserted in such bond, mortgage, warrant of attorney, or other such security as an obligee, mortgagee, assignee, or payee.

The death, removal, resignation, or other act of any such vice-resident in whose name any such security as aforesaid is put in suit shall not abate any action or other proceeding had thereon, but the same may be continued where it left off, and be prosecuted and carried on in the name of any person who succeeds to that office, or becomes the vice-president of the said bank for the time being.

The legal estate in all lands and tenements belonging to or mortgaged to any such bank shall become vested in every new vice-president thereof, to all intents and purposes, immediately upon the recording of the memorial of the name of such new vice-president in the Supreme Court, as herein directed, and so on toties quoties whenever any new appointment of vice-president of any such bank takes place, and such new memorial has been enrolled and recorded in the Supreme Court as herein directed.

All moneys, goods, chattels, and effects whatsoever, and all securities for money and obligatory instruments, and evidences or muniments and other effects whatever, and all rights and claims belonging to any such bank, shall be vested in the vice-president for the time being for the use and benefit of the respective depositors therein, according to the provisions of this Act; and after the death, resignation, or removal of any such vice-president shall vest in the succeeding vice-resident for the same estate and interest as the former vice-president had therein, and subject to the same trusts, without any assignment or conveyance whatever:

Provided that all sums of money paid on the redemption of any lands may be received by any one trustee, together with the manager or accountant for the time being of any such bank, and all receipts and other acquittances for the same may be signed by any one trustee, together with the said manager or accountant, in the name of and for and on behalf of the vice-president; and such receipts and acquittances so signed as aforesaid shall be deemed and taken to be as valid as if the same had been signed by the vice-president of the bank.

The vice-president of every such bank may institute any action, prosecution, and other proceedings, by and on behalf of the bank, or wherein the bank may be concerned, against any person, body politic or corporate, and whether such person is a trustee or officer of the bank or otherwise.

Every such action, prosecution, and proceeding shall be commenced or instituted and carried on in the name of the manager or accountant of the bank for the time being as the nominal plaintiff or petitioner for and on behalf of the said bank; and all actions and proceedings as aforesaid commenced or prosecuted against any such bank shall be defended by the vice-president, but the same shall be commenced, instituted, and prosecuted against the said manager or accountant for the time being of such bank as the nominal defendant for and on behalf of the bank.

All prosecutions for fraud upon or against any such bank or for robbery, or stealing the bills, notes, bonds, moneys, goods, chattels, effects, or property of the bank, or for any other offence against the bank, shall be commenced or instituted and carried on in the name of the said manager or accountant for the time being of the bank.

In all indictments and informations it shall be lawful to state the property of the bank to be the property of the said manager or accountant for the time being.

Any offence committed with intent to injure or defraud the bank shall and may, in any prosecution on account of the same, be stated or laid to have been committed with intent to injure and defraud such manager or accountant, and any offender may thereupon be lawfully convicted of any such offence.

No such action or prosecution shall be discontinued or abated by the death of such manager or accountant, or by his resignation or removal from the office which he held at the time when the action or prosecution was commenced, but the same shall and may be proceeded with in the name of any person who becomes manager or accountant of the bank for the time being, and such person shall pay or receive like costs as if such action had been commenced in his name for the benefit of or to be reimbursed from the funds of the bank.

A memorial of the name of the vice-president, manager, and accountant for the time being of every such bank, in the form and to the effect for that purpose set forth in the Second Schedule hereto, signed by at least four of the trustees of the bank, shall respectively be recorded on oath in the Supreme Court within thirty days after the bank has been proclaimed to come within the operation of this Act as aforesaid.

When and as often as any vice-president is elected as hereinbefore directed, or any manager or accountant of such bank is appointed manager or accountant thereof, a memorial of the name of such newly elected vice-president or such newly appointed manager or accountant, in the same form or to the same effect as the above-mentioned memorial, signed by such newly elected vice-president or such newly appointed manager or accountant, as the case may be, and by four of the trustees of the bank at the time of the election of such vice-president or appointment of such manager or accountant, shall in like manner be recorded on oath in the said Court within thirty days next after such vice-president is elected or manager or accountant appointed as aforesaid.

Until a memorial of the name of the vice-president or of the manager or accountant for the time being is recorded in the manner herein directed, no action or other proceeding shall be brought by the bank in the name of the vice-president or of the manager or accountant of the bank as aforesaid under the authority of this Act:

Provided that in any action brought in the names of the said vice-president, manager, or accountant of the bank by virtue of this Act, the plaintiff therein shall not be nonsuit nor shall a verdict be given against him for want of proof of the record of any such memorial as hereinbefore mentioned; but in case the defendant in any such action makes it appear on such trial that no such memorial has been recorded, then a nonsuit shall be entered in such action.

If any dispute arises between any such bank, or any person acting on behalf thereof, and any individual depositor therein, or any executor, administrator, next-of-kin, or creditor of any deceased depositor, or any person claiming to be such executor, administrator, next-of-kin, or creditor, then and in every such case the matter so in dispute shall be referred to the arbitration of two indifferent persons, one to be chosen and appointed by the trustees of the bank and the other by the party with whom the dispute arose; and in case the arbitrators so appointed do not agree, then such matter in dispute shall be referred in writing to an umpire, having no interest in such matter or in the bank, to be elected by the said arbitrators previously to entering upon the consideration of the matter referred to them; and whatever award, order, or determination is made by the said arbitrators or by the said umpire shall be binding and conclusive on all parties, and shall be final to all intents and purposes without any appeal.

For the purpose of extending the operation of this Act to country districts the Governor may from time to time, as occasion requires, appoint proper persons to act as district trustees in connection with any such bank for such districts as the Governor deems meet, to be signified by the publication of an order to that effect in the Gazette.

Such district trustees shall be appointed for the receipt of deposits in such bank, in order that the same may be transmitted to and be invested by the trustees of the bank for the benefit of country depositors in like manner and subject to the same regulations as hereinbefore provided concerning other depositors.

The trustees of the bank may appoint a district manager, accountant, or clerk for any such district as aforesaid, who shall give reasonable security, to the satisfaction of such trustees, that he will duly account for such moneys of depositors as come to his hands.

Such district manager, accountant, or clerk shall, in the presence (and not otherwise) of one or more of such district trustees, receive deposits from persons residing within his district, at such times and places as the district trustees appoint, and give proper vouchers to the parties depositing the sums, signed by him and by any one of the trustees who may be present at the receipt thereof.

It shall be the duty of such district manager, accountant, or clerk, and he is hereby required, at such times and in such manner as the trustees of such bank direct, to remit all sums of money so deposited to the manager or accountant of such bank, together with an account, verified by one or more of the district trustees respectively, of the names, residences, and descriptions of the depositors, and of the sums received by such district manager, accountant, or clerk as aforesaid, in order that such depositors may be entitled to the benefit of this Act.

It shall be lawful for any such district depositor or for any person duly authorised by him, or for his executor or other lawful representative, to claim and receive back the money so deposited by him as aforesaid, or any part thereof, in manner following, that is to say:—

On receipt of such notice the district manager, accountant, or clerk shall forthwith transmit the same, verified under the hand or hands of one or more of the district trustees respectively, to the manager or accountant of such bank, in order that proper steps may be taken for transmitting the money to such district manager, accountant, or clerk for the payment to the party lawfully claiming the same; and such district manager, accountant, or clerk shall take from such party a proper receipt in writing for the money so paid, and transmit the same to the manager or accountant of the bank.

If any district depositor dies leaving any sum of money in such bank, or any interest or dividend due thereon, belonging to him at the time of his death, the same shall be paid only on the conditions hereinbefore provided in case of the death of other depositors in the bank.

On the final closing of any savings-bank the trustees shall notify the same in writing to the Minister of Finance, and shall, with the consent in writing of the said Minister, convert into money any property and securities not being money held by them or by any person as trustee for the bank; and, after paying the expenses of such conversion and any claims thereon, shall account for the residue to the said Minister, and shall pay over the said residue to the credit of the Post Office Account, with the privity of the said Minister.

The moneys so paid to such account, and also all moneys paid to the said account under section sixty-eight hereof, shall be subject to any claim that may thereafter be substantiated on account of any depositor in the savings-bank so closed.

The receipt in writing of the vice-president of any savings-bank or of any one trustee of any savings-bank, together with that of the manager or accountant of any savings-bank already closed or hereafter to be closed, for any money paid to them by any mortgagor or purchaser or other person shall be an effectual discharge for the same, and the mortgagor, purchaser, or other person shall not be obliged to see to the application or be accountable or answerable for the loss, misapplication, or non-application thereof, or be bound to inquire whether the consent in writing of the Minister of Finance has been obtained to any sale, reconveyance, assignment, or release whatsoever.

With the consent of the Minister of Finance, the trustees of a closed savings-bank shall have power to compensate their officers out. of any separate surplus fund that belongs to such savings-bank.

When the trustees of any savings-bank have determined to close the savings-bank for the receipt of deposits, and have given public notice of such intention by letter through the post-office prepaid to each depositor at his residence when known, by advertisement in some one newspaper circulating in the district where such savings-bank is situate, and by affixing such notice on the outer door of the building in which the business of the savings-bank is carried on, such trustees may, if they think fit, transmit under their hands to the Minister of Finance a certified list of such depositors as have not applied to them to receive their deposits, and of the amount due to them respectively; and the said Minister may thereupon receive from the trustees all moneys remaining in their hands; and if such money, together with the proceeds of the sale and conversion into money of the other property and securities belonging to the savings-bank, as referred to in section sixty-five hereof, is sufficient to discharge the whole of the liabilities of such trustees to the depositors as set forth in the said list, then the certificate of the said Minister shall be a sufficient discharge to such trustees in respect of all such money so paid over.

All such moneys shall be paid to the credit of the Post Office Account, and shall be subject to the rights and claims of the depositors named in such list, who shall thenceforth be considered to be depositors in the Post-Office Savings-Bank.

Such depositors on complying with the rules for the time being in force with respect to the withdrawal of deposits and interest from the Post-Office Savings-Bank, so far as the same are applicable to the case of such depositors, shall be entitled to claim payment of the sums due to them respectively, and of the interest accrued thereon; and on establishing their claim shall be paid out of the moneys so paid over by the trustees under this section and section sixty-five hereof.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations with respect to the withdrawal of deposits and interest, the substitution of Post-Office Savings-Bank deposit-books for deposit-books held by depositors in savings-banks closed under the provisions of this Act, and to all other matters incidental to the carrying this Act into execution.

All regulations so made shall be binding on the parties interested. in the subject-matter thereof to the same extent as if they formed part of this Act, and copies of all regulations issued under the authority of this Act shall, within fourteen days from the date thereof, be laid before Parliament if sitting, or if not, then within fourteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.