c. 98.

5 & 6 GEO. 5, enactments relating to trading with the enemy, shall, subject to such exceptions and adaptations as may be prescribed by Order in Council, apply in respect of such persons and bodies of persons as aforesaid as if Trading with the Enemy for references therein to trading with the enemy there were substituted (Extension of references to trading with such persons or bodies of persons as aforesaid, Powers) Act, and for references to enemies there were substituted references to such 1915. persons and bodies of persons as aforesaid, and for references to offences under the Trading with the Enemy Acts, 1914 and 1915, or any of those Acts, there were substituted references to offences under this Act. (4) For the purposes of this Act a person shall be deemed to have traded with a person or body of persons to whom a Proclamation issued under this Act applies, if he enters into any transaction or does any act with, to, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, such a person or body of persons which if entered into or done with, to, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, an enemy would be trading with the enemy.

Short title.

2. This Act may be cited as the Trading with the Enemy (Extension of Powers) Act, 1915.

Amendment of 5 Geo. 5, c. 23, s. 1.

Short title.

ARMY (SUSPENSION OF SENTENCES) AMENDMENT
ACT, 1916.

5 & 6 GEO. 5, CAP. 103.

An Act to amend the Army (Suspension of Sentences) Act, 1915. -[27th January, 1916.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1.-(1) The Army Council, and any general officer whom the Army Council may appoint for the purpose, shall be a superior military authority within the meaning of the Army (Suspension of Sentences) Act, 1915.

(2) Subsection (5) of section one of that Act shall have effect, and shall be deemed always to have had effect, as if for the words "intervals of not less than three months" there were substituted the words "intervals of not more than three months," and subsection (8) as if for the words "superior authority superior authority" there were substituted the words

"superior military authority."

2. This Act may be cited as the Army (Suspension of Sentences) Amendment Act, 1916, and the Army (Suspension of Sentences) Act, 1915, and this Act may be cited together as the Army (Suspension of Sentences) Acts, 1915 and 1916.

TRADING WITH THE ENEMY AMENDMENT ACT, 1916.

5 & 6 GEO. 5, CAP. 105.

An Act to amend the Trading with the Enemy Acts.-[27th January, 1916.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

nesses of

1.-(1) Where it appears to the Board of Trade that the business Power to deal carried on in the United Kingdom by any person, firm, or company is, by with busireason of the enemy nationality or enemy association of that person, firm, persons, &c., or company, or of the members of that firm or company or any of them, of enemy or otherwise, carried on wholly or mainly for the benefit of or under the nationality or control of enemy subjects, the Board of Trade shall, unless for any special associations. reason it appears to them inexpedient to do so, make an order either(a) prohibiting the person, firm, or company from carrying on the business, except for the purposes and subject to the conditions, if any, specified in the order; or

(b) requiring the business to be wound up.

The Board of Trade may at any time revoke or vary any such order, and may, in any case where they have made an order prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of the business, at any time, if they think it expedient, substitute for that order an order requiring the business to be wound up.

(2) Where the Board of Trade make any such order they may at the same time or at any time subsequently appoint a controller to control and supervise the carrying out of the order and, if the case requires to conduct the winding up of the business, and in any case where it appears expedient to the Board of Trade, the Board may, as occasion requires, confer on the controller such powers as are exercisable by a liquidator in a voluntary winding up of a company (including power in the name of the person, firm, or company, or in his own name, and by deed or otherwise, to convey or transfer any property, and power to apply to the High Court or a judge thereof to determine any question arising in the carrying out of the order), or those powers subject to such modifications, restrictions, or extensions as the Board think necessary or convenient for the purpose of giving full effect to the order, and the remuneration of and costs, charges, and expenses incurred by the controller, and any remuneration payable and costs, charges, and expenses incurred in connection with the supervision or inspection of the business, whether before or after the passing of this Act, to such amount as may be approved by the Board, shall be defrayed out of the assets of the business, and shall be charged on such assets in priority to any other charges thereon.

In England and Wales an official receiver may, if the Board of Trade think fit, be appointed controller.

(3) The distribution of any sums or other property resulting from the realisation of any assets of the business, whether those assets are realised as the result of an order requiring the business to be wound up or as the result of an order prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of the business, shall be subject to the same rules as to preferential payments as are applicable to the distribution of the assets of the company which is being

c. 105.

5 & 6 GEO. 5, wound up, and those assets shall, so far as they are available for discharging unsecured debts, be applied in discharging such debts due to creditors who are not enemies in priority to the unsecured debts due to Trading with the Enemy creditors who are enemies; and any balance, after providing for the Amendment discharge of liabilities, shall be distributed amongst the persons interested Act, 1916. therein in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct:

Provided that any sums or other property which had a state of war not existed would have been payable or transferable under this section to enemies, whether as creditors or otherwise, shall be paid or transferred to the custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, to be dealt with by him in like manner as money paid to him under that Act.

(4) Where there are assets of the business in enemy territory, the controller shall cause an estimate to be prepared of the value of those assets and also of the liabilities of the business to creditors, whether secured or unsecured, in enemy territory, and of the claims of persons in enemy territory to participate in the distribution of any balance available for distribution, and such liabilities and claims shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been satisfied out of such assets so far as they are capable of bearing them, and the balance (if any) of such liabili ties and claims shall alone rank for payment out of the other assets of the business. A certificate by the controller as to the amount of such assets, liabilities, claims and balance shall be conclusive for the purpose of determining the sums available for discharging the other liabilities and for distribution amongst other persons claiming to be interested in the

business:

Provided that nothing in this provision shall affect the rights of creditors of and other persons interested in the business against the assets of the business in enemy territory.

(5) The Board of Trade may, on application for the purpose being made by a controller appointed under this section, after considering the application and any objection which may be made by any person who appears to them to be interested, grant him a release, and an order of the Board releasing the controller shall discharge him from all liability in respect of any act done or default made by him in the exercise and performance of his powers and duties as controller, but any such order may be revoked on proof that it was obtained by fraud or by suppression or concealment of any material fact.

(6) If any person contravenes the provisions of any order made under this section he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour punishable and triable in like manner as the offence of trading with the enemy, and section one of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914, shall apply accordingly.

(7) Where an order under this section has been made as respects the business carried on by any person, firm, or company, no bankruptcy petition or petition for sequestration or summary sequestration against such person or firm, or petition for the winding up of such company, shall be presented, or resolution for the winding up of such company passed, or steps for the enforcement of the rights of any creditors of the person, firm, or company taken, withont the consent of the Board of Trade, but the Board of Trade may present a petition for the winding up of the company by the court, and the making of an order under this section shall be a ground on which the company may be wound up by the

court.

(8) The Board of Trade shall from time to time prepare and lay before 5 & 6 GEO. 5, Parliament lists of the persons, firms, and companies as to whom orders have been made under this section, together with short particulars of such orders, and notice of the making of an order under this section prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of any business, or requiring any business to be wound up, shall be published in the London, Edinburgh, or Dublin Gazette, as the case may require.

(9) Where a person, being a subject of His Majesty or of any State allied to His Majesty, is detained in enemy territory against his will, that person for the purposes of this section shall not be treated as an enemy or as being in enemy territory.

(10) An order made under this section shall continue in force notwithstanding the termination of the present war until determined by order of the Board of Trade.

CAP. 105. the Enemy Trading with Amendment Act, 1916.

interest.

2.-Where it appears to the Board of Trade that a contract entered Provision as into before or during the war with an enemy or enemy subject or with a to contracts person, firm, or company in respect of whose business an order shall have against public been made under section one of this Act is injurious to the public interest, the Board of Trade may by order cancel or determine such contract either unconditionally or upon such conditions as the Board may think fit, and thereupon such contract shall be deemed to be cancelled or determined accordingly.

3. The power of the Board of Trade to appoint inspectors and super- Extension of visors under the Trading with the Enemy Acts, 1914 and 1915, shall powers to include a power to appoint an inspector or supervisor of the business appoint carried on by any person, firm, or company in the United Kingdom for the inspectors and supervisors. purpose of ascertaining whether the business is carried on for the benefit of or under the control of enemy subjects, or for the purpose of ascertaining the relations existing, or which before the war existed, between such person, firm, or company, or of any members of that firm or company, and any such subject; and the Board of Trade may require any inspector, supervisor, or controller appointed under the said Acts or this Act to furnish them with reports on any matters connected with the business.

enemy

4. (1) The Board of Trade, in any case where it appears to them Power of to be expedient to do so, may by order vest in the custodian under the Board of Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, any property, real or Trade to vest personal (including any rights whether legal or equitable, in or arising property in out of property, real or personal), belonging to or held or managed for or custodian. on behalf of an enemy or enemy subject, or the right to transfer that property, and may by any such order, or any subsequent order, confer on the custodian such powers of selling, managing and otherwise dealing with the property as the Board may seem proper.

(2) A vesting order under this section as respects property of any description shall be of the like purport and effect as a vesting order as respects property of the same description made by the High Court under the Trustee Act, 1893, and shall be sufficient to vest in the custodian any property, or the right to transfer any property as provided by the order, without the necessity of any further conveyance, assurance, or document.

(3) Where in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Board of Trade or by the Court under this Act or by virtue of the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, the custodian proposes to sell any shares or stock forming part of the capital of any company or any securities issued by the company in respect of which a vesting order under either of the said

САР. 105.

5 & 6 GEO. 5, enactments has been made, the company may, with the consent of the Board of Trade, purchase the shares, stock, or securities, any law or any Trading with regulation of the company to the contrary notwithstanding, and any the Enemy shares, stock, or securities so purchased may from time to time be re-issued Amendment by the company. Act, 1916.

Duty of enemy subjects to

make returns as to property.

granted to him.

(4) The transfer on sale by the custodian of any property shall be conclusive evidence in favour of the purchaser and of the custodian that the requirements of this section have been complied with.

(5) All property vested in the custodian under this section, and the proceeds of the sale of, or money arising from, any such property shall be dealt with by him in like manner as money paid to and property vested in him under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, and section five of that Act as amended by this Act shall apply accordingly.

5.-It shall be the duty of every enemy subject who is within the United Kingdom, if so required by the custodian, within one month after being so required, to furnish the custodian with such particulars as to— (a) any stocks, shares, debentures, or other securities issued by any company, government, municipal or other authority held by him or in which he is interested; and

(b) any other property of the value of fifty pounds or upwards belonging to him or in which he is interested

as the custodian may require, and if he fails to do so he shall, on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such a fine and imprisonment, and, in addition, to a further fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the default continues.

Right of cus- 6. If the benefit of an application made by or on behalf or for the todian to have benefit of an enemy or enemy subject for any patent is, by an order under enemy patent the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, or this Act, vested in the custodian, the patent may be granted to the custodian as patentee and may, notwithstanding anything in section twelve of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907, be sealed accordingly by the Comptroller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks, and any patent so granted to the custodian shall be deemed to be property vested in him by such order as aforesaid.

Duration of restrictions on dealings

with enemy property.

Registration of transfer without production of certificates,

&c

7. Any restrictions imposed by any Act or Proclamation on dealings with enemy property shall continue to apply to property particulars whereof are or are liable to be notified to the custodian in pursuance of section three of the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, as extended by any subsequent enactment, not only during the continuance of the present war, but thereafter until such time as they may be removed by Order in Council, and Orders in Council may be made removing all or any of those restrictions either simultaneously as respects all such property or at different times as respects different classes or items of property.

8.—(1) Where the custodian executes a transfer of any shares, stock, or securities which he is empowered to transfer by a vesting order made under section four of the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, or under this Act, the company or other body in which the shares, stock, or securities are registered shall, upon the receipt of the transfer so executed by the custodian, and upon being required by him so to do, register the shares, stock, or securities in the name of the custodian or other transferee, notwithstanding any regulation or stipulation of the company or other body, and notwithstanding that the custodian is not in possession of the