and by whom; and, if by any person or persons other than a public auditor, shall state the name, address, and calling or profession of each of such persons, and the manner in which and the authority under which they were respectively appointed: (e.) Within six months after the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and so again within six months after the expiration of every five. years succeeding, send to the registrar a return (to be called the quinquennial return) of the sickness and mortality experienced by the society during the five years preceding the 31st December then last past; an abstract of which returns shall be laid before Parliament:

(f) Once at least in the five years next after the commencement of this Act, or the registry of the society, and so again within six months after the expiration of every five years succeeding the date of the first valuation under this Act, either cause its assets and liabilities to be valued by a valuer to be appointed by the society, and send to the registrar a report, signed by such valuer, and which shall also state his address and calling or profession, on the condition of the society, and an abstract to be made by him of the results of his valuation, together with a return containing such information with respect to the benefits assured and contributions receivable by the society, and of its funds. and effects, debts and credits, as the registrar may from time to time require, or send to the registrar a return of the benefits assured

and contributions receivable from all the members of the society, and of all its funds and effects, debts and credits, accompanied by such evidence in support thereof as the chief registrar prescribes, in which case the registrar shall cause the assets and liabilities of the society to be valued and reported on by some actuary, and shall send to the society a copy of his report, and an abstract of the results of his valuation :

(g.) Allow any member or person having an
interest in the funds of the society to in-
spect the books at all reasonable hours at
the registered office of the society, or at any
place where the same are kept, except that
no such member or person, unless he be an
officer of the society, or be specially authorized
by a resolution of the society to do so, shall
have the right to inspect the loan account of
any other member without the written con-
sent of such member:

(h.) Supply gratuitously every member or person
interested in the funds of the society, on his
application, with a copy of the last annual
return of the society for the time being:
(i.) Keep a copy of the last annual balance-sheet
for the time being, and of the last quin-
quennial valuation for the time being, to-
gether with the report of the auditors, if
any, always hung up in a conspicuous place
at the registered office of the society.

(2.) No society shall pay any sum of money upon the death of a member or other person whose death is or ought to be entered in any register of deaths, except upon the production of a certificate of such

E

death, under the hand of the registrar of deaths, or other person having the care of the register of deaths in which such death is or ought to be entered.

(3.) It shall be an offence under this Act* if any registered society

(a.) Fails to give any notice, send any return or document, or do or allow to be done any act or thing which the society is by this Act required to give, send, do, or allow to be done:

(b.) Wilfully neglects or refuses to do any act or to furnish any information required for the purposes of this Act by the chief or any other registrar or other person authorized under this Act, or does any act or thing forbidden by this Act:

(c.) Makes a return or wilfully furnishes information in any respect false or insufficient.

(4.) Every offence by a society under this Act shall be deemed to have been also committed by every officer of the same bound by the rules thereof to fulfil any duty whereof such offence is a breach, or if there be no such officer, then by every member of the committee of management of the same, unless such member be proved to have been ignorant of or to have attempted to prevent the commission of such offence; and every default under this Act constituting an offence, if continued, constitutes a new offence in every week during which the same continues.

(5.) Every annual, quinquennial, or other return, abstract of valuation, and other document required. for the purposes of this Act shall be made in such

*

The punishment for offences under the Act is prescribed by section 32, p. 102.

form and shall contain such particulars as the chief registrar prescribes.

(6.) All documents by this section required to be sent to the registrar shall be deposited with the rules of the societies to which the same respectively relate, and shall be registered or recorded by the registrar, with such observations thereon, if any, as the chief registrar shall direct :

Provided that the chief registrar, with the approval of the Treasury, may dispense with the quinquennial return and with the valuation herein required in respect of societies to whose purposes or to the nature of whose operations he may deem the same inapplicable; and may also dispense with the quinquennial return in cases where, at the request of a society, he may, by inspection of the books thereof through any person whom he appoints, obtain such information as he deems sufficient of the sickness and mortality experienced by the society; and the provisions herein contained in respect of the quinquennial return and valuation shall not apply to benevolent societies, working men's clubs, or cattle insurance societies, nor to specially authorized societies, unless it be so directed in the authority for registering the same.

15. Privileges of societies.-Registered societies shall be entitled to the following privileges:

(1.) No society or meeting of a society shall be affected by any of the provisions of the Acts of the thirty-ninth George the Third, chapter seventy-nine, or the fifty-seventh George the Third, chapter nineteen,

* These Acts, the object of which was the suppression of societies established for seditious and treasonable purposes, made all bodies illegal the members of which took oaths, made declarations, or were subject to tests not authorized by law; or which acted in separate or

if in such society or at such meeting no business is transacted other than that which directly and immediately relates to the objects of the society as declared in the registered rules thereof, but such society and all officers of the same shall, on request in writing by two justices of the peace, give full information to such justices of the nature, objects, proceedings, and practices of the society, in default whereof the provisions of the Acts in this section referred to shall, so far as applicable, be in force in respect of such society.*

(2.) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable upon any of the following documents :

(a.) Power, warrant, or letter of attorney, granted by any person as trustee for the transfer of any money of the society invested in his name in the public funds:

(b.) Order or receipt for money contributed to
or received from the funds of the society by
virtue of its rules or of this Act:

(c.) Bond given to or on account of the society,
or by the treasurer or other officer thereof:
(d.) Draft or order, or form of policy, or appoint-
ment or revocation of appointment of agent,
or other document required or authorized
by this Act, or by the rules of the society.

(3.) A member of a society (other than a benevolent society or working men's club), not being under the age of sixteeen years, may, by writing under his hand delivered at or sent to the registered

distinct branches, corresponding with each other, or appointing delegates or representatives to a central body.

In the case of Hodges v. Wale, 2 W. R. 65, it was held (on a similar section in the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 63), that the registrar's certificate was conclusive as to a society being in conformity with law, and therefore entitled to the benefit of this section. Under the present Act, the "acknowledgment of registry" will have the same effect.