18
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 2

Now, therefore, His Excellency the Governor, in exercise and pursuance of the power and authority vested in him by the said Act, and by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the Colony of New Zealand, and with the concurrence of Sir James Prendergast and Christopher William Richmond, Esquire, two of the Judges of the said superior Court, doth hereby frame and prescribe the rules hereinafter set forth as the rules for the purposes of the said Act; and doth hereby declare that such rules shall come into operation on the second day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four.

RULES.

DEFINITION OF TERMS.

1. In the construction of these rules, and of the forms in the Schedule hereto, words importing the singular number shall include the plural, and words importing the plural number shall include the singular, and words importing the masculine gender shall include females; and the following terms shall, if not inconsistent with the context or subject-matter, have the respective meanings hereinafter assigned to them, that is to say,—

“Advertised” means published in two or more newspapers published or generally circulated within the place in which the proceeding or matter is taken or pending:

“Affidavit” includes a statutory declaration or affirmation:

“Assignee” means the Official Assignee appointed under the said Act, and, where used alone, means the Assignee having charge of any particular estate, and includes a deputy of such Assignee:

“Bankrupt” means a person adjudicated bankrupt under the provisions of the said Act:

“Creditor” includes a firm of creditors in partnership:

“Debtor” includes a firm of debtors in partnership:

“District” means judicial district of the Supreme Court:

“Judge” means a Judge of the Court having jurisdiction:

“Ordinary resolution” means a resolution duly passed by a majority in value of the creditors present personally or by proxy at a meeting and voting on such resolution:

“Sealed” means sealed with the seal of the Court:

“Solicitor” means any solicitor entitled to practise in the Court:

“Special resolution” means a resolution passed by an actual majority in number of the entire body of creditors, representing three-fourths in value of the whole of the liabilities of the bankrupt, present personally or by proxy at the meeting and voting on such resolution:

“The Court” means the Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, as by the said Act is provided:

“The said Act” means “The Bankruptcy Act, 1883.”

And, unless there be something in the context inconsistent therewith, the meanings attached to the several terms and expressions mentioned in section two of the said Act shall be the same wherever such terms and expressions are used in these rules.

PROCEEDINGS.

2. All notices and proceedings advertised shall be headed by the words “In Bankruptcy,” in letters larger than those adopted in printing the body of the notices or proceedings advertised; but one heading shall be sufficient for a column of notices if they are all in bankruptcy.

3. Notice of the filing of every debtor’s petition shall be advertised by the debtor in the Form No. 1 in the Schedule hereto. Notice of the filing of every debtor’s or creditors’ petition shall be forthwith given to the Assignee by the Registrar or Clerk of the Court wherein the same has been filed.

4. The forms set forth in the Schedule attached to these rules may be used, and, where no form is provided in the Schedule, a form applicable to the special purpose may be framed by the parties, using as guides those so provided, so far as they are applicable.

5. Every office copy of proceedings, papers, and writings, or any parts thereof, filed in the Court, required by or on behalf of any person, shall be provided by the Registrar or Clerk of the Court, and shall, except as to figures, be fairly written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, at length, and be sealed with the seal of the Court, and delivered without any unnecessary delay, and in the order in which the same may have been bespoken, and shall be charged and paid for at the rate of fourpence per folio of seventy-two words when such copy contains more than three folios, and at the rate of one shilling for each copy containing less than three folios.

Office copies of any proceedings, documents, or writings which the Assignee is by the said Act or by these rules required to supply shall be charged for at the same rate.

6. Unless otherwise directed by the Court, the copy summons to show cause and creditors’ petition may, in cases where the debtor has left the district or cannot be found, be served upon the debtor by delivering such copy summons and petition at his usual or last known place of abode or business with some inmate appearing to be of the age of fourteen years at least, or by posting such notice addressed to the bankrupt at either of such places.

7. A verification in the form or to the effect set forth in No. 6 or No. 7 of the forms in the Schedule hereto shall be indorsed on every creditor’s petition prior to the filing thereof.

8. Notice of the order of Court adjudging the debtor a bankrupt shall be served by the Assignee upon the bankrupt personally when practicable; but, if the bankrupt shall have left the district, or cannot conveniently be found, it shall be sufficient to post such notice to the last known place of abode or business of such bankrupt; and any notice so served shall be deemed to have been served in the prescribed manner.

9. The statement to be made out by the bankrupt and delivered to the Assignee under the provisions of section 59 of the said Act may be in the Form No. 9 in the Schedule hereto, and the lists referred to in the said statement may be made in manner set forth in Nos. 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the said forms. The statutory declaration verifying such statement may be in the Form No. 8 in the Schedule hereto.

10. Any summons issued by the Assignee under the provisions of section 99 of the said Act may be in the Form No. 14 in the Schedule hereto.

11. Proceedings in respect of which no specific provision is made to the contrary by the said Act, or these rules, shall be subject, so far as the same can be, to the general rules of the Supreme Court for the time being in force in relation to other proceedings in that Court, and to the payment of the like fees.

TRANSFER OF PROCEEDINGS.

12. Where the Judge of a local Court of Bankruptcy certifies that in his opinion the bankruptcy would be more advantageously conducted in the superior Court or in some other local Court, such certificate shall be in writing under the hand of such Judge.

The Clerk of the Court in which such proceedings shall have been commenced shall file such certificate with the proceedings in bankruptcy, and shall transmit a copy of such certificate to the Assignee, and the Assignee shall thereupon notify the fact in writing to the creditors. Such certificate when filed shall remain and be retained as a record of the Court.

13. Where the creditors resolve by special resolution in terms of section 12 of the said Act that the proceedings in bankruptcy shall be transferred from one Court to another, such resolution shall be entered in the minute-book and signed by the Chairman presiding at the meeting at which such resolution was passed.

A copy of such special resolution, verified by the statutory declaration of such Chairman, shall be by him forthwith filed in the Court from which the proceedings are to be transferred, and shall be there retained by the Registrar as a record of such last-mentioned Court.

14. When such certificate has been given, or when such copy of special resolution has been filed as aforesaid, the Clerk of the Court in which the bankruptcy proceedings have been commenced shall transmit by post to the Clerk or Registrar of the Court to which such proceedings are transferred, all books, papers, writings, and proceedings whatsoever in his custody or control relating to the bankruptcy, together with an office copy, under seal of the Court, of the Judge’s certificate or special resolution of the creditors (as the case may be) authorizing the transfer.

15. Where any local Court is about to be abolished, it shall be the duty of the Judge thereof to certify the transfer to the superior Court of the district of all proceedings in bankruptcy depending in such local Court, and thereupon the like proceedings shall be had, mutatis mutandis, as are hereinbefore provided in cases of transfer on a Judge’s certificate.

MEETINGS OF CREDITORS.

16. First general meetings of creditors shall be held at the following places, that is to say,—

(1.) Where the debtor resides within twenty miles of the office of the Assignee for the district in which the debtor resides or carries on business, then such meeting shall be held at such office, or at such convenient place near thereto as the Assignee shall appoint.

(2.) Where the debtor resides more than twenty miles from the said office, then the meeting shall be at such other convenient place as the Assignee may appoint.

17. Other general meetings of creditors shall be held at such places as the Assignee may from time to time appoint.

18. Notice of the time and place appointed for the first meeting of creditors shall be served by the Assignee upon the bankrupt personally when practicable; but if the bankrupt