Dec. 7.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 3169

6. There shall be appointed by the Minister of External Affairs an officer to be called the Official Assignee for Samoa, who shall be a member of the Samoan Public Service, and shall hold office during the pleasure of the Minister.

7. (1.) The Minister of External Affairs may appoint some person to act as Deputy Official Assignee for Samoa in the case of the illness, death, removal, suspension, resignation, or absence from duty of the Official Assignee for Samoa.

(2.) Such Deputy shall during the time he acts as such Deputy have all the powers and perform all the duties of the Official Assignee for Samoa.

(3.) No person shall be concerned to inquire whether or not any occasion has arisen requiring or authorizing such Deputy to act as such Deputy or as to the necessity or propriety of such appointment; and all acts and things done or omitted by such Deputy shall be deemed valid and effectual and shall have the same consequences as if the same had been done or omitted by the Official Assignee for Samoa.

8. Decisions of the High Court in bankruptcy matters shall be subject to appeal in accordance with the provisions of the Samoa Act, 1921, in the same way as final judgments of the High Court.

9. The bank into which the Official Assignee shall, as directed in section one hundred and nineteen of the Act, pay moneys received by him shall be the Bank of New Zealand at Apia.

10. All commissions payable to the Official Assignee shall be paid into the Samoan Treasury.

11. In the application of the Act to Samoa, section one hundred and twenty thereof shall be read as if paragraph (c) thereof were deleted, and the moneys received by the Official Assignee by the realization of the property of a bankrupt shall be applied, first as provided in paragraph (a), secondly as provided in paragraph (b), thirdly as provided in paragraph (d), fourthly as provided in paragraph (e), fifthly as provided in paragraph (f), and sixthly as provided in paragraph (g) of the said section.

12. All offences under the Act shall be tried by the High Court in accordance with the ordinary criminal procedure of that Court.

13. The expenses of a prosecution under section one hundred and forty-four of the Act shall be payable out of the Samoan Treasury unless the High Court orders the same to be paid out of the bankrupt’s estate.

14. The Administrator may in writing appoint some person to be auditor of the accounts of the Official Assignee in lieu of the Audit Office, and such person shall have in respect of all moneys belonging to any estate in bankruptcy and of all persons dealing therewith the same powers as the Controller and Auditor-General has by virtue of section one hundred and forty-nine of the Act. All references in the Act to the Audit Office shall be read as references to such person.

15. Notices required to be advertised by the Official Assignee shall, as soon as possible after publication of the advertisement, be published by the Official Assignee in the Western Samoa Gazette.

16. The cost of the matters enumerated in section one hundred and seventy-three of the Act shall be paid out of the Samoan Treasury.

17. The assets in Samoa of any person who has become a bankrupt under any bankruptcy law heretofore in force in Samoa, shall, subject to the provisions of section three hundred and seventy-two of the Samoa Act, 1921, and in so far as such assets have not been administered, dealt with, or distributed under such law at the date of the coming into force of this Order, be administered, dealt with, and distributed in accordance with this Order.

18. Nothing in this Order shall so operate as to cause any Native land to be assets for the payment of the debts of a Samoan on his insolvency.

F. D. THOMSON,
Clerk of the Executive Council.