GREAT BRITAIN AN 7 D IRELAND. 



285 



a director. A waiver of rights secured by the 

 act is void, but a director can not be held liable 

 for a defective prospectus if he proves that he 

 was not cognizant of the matters not disclosed. 

 When a new company is started a meeting of the 

 shareholders must be held, after they have already 

 received a report of the number of shares allotted, 

 distinguishing those not allotted for cash, the 

 names of shareholders, the particulars of con- 

 tracts or modifications of contracts to be voted 

 upon, and a statement of receipts and payments. 

 All mortgages given by companies have to be 

 registered, and all mortgage debts must be pub- 

 lished in the annual report, also the names and 

 addresses of the directors, and at every annual 

 meeting auditors must be appointed, otherwise on 

 the application of a membef. One object of the 

 bill is to do away with the spurious qualifica- 

 tions of directors and the gift of paid-up shares. 

 Not only must the minimum amount to be sub- 

 scribed before allotment be stated in the pro- 

 spectus, but 75 per cent, of the amount due on 

 application must be paid up bona fide before busi- 

 ness is begun. 



An elementary education act was passed en- 

 abling poor law guardians to contribute to school 

 funds so as to provide for the education of pauper 

 children, reckoning average attendance annually 

 in granting school fees, and changing the maxi- 

 mum age of compulsory attendance from thirteen 

 to fourteen years. An amendment to the mining 

 law prohibits the employment below ground of any 

 boy under thirteen, instead of the former limit 

 of twelve years. 



The money lenders act is practically identical 

 with the measure that failed to pass in the pre- 

 ceding session. Every person whose business is 

 lending money or who advertises or holds himself 

 out as carrying on that business is obliged to 

 register himself as a professional money lender, 

 and is liable to have his contracts judicially varied 

 in the interest of a borrower where the borrower 

 is sued for a loan and there is evidence which 

 satisfies the court that the interest or the charge 

 for expenses is excessive and that the transaction 

 is harsh and unconscionable, or is otherwise such 

 that a court of equity would give relief. The 

 court may in such case reopen the transaction 

 ind relieve the borrower from the payment of any 

 sum in excess of that adjudged to be reasonable, 

 lay order the money lender to repay such excess, 

 lay set aside or alter any security or agreement, 

 if the money lender has parted with the se- 

 curity may order him to indemnify the borrower, 

 who on his side may also initiate proceedings to 

 obtain judicial relief as if he had waited to be 

 sued. The rights of a bona fide assignee or holder 

 for value without notice are not to be affected, 

 however. The money lender is require:! to register 

 his name or his usual trade name, and the ad- 

 dress or addresses where he carries on business. 

 Any money lender fraudulently inducing or at- 

 tempting to induce a person to borrow is guilty 

 of a misdemeanor, and any money lender or other 

 person who sends circulars inviting an infant to 

 borrow is presumed to know that the invitation 

 was sent to an infant unless he proves that he 

 had reasonable ground for believing the infant to 

 be of age. 



An act for the preservation of ancient monu- 

 ments empowers county councils to purchase or 

 at the request of the owners become the guardians 

 of any structure or monument of historic or archi- 

 tectural interest which in the opinion of the Com- 

 missioners of Public Works is worth preserving 

 for the public by reason of its historic, traditional, 

 or artistic interest. The Commissioners of Public 



\Vorks may likewise become guardians of ancient 

 monuments, and may, as well as the county coun- 

 cils, receive voluntary contributions for their 

 maintenance, all such monuments to be freely 

 accessible to the public. 



The decennial census, first taken in 1801. was 

 authori/.ed to be taken of all persons abiding in 

 any house in Great Britain or in Ireland on the 

 night of March 31, 1901, overseers of the poor and 

 relieving officers to act as enumerators when re- 

 quired. The census papers are left at every house 

 to be filled up with the name, sex, age, occupation, 

 condition as to marriage, relation to head of tin- 

 family, and birthplace of every person in the house, 

 whether any such person is defective, the number 

 of rooms occupied if less than five, and in Wales 

 and Monmouthshire the language spoken. The 

 burial acts were amended with the object of doing 

 away with complications, unjust provisions, and 

 causes of dispute. Consecration or partial conse- 

 cration is made subject to the approval of the 

 Home Office, while undenominational chapels may 

 be erected on unconsecrated burying grounds, and 

 no fees may be exacted except for services ren- 

 dered. An act was passed making it an offense 

 wantonly to abuse, cause suffering to, infuriate, 

 or terrify wild animals in captivity. 



In accordance with the Commonwealth of Aus- 

 tralia act a royal proclamation was issued on 

 Sept. 17 declaring the union of the Australian 

 colonies under the constitution they had approved, 

 with the compromise as to appeals to the Privy 

 Council to which Mr. Chamberlain agreed (see 

 ATTSTRAI.ASIA). A bill was passed admitting to 

 practice in the United Kingdom colonial solicitors 

 of three years' standing and of good character, 

 either on passing an examination or in certain 

 cases without examination. Another bill em- 

 powers trustees to invest in colonial stocks. An 

 eight-hour bill for miners was rejected by 199 votes 

 against 175. The Scotch education bill, the lunacy 

 bill, the factory acts amendment bill, and several 

 minor measures of the Government were withdrawn. 

 A sequel to Mr. Chamberlain's veto of the Austra- 

 lian claim to have all appeals tried by the Supreme 

 Court of the commonwealth was. a measure for 

 the appointment of four colonial judges to the 

 Privy Council. The bill had been prepared by the 

 last Colonial Secretary, and was only a temporary 

 expedient, a partial fulfillment of Mr. Chamber- 

 lain's pledge, and was not pressed. The ultimate 

 intention is to merge the Judicial Committee of 

 the Privy Council with the appellate jurisdiction 

 of the House of Lords, and thus constitute a High 

 Court of Appeals for the entire empire, in which 

 colonial jurists will be amply represented. Sir 

 Henry Wedderburn and Sir Henry Fowler appealed 

 to the Government and to Parliament to vote a 

 grant in aid to India for famine relief, but un- 

 successfully, although Lord George Hamilton ad- 

 mitted that the extent and cost of the famine 

 surpassed all estimates. An Irish proposition to 

 establish a Roman Catholic university in Ireland 

 was repelled by the Government on the plea that 

 it could not be known what would be acceptable 

 to the Roman hierarchy. The Irish landlords put 

 forward a demand for compensation' for injury 

 caused by agrarian legislation, and obtained a 

 majority in the upper house, but the ministry. 

 which h'ad just given them relief from the burden 

 of tithes, rejected their abstract claim. An in- 

 vestigation was ordered into the hospital service 

 in Africa in consequence of charges brought by 

 Mr. Burdett-Coutts ; also an investigation into the 

 use of Belleville boilers in the navy and one into 

 War Oilice contracts. 



During the session the Duke of Norfolk resigned 



