SS. 130-132. Returns by bankruptcy officers. Gazette to be evidence. of section twenty-eight of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1875, shall apply to the account as if the account had been required by that section. (2.) The accounts of the Board of Trade, under this Act, shall be audited in such manner as the Treasury from time to time direct, and, for the purpose of the account to be laid before Parliament, the Board of Trade shall make such returns, and give such information as the Treasury may from time to time direct. 131. The registrars and other officers of the courts. acting in bankruptcy shall make to the Board of Trade such returns of the business of their respective courts and offices, at such times and in such manner and form as may be prescribed,1 and from such returns the Board of Trade shall cause books to be prepared which shall, under the regulations of the Board, be open for public information and searches. The Board of Trade shall also cause a general annual report of all matters, judicial and financial, within this Act, to be prepared and laid before both Houses of Parliament. 1 rr. 205 and 206, Forms Nos. 125 and 126 in the Appendix. Evidence. 132. (1.) A copy of the London Gazette containing any notice inserted therein in pursuance of this Act shall be evidence of the facts stated in the notice. (2.) The production of a copy of the London Gazette containing any notice of a receiving order, or of an order adjudging a debtor bankrupt, shall be conclusive evidence in all legal proceedings of the order having been duly made,2 and of its date. 1 "All legal proceedings" include criminal (Reg. v. Levi, Leigh & Cave, C. C., 597). 2 So long as the order stands. But this does not estop any person whose rights are affected by the adjudication, or by an act of bankruptcy on which it is founded, from taking proceedings to annul it (Ex pte Learoyd, In re SS. Foulds, 10 Ch. D., 3; Ex pte Tucker, In re Tucker, 12 Ch. D., 308); even The effect of the section really is to make a copy of the London Gazette evidence of the receiving order and of its date where it is necessary to prove them, and so to dispense with other proof of these facts (Ex pte Lindsay, In re Lindsay, L. R. 19, Eq. 52, at p. 55). 133.—(1.) A minute of proceedings at a meeting of Evidence of proceedings creditors under this Act, signed at the same or the next at meetings ensuing meeting, by a person describing himself as, or of creditors. appearing to be, chairman of the meeting at which the minute is signed, shall be received in evidence without further proof. 1 Sch. I., s. 25. It is the duty of the trustee to keep proper books and to cause the minutes to be entered; any creditor personally, or by agent, may inspect them subject to the control of the Court (s. 80). (2.) Until the contrary is proved, every meeting of creditors in respect of the proceedings whereof a minute has been so signed shall be deemed to have been duly convened and held, and all resolutions passed or proceedings had thereat to have been duly passed or had. bankruptcy. 134. Any petition or copy of a petition in bankruptcy, Evidence of any order or certificate or copy of an order or certificate proceedings in made by any Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, any instrument or copy of an instrument, affidavit, or document made or used in the course of any bankruptcy proceedings, or other proceedings had under this Act, shall, if it appears to be sealed with the seal of any Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy,1 or purports to to be signed by any judge thereof, or is certified as a true copy by any registrar thereof, be receivable in evidence in all legal proceedings whatever. 1 s. 137. 135, Subject to general rules,1 any affidavit to be used Swearing of in a bankruptcy court may be sworn before any person affidavits. SS. authorised to administer oaths in the High Court, or 135-139. in the Court of Chancery of the county palatine of Lancaster, or before any registrar of a bankruptcy court, or before any officer of a bankruptcy court authorised in writing on that behalf by the judge of the Court,2 or, in the case of a person residing in Scotland or in Ireland, before a judge ordinary, magistrate, or justice of the peace, or, in the case of a person who is out of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, before a magistrate or justice of the peace or other person qualified to administer oaths in the country where he resides (he being certified to be a magistrate or justice of the peace, or qualified as aforesaid by a British minister or British consul, or by a notary public). Death of witness. Bankruptcy Courts to have seals. Certificate of appointment of trustee. Appeal from 1 r. 48. 2 See an Order of 1st January, 1884, infrà. 136. In case of the death of the debtor or his wife, or of a witness whose evidence has been received by any Court in any proceeding under this Act, the deposition of the person so deceased, purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Court, or a copy thereof purporting to be so sealed, shall be admitted as evidence of the matters therein deposed to. 137. Every Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy under this Act shall have a seal describing the Court in such manner as may be directed by order of the Lord Chancellor, and judicial notice shall be taken of the seal, and of the signature of the judge or registrar of any such Court, in all legal proceedings. 138. A certificate of the Board of Trade that a person has been appointed trustee under this Act, shall be conclusive evidence of his appointment. 139. Where by this Act an appeal to the High Court is given against any decision of the Board of Trade, or High Court. of the official receiver, the appeal shall be brought Trade to SS. within twenty-one days from the time when the decision appealed against is pronounced or made. 140, 141. of Board of Trade. 140.—(1.) All documents purporting to be orders or Proceedings certificates made or issued by the Board of Trade, and to be sealed with the seal of the Board, or to be signed by a secretary or assistant secretary of the Board, or any person authorised in that behalf by the President of the Board, shall be received in evidence, and deemed to be such orders or certificates without further proof unless the contrary is shown. (2.) A certificate signed by the President of the Board of Trade that any order made, certificate issued, or act done, is the order, certificate, or act of the Board of Trade shall be conclusive evidence of the fact so certified. Time. of time. 141.—(1.) Where by this Act any limited time from Computation or after any date or event is appointed or allowed for the doing of any act or the taking of any proceeding, then in the computation of that limited time the same shall be taken as exclusive of the day of that date or of the happening of that event, and as commencing at the beginning of the next following day; and the act or proceeding shall be done or taken at latest on the last day of that limited time as so computed, unless the last day is a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, or Monday or Tuesday in Easter Week, or a day appointed for public fast, humiliation, or thanksgiving, or a day on which the Court does not sit, in which case any act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards, which shall not be one of the days in this section. specified. (2.) Where by this Act any act or proceeding is directed to be done or taken on a certain day, then if that day happens to be one of the days in this section. SS. 141-143. Service of notices. Formal defect not to invali. date proceedings. specified, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards, which shall not be one of the days in this section specified. 1 "A day on which the Court does not sit" means a day on which the offices of the Court are closed (r. 3 (3)). Where the time limited for doing any act or thing is less than six days, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, Monday and Tuesday in Easter week, and any other day on which the offices of the Court are wholly closed, shall be excluded in computing such time (r. 3 (2)). Three clear days' notice was required-the last of the three days happened to be a Sunday: Held, that it was not to be reckoned in the computation of time, and that a notice served for the next day, Monday, was irregular (Ex pte Ferrige, In re Ferrige, L. R. 20, Eq. 289). Notices. 142. All notices and other documents for the service of which no special mode is directed may be sent by prepaid post letter1 to the last known address of the person to be served therewith. 1 The letter must be registered (r. 82). Notice of motion to continue an injunction may be so served (In_re Lewis, Ex ptc Mauthner, 3 Ch. D., 113). Formal Defects. 143.-(1.) No proceeding in bankruptcy shall be invalidated by any formal defect or by any irregularity, unless the Court before which an objection is made to the proceeding is of opinion that substantial injustice has been caused by the defect or irregularity, and that the injustice cannot be remedied by any order of that Court. (2.) No defect or irregularity in the appointment or election of a receiver, trustee, or member of a committee of inspection shall vitiate any act done by him in good faith. A debtor in his petition gave the address of his place of business only, omitting his private address; this was held to be such a substantial defect as to invalidate the proceedings, for his private creditors might know nothing about it (Ex pte Jermingham, In re Jermingham, 9 Ch. D., 465). But where a debtor described himself as a cattle dealer instead of a farmer, |