(1.) Sell* all or any part of the property of the
bankrupt (including the goodwill of the
business, if any, and the book debtst due or
growing due to the bankrupt), by public
auction or private contract, with power to
transfer the whole thereof to any person or
company, or to sell the same in parcels :
(2.) Give receipts for any money received by him,
which receipts shall effectually discharge the
person paying the money from all responsi-
bility in respect of the application thereof:
(3.) Prove, rank, claim, and draw a dividend in
respect of any debt due to the bankrupt :
(4.) Exercise any powers the capacity to exercise
which is vested in the trustee under this Act,
and execute any powers of attorney, deeds,
and other instruments for the purpose of
carrying into effect the provisions of this
Act:

(5.) Deal with any property to which the bank-
rupt is beneficially entitled as tenant in tail
in the same manner as the bankrupt might
have dealt with it; and sections fifty-six to
seventy-three (both inclusive) of the Act of
the session of the third and fourth years of
the reign of King William the Fourth
(chapter seventy-four), "for the abolition of
"fines and recoveries, and for the substitu-
"tion of more simple modes of assurance,"
shall extend and apply to proceedings under

* It was held under a similar provision in the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 (sec. 25) that the sale of a bankrupt's property may be to the bankrupt himself. (Kilson v. Hardwicke, L. R. 7 C. P. 473.)

+ Book debts include such debts as would, in the ordinary course of business, be entered in books, although they have not, in fact, been so entered. (Shipley v. Marshall, 32 L. J., C. P. 258.)

this Act, as if those sections were here reenacted and made applicable in terms to those proceedings.*

57. Powers exerciseable by Trustee with Permission of Committee of Inspection.t-The trustee may, with the permission of the committee of inspection, do all or any of the following things:

(1.) Carry on the business of the bankrupt, so far as may be necessary for the beneficial winding up of the same:

(2.) Bring, institute, or defend any action or other legal proceedings relating to the property of the bankrupt :

(3.) Employ a solicitor or other agent to take any

*The powers conferred upon a tenant for life by the Settled Land Act, 1882, do not pass to a trustee in bankruptcy. See clause 50 of that Act.

This clause deals with the same subject as clause 27 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869, but in a somewhat different manner. The first two sub-sections are for the first time introduced into this clause. (See note to last clause.) The third and fourth sub-sections confer new powers. It should be observed also that there is a material difference between the manner in which the committee of inspection is required to give their sanction or permission under this clause, and the manner in which they might give it under clause 27 of the Act of 1869. That clause enacted that "the sanction given for the purposes of this section may be a general permission to do all or any of the above-mentioned things, or a permission to do all or any of them in any specified case or cases.' The present clause provides that "the permission given for the purposes of this section shall not be a general permission, &c., but shall only be, &c." In addition to the powers conferred upon the trustee with the assent of the committee of inspection by this clause, he is also (with the like assent) empowered by clause 64 to allow the bankrupt to manage his property or trade, and to make an allowance to the bankrupt.

proceedings or do any business which may be sanctioned by the committee of inspec

tion :

(4.) Accept as the consideration for the sale of any property of the bankrupt a sum of money payable at a future time subject to such stipulations as to security and otherwise as the committee think fit:

(5.) Mortgage or pledge any part of the property of the bankrupt for the purpose of raising money for the payment of his debts:

(6.) Refer any dispute to arbitration, compromise all debts, claims, and liabilities, whether present or future, certain or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, subsisting or supposed to subsist between the bankrupt and any person who may have incurred any liability to the bankrupt, on the receipt of such sums, payable at such times, and generally on such terms as may be agreed on : (7.) Make such compromise or other arrangement as may be thought expedient with creditors, or persons claiming to be creditors, in respect of any debts provable under the bankruptcy:

(8.) Make such compromise or other arrangement as may be thought expedient with respect to any claim arising out of or incidental to the property of the bankrupt, made or capable of being made on the trustee by any person or by the trustee on any person:

(9.) Divide in its existing form amongst the creditors, according to its estimated value, any property which from its peculiar nature or other special circumstances cannot be readily or advantageously sold.

The permission given for the purposes of this section shall not be a general permission to do all or any of the above-mentioned things, but shall only be a permission to do the particular thing or things for which permission is sought in the specified case or

cases.

Distribution of Property.

be

58. Declaration and Distribution of Dividends.*. (1.) Subject to the retention of such sums as may necessary for the costs of administration, or otherwise, the trustee shall, with all convenient speed, declare and distribute dividends amongst the creditors who have proved their debts.

(2.) The first dividend, if any, shall be declared and distributed within four months after the conclusion of the first meeting of creditors, unless the trustee satisfies the committee of inspection that there is sufficient reason for postponing the declaration to a later date.

(3.) Subsequent dividends shall, in the absence of sufficient reason to the contrary, be declared and distributed at intervals of not more than six months.

(4.) Before declaring a dividend the trustee shall cause notice of his intention to do so to be gazetted in the prescribed manner, and shall also send reasonable

*This clause differs materially from the corresponding clause (sec. 41) of the Act of 1869. The provisions as to the periods at which the first and subsequent dividends must be paid are new. The fourth and fifth sub-sections are based upon general rules 131 and 132 under the Act of 1869. It will, however, be seen that it is no longer be necessary, as it was under the latter of these rules, to gazette the declaration of a dividend. It is now only necessary to Gazette the notice of intention to declare a dividend.

notice thereof to each creditor mentioned in the bankrupt's statement who has not proved his debt.

(5.) When the trustee has declared a dividend he shall send to each creditor who has proved a notice. showing the amount of the dividend and when and how it is payable, and a statement in the prescribed form as to the particulars of the estate.

59. Joint and Separate Dividends.-(1.) Where one partner of a firm is adjudged bankrupt, a creditor to whom the bankrupt is indebted jointly with the other partners of the firm, or any of them, shall not receive any dividend out of the separate property of the bankrupt until all the separate creditors have received the full amount of their respective debts.*

(2.) Where joint and separate properties are being administered, dividends of the joint and separate properties shall, subject to any order to the contrary that may be made by the Court on the application of any person interested, be declared together; and the expenses of and incident to such dividends shall be fairly apportioned by the trustee between the joint and separate properties, regard being had to the work done for and the benefit received by each property.†

60. Provision for Creditors residing at a Distance,

By the corresponding section (103) of the Act of 1869 it was provided that a joint creditor might prove against a separate estate for the purpose of voting at any meeting of creditors, and should be entitled to vote thereat. The present clause, it will be seen, contains no such provision, which is, however, made by rule 13 of the first schedule.

This sub-section is taken verbatim from clause 104 of the Act of