of the disease surra" to which camels are peculiarly susceptible and of which they are the most dangerous carriers."

Government Securities.-The Indian Securities Act, 1920 (10 of 1920), consolidates and amends the law relating to Government securities which was previously contained in Act 13 of 1886 and its amendments. The changes made in the law are mainly in the interests of small holders or to remove questions of doubt or difficulty which had arisen in practice.

Insolvency. The Presidency Towns Insolvency (Amendment) Act, 1920 (II of 1920), extended to persons adjudged insolvent under the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909, 3 of 1909, the disabilities in regard to the holding of office imposed in similar circumstances by s. 73 of the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920.

Breach of Contract.-The Workmen's Breach of Contract (Amendment Act, 1920 (12 of 1920), is an amendment of the Workmen's Breach of Contract Act, 1859. That Act, which originally applied to presidency towns only, penalized fraudulent breaches of contract by artificers and other workmen. Under a power contained in the Act it had been extended to other parts of India outside presidency towns. The amending Act relaxes the severity of the principal Act. It requires a complaint to be brought within three months of the neglect or refusal to perform the contract, limits the application of the principal Act to advances not exceeding Rs. 300, and further confines the operation of the Act where the time for the performance of the contract does not exceed one year. The magistrate is given discretion to dismiss the complaint if he is of opinion that there is no ground for proceeding, and to award compensation in the event of a false or frivolous complaint. Where a breach of contract has been established, the magistrate may refuse to put the Act into operation if he considers that the terms of the contract are substantially unfair to the workman. Further, discretion is given to the magistrate to order either repayment of the advance or performance of the contract. He is no longer, as he was by the previous law, bound by the option of the complainant. Furthermore, an employer is not allowed to use the Act a second time against a particular workman after he has once obtained an order under the Act against that workman.

Import and Export of Goods.-The Import and Export of Goods (Amendment) Act, 1920 (13 of 1920), extends the continuance of the Import and Export of Goods Act, 1916, up to the 31st day of March, 1921.

Religious Endowments.-The Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920 (14 of 1920), has as its object the simplification and cheapening of the legal processes by which persons interested can obtain information regarding the working of both religious and charitable trusts and the exercise of more efficient control over the action of trustees of such trusts. Complaints of the inefficiency of the existing law to prevent the squandering or misappropriation of the funds of such endowments have been made ever since the year 1897, in which an unofficial member promoted a Bill with the object of terminating that unsatisfactory condition of affairs. After long discussion the Government of India endeavoured in the Act now under reference to furnish further facilities to persons desiring to terminate such maladministration. Under the Act any person inter

ested in a trust to which the Act applies may apply by petition to the District Judge for an order directing the trustee to furnish him with information as to the nature and objects of the trust, of the value, condition, management, and application of the subject matter of the trust,

and of the income belonging thereto, and also directing that the accounts of the trust should be examined and audited. If the Court makes the order, which it can only do after hearing the petitioner and the trustee, and any other person who has appeared, or it considers ought to be heard, disobedience is deemed to be a breach of trust affording ground for a suit under the provisions of s. 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and such a suit may be instituted without the previous consent of the Advocate-General. If the existence of the trust is disputed, opportunity is given to stay proceedings to enable a regular suit to be instituted. But if such a suit is not instituted within three months the Court has power to decide the question. Power is given to trustees to apply for directions, but the Court is not bound to give such directions on a question which it considers not proper for a summary disposal. Costs of the proceedings under the Act are in the discretion of the Court, and may be directed to be paid from the property or income of the trust. The Act is only intended to deal with general principles, leaving further and more detailed legislation to the local Legislatures.

Red Cross.-The Indian Red Cross Society Act, 1920 (15 of 1920), provides for the administration of various moneys and gifts received from the public for the benefit of the sick and wounded during the war, and constitutes as a corporate body the Indian Red Cross Society to take over the management of these funds. The Act provides for the appointment of the managing body, contains a wide rule-making power, sets out the purposes to which the funds of the Society may be applied, and provides for the constitution of branch committees and for the affiliation of other societies.

Jagannath College. The Jagannath College Act, 1920 (16 of 1920), is in the nature of a private Bill promoted at the instance of the trustees of that college in order that the college might be amalgamated with the University of Dacca.

Income-tax. The Indian Income-tax (Amendment) Act, 1920 (17 of 1920), remedies certain defects and supplies certain omissions which experience has shown to exist in the Indian Income-tax Act, 1918 (7 of 1918). The most important provision is designed to remedy the anomaly which occurred under the existing Act when an assessee of an income just in excess of one of the stages in Schedule I., and therefore liable to pay income-tax at a higher rate than when his income is just below that stage, finds himself after the payment of the tax worse off than he would have been had his total income been below that stage.

Dacca University.—The Dacca University Act, 1920 (18 of 1920), establishes and incorporates a unitary teaching and residential University at Dacca. An important feature of the Act is that the officers and teachers of the University are to be employed not by the Government, but by the University itself. The Act attracted some criticism when passing through the Council on the ground that the communal principle in the representation of the Muhammadan community was not justified in an Act the funds for which would be found by the general tax-payer.

Super-tax. The Super-tax Act, 1920 (19 of 1920), brings the law relating to super-tax into relation with that at present governing incometax and repeals the Super-tax Act, 1917. The Act also abolishes the existing super-tax on the undivided profits of companies and firms and replaces it by a super-tax at a flat rate of one anna in the rupee on the whole income of companies and registered firms.

Army. The Indian Army Suspension of Sentences Act, 1920 (20 of 1920), preserves as a permanent measure the power which was taken as a temporary war measure by the Indian Army Suspension of Sentences Act, 1917, to suspend the execution of sentences of imprisonment or transportation passed by courts martial under the Indian Army Act.

Paper Currency.-The Indian Paper Currency (Temporary Amendment) Act, 1920 (21 of 1920), consolidates and continues the provisions in the previous temporary Paper Currency Amendment Acts relating to the treatment, as part of the Paper Currency Reserve, of gold and silver held in the United States of America or in transit therefrom, as well as of gold held in any part of His Majesty's Dominions for coinage or any temporary purpose, or in transit to and from such Dominion. It further abolishes the previous limitations as to the nature of the securities in which the Currency Reserve might be invested. The measure is a temporary one, only having force up to October 1, 1920.

Lepers.-The Lepers Amendment Act, 1920 (22 of 1920), widens the definition of the principal Act, the Lepers Act, 1898, so as to include in the definition of "Leper" persons suffering from leprosy in any stage of the disease, and not, as was the case under that Act, suffering from the ulcerous stage. Provision is also made for the combination of isolation with medical treatment and for the facilitation of the administration of the Act by allowing the powers thereunder to be exercised by persons empowered by the Local Government and not by police officers alone, as was previously the case.

Military Police.-The Indian Rifles Act, 1920 (23 of 1920), enacts that police officers enrolled under local Acts in military police or rifle battalions shall be subject to the same discipline and penalties, whether serving within or without British India. Intervention by the Indian Legislature was necessary, as such a provision was beyond the powers of a local Legislature.

Civil Procedure. The Code of Civil Procedure Amendment Act, 1920 (24 of 1920), was designed to reduce the delays in civil proceedings, and enacts that a suit shall be dismissed if the plaintiff fails to apply for a fresh service of a summons within three months from the date of the return of the unserved summons. It also allows the Court to extend that period for good cause shown.

Negotiable Instruments.-- The Negotiable Instruments Amendment Act, 1920 (25 of 1920), excuses delay in making presentment for payment when the delay is caused by circumstances beyond the control of the holder and not imputable to default, misconduct, or negligence. The Act is based on s. 46 (1) of the English Bills of Exchange Act, 1882. Limitation. The Indian Limitation and Code of Civil Procedure Amendment Act, 1920 (26 of 1920), is designed to reduce the delays in the prosecution of Indian appeals to the Privy Council in respect of those stages of these appeals which take place in India. In the first place, it reduces the period within which a person must apply for leave to appeal to the Privy Council from 6 months to 90 days. It also reduces the period within which security for cost must be furnished from 6 months to 90 days, but allows the Court to extend that period to 150 days. It further provides that the normal method of security must be by the deposit of cash or Government securities. It further reduces the period allowed for substitution of parties from 6 months to 90 days, and this provision applies not only to Privy Council appeals, but to all appeals under the

Code. The Act further allows service by advertisement in the newspapers of notice on the representatives of deceased persons who have not appeared.

Motors.-The Indian Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 1920 (27 of 1920), empowers Local Governments to prescribe the authority by which, and the conditions and limitations subject to which, licences under the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914, may be suspended or cancelled. There was previously no power in the hands of the executive authorities to suspend or cancel a licence.

Patents and Designs.-The Indian Patents and Designs (Temporary Rules) Amendment Act, 1920 (28 of 1920), extends the power to complete patents proceedings which were started before or during the war for a period of one year longer than was allowed by the principal Act of 1915. This was necessary owing to the fact that under art. 307 of the Treaty of Versailles, which was given statutory force in India by cl. 31 to art. I of the India Treaty of Peace Order in Council 1920, a similar privilege was conferred on German nationals.

Patents and Designs.-The Indian Patents and Designs Amendment Act, 1920 (29 of 1920), provides for reciprocal arrangements with the United Kingdom and other parts of His Majesty's Dominions for the provisional protection of inventions and designs within the Empire. It also enables valid protection to be obtained for inventions which, owing to war exigencies, have been protected only in some parts of the Empire, but would otherwise be invalidated by publication in other parts. The reciprocal arrangement depends upon the application of such of the provisions of s. 91 of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907 (7 Edward VII., c. 29) as relates to inventions and designs to British India by Order in Council.

Rouble Notes.-The Rouble Note Act, 1920 (30 of 1920), continues in force for one year subject to a power to the Governor-General to extend for a further year the prohibitions and penalties regarding the possession and import of Rouble Notes which had been rendered necessary to defeat Bolshevik propaganda.

Statute Law Revision. The Repealing and Amending Act, 1920 31 of 1920), makes certain amendments of a formal character in various Acts and repeals other provisions of Acts which have either been spent or have become unnecessary.

Post Office. The Post Office Cash Certificates (Amendment) Act, 1920 (32 of 1920), was enacted with the object of popularizing Post Office Cash Certificates by allowing the transfer of a cash certificate to be sanctioned by any person of lower rank than the Postmaster-General instead of by the Postmaster alone. The Act also permits the payment of Post Office Cash Certificates to the value of Rs. 5,000 on the death of the holder without the intervention of the Court.

Criminal Law. The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 (30 of 1920), gives legal sanction to the taking of measurements, finger impressions, footprints, and photographs of persons convicted of, or. arrested in connection with, certain offences. If such persons are released or discharged or acquitted by a Court, provision is made for the destruction of all measurements and photographs, both negatives and copies, so taken.

Passports.-The Indian Passports Act, 1920 (34 of 1920), gives legal power to require persons entering British India to be in possession

of passports. A rule-making power is provided conferring on the GovernorGeneral in Council power to make all the necessary administrative and other orders incidental to the general purpose of the Act. Persons contravening any such rules may be arrested, and persons who have entered without passports may be removed from British India by order of the Local Government.

Basel Mission.-The Basel Mission Trading Company Act, 1920 (35 of 1920), validates action which was taken in connection with the property formerly belonging to the Basel Mission Trading Company. The property of this company, which was tainted with German influence, was vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property by an order of the Governor-General issued under s. 7 of the Enemy Trading Act, 1916. After intermediate transfers the property was finally transferred to the Commonwealth Trust Limited, a company which had been formed in England to carry on the work formerly conducted by the Basel Mission Trading Company in India and other countries. Legislation was necessary to place the Commonwealth Trust in an unassailable legal position, and this is effected by the Act. Protection is also given to the Commonwealth Trust Limited in respect of debts due by the Basel Mission Trading Company, where those debts were incurred in countries in which the Commonwealth Trust Limited will not trade. This was secured by requiring the sanction of the Governor-General in Council before a suit or other legal proceedings can be instituted.

Coinage. The Indian Coinage (Amendment )Act, 1920 (36 of 1920), amends the Indian Coinage Act, 1916, declaring that the legal tender of a sovereign should be at the rate of Rs. 10 instead of at the rate of Rs. 15 as was previously the case. The Act was passed to give effect to the recommendations of the Indian Exchange and Currency Committee. and was part of the policy of the Government of India for the fixation of exchange on a Rs. Io per pound basis.

Army. The Indian Army (Amendment) Act, 1920 (37 of 1920), abolishes corporal punishment in His Majesty's Indian forces and introduces field punishment as a substitute on active service. Certain other small amendments are made by the Act.

Devolution of Powers. The Devolution Act, 1920 (38 of 1920), is a part of the legislation necessary to give effect to the devolution of powers to Local Governments which is one of the cardinal principles laid down in the Government of India Act, 1919. Statutory powers previously vested in the Governor-General in Council have either been transferred or relaxed by the Act, which amends the statutory provisions in that behalf in a large number of other Acts.

Election Law. -The Indian Election Offences and Inquiries Act, 1920 (39 of 1920), was also directly necessitated by the Government of India Act, 1919. The Joint Committee of the Houses of Parliament, when dealing with the Bill which subsequently became the Government of India Act, 1919, advised that a complete and stringent Corrupt Practices Act should be brought into operation before the first election of the new legislative bodies constituted under that Act. The Act makes punishable under the ordinary penal law bribery, undue influence and personation, and certain other malpractices at elections, not only to legislative bodies, but also to public authorities where the law prescribes election as the method of choice. Secondly, it empowers Commissioners appointed under the Indian legislative rules and provincial legislative