5

A.—2

Enclosure. At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 2nd day of February, 1899. Present: The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, Lord President, Lord. Privy Seal, Duke of Marlborough, Earl of Kintore. Whereas by an Act passed in the session held in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of Her Majesty's reign, entitled " An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand," it is amongst other things declared that no Bill which shall be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon shall have any force or authority within the Colony of New Zealand until the Governor of the said Colony shall signify, either by speech or message to the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the said colony, or by Proclamation, that such Bill has been laid before Her Majesty in Council, and that Her Majesty has been pleased to assent to the same : And whereas a certain Bill passed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the said colony, entitled "An Act to amend the Law of Divorce," was presented to the Officer Administering the Government of the said colony for Her Majesty's assent: And whereas the said Bill was reserved by the said Officer for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon : And whereas the said Bill so reserved as aforesaid has been laid before Her Majesty in Council, and it is expedient that the said Bill should be assented to by Her Majesty : Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in pursuance of the said Act, and in exercise of the power thereby reserved to Her Majesty as aforesaid, doth by this present order, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Privy Council, declare her assent to the said Bill. A. W. Fitzeoy.

No. 4. (Circular.) Sib,— Downing Street, 10th February, 1899. It has been represented to me by the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom that the British creditors of bankrupts domiciled in the United Kingdom frequently suffer from the fact that, because in certain colonies full and complete effect is not given to the title of a British trustee in bankruptcy to the estate of such a bankrupt, so far as regards the assets in the colony, creditors in this country consequently find that creditors in the colony obtain undue preference. The association point out that, according to English law, the bankruptcy laws of the country of domicile of a debtor are allowed to take effect in this country, and that in consequence of this the colonial trustee of a colonial bankrupt can make a complete title to the assets of that bankrupt in England, and that English creditors can only receive dividends from the estate in accordance with the law of the debtor's country of domicile. It is suggested by the association that, in the interests of the mutual trading relations between the Mother-country and the colonies, it is not desirable that this state of affairs should continue, and they express a hope that efforts may be made to secure in the colonies provision for the recognition there of the title of the trustees of British bankrupts domiciled in the United Kingdom, similar to that which exists in this country in regard to the colonial trustees of bankrupts domiciled outside the United Kingdom. The Board of Trade, to whom the matter was referred, have stated that they would welcome such alteration of colonial laws as would entitle British trustees to the same treatment as colonial trustees receive in this country, and that the views of the association would probably be met if the laws of British colonies and possessions, so far as they at present fail to ghe full recognition to the title of trustees in the United Kingdom, were amended to the following effect :■ — That, where in any part of the United Kingdom a person who is domiciled in that part of the United Kingdom has become insolvent, and his property has become, by the law of that part of the United Kingdom, vested in a trustee or administrator for distribution among the whole body of the debtor's creditors equally,— 1. The colonial law, if the colonial Courts are satisfied that the debtor is domiciled in the United Kingdom, should give full and complete effect to the title of such trustee or administrator to the personal property of the debtor situate in the colony.