ance Company so desires, or if the said Company has given the Government of the Republic written notice that it wishes to close its business in this State, and has clearly proved to the satisfaction of the said Government that it has no further current liabilities towards third persons resident within this State. The authorised representative of the Insurance Company is entitled to receive the interest on these abovementioned documents.

Pretoria,.......

.18......

PART 3.-SPECIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

A.-PATENTS.

PROCLAMATION No. 22, 1902.

1. This proclamation shall come into operation on the 1st day of May, 1902, and such date is hereinafter referred to as the commencement of this Proclamation.

2. Subject to the provisions of § 60 of this Proclamation, Law No. 10 of 1898, and any other Law inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this Proclamation, shall be and are hereby repealed.

3. It shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint a Commissioner of Patents (hereinafter called the "Commissioner "), whose office shall be called the "Patent Office," and shall be established at Pretoria.

4. There shall be a seal for the Patent Office, and impressions thereof shall be judicially noticed and admitted in evidence.

5. Every person who is the true and first inventor, or the legal representative of a true and first inventor, of an invention, as hereinafter defined, may obtain, either alone or jointly with one or more person or persons, the exclusive right and privilege to make, use, exercise and sell the same within this Colony for his own benefit in such manner and for such period and under such conditions as are hereinafter prescribed.

This right and privilege (hereinafter referred to as a patent) shall be granted by Letters Patent, to be issued by the Commissioner in manner hereinafter prescribed.

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Save as provided by §§ 23 and 53 respectively of this Proclamation, the expression invention means any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof capable of being used or applied in trade or industry, and not known or used by others in this Colony, and not patented or described in any printed publication in this Colony or any foreign country before the application for a patent in respect of the same, and not in public use or on sale in this Colony or any foreign country for more than two years prior to such application, unless the same is proved to have been abandoned.

6. An application for a patent shall be as nearly as possible in the form given in Schedule " A," or in such other form as may from time to time be prescribed, and addressed to the Commissioner.

An application for a patent must be signed by the applicant, but all other communications between the applicant and the Commissioner, and all attendances by the applicant before the Commissioner, may be made by or through an attorney of the Court or patent agent duly authorised to the satisfaction of the Commissioner.

7. (1) An application for a patent must contain a declaration to the effect that the applicant is in possession of an invention whereof he, or in the case of a joint application, one or more of the applicants claims or claim to be, or to be the legal representative of, the true and first inventor or inventors, and for which he or they desires or desire to obtain a patent; and must be accompanied by either a provisional or complete specification.

(2) Every application must contain an address in this Colony, to which all notices, requisitions and communications of every kind may be made.

(3) A provisional specification must describe the nature of the invention, and be accompanied by drawings if required.

(4) A complete specification, whether left on application or subsequently, must particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the invention, and in what manner it is to be performed, and must be accompanied by drawings if required.

(5) If a provisional specification is accompanied by drawings to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, the complete specification need not be accompanied by drawings, but may refer to the drawings accompanying such provisional specification.

(6) A specification, whether provisional or complete, must commence with the title, and, in the case of a complete specification, must end with a distinct statement of the invention claimed.

(7) As far as possible, the provisional and complete specifications shall be in the form given in Schedules "B" and "C," and shall be in the English language.

8. The Commissioner shall examine every application to ascertain whether the nature of the invention has been fairly described, and the application, specification, and drawings (if any) have been prepared in the prescribed manner, and the title sufficiently indicates the subject matter of the invention.

9. (1) If the Commissioner, on such examination, finds that the nature of the invention is not fairly described, or that the application or drawings has not or have not been prepared in the prescribed manner, or that the title does not sufficiently indicate the subject matter of the invention, he may refuse to accept the application, or require that the application, specification, or drawings be amended before he proceeds with the application; and in the latter case the application shall, if the Commissioner so directs, bear date as from the time the requirement is complied with.

(2) Where the Commissioner refuses to accept an application, or requires an amendment, the applicant may appeal from his decision to the Attorney-General.

(3) The Attorney-General shall, if required, hear the applicant and the Commissioner, and may make an order determining whether and subject to what conditions (if any) the application shall be accepted.

(It shall be lawful for the Attorney-General, on the hearing of an appeal to him from any decision of the Commissioner of Patents in any case in which any such appeal is given by "The Patents Proclamation, 1902," to examine witnesses on oath, and administer oaths for that purpose.)

(4) The Commissioner shall, when an application has been accepted, give notice thereof to the applicant.

(5) If after an application for a patent has been made, but before the patent thereon has been sealed, another application for a patent is made, accompanied by a specification bearing the same or a similar title, the Commissioner may determine, subject to an appeal to the Attorney-General, whether the invention comprised in both applications is the same, and if so he may refuse to seal a patent on the application of the second applicant.

10. (1) The Commissioner shall keep at his office proper books and registers, in which shall be entered the names of all patents which have been applied for, together with the dates on which the applications and the provisional and complete specifications have been lodged with him.

(2) On payment of the amount mentioned in Schedule "H" the Commissioner shall give a receipt to the applicant or his attorney, proving that such entries have been made.

(3) Where an application for a patent in respect of an invention has been accepted the invention may, during the period between the date of the application and the date of sealing such patent, be used and published without prejudice to the patent to be granted. for the same, and such protection from the consequences of use and publication is in this Proclamation referred to as provisional protection.

(4) No one but the Commissioner, or someone acting on his behalf, shall be allowed to inspect any specification until the advertisement mentioned in § 13 has been published.

11. (1) If an applicant supplies only a provisional specification with his application he shall be obliged to send in a complete specification within nine months from the date of his application; and if he fails to do so he shall be considered to have abandoned his application. The applicant may, however, within such period of nine months, notify to the Commissioner that he desires his provisional specification to be regarded as a complete specification, and if such provisional specification complies with the conditions hereinbefore provided with reference to complete specifications to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, subject to appeal to the AttorneyGeneral, the same shall be treated as a complete specification. (See § 9, sub-section (3), above.)

(2) After a complete specification shall have been accepted by the Commissioner, or after a provisional specification shall have been accepted as a complete specification as hereinbefore provided, and until such time as the patent shall be sealed, or until the period shall have elapsed within which such sealing must take place, the applicant shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as if a patent had been granted to him for his invention on the date of the acceptance of such complete specification; provided that an applicant shall not be entitled to institute any proceedings for infringement until a patent for the invention has been granted to him.