money orders in a monthly account, the total of which is increased by the fee of one-half of 1 per cent. referred to in Article V.

2. The monthly accounts, together with the paid money orders, shall be transmitted as soon as possible to the respective Administration.

3. A blank account shall be forwarded in case there shall be no payments to announce.

XI.-1. For the purpose of balancing the monthly accounts, a general half-yearly account shall be prepared by the creditor office and transmitted to the indebtor Administration for payment by means of drafts, payable at sight at Singapore when the balance is in favour of the post office of the Straits Settlements, and at Batavia when the balance is in favour of the post office of Netherland East India.

2. In both cases the amount of the draft shall be expressed in the Netherland East Indian currency (guilders and cents).

XII. Should it appear, at any time, that money orders are used by mercantile men or other persons in Netherland East India or in the Straits Settlements for the transmission of large sums of money, the post office of Netherland East India or the post office of the Straits Settlements, as the case may be, shall consider the propriety of increasing the commission, and shall have power, even for a time, wholly to suspend the issue of money orders.

XIII. The contracting offices shall communicate to each other

1. The names of the post offices authorized to pay and issue money orders;

2. A copy of the money order form in use in their respective countries;

3. The term of prescription of money orders fixed in their respective countries.

XIV. As regards all particulars not mentioned in the foregoing Articles, the exchange of money orders between the Straits Settlements and Netherland East India shall be carried on under the conditions laid down in the International Money Order Convention of Rome of 1906, and in the detailed regulations for the execution of that Convention.*

XV. The present Agreement shall come into force the 15th April, 1911, and shall be terminable at any time on a notice by either Administration of six months.

Done at Singapore this 10th day of March, 1911.

W. G. BELL, Postmaster-General, Straits
Settlements.

Weltevreden, den 28 Maart, 1911.

J. J. STIELTJES, de Hoofdinspecteur Chef van den Post-Telegraaf-en Telefoondienst.

* Vol. C, page 959.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION respecting the Procedure for the Presentation of Claims upon Properties lately held by Religious Associations in Portugal.-London, April 24,

1911.*

Foreign Office, April 24, 1911.

THE following memorandum respecting the procedure prescribed under Portuguese law for the presentation of claims upon properties lately held by religious associations in Portugal, is published for general information.

MEMORANDUM.

Procedure to be followed in the Case of Claims upon the Properties lately occupied by Religious Associations in Portugal.

1. His Majesty's Minister at Lisbon is advised that claims upon the properties lately occupied by religious associations in Portugal will only be considered if they are presented in accordance with the provisions of the decree promulgated by the Provisional Government on the 31st December, 1910, a translation of which is annexed hereto. This view is based on the two paragraphs of article 3, in which it is provided that

Any third parties, who consider they have a right to do so, may prove their title to the above-mentioned properties, or enforce any rights to them which they may claim, but only in accordance with the provisions of this decree.

All forms of procedure that may be employed other than those laid down and defined in this decree are absolutely null and void.

2. This being so, any person considering himself or herself to be entitled to property, real or personal, which the Portuguese Provisional Government has caused to be inventoried, and has taken possession of, on the plea that it belonged to the abolished religious orders, or had been held, occupied or used by or for them, must, in the first instance, present to the delegate of the Attorney of the Republic attached to the Court within whose jurisdiction the property is situated, a petition, divided into articles or clauses, setting forth clearly his claim and the grounds on which it is based. The petition must be signed by a Portuguese advocate, authorized to do so by a power of attorney, the original of which, or, preferably, a notarial copy of it, must be filed with the petition. With the petition must also be filed any documentary evidence which is forthcoming, unless such documents had already been lodged at some office of State in Portugal prior to the date of the decree under consideration, in

* "London Gazette," April 25, 1911.

which case it will be sufficient to state where they are, the time at which they were given in, and to whom they were given.

3. Any number of claimants, who are joint owners, may apply in one petition, provided that all the property claimed lies in the same judicial district, and is connected with one and the same religious house or order.

4. If the powers of attorney are executed out of Portugal, it should be borne in mind that they must be attested by the local Portuguese consular officer with or without the intervention of a local notary, as the said consular officer may require, and, to avoid delays, if the consulate is in a locality not much frequented, it will be well to see that consular stamps are affixed for the fee paid, and to ascertain whether the consular officer has his signature on file at the Foreign Office, Lisbon, requesting him, should it not be there, to furnish that office with his autograph without delay. After its arrival at Lisbon, the power of attorney, if drawn up in a language other than Portuguese, will have to be translated into Portuguese at the consulate of the country in whose language it is written, and subsequently, the proper stamp duty must be paid, and the signature of the consular officer who attested it must be legalized at the Foreign Office, Lisbon. It is always advisable, in such powers, to appoint two attorneys, one to act in the case of the decease or illness of the other, and to give to both powers to delegate.

5. Similarly, any documents, to be filed as evidence, which have been drawn up out of Portugal, must be attested by the local Portuguese consular officer, translated at the proper consulate in Portugal, pay stamp duty, and be attested at the Foreign Office, Lisbon, precisely as explained with regard to powers of attorney.

6. Should the claimant not be the direct owner of the property claimed, but a representative, testamentary, by succession, or otherwise, full documentary evidence of the bequest, relationship, or other ground of representation, must be supplied and filed with the petition.

7. All claims, to be receivable, must be filed by the 30th June, 1911, if they refer to property in Portugal; by the 16th August, 1911, if they refer to property in the adjacent islands; and by the 31st December, 1911, if they refer to property in the colonies. After those dates respectively the property in question will be considered to have passed absolutely to the State, and no claims to it will be allowed.

8. At the time that the delegate of the Attorney of the Republic receives the claim and the documents which support it, he will give a receipt for them, the original of which should be kept in the locality where the case is filed, although it will be advisable for the claimant to hold a notarial copy of it, in case of loss or miscarriage.

9. The representative of the Republic will, under Article 10 of the Decree, endeavour to collect all possible evidence with

regard to the claim, both in favour of it or against it, and may, should he think fit, order an enquiry to be held on the spot; but, within fifteen days from the date upon which he received the claim, he must send the dossier including any evidence or information he has obtained, to the secretary of the committee appointed by a Ministerial Order, dated the 27th December, 1910, to examine such claims, which committee will sit at the Ministry of Justice, Lisbon. (Article 38). The committee will examine the dossier, and should it be thought necessary to do so, will obtain further evidence or information, after which it will as soon as possible, return the report of the proceedings to the delegate, with a report thereon, a duplicate of which will be retained at the Ministry of Justice. The delegate will then deliver a decision, allowing or refusing the claim. In the former case, he will at once order the property to be handed over to the claimant, with reservation of the rights of third parties. (Article 13.) In the latter case, his decision will be notified to the claimant, or to his attorney, to whom a certified copy of it will be delivered. Should a part of the claim be allowed and a part be rejected, the two forms of procedure will be respectively applicable.

10. Down to this point, whatever be the result, no costs or stamp duty will be levied with regard to the proceeding, but naturally the claimants will have to pay the charges of their advocate and solicitor, as the State, even when it loses, pays no costs of any kind. (Article 16.)

"Official

11. In the "Diario do Governo," the Portuguese Gazette," of the 29th March, 1911, notice is given that the Government has been authorized to grant in these preliminary proceedings, gratuitous legal advice and assistance to those applying, as we should say, in formá pauperis. It is, however, advisable for the claimant to employ his own advocate when possible.

12. Should the decision be unfavourable to the claimant he must, within thirty days from the date upon which he or his advocate is notified of it, institute proceedings to enforce his claim judicially.

13. Should a period of six, ten, or eighteen months-according as the initial claim was filed in Portugal, the adjacent islands, or the colonies-have elapsed since the petition was presented to the delegate, without the claimant or his advocate having been notified of that officer's decision, he may institute proceedings in a Court of Justice to enforce his claim, filing the delegate's receipt as proof of his right to do so. That action may have to be commenced in a civil or commercial Court, according to the nature of the claim, and the claimant's position, as a trader or otherwise.

14. In deciding whether to submit a rejected claim to a Court of Justice, the claimant must bear in mind that it is not safe to postpone his decision until near the end of the period of thirty days allowed. The petition (corresponding to the

English "statement of claim") must be submitted to the competent Court at one of its sittings, which are held, as a rule, every Monday and Thursday; consequently the thirty days may in practice be reduced to twenty-seven.

15. The claim in the action at law, and the grounds upon which it is based, must be exactly the same as in the petition to the delegate. Only when they are joint owners may more persons than one be plaintiffs in the same action. The proceedings must be instituted in the Court within whose jurisdiction the property is situated, and a separate action must be brought for each religious house or association, if the property, although within the same jurisdiction, was held or occupied by more than one house or association.

16. Proceedings having been properly instituted by the filing of a "statement of claim," divided into articles or clauses, as in the case of the first petition, that statement must either be supported by fresh copies of the documents originally filed or an application may be made to the delegate for the proofs submitted to him to be forwarded to the registrar in whose office the records of the case are kept. The report of the committee and any papers other than those filed by a claimant in the first proceedings are considered to be secret, and will not be forwarded to the Court.

17. Service upon the representative of the republic having been effected, he will file a statement of defence to which the claimant will reply, and the representative will file his rejoinder. Witnesses (if any) will then be examined, their evidence being taken in writing; written pleadings may be filed, both by the claimant and on behalf of the republic; and the records will then be ready for judgment.

18. The decision will be by the votes of two judges out of three, who will be (in Portugal) the judge in whose jurisdiction the property lies (who will be chairman), and the judges of the two adjacent judicial districts. In the rest of the Portuguese dominions, it will be the judge of the judicial district, his deputy, and the local registrar of real estate. Each of the three members of the Court thus constituted will receive the records for ten days, for examination, after which the chairman will fix a day, not more than thirty days later, for the Court to meet and deliver its written judgment.

19. From such judgment it appears that an appeal can be taken to the Court of " Relação"; and if the value of the property in question warrants it, a further appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court; but the intervention of the latter will be limited to the discovery of any nullity in the proceedings.

20. In the action at law, and in the appeals arising therefrom, costs, stamp duty, and other expenses must be defrayed by the promoters of the proceedings; but if the State loses, it does not pay the costs of the other parties.

21. Thus it will be seen that throughout the proceedings in all the Courts, there is nothing of the nature of a hearing of the