Page:Public General Statutes 1896.djvu/316

298 with, and shall be sent to the registrar with the instrument of dissolution.

(4.) The instrument shall not in the case of a registered friendly society or branch direct or contain any provision for a division or appropriation of the funds of the society or branch, or any part thereof, otherwise than for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects of the society or branch as declared in the rules thereof, unless the claim of every member or person claiming any relief, annuity, or other benefit from the funds thereof is first duly satisfied, or adequate provisions are made for satisfying those claims.

(5.) The instrument of dissolution and all alterations therein shall be registered in manner in this Act provided for the registry of amendments of rules, and shall be binding upon all the members of the society or branch.

(6.) The registrar shall cause a notice of the dissolution to be advertised at the expense of the society or branch, and, unless within three months from the date of the Gazette in which the advertisement appears, a member or other person interested in or having any claim on the funds of the society or branch commences proceedings to set aside the dissolution of the society or branch, and the dissolution is set aside accordingly, the society or branch shall be legally dissolved from the date of that advertisement, and the requisite consents to the instrument of dissolution shall be considered to have been duly obtained without proof of the signatures thereto.

80.—(1.) Upon the application made in writing under their hands—

(a) of one-fifth of the whole number of members of a registered society or branch; or

(b) in the case of a registered society or branch of one thousand members and not exceeding ten thousand, of one hundred members; or

(c) in the case of a registered society or branch of more than ten thousand members, of five hundred members, the chief registrar may by himself, or by any assistant registrar, or by any actuary or public auditor whom the chief registrar may appoint in writing under his hand, investigate the affairs of the society or branch, but shall give not less than two months previous notice in writing to the society or branch whose affairs are to be investigated.

(2.) The application shall—

(a) state that the funds of the society or branch are insufficient to meet the existing claims thereon, or that the rates of contribution fixed in the rules of the society or branch are insufficient to cover the benefits assured; and

(b) set forth the grounds on which the insufficiency is alleged; and

(c) request an investigation into the affairs of the society or branch with a view to the dissolution thereof.