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22 1942

CENTRAL BANK ACT, 1942

PART IX.

Miscellaneous.

Winding-up of the note reserve fund and establishment of the currency reserve.

62. —(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act and in any event not later than one month after such passing, the note reserve fund shall be wound up and for that purpose the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) there shall be established in the general fund an account to be called the currency reserve;

(b) out of the assets of the note reserve fund there shall be transferred to the legal tender note fund such assets (not exceeding two hundred thousand pounds in total value at the market prices current at the time of the transfer) as the Commission shall think proper;

(c) the assets transferred to the legal tender note fund in pursuance of the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section shall be applied in writing down in the books of that fund to such extent as the Commission shall think proper the values in such books of such of the assets of the said fund as the Commission shall think proper;

(d) the assets of the note reserve fund (other than those assets transferred to the legal tender note fund under the foregoing provisions of this section) shall be transferred to the general fund and the amount thereof shall be placed to the credit of the currency reserve;

(e) from and after the winding-up of the note reserve fund in pursuance of this section, the transfers required by sub-section (7) of section 61 (as amended by this Act) of the Currency Act to be made from or to the legal tender note fund to or from the note reserve fund shall be made from or to the legal tender note fund to or from the currency reserve in the general fund.

(2) If the winding-up of the note reserve fund in pursuance of the foregoing sub-section of this section takes place on or after the appointed day, every mention in that sub-section of the Commission shall be construed and have effect as a mention of the Board.

(3) Section 50 and sub-section (7) of section 58 of the Currency Act are hereby amended, as from the completion of the winding-up of the note reserve fund, by the substitution of the expression “currency reserve” for the expression “note reserve fund” wherever the latter expression occurs in the said section 50 and the said sub-section (7) respectively.

(4) Section 4 of the Currency (Amendment) Act, 1930 (No. 30 of 1930), is hereby amended, as from the completion of the winding-up of the note reserve fund, by the substitution of the expression “currency reserve” for the expression “note reserve fund” wherever the latter expression occurs in the said section 4 , and by the substitution of the words “in which assets of the legal tender note fund are for the time being permitted to be held” for the words and figures “mentioned in sub-section (2) of section 62 of the Principal Act” where those words and figures occur in sub-section (1) of the said section 4 .

Amendment of section 61 of the Currency Act.

63. Section 61 of the Currency Act is hereby amended by the deletion of sub-section (7) thereof and the insertion in the said section of the following sub-section in lieu of the said sub-section so deleted, that is to say:—

“(7) As soon as may be after the last day of February and after the 31st day of August in every year the Commission shall value, at values not exceeding the current market prices on such last day of February or 31st day of August (as the case may be), the capital assets of the legal tender note fund on such last day of February or 31st day of August (as the case may be), and shall ascertain the extent of the net surplus or deficiency, if any, of such capital assets as so valued (less by the capital amount of any temporary borrowing under the next preceding sub-section of this section then outstanding) above or below the amount of legal tender notes outstanding on such last day of February or 31st day of August (as the case may be), and shall, as soon as may be after such ascertainment, transfer (as the case may require) from or to the legal tender note fund to or from the note reserve fund capital assets in any one or more of the forms in which assets of the legal tender note fund are for the time being permitted to be held equal in value to the amount of such surplus or deficiency, if any.”

Amendment of section 3 of the Currency (Amendment) Act, 1930 .

64. Section 3 of the Currency (Amendment) Act, 1930 (No. 30 of 1930), is hereby amended as follows, that is to say:—

(a) by the deletion of the word “unanimously” where it occurs in sub-section (1), and

(b) by the deletion of the word “unanimous” where it occurs in sub-section (2), and

(c) by the insertion in sub-section (3) after the word “sub-sections” of the words “upon a request of the Commission which is not unanimous”, and

(d) by the insertion, before sub-section (4), of a new sub-section as follows, that is to say:—

“(3A) Every order made under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of this section on a unanimous request of the Commission shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling such order is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which such House has sat after such order is laid before it, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.”

Power of Bank to obtain information as to hire-purchase businesses.

65. —(1) It shall be lawful for the Bank to obtain from—

(a) any person who by way of trade sells goods on the terms commonly called hire-purchase or on any other terms under which the price (with or without an additional sum for interest) is payable by instalments, or

(b) any person who carries on the business of financing (whether by loan, guarantee, or otherwise) the sale of goods on any of the terms mentioned in the foregoing paragraph of this section,

all such information in relation to the said trade or business (as the case may be) carried on by such person as shall appear to the Board to be necessary or desirable, and it shall be lawful for the Bank, for the purpose of obtaining such information, to serve on any such person a notice in writing requiring him to furnish in writing to the Bank such information (which shall be specified in the notice) either within a specified time not less than fourteen days after the service of the notice or periodically at intervals of not less than three months.

(2) It shall be the duty of every person on whom a notice is served by the Bank under the foregoing sub-section of this section to comply with such notice within the time or on the periodic occasions (as the case may be) specified in such notice, and if he fails so to do he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds together with a further fine not exceeding one pound for every day on which such failure is continued.

(3) A notice served by the Bank under this section on any person may be so served by sending it by prepaid post addressed to such person at his place of business or, where he has more than one such place, the place which appears to the Board to be his principal place of business within the State or, where such person is a limited company incorporated in the State, at the registered office of such company

Amendment of the Bills of Exchange Act, 1882, in respect of banker's drafts.

66. —(1) In this section the expression “banker's draft” means a draft payable on demand drawn by or on behalf of a bank upon itself, whether payable at the head office or at some other office of such bank.

(2) Sections 76 to 82 (which relate to crossed cheques) of the Bills of Exchange Act, 1882, as amended by the Bills of Exchange (Crossed Cheques) Act, 1906, shall apply to a banker's draft as if such draft were a cheque.

Legalisation of bank deposit as a trustee investment.

67. —A trustee, unless expressly forbidden by the instrument (if any) creating the trust, may, in addition to any other mode of investment for the time being authorised by law or by the said instrument (if any), invest any trust funds in his hands (whether such funds are or are not at the time in a state of investment) by placing such funds in an interest bearing deposit account with an Associated Bank or a bank of which a controlling interest is held by an Associated Bank.

Amendment of section 22 of the Bankers (Ireland) Act, 1845.

68. —So much of section 22 of the Bankers (Ireland) Act, 1845, (as adapted by or under subsequent enactments) as requires the Revenue Commissioners to publish in the Iris Oifigiúil returns made to them under that section shall cease to have effect on the passing of this Act.