17 & 18 GEO. 5, CAP. 17.

An Act to amend the Midwives (Scotland) Act, 1915, and to provide for the registration and inspection of maternity homes, and for purposes connected therewith.-[29th July 1927.]

ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE ACT, 1927.
17 & 18 GEO. 5, CAP. 18.

An Act to amend the enactments relating to the Naval Reserve
Forces. [29th July 1927.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:1. Amendment of 22 & 23 Vict. c. 40.-(1) Where in pursuance of an order under section four of the Royal Naval Reserve (Volunteer) Act, 1859 (in this section referred to as the principal Act), a man is called into actual service, he shall, if medically fit for actual service, be entitled to receive such sum, not exceeding five pounds, as the Admiralty may appoint, unless he was liable to be called into actual service in pursuance of that order at the time of his enrolment.

(2) In section five of the principal Act (which relates to the period for which volunteers are liable to serve) there shall be repealed the words "and every volunteer whose period of actual service is extended under or in consequence of such proclamation shall, beyond three years from the date of his coming into actual service, be entitled to receive for his services during the extra period of which they are required beyond such three years, twopence per day in addition to his ordinary pay; " and also the words "but after three years actual service, either continuously or from time to time during his engagement as a royal naval volunteer, he will be entitled as aforesaid to twopence per day, in addition to his ordinary pay, for the period of his actual service beyond three years."

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(3) In section three of the principal Act, for the words twenty-eight days there shall be substituted the words ninety-two days as the maximum period of instruction, training and exercise in any one year.

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(4) In this section references to the principal Act include references to the principal Act as applied by any subsequent enactment.

2. Amendment of 63 & 64 Vict. c. 52, s. 1.-Persons who have served in the. navy or marines, whether or not in receipt of pensions in respect of such service, may be allowed to enlist in the division of the reserve raised under the Naval Reserve Act, 1900, and shall be deemed always to have been eligible for such enlistment; and, accordingly, sub-section (2) of section one of that Act shall have effect, and shall be deemed always to have had effect, as if for paragraphs (a) and (b) thereof the following paragraphs were substituted :"(a) the persons who are in receipt of pensions in respect of service in the navy or marines and who are entitled to their pensions subject to a condition of service in this division of the reserve; and

:

(b) persons who have served in the navy or marines and who have enlisted in this division of the reserve; and ".

3. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Royal Naval Reserve Act, 1927, and the Royal Naval Reserve Acts, 1859 to 1902, the Naval Forces Act, 1903, and this Act, may be cited together as the Royal Naval Reserve Acts, 1859 to 1927.

POLICE (APPEALS) ACT, 1927.

17 & 18 GEO. 5, CAP. 19.

An Act to provide for a right of appeal by members of police forces who are dismissed or required to resign.-[29th July 1927.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:1. Right of appeal to Secretary of State. - (1) A member of a police force who after the passing of this Act is dismissed or required to resign as an alternative to dismissal may appeal to a Secretary of State in accordance with this Act and the rules made thereunder, if he gives notice of appeal in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time.

shall be made, and is in this Act referred to as, the re(2) On any such appeal the disciplinary authority spondent.

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(3) For the purposes of this Act, 'police force" Pensions Act, 1921, that is to say, any such police force means a police force within the meaning of the Police as is mentioned in the first column of the Schedule to this Act, and in relation to each such police force "disciplinary authority means the officer or authority mentioned in the second column of that Schedule.

2. Decision by Secretary of State.-(1) The Secretary of State, unless it appears to him that the case is of such a nature that it can properly be determined without taking oral evidence, shall appoint one or more persons (one at least of whom shall be a person engaged or experienced in police administration) to hold an inquiry and report to him.

(2) The Secretary of State after considering the notice of appeal and any other documents submitted to him by the appellant and the respondent in accordance with the rules under this Act, and the report (if any) of the person or persons holding the inquiry shall by order either

(a) allow the appeal; or

(b) dismiss the appeal; or

(c) vary the punishment by substituting some other punishment which the disciplinary authority might have awarded:

Provided that the Secretary of State may before making the order remit the case for further investigation by the person or persons who held the inquiry, or if he thinks fit, for further consideration by the disciplinary authority.

(3) An order made by the Secretary of State under this section shall as soon as it is made be sent to the appellant and the respondent together with, if an inquiry was held, a copy of the report of the person holding the inquiry, and the order shall be final and binding upon all parties.

(4) Where an appeal is allowed, or the punishment is varied by the Secretary of State, the order shall take effect by way of substitution for the decision appealed from, and as from the date of that decision; and where the effect of the order is to re-instate the appellant in the force, he shall, for the purpose of reckoning service for pension, and, to such extent (if any) as may be determined by the order, for the purpose of pay, be deemed to have served continuously from the date of the decision to the date of his reinstatement, and if he was suspended for a period immediately preceding the date of the decision, the order shall deal with such suspension.

3. Power to summon witnesses, &c.—A person holding an inquiry under this Act may by order require any person to attend as a witness and give evidence or to produce any documents in his possession or power which relate to any matter in question at the inquiry, and are such as would be subject to production in a court of law, and if any person fails without reasonable excuse

to comply with the provisions of any such order he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds, and a person holding the inquiry shall have power to take evidence on oath and for that purpose to administer oaths.

4. Rules.—The Secretary of State may make rules as to procedure on appeals and at inquiries under this Act, and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of this provision, may make rules

(a) prescribing the form and contents of the notice of appeal, and the documents to be submitted by the appellant and the time within which such documents are to be submitted;

(b) prescribing the documents to be submitted and the time within which they are to be submitted by the respondent :

Provided that the rules shall provide for giving to the appellant a right to appear at an inquiry by a serving member of a police force or, with the consent of the person holding the inquiry, by counsel or a solicitor, and for giving to the respondent a right to appear by an officer of the police force or by the clerk or other officer of the police authority, or, with the consent of the person holding the inquiry, by counsel or a solicitor.

5. Costs and expenses.-(1) The Secretary of State may by his order direct that the appellant shall pay the whole or any part of his own costs, but, subject to any such direction being given, all the costs and expenses of an appeal under this Act, including the costs of the parties, shall be defrayed out of the police fund.

(2) Any costs payable under this section shall be subject to taxation in such manner as the Secretary of State may direct.

6. Application to Scotland. The provisions of this Act shall apply to Scotland, subject to the following modifications:

(1) Any inquiry and report in pursuance of section two shall be held and made by the sheriff (excluding the sheriff substitute):

(2) The provisions of section seventy-eight of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, and of any local enactment in so far as they relate to the removal, dismissal or suspension of the chief constable of a burgh, or to inquiry into the conduct and efficiency of such chief constable, shall have effect as if references to the sheriff were omitted therefrom, and accordingly so much of the said provisions as applies to the case of a difference of opinion between the sheriff and any other person or body shall cease to have effect.

7. Short title and extent.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Police (Appeals) Act, 1927.

(2) This Act shall not apply to Northern Ireland.

Sect.

MONEYLENDERS ACT, 1927.

17 & 18 GEO. 5, CAP. 21.
SUMMARY.

1. Licences to be taken out by moneylenders.

2. Certificate required for grant of moneylender's excise licence.

3. Suspension and forfeiture of moneylenders' certificates. 4. Names to be stated on documents issued by moneylenders. 5. Restrictions on money-lending advertisements.

6. Form of moneylenders' contracts.

7. Prohibition of compound interest and provision as to defaults.

8. Obligation of moneylender to supply information as to state of loan and copies of documents relating thereto. 9. Provisions as to bankruptcy proceedings for moneylenders' loans.

10. Amendments of 63 & 64 Vict. c. 51. s. 1. 11. Courts to which proceedings on money-lending transactions are to be taken.

12. Prohibition of charge for expenses on loans by money. lenders.

13. Limitation of time for proceedings in respect of money lent by moneylenders.

14. Special provisions as to pawnbroker's loans. 15. Interpretation, &c.

16. Notice and information to be given on assignment of moneylenders' debts.

17. Application of Act as respects assignees. 18. Application to Scotland.

19. Short title, citation, construction, repeal, extent and commencement.

SCHEDULES.

THE STATUTE.

An Act to amend the Law with respect to persons carrying on business as Moneylenders.—[29th July 1927.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

1. Licences to be taken out by moneylenders.—(1) Every moneylender, whether carrying on business alone or as a partner in a firm, shall take out annually in respect of every address at which he carries on his business as such, an excise licence (in this Act referred to as "a moneylender's excise licence "), which shall expire on the thirtyfirst day of July in every year, and, subject as hereinafter provided, there shall be charged on every moneylender's excise licence an excise duty of fifteen pounds, or if the licence be taken out not more than six months before the expiration thereof, of ten pounds.

Provided that

(a) the duty charged on any moneylender's excise licence which will expire on the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, shall, notwithstanding that the licence may be

taken out more than six months before the expiration thereof, be a duty of ten pounds; and (b) where moneylender's excise licences are taken out by two or more moneylenders in respect of any address or addresses at which they carry on their business as partners in a firm, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall remit, or if the duty has been paid repay, to the firm a sum equal to the aggregate of the duties charged on such a number of the licences taken out as exceeds the number of the addresses in respect of which they are taken out; and

(c) where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise that there is in force a licence for carrying on the business of a pawnbroker at any premises in respect of which a moneylender's excise licence is taken out by the person carrying on the business, the Commissioners shall remit, or if the duty has been paid repay, to that person such part of the duty charged on the moneylender's excise licence as is equal to the amount of the duty paid in respect of the licence for carrying on the business of a pawnbroker, or where in any such case moneylender's excise licences are taken out by partners in a firm in respect of the premises, the remission or repayment shall be made to the firm.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, moneylenders' excise licences shall be in such form as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may direct, and shall be granted on payment of the appropriate duty by any officer of Customs and Excise authorised by the Commissioners to grant them, and regulations made by the said Commissioners may make provision as to the procedure to be followed in making application for moneylenders' excise licences :

Provided that a moneylender's excise licence shall be taken out by a moneylender in his true name, and shall be void if it be taken out in any other name, but every moneylender's excise licence shall also show the moneylender's authorised name and authorised address.

(3) If any person

(a) takes out a moneylender's excise licence in any name other than his true name; or (b) carries on business as a moneylender without

having in force a proper moneylender's excise licence authorising him so to do, or, being licensed as a moneylender, carries on business as such in any name other than his authorised name, or at any other place than his authorised address or addresses; or

(c) enters into any agreement in the course of his

business as a moneylender with respect to the advance or repayment of money, or takes any security for money, in the course of his business as a moneylender, otherwise than in his authorised

name:

he shall be guilty of a contravention of the provisions of this Act and shall for each offence be liable to an excise penalty of one hundred pounds :

Provided that, on a second or subsequent conviction of any person (other than a company) for an offence under this subsection, the court may, in lieu of or in addition to ordering the offender to pay the penalty aforesaid, order him to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, and an offender being a company shall on a second or subsequent conviction be liable to an excise penalty of five hundred pounds.

2. Certificate required for grant of moneylender's excise licence. (1) A moneylender's excise licence shall not be granted except to a person who holds a certificate granted

in accordance with the provisions of this section authorising the grant of the licence to that person, and a separate certificate shall be required in respect of every separate licence. Any moneylender's excise licence granted in contravention of this section shall be void. (2) Certificates under this section (in this Act referred to as "certificates ") shall be granted by the petty sessional court having jurisdiction in the petty sessional division in which the moneylender's business is to be carried on, so, however, that within any part of the metropolitan police district for which a police court is established, a certificate shall not be granted except by a police magistrate.

(3) Every certificate granted to a moneylender shall show his true name and the name under which, and the address at which, he is authorised by the certificate to carry on business as such, and a certificate shall not authorise a moneylender to carry on business at more than one address, or under more than one name, or under any name which includes the word "bank," or otherwise implies that he carries on banking business, and no certificate shall authorise a moneylender to carry on business under any name except(a) his true name; or

(b) the name of a firm in which he is a partner, not being a firm required by the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916, to be registered; or (c) a business name, whether of an individual or of a firm in which he is a partner, under which he or the firm has, at the passing of this Act, been registered for not less than three years both as a moneylender under the Moneylenders Act, 1900, and under the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916.

(4) A certificate shall come into force on the date specified therein, and shall expire on the next following thirty-first day of July.

(5) A Secretary of State shall make rules with respect to the procedure to be followed in making applications for certificates (including the notices to be given of intention to make such an application), and certificates shall be in such form as may be prescribed by rules so made.

(6) A certificate shall not be refused except on some one or more of the following grounds—

(a) that satisfactory evidence has not been produced of the good character of the applicant, and in the case of a company of the persons responsible for the management thereof;

(b) that satisfactory evidence has been produced that the applicant, or any person responsible or proposed to be responsible for the management of his business as a moneylender, is not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate;

(c) that the applicant, or any person responsible or proposed to be responsible for the management of his business as a moneylender, is by order of a court disqualified for holding a certificate ; (d) that the applicant has not complied with the provisions of any rules made under this section with respect to applications for certificates. (7) Any person aggrieved by the refusal of a petty sessional court to grant a certificate may appeal to a court of quarter sessions in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts as if the refusal were an order of a court of summary jurisdiction.

3. Suspension and forfeiture of moneylenders' certificates.—(1) Where any person, being the holder of a certificate, is convicted of any offence under this Act or under section two or four of the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act, 1892, or the Moneylenders Act, 1900, the court

(a) may order that any certificates held by that person, and in the case of a partner in a firm by any other partner in the firm, shall either be suspended for such time as the court thinks fit, or shall be

forfeited, and may also, if the court thinks fit, declare any such person, or any person responsible for the management of the moneylending business carried on by the person convicted, to be disqualified for obtaining a certificate for such time as the court thinks fit; and

(b) shall cause particulars of the conviction and of any order made by the court under this sub-section to be endorsed on every certificate held by the person convicted or by any other person affected by the order, and shall cause copies of those particulars to be sent to the authority by whom any certificate so endorsed was granted, and to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise : Provided that, where by order of a court a certificate held by any person is suspended or forfeited, or any person is disqualified for obtaining a certificate, he may, whether or not he is the person convicted, appeal against the order in the same manner as any person convicted may appeal against his conviction, and the court may, if it thinks fit, pending the appeal, defer the operation of the order.

(2) Any certificate required by a court for endorsement in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section shall be produced, in such manner and within such time as may be directed by the court, by the person by whom it is held, and any person who, without reasonable cause, makes default in producing any certificate so required shall, in respect of each offence, be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for each day during which the default continues.

(3) Where a certificate held by any person is ordered to be suspended or to be forfeited under the foregoing provisions of this section, any moneylender's excise licences granted to that person, whether in pursuance of that or any other certificate, shall be suspended during the period for which the certificate is ordered to be suspended or become void, as the case may be.

4. Names to be stated on documents issued by moneylenders.-(1) Subsection (2) of section two of the Companies (Particulars as to Directors) Act, 1917 (which requires certain particulars to be published in trade catalogues, trade circulars, show cards and business letters) shall apply with the necessary modifications to every company licensed under this Act notwithstanding that the company was registered or had established a place of business within the United Kingdom on or before the twenty-second day of November, nineteen hundred and sixteen.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of the last foregoing section and of section eighteen of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916, a moneylender shall not, for the purposes of his business as such, issue or publish, or cause to be issued or published, any advertisement, circular, business letter, or other similar document which does not show

(a) in such manner as to be not less conspicuous than any other name, the authorised name of the moneylender; and (b) except in the case of an advertisement published in a newspaper, any name, other than his authorised name, under which the moneylender, and in the case of a firm any partner therein, was before the commencement of this Act registered as a moneylender under the Moneylenders Act, 1900; and any moneylender who acts in contravention of this subsection shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds in respect of each offence.

(3) If a moneylender, for the purposes of his business as such, issues or publishes, or causes to be issued or published, any advertisement, circular or document of any kind whatsoever containing expressions which might reasonably be held to imply that he carries on banking business, he shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and on a second or subsequent conviction, in lieu of or in

addition to such a fine as aforesaid, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction of an offender being a company, to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds.

cause

5. Restrictions on moneylending advertisements.—(1) No person shall knowingly send or deliver or to be sent or delivered to any person except in response to his written request any circular or other document advertising the name, address or telephone number of a moneylender, or containing an invitation(a) to borrow money from a moneylender;

(b) to enter into any transaction involving the borrowing of money from a moneylender;

(c) to apply to any place with a view to obtaining information or advice as to borrowing any money

from a moneylender.

(2) Subject as hereinafter provided, no person shall publish or cause to be published in any newspaper or other printed paper issued periodically for public circulation, or by means of any poster or placard, an advertisement advertising any such particulars, or containing any such invitation, as aforesaid:

Provided that an advertisement in conformity with the requirements of this Act relating to the use of names on moneylenders' documents may be published by or on behalf of a moneylender in any newspaper or in any such paper as aforesaid or by means of a poster or placard exhibited at any authorised address of the moneylender, if it contains no addition to the particulars necessary to comply with the said requirements, except any of the following particulars, that is to say any authorised address at which he carries on business as a moneylender and the telegraphic address and telephone number thereof, any address at which he formerly carried on business, a statement that he lends money with or without security, and of the highest and lowest sums that he is prepared to lend, and a statement of the date on which the business carried on by him was first established.

(3) No moneylender or any person on his behalf shall employ any agent or canvasser for the purpose of inviting any person to borrow money or to enter into any transaction involving the borrowing of money from a moneylender, and no person shall act as such agent or canvasser, or demand or receive directly or indirectly any sum or other valuable consideration by way of commission or otherwise for introducing or undertaking to introduce to a moneylender any person desiring to borrow money.

(4) Where any document issued or published by or on behalf of a moneylender purports to indicate the terms of interest upon which he is willing to make loans or any particular loan, the document shall either express the interest proposed to be charged in terms of a rate per cent. per annum or show the rate per cent. per annum represented by the interest proposed to be charged as calculated in accordance with the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act.

(5) Any person acting in contravention of any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall in respect of each offence be liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both such imprisonment and fine, and, on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(6) Where it is shown that a money-lending transaction was brought about by a contravention of any of the provisions of this section, the transaction shall, notwithstanding that the moneylender was duly licensed under this Act, be illegal, unless the moneylender proves that the contravention occurred without his consent or connivance.

6. Form of moneylenders' contracts.—(1) No contract for the repayment by a borrower of money lent to him or to any agent on his behalf by a moneylender after the

commencement of this Act or for the payment by him of interest on money so lent and no security given by the borrower or by any such agent as aforesaid in respect of any such contract shall be enforceable, unless a note or memorandum in writing of the contract be made and signed personally by the borrower, and unless a copy thereof be delivered or sent to the borrower within seven days of the making of the contract; and no such contract or security shall be enforceable if it is proved that the note or memorandum aforesaid was not signed by the borrower before the money was lent or before the security was given as the case may be.

(2) The note or memorandum aforesaid shall contain all the terms of the contract, and in particular shall show the date on which the loan is made, the amount of the principal of the loan, and, either the interest charged on the loan expressed in terms of a rate per cent. per annum, or the rate per cent. per annum represented by the interest charged as calculated in accordance with the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act.

7. Prohibition of compound interest and provision as to defaults. Subject as hereinafter provided, any contract made after the commencement of this Act for the loan of money by a moneylender shall be illegal in so far as it provides directly or indirectly for the payment of compound interest or for the rate or amount of interest being increased by reason of any default in the payment of sums due under the contract:

Provided that provision may be made by any such contract that if default is made in the payment upon the due date of any sum payable to the moneylender under the contract, whether in respect of principal or interest, the moneylender shall be entitled to charge simple interest on that sum from the date of the default until the sum is paid, at a rate not exceeding the rate payable in respect of the principal apart from any default, and any interest so charged shall not be reckoned for the purposes of this Act as part of the interest charged in respect of the loan.

8. Obligation of moneylender to supply information as to state of loan and copies of documents relating thereto.—(1) In respect of every contract for the repayment of money lent by a moneylender whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, the moneylender shall, on any reasonable demand in writing being made by the borrower at any time during the continuance of the contract and on tender by the borrower of the sum of one shilling for expenses, supply to the borrower or, if the borrower so requires, to any person specified in that behalf in the demand, a statement signed by the moneylender or his agent showing—

(a) the date on which the loan was made, the amount of the principal of the loan and the rate per cent. per annum of interest charged; and

(b) the amount of any payment already received by the moneylender in respect of the loan and the date on which it was made; and

(c) the amount of every sum due to the moneylender, but unpaid, and the date upon which it became due, and the amount of interest accrued due and unpaid in respect of every such sum; and (d) the amount of every sum not yet due which remains outstanding, and the date upon which it will become due.

(2) A moneylender shall, on any reasonable demand in writing by the borrower, and on tender of a reasonable sum for expenses, supply a copy of any document relating to a loan made by him or any security therefor, to the borrower, or if the borrower so requires, to any person specified in that behalf in the demand.

(3) If a moneylender to whom a demand has been made under this section fails without reasonable excuse to comply therewith within one month after the demand has been made, he shall not, so long as the default continues, be entitled to sue for or recover any sum due under the contract on account either of principal or interest, and

interest shall not be chargeable in respect of the period of the default, and if such default is made or continued after proceedings have ceased to lie in respect of the loan, the moneylender shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day on which the default continues.

9. Provisions as to bankruptcy proceedings for moneylenders' loans.-(1) Where a debt due to a moneylender in respect of a loan made by him after the commencement of this Act includes interest, that interest shall, for the purposes of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914, relating to the presentation of a bankruptcy petition, voting at meetings, compositions and schemes of arrangement, and dividend, be calculated at a rate not exceeding five per cent. per annum, but nothing in the foregoing provision shall prejudice the right of the creditor to receive out of the estate, after all the debts proved in the estate have been paid in full, any higher rate of interest to which he may be entitled.

The provisions of this subsection shall, in relation to such a debt as aforesaid, have effect in substitution for the provisions of subsection (1) of section sixty-six of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914.

(2) No proof of a debt due to a moneylender in respect of a loan made by him shall be admitted for any of the purposes of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914, unless the affidavit verifying the debt is accompanied by a statement showing in detail

(a) the amount of the sums actually lent to the debtor and the dates on which they were lent, and the amount of every payment already received by the moneylender in respect of the loan and the date on which every such payment was made; and

(b) the amount of the balance which remains unpaid distinguishing the amount of the principal from the amount of interest included therein, the appropriation between principal and interest being made in accordance with the provisions of this Act where the interest is not expressed by the contract for the loan in terms of a rate; and

(c) where the amount of interest included in the unpaid balance represents a rate per cent. per annum exceeding five per cent., the amount of interest which would be so included if it were calculated at the rate of five per cent. per annum. (3) General rules may be made under section one hundred and thirty-two of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914, for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects of this section.

10. Amendments of 63 & 64 Vict. c. 51, s. 1.—(1) Where, in any proceedings in respect of any money lent by a moneylender after the commencement of this Act or in respect of any agreement or security made or taken after the commencement of this Act in respect of money lent either before or after the commencement of this Act, it is found that the interest charged exceeds the rate of forty-eight per cent. per annum, or the corresponding rate in respect of any other period, the court shall, unless the contrary is proved, presume for the purposes of section one of the Moneylenders Act, 1900, that the interest charged is excessive and that the transaction is harsh and unconscionable, but this provision shall be without prejudice to the powers of the court under that section where the court is satisfied that the interest charged, although not exceeding forty-eight per cent. per annum, is excessive. (2) Where a court reopens a transaction of a moneylender under the said section one of the Moneylenders Act, 1900, the court may require the moneylender to produce any certificate granted to him in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and may cause such particulars as the court thinks desirable to be endorsed on any such certificate, and a copy of the particulars to be sent to the authority by whom the certificate was granted.