Cap. 269 Art. 5Provisions concerning loans made under this Act. Cap. 16.

(1) The provisions of this article shall have effect with respect to loans made by the Government under this Act:

(a) all loans shall be made against the security of a pledge consisting in articles of gold, silver or other precious metal or of precious stone, or a combination thereof;

(b) the acceptance or otherwise of any article offered by way of pledge as a security for a loan shall be in the absolute discretion of the Government;

(c) no article shall be received as a security for a loan unless and until a ticket has been issued in respect thereof, and, save as provided in this Act, no such article shall be returned except against the surrender of that ticket;

(d) a loan shall not be made for a specified period, and any article given in pledge as a security for a loan may be redeemed at any time by the payment of the amount of the loan and any interest that may be due thereon;

(e) all loans shall, unless renewed, be repayable within three years from the date on which they are made;

(f) the interest payable on any loan shall be five per cent per annum or such other rate (not being higher than the maximum allowed by article 1852 of the Civil Code)

as the Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette specify;

(g) any pledge remaining unredeemed within the aforesaid period of three years shall be sold by public auction, and where the price at which the pledge is sold exceeds the amount due to the Government in respect of the loan, including all interest due until the price of the pledge sold is received by the Government, any such excess shall be paid to the owner of the pledge against the surrender of any ticket issued with respect to the loan; of the pledge to which the excess relates.

(2) Where a ticket has been lost, destroyed or otherwise mislaid, any article in respect of which that ticket was issued may be delivered to a person claiming entitlement thereto only if such procedure as may be prescribed has been followed within such time as may be prescribed.

(3) In this Act, the word "ticket" means any document released on behalf of the Government in evidence that an article has been delivered as a pledge by way of security of a loan made under this Act.

(4) Where any article received as a security of a loan under this Act is delivered in good faith to any person against the surrender of the relative ticket, or in accordance with the provisions of subarticle (2), no claim by any person against the Government or against any person acting on behalf of the Government, and arising from any delivery as aforesaid, shall be entertained by any court.