(4.) Provided that on application of the trustees or committee of a registered friendly society desiring to amalgamate or transfer its engagements, and upon notice of that application being published in the Gazette, the chief registrar, after hearing the trustees or committee and any other persons whom he considers entitled to be heard upon the application, may, with the consent of the Treasury, order that any of the assents, consents, and conditions required by this Act, or by any regulations made under this Act, be dispensed with, and may confirm the amalgamation or transfer.
(5.) A registered society consisting wholly of members under twenty-one years of age, and a registered society or branch or branches of a society having members above twenty-one years of age, may, by resolutions registered in the manner required for the registration of an amendment of rules, become amalgamated together as one society or branch, or provide for distributing among several branches the members of a society consisting wholly of members under twenty one years of age, and the other provisions of this section shall not apply to. that amalgamation.
(6.) The value of members shall be ascertained by giving one vote to every member, and an additional vote for every five years that he has been a member, but to no one member more than five votes in the whole.
(7.) If any member of a friendly society which has amalgamated or transferred its engagements, or if any person claiming any relief, annuity, or other benefit, from the funds thereof, is dissatisfied with the provision made for satisfying his claim, that member or person may apply to the county court of the district within which the chief or any other place of business of the society is situate for relief or other order, and that court shall have the same powers in the matter as in regard to the settlement of disputes under this Act
Conversion of society into company.71.—(1.) A registered society may, by special resolution, Conversion of determine to convert itself into a company under the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1890, or to amalgamate with or transfer its engagements to any such company.
(2.) If a special resolution for converting a society into a company contains the particulars required by the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1890, to be contained in the memorandum of association of a company, and a copy thereof has been registered at the central office, a copy of that resolution under the seal or stamp of the central office shall have the same effect as a memorandum of association duly signed and attested under the said Acts.
(3.) If a society is registered as, or amalgamates with, or transfers all its engagements to, a company, the registry of the society under this Act shall thereupon become void, and shall be cancelled by the chief registrar or by the assistant registrar for Scotland or Ireland under his direction; but the registration of a society as a company shall not affect any right or claim subsisting against that society, or any penalty incurred by that society; and for the purpose of enforcing any such right, claim, or penalty, the society may be sued and proceeded against in the same manner
