72 
38 & 39 Vict. Cap. 60, s. 15. 
(4.) Distribution of sums not exceeding fifty pounds.—If 
any member of a society [or branch] entitled from the funds 
thereof to a sum not exceeding fifty pounds, dies intestate 
and without having made any nomination under this Act 
which remains unrevoked at his death, such sum shall be 
payable, without letters of administration, to the person 
who appears to a majority of the trustees, upon such evi 
dence as they may deem satisfactory, to be entitled by law 
to receive the same. 
(5.) Payments to persons apparently entitled valid.—When 
ever the society [or branch], after the decease of any mem 
ber, pays any sum of money to the person who at the time 
appears to the trustees to be entitled under this section, the 
payment is valid and effectual against any demand madeirpon 
the trustees or the society [or branch] by any other person. 
(6.) When trustees are absent, <Scc., registrar may order 
stock to be transferred.—When any person, being or having 
been a trustee of a society [or branch], and whether ap 
pointed before or after the legal establishment thereof, in 
whose name any stock belonging to such society [or branch] 
transferable at the Bank of England or Bank of Ireland is 
standing, either jointly with another or others, or solely, is 
absent from Great Britain (a) or Ireland respectively, or be 
comes bankrupt, or files any petition or executes any deed 
provision will be found of great benefit to depositors in savings 
banks and members of friendly societies, particularly with refer 
ence to the easy and comparatively inexpensive mode of now 
obtaining, by personal application at the Court of Probate, 
London, or at the office of the district registrar in the country, a 
probate or letters of administration. 
By 36 & 37 Vict. c. 52, administration to the estate of an 
intestate not exceeding £100 may be obtained by his widow or 
children through the county court for a small fee in England or 
Ireland; and by 38 & 39 Viet. c. 41, confirmation in Scotland 
for an estate not exceeding £150 may be obtained from the com 
missary clerk for a small fee. Further relief from trouble and 
expense, in the case of small estates, is contemplated by a bill 
now before parliament. 
By 38 & 39 Vict. c. 27, the benefits of the Act 36 & 37 Vict. 
c. 52, are extended to the children of a widow dying intestate. 
(a) “ England ” in the Act of 1875. The correction to “ Great 
Britain” is introduced by s. 10 of the Act of 1876.