APPENDIX OP CASES. 
205 
there enumerated all relate to matters of a comparatively 
small amount, and are of the character I have mentioned, 
and the general words must he construed by reference to 
■the particular terms which precede them, and must be 
taken to refer to matters ejnsdem generis with them. But 
we have had presented to our attention the case of Walker 
v. Giles, 6 C. B. 662 (a), followed by other cases, in which 
it was held that the words of the corresponding section of 
the earlier Act applied to mortgages made to the society by 
strangers, and were not confined to mortgages by their own 
members. In that Act, however, the words “nor other 
security” occurred after the word “bond,” and it is possible, 
and I am far from thinking it improbable, that those words 
were omitted by the legislature in consequence of the 
decision in that case. What the legislature meant was to 
exempt transactions relating to small sums, and to official 
■acts and the conduct of internal business ; they therefore 
left out the words “ nor other security ” for the purpose of 
confining the exemption to bonds, and to such bonds as are 
required in the administration of the society’s affairs. If 
the transfer of a mortgage to the society is exempt, it is 
impossible to exclude from the exemption the case of an 
original mortgage to them, where by universal usage the 
duty with other cost of conveyance is to be paid not by 
them but by the mortgagor. It is impossible without 
clear words to suppose that the legislature can have done 
anything so mischievous or so contrary to equity as to 
extend exceptional privileges, not only to the society, but 
to all those that deal with it. 
We must therefore either read the words as applicable 
only to cases where by usage or under the contract the 
society would have to pay the duty, for which, however, 
there is no authority, no such limitation being expressed 
in the Act, or we must read the section as referring to 
acts, such as a power of attorney, which bring into exist 
ence or create the possibility of negotiation, acts which 
are in a manner exclusively the acts of the society, or 
of its officers and members in their relation to it and to one 
another. 
Martin, B.—I am of the same opinion. It is obvious 
both from 13 Geo. 4, c. 56, and 18 & 19 Viet. c. 63, that the 
object of the legislature was to relieve these societies and 
(«) This case related to a Benefit Building Society under 
6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 32.