76 
38 & 39 Vict. Cap. 69, a 16. 
(c.) With the Commissioners for the Reduction of the 
National Debt as hereinafter provided : 
(d.) In the purchase of land, or in the erection or altera 
tion of offices or other buildings thereon: 
(e.) Upon any other security expressly directed by the 
rules of the society [or branch], not being personal 
security, except as hereinafter authorized with 
respect to loans (a). 
(2.) Holding of land.—A society, or any branch of a 
society, may (if the rules thereof so provide) hold, pur 
chase, or take on lease in the names of the trustees for the 
time being of such society or branch, in every county where 
it lias an office, any land, and may sell, exchange, mort 
gage, lease, or build upon the same (with power to alter 
and pull down buildings and again rebuild), and no pur 
chaser, assignee, mortgagee, or tenant shall be bound to in 
quire as to the authority for any sale, exchange, mortgage, 
or lease by the trustees, and the receipt of the trustees 
shall be a discharge lor all moneys arising from or in con 
nection with such sale, exchange, mortgage, or lease ; and 
for the purpose of this section no branch of a registered 
society need be separately registered : Provided that no 
thing herein contained shall authorize any benevolent so 
ciety to hold land exceeding one acre in extent at any one 
time (5). 
(a) This differs from 18 & 19 Vict. c. 63, s. 32, in the two 
following important particulars 1st. The purchase of land is 
permitted, and to any extent. 2nd. The prohibition of the pur 
chase of shares in any company is removed, provided such pur 
chase be expressly directed by the rules of the society, and 
provided the purchase is an investment upon security. Shares 
to which a liability attaches are not a lawful investment. 
{b) This differs from 18 & 19 Vict. c. 63, s. 38, by omitting 
(except for benevolent societies) the limitation to one acre of 
land ; by omitting the perplexing proviso that the money spent 
in purchasing and adapting premises shall be raised according to 
rules in that behalf inserted; by omitting the restriction to a 
building for holding the meetings of the society; and by extend 
ing the privileges of the section to branches not separately 
registered. As to building societies, see 37 & 38 Vict. c. 42, 
s. 37; and as to trade unions, 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31, s. 7.