of this act, and paid out of the assets of the estate in respect of which such register has so acted; or if there be no such assets, or if the assets shall be insufficient, then such expenses shall form a part of the costs in the case or cases in which the register shall have acted in such journey, to be apportioned by the judge.

SEC. 47. That in each case there shall be allowed and paid, in addition to the fees of the clerk of the court as now established by law, or as may be established by general order, under the provisions of this act, for fees in bankruptcy, the following fees, which shall be applied to the payment for the services of the registers. (Here follows an enumeration of the fees.)

Such fees shall have priority of payment over all other claims out of the estate, and, before a warrant issues, the petitioner shall deposit with the senior register of the court, or with the clerk, to be delivered to the register, fifty dollars as security for the payment thereof; and if there are not sufficient assets for the payment of the fees, the person upon whose petition the warrant is issued, shall pay the same, and the court may issue an execution against him to compel payment to the register.]

When the bankrupt is unable to pay this fee, he may, nevertheless, file his petition, provided it is accompanied by an affidavit setting forth the fact that he has not and cannot obtain the money with which to pay such fees. (Sec. 51.) No provision is made in the act for the payment of compensation or expenses necessary to be incurred, where the bankrupt leaves no estate out of which the same may be paid; though by Orders XXXV (4), at any time during the pendency of the proceedings, the judge may order those fees to be paid out of the estate, or if the bankrupt has or can obtain the money with which to pay the fees, order him to do so, and, in default, dismiss the petition. Orders XXXV of the Supreme Court has reference to the compensation and expenses of referees. Compensation of referees.- Under the act of 1867 it was held that a register was entitled to the percentage usually paid the assignees for the custody of goods and the proceeds thereof, which have been surrendered to him and sold under his direction pending the appointment of assignee. (In re Loder et al., 2 N. B. R. 162; 3 Ben. 211; 2 Amer. Law T. 106; 1 Amer. Law T. Rep. Bankr. 159: Fed. Cas. $455.) For his fees a register has a lien on the fund in court (In re Breck et al., 13 N. B. R. 216; Fed. Cas. 1823); and questions as to charges of a register may be raised by an exception, or may be certified by the register. (In re Sherwood, 1 N. B. R. 74; 25 Leg. Int. 76; 1 Amer. Law T. Rep. Bankr. 47; 6 Phil. 461; Fed. Cas. 12774)

b. Whenever a case is transferred from one referee to another the judge shall determine the proportion in which the fee and commissions therefor shall be divided between the referees.

The judge may, at any time, for the convenience of parties or for cause, transfer case from one referee to another. (Sec. 22, b.)

c. In the event of the reference of a case being revoked before it is concluded, and when the case is specially referred, the judge shall determine what part of the fee and commissions shall be paid to the referee.

Sec. 41. Contempts before referees.-a. A person shall not, in proceedings before a referee, (1) disobey or resist any lawful order, process, or writ; (2) misbehave during a hearing or so near the place thereof as to obstruct the same; (3) neglect to produce, after having been ordered to do so, any pertinent document; or (4) refuse to appear after having been subpoenaed, or, upon appearing, refuse to take the oath as a witness, or, after having taken the oath, refuse to be examined according to law: Provided, That no person shall be required to attend as a witness before a referee at a place outside of the State of his residence, and more than one hundred miles from such place of residence, and only in case his lawful mileage and fee for one day's attendance shall be first paid or tendered to him.

[Act of 1867. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That parties and witnesses summoned before a register shall be bound to attend in pursuance of such summons at the place and time designated therein, and shall be entitled to protection, and be liable to process of contempt in like manner as parties and witnesses are now liable thereto in case of default in attendance under any writ of subpoena, and all persons wilfully and corruptly swearing or affirming falsely before a register shall be liable to all the penalties, punishments, and consequences of perjury. If any person examined before a register shall refuse or decline to answer, or to swear to or to sign his examination when taken, the register shall refer the matter to the judge, who shall have power to order

the person so acting to pay the costs thereby occasioned, if such person be compellable by law to answer such question or to sign such examination, and such person shall also be liable to be punished for contempt.

SEC. 26. The bankrupt shall at all times, until his discharge, be subject to the order of the court and for neglect or refusal to obey any order of the court, such bankrupt may be committed and punished as for a contempt of the court.]

The referee cannot punish for contempt, but when committed in proceedings pending before him, he may certify the facts to the judge, who is authorized to impose like punishment as for similar offenses committed before a court of bankruptcy. (Sec. 2—16.)

A witness is entitled under United States Revised Statutes, section 848 for each day's attendance in court, or before any officer pursuant to law, to one dollar and fifty cents, and five cents a mile for going from his place of residence to the place of trial or hearing, and five cents a mile for returning. By the act of August 3, 1892 (1 Supp. Rev. Stat. 165), witnesses in courts in Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah are entitled to receive fifteen cents for each mile necessarily traveled over any stage line or by private conveyance, and five cents for each mile over any railroad in going to and returning from said court. But no officer of a United States court is entitled to witness fees for attending before any court or commissioner where he is officiating. (U. S. Rev. Stat., sec. 819.)

Contempts before referees.- A register ordered a bankrupt to turn over certain moneys in his hands, and upon failing to do so he was held guilty of contempt. (In re Speyer, 6 N. B. R. 255; 42 How. Pr. 397; Fed. Cas. 13239.) And it is contempt for an involuntary bankrupt to neglect to pay to the assignee a sum in his inventory as "cash on hand.” (In re Dresser, 3 N. B. R. 138; Fed. Cas. 4077.) For the hearing in opposition to discharge, a witness in New York was summoned to attend at Brooklyn. He failed to appear, and an application to attach him was made. It was held that the witness should attend. (In re Woodward, 12 N. B. R. 297; 8 Ben. 112; 1 N. Y. Wkly. Dig. 33; 7 Chi. Leg. News, 287.)

A witness who purchased claims against a bankrupt, being examined as to where he obtained the money therefor, and having answered on cross-examination that it did not come from the bankrupt, was bound, on pain of contempt, to state where he did obtain it. (In re Lathrop et al., 4 N. B. R. 93; Fed. Cas. 8106.)

See EVIDENCE, sec. 21, ante.

Not contempt of court.- Where a witness has been summoned to be examined before a register and did not so appear, but filed objections declining to submit to examination until the question raised had been

decided, the register held his declining to be a witness, after raising the objections and filing the papers relating to same, was not a contempt of court (In re Dole, 7 N. B. R. 538; Fed. Cas. 3965); and where the bankrupt, owing to sickness, was unable to attend as required by the register, he was not in contempt (In re Carpenter, 1 N. B. R. 51; Fed. Cas. 2427); nor was one who replied to an order for examination that before the order was issued he had been discharged. (In re Jones, 6 N. B. R. 386; Fed. Cas. 7449.)

b. The referee shall certify the facts to the judge, if any person shall do any of the things forbidden in this section. The judge shall thereupon, in a summary manner, hear the evidence as to the acts complained of, and, if it is such as to warrant him in so doing, punish such person in the same manner and to the same extent as for a contempt committed before the court of bankruptcy, or commit such person upon the same conditions as if the doing of the forbidden act had occurred with reference to the process of, or in the presence of, the court.

[Act of 1867. SEC. 4. Provided, however, That nothing in this section contained shall empower a register to commit for contempt, or to hear a disputed adjudication, or any question of the allowance or suspension of an order of discharge.]

See also note to sec. 41, a, ante.

The register cannot make any binding decisions, or compel a witness to answer, if he refuses. (In re Koch, 1 N. B. R. 153; 1 Amer. Law T. Rep. Bankr. 121; 15 Pittsb. Leg. J. 531; Fed. Cas. 7916.) A creditor can, under refusal of a bankrupt to answer, apply to the district judge to punish the party as for contempt of court. (In re Rosenfield, 1 N. B. R. 60; 15 Pittsb. Leg. J. 245; 1 Amer. Law T. Rep. Bankr. 47; Fed. Cas. 12059.)

Sec. 42. Records of referees.-a. The records of all proceedings in each case before a referee shall be kept as nearly as may be in the same manner as records are now kept in equity cases in circuit courts of the United States.

[Act of 1867. SEO. 4. and he shall also make a short memoranda of his proceedings in each case in which he shall act, in a docket to be kept by him for that purpose, and he shall forthwith, as the proceedings are taken, forward

to the clerk of the district court a certified copy of said memoranda, which shall be entered by said clerk in the proper minute book to be kept in his office.

A certified copy of the proceedings before a referee, or of papers when issued by the clerk or referee, shall be admitted as evidence with like force and effect as certified copies of the records of district court of the United States are now or may hereafter be admitted as evidence. (Sec. 21, d.)

Records of referees, how kept.- A motion was made for order confirming composition, but opposing creditors offered affidavits to show that he omitted to record objections and other proceedings and misstated what took place. It was held that the register's report must be taken to be a true report of the proceedings (In re Spencer, 18 N. B. R. 199; Fed. Cas. 13229); and the instrument made by a judge of a court of bankruptcy, or by the register, is the best evidence of the fact of bankruptcy. (Buck v. Winters, Ass., 15 N. B. R. 140.)

b. A record of the proceedings in each case shall be kept in a separate book or books, and shall, together with the papers on file, constitute the records of the case.

In pursuance of this section more than one case should not be put in a single book, but each case must be put in a separate book or books, so that, when the particular case is completed, the papers and record in entirety may be certified to the clerk of court for filing.

To prove what proceedings have taken place before him, the entries of a register may be used. As to the number of days that a witness was in attendance before a register, the certificate of the clerk is prima facie evidence. (In re Crane & Co., 15 N. B. R. 120; 1 Tex. Law J. 41; Fed. Cas. 3352.)

c. The book or books containing a record of the proceedings shall, when the case is concluded before the referee, be certified to by him, and, together with such papers as are on file before him, be transmitted to the court of bankruptcy and shall there remain as a part of the records of the court.

[Act of 1867. SEC. 5. Provided, always, That all depositions of persons and witnesses taken before said register, and all acts done by him, shall be reduced to writing, and be signed by him, and shall be filed in the clerk's ollice as a part of the proceedings.

SEC. 38.

the proceedings in all cases of bankruptcy shall be deemed matters of record, but the same shall