Post Office National Savings Certificates Ordinance, 1944

This 1944 wartime Ordinance sets special rules for Post Office savings certificates, starting with the original Post Office Twelve-Year National Savings Certificates and later extended by notification to other savings certificate schemes (the extract notes it was later applied to Defence Savings Certificates, Ten-Year and Five-Year Savings Certificates, and National Development Certificates).

Section 3 restricts transferring a savings certificate to someone else — no such transfer is valid without the prior written consent of an authorised Post Office officer, regardless of any other law that might otherwise allow it.

Section 4 covers what happens if a certificate holder dies: the amount due is paid out using the same procedure as the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873 uses for deceased depositors' accounts, with the relevant Postmaster-General taking on the role that a Savings Bank Secretary would normally play. A person is not, however, required to accept payment before the certificate actually matures.

Section 5 specifically addresses minors: despite any other law, a minor can apply for and hold a savings certificate, and any person can also hold one on a minor's behalf. Payment on a certificate held for a minor's benefit goes either to the minor personally (if they applied themselves), to a parent or property guardian nominated on the application, or, if no nomination was made, to a court-appointed guardian or, failing that, either parent.

Section 6 lets the Federal Government make rules for any class of savings certificate covering applications, issuance, maximum holding limits, and interest — including denying interest on amounts held above the prescribed maximum, and recovering any interest wrongly paid on such excess as an arrear of land revenue. This is an old, largely administrative Ordinance from the World War II era, still structurally relevant to how Post Office savings certificates are transferred and inherited today, though specific certificate schemes referenced are historical.