(c.) Trustees shall not be required to give bond when they take appeals or sue out writs of error.

(d.) Controversies may be certified to the Supreme Court of the United States from other courts of the United States, and the former court may exercise jurisdiction thereof and issue writs of certiorari pursuant to the provisions of the United States laws now in force or such as may be hereafter enacted.

§ 26. Arbitration of Controversies.- (a.) The trustee may, pursuant to the direction of the court, submit to arbitration any controversy arising in the settlement of the estate.

(b.) Three arbitrators shall be chosen by mutual consent, or one by the trustee, one by the other party to the controversy, and the third by the two so chosen, or if they fail to agree in five days after their appointment the court shall appoint the third arbitrator.

(c) The written finding of the arbitrators, or a majority of them, as to the issues presented, may be filed in court and shall have like force and effect as the verdict of a jury.

§ 27. Compromises.- (a.) The trustee may, with the approval of the court, compromise any controversy arising in the administration of the estate upon such terms as he may deem for the best interests of the estate.

§ 28. Designation of Newspapers.-(a.) Courts of bankruptcy shall by order designate a newspaper published within their respective territorial districts, and in the county in which the bankrupt resides or the major part of his property is situated, in which notices required to be published by this Act and orders which the court may direct to be published shall be inserted. Any court may in a particular case, for the convenience of parties in interest, designate some additional newspaper in which notices and orders in such case shall be published.

§ 29. Offenses.- (a.) A person shall be punished, by imprisonment for a period not to exceed five years, upon conviction of the offense of having knowingly and fraudulently appropriated to his own use, embezzled, spent, or unlawfully transferred any property or secreted or destroyed any document belonging to a bankrupt estate which came into his charge as trustee.

(b.) A person shall be punished, by imprisonment for a period not to exceed two years, upon conviction of the offense of having knowingly and fraudulently (1) concealed while a bankrupt, or after his discharge, from his trustee any of the property belonging to his estate in bankruptcy; or (2) made a false oath or account in, or in relation

to, any proceeding in bankruptcy; (3) presented under oath any false claim for proof against the estate of a bankrupt, or used any such claim in composition personally or by agent, proxy, or attorney, or as agent, proxy, or attorney; or (4) received any material amount of property from a bankrupt after the filing of the petition, with intent to defeat this Act; or (5) extorted or attempted to extort any money or property from any person as a consideration for acting or forbearing to act in bankruptcy proceedings.

(c.) A person shall be punished by fine, not to exceed five hundred dollars, and forfeit his office, and the same shall thereupon become vacant, upon conviction of the offense of having knowingly (1) acted as a referee in a case in which he is directly or indirectly interested; or (2) purchased, while a referee, directly or indirectly, any property of the estate in bankruptcy of which he is referee; or (3) refused, while a referee or trustee, to permit a reasonable opportunity for the inspection of the accounts relating to the affairs of, and the papers and records of, estates in his charge by parties in interest when directed by the court so to do.

(d.) A person shall not be prosecuted for any offense arising under this Act unless the indictment is found or the information is filed in court within one year after the commission of the offense.

$30. Rules, Forms, and Orders. (a.) All necessary rules, forms, and orders as to procedure and for carrying this Act into force and effect shall be prescribed, and may be amended from time to time, by the Supreme Court of the United States.

§ 31. Computation of Time.- (a.) Whenever time is enumerated by days in this Act, or in any proceeding in bankruptcy, the number of days shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last, unless the last fall on a Sunday or holiday, in which event the day. last included shall be the next day thereafter which is not a Sunday or a legal holiday.

§ 32. Transfer of Cases. (a.) In the event petitions are filed against the same person, or against different members of a partnership, in different courts of bankruptcy each of which has jurisdiction, the cases shall be transferred, by order of the courts relinquishing jurisdiction, to and be consolidated by the one of such courts which can proceed with the same for the greatest convenience of parties in interest.

CHAPTER V.

OFFICERS, THEIR DUTIES AND COMPENSATION.

§ 33. Creation of Two Offices.- (a.) The offices of referee and trustee are hereby created.

§ 34. Appointment, Removal, and Districts of Referees. (a.) Courts of bankruptcy shall, within the territorial limits of which they respectively have jurisdiction, (1.) appoint referees, each for a term of two years, and may, in their discretion, remove them because their services are not needed or for other cause; and (2.) designate, and from time to time change, the limits of the districts of referees, so that each county, where the services of a referee are needed, may constitute at least one district.

§ 35. Qualifications of Referees. (a.) Individuals shall not be eligible to appointment as referees unless they are respectively (1.) competent to perform the duties of that office; (2.) not holding any office of profit or emolument under the laws of the United States or of any state other than commissioners of deeds, justices of the peace, masters in chancery, or notaries public; (3.) not related by consanguinity or affinity, within the third degree as determined by the common law, to any of the judges of the courts of bankruptcy or circuit courts of the United States, or of the justices or judges of the appellate courts of the districts wherein they may be appointed; and (4.) residents of, or have their offices in, the territorial districts for which they are to be appointed.

§ 36. Oaths of Office of Referees.- (a.) Referees shall take the same oath of office as that prescribed for judges of United States courts.

§ 37. Number of Referees.- (a.) Such number of referees shall be appointed as may be necessary to assist in expeditiously transacting the bankruptcy business pending in the various courts of bankruptcy.

§ 38. Jurisdiction of Referees.- (a.) Referees respectively are hereby invested, subject always to a review by the judge, within the limits of their districts as established from time to time, with jurisdiction to

(1.) Consider all petitions referred to them by the clerks and make the adjudications or dismiss the petitions;

(2.) Exercise the powers vested in courts of bankruptcy for the administering of oaths to and the examination of persons as witnesses

and for requiring the production of documents in proceedings before them, except the power of commitment;

(3.) Exercise the powers of the judge for the taking possession and releasing of the property of the bankrupt in the event of the issuance by the clerk of a certificate showing the absence of a judge from the judicial district, or the division of the district, or his sickness, or inability to act;

(4.) Perform such part of the duties, except as to questions arising out of the application of bankrupts for compositions or discharges, as are by this Act conferred on courts of bankruptcy and as shall be prescribed by rules or orders of the courts of bankruptcy of their respective districts, except as herein otherwise provided; and

(5.) Upon the application of the trustee during the examination of the bankrupts, or other proceedings, authorize the employment of stenographers at the expense of the estates at a compensation not to exceed ten cents per folio for reporting and transcribing the proceedings.

§ 39. Duties of Referees.- (a.) Referees shall

(1.) Declare dividends and prepare and deliver to trustees dividend sheets showing the dividends declared and to whom payable;

(2.) Examine all schedules of property and lists of creditors filed by bankrupts and cause such as are incomplete or defective to be amended;

(3.) Furnish such information concerning the estates in process of administration before them as may be requested by the parties in interest;

(4.) Give notices to creditors as herein provided;

(5.) Make up records embodying the evidence, or the substance thereof, as agreed upon by the parties in all contested matters arising before them, whenever requested to do so by either of the parties thereto, together with their findings therein, and transmit them to the judges;

(6.) Prepare and file the schedules of property and lists of creditors required to be filed by the bankrupts, or cause the same to be done, when the bankrupts fail, refuse, or neglect to do so;

(7.) Safely keep, perfect, and transmit to the clerks the records, herein required to be kept by them, when the cases are concluded;

(8.) Transmit to the clerks such papers as may be on file before them whenever the same are needed in any proceedings in courts and in like manner secure the return of such papers after they have been

used, or, if it be impracticable to transmit the original papers, transmit certified copies thereof by mail;

(9.) Upon application of any party in interest, preserve the evidence taken cr the substance thereof as agreed upon by the parties before them when a stenographer is not in attendance; and

(10.) Whenever their respective offices are in the same cities or towns where the courts of bankruptcy convene, call upon and receive from the clerks all papers filed in courts of bankruptcy which have been referred to them.

(b.) Referees shall not

(1.) Act in cases in which they are directly or indirectly interested;

(2.) Practice as attorneys and counselors at law in any bankruptcy proceedings; or

(3.) Purchase, directly or indirectly, any property of an estate in bankruptcy.

§ 40. Compensation of Referees. (a.) Referees shall receive as full compensation for their services, payable after they are rendered, a fee of ten dollars deposited with the clerk at the time the petition is filed in each case, except when a fee is not required from a voluntary bankrupt, and from estates which have been administered before them one per centum commissions on sums to be paid as dividends and commissions, or one-half of one per centum on the amount to be paid to creditors upon the confirmation of a composition.

(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.

(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.

§ 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 the law: Provided, That no person shall be required to attend as a witness before a referee at a place outside of the State of