(1) All property, rights and interests within the Commonwealth or any Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth belonging to German nationals at the date when the Treaty comes into force (not being property rights or interests acquired under any general licence issued by or on behalf of the Commonwealth or any authority thereof), and the net proceeds of their sale, liquidation or other dealings therewith, are hereby charged:
(a) firstly, with payment of the amounts due in respect of claims by British nationals with regard to their property, rights and interests, including companies and associations in which they are interested, in German territory, and debts owing to them by German nationals, and with payment of any compensation awarded by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, or by an Arbitrator appointed by that Tribunal in pursuance of paragraph (e) of Article 297 of the Treaty, and with payment of claims growing out of acts committed by the German Government or by German authorities since the thirty-first day of July, and before the fourth day of August, One thousand nine hundred and fourteen:
Provided that payments in respect of the claims of British nationals for the proceeds of the liquidation of their property, rights and interests mentioned in section IV of Part X of the Treaty and in the annex thereto, and for the enemy debts owing to them referred to in Article 296 of the Treaty shall rank in priority to any of the other payments mentioned in this paragraph; and
(b) secondly, with payment of the amounts due in respect of claims by British nationals with regard to their property, rights and interests in the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, in so far as those claims are not otherwise satisfied:
Provided that any particular property, rights or interests so charged may at any time be released by the Public Trustee, acting under the general direction of the Minister, from the charge so created.
(1AA) Nothing in the last preceding subregulation shall be deemed to authorize the net proceeds of the sale, liquidation or other dealing with the property, rights and interests, within the Commonwealth or any Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth, belonging to German nationals at the date when the Treaty comes into force, being charged with any amount due in respect of claims by British nationals representing law costs incurred by or due to them in relation to legal proceedings instituted by German nationals during the war.
(1A) Where the Public Trustee, whether before or after the commencement of this subregulation, releases any property rights or interests from the charges specified in the last preceding subregulation, the release shall, where the property, rights or interests have been vested in the Public Trustee, have the effect of revesting the property rights or interests in the original owner, or, where the original owner is dead or bankrupt, in his personal representative or the official assignee of his property, as the case may be.
(1B) The publication in the Gazette of any release to which the preceding subregulation applies shall be conclusive evidence of the revesting under that subregulation of the property rights or interests referred to in the release.
(1C) Where any property rights or interests are, in pursuance of this regulation, revested in any person, that person shall not be entitled as against the Commonwealth or any authority thereof, to compensation or damages in respect of any action taken by the Commonwealth or any such authority in respect of the property rights or interests prior to their being revested in pursuance of this regulation.
(1D) The Controller may make the payments mentioned in subregulation (1) of this regulation out of funds made available to him by the Public Trustee, which funds the Public Trustee is hereby authorized to make available out of the proceeds of the realization of property, rights and interests charged by that subregulation:
Provided that where the claim of a British national arises out of an agreement made subsequently to the coming into force of the Treaty, the Controller may, if he thinks fit, decline to pay the amount of the claim out of the funds made available to him under this regulation.
(1E) Payments authorized by the last preceding subregulation to be made to:
(a) British nationals who were on the tenth day of January, 1920, resident in the Commonwealth or in a Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth;
(b) British nationals born in Australia who were on the tenth day of January, 1920, resident outside the Commonwealth or any Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth; and
(c) Persons who were on the tenth day of January, 1920, British nationals by virtue of their having been naturalized in the Commonwealth, and who were on that date resident outside the Commonwealth or any Territory under the authority of the Commonwealth;
shall be made in priority to payments so authorized to be made to other British nationals.
(1F) Notwithstanding anything contained in this regulation the Public Trustee may, in such cases as he thinks fit, satisfy out of the property, rights and interests of any German national charged under these Regulations claims made against such property, rights and interests for payments which are charges under paragraph (a) or (b) or subregulation (1) of this regulation.
(1G) The Controller or the Public Trustee, as the case requires, may deduct from any amount payable by him under this regulation a commission not exceeding two and one-half per centum of the amount payable.
(2) Any person who, without the consent of the Public Trustee, transfers, parts with, or otherwise deals in any property, right or interest so charged, shall be guilty of an offence against these Regulations.
(3) Every person owning or having the control or management of any property right or interest so charged (including, where the property right or interest consists of shares, stocks, or other securities issued by a company, municipal authority or other body or any right or interest therein), that company authority or body shall, unless particulars thereof have already been furnished to the Public Trustee in accordance with the Trading with the Enemy Act 1914-1916, within one month after the date of the commencement of these Regulations, by notice in writing communicate the fact to the Public Trustee, and shall within one month after being required in writing so to do furnish the Public Trustee with such particulars in relation thereto as the Public Trustee requires, and if any person fails to do so he shall be guilty of an offence against these Regulations.
(4) If any person called upon to pay any money or to transfer or otherwise to deal with any property rights or interests has reason to suspect that the same are subject to a charge under this regulation, he shall, before paying, transferring, or dealing with the property rights or interests, report the matter to the Public Trustee, and comply with any directions that the Public Trustee gives with respect thereto, and if any person fails to comply with the provisions of this subregulation he shall be guilty of an offence against these Regulations.
(5) The Minister may by order vest in the Public Trustee any property, rights and interests so charged, or the right to transfer the same, and for that purpose section 91 of the Trading with the Enemy Act 1914-1916 shall apply as if the property, rights and interests were property belonging to an enemy or enemy subject.
(6) Where the property charged consists of inscribed or registered stock, shares, or other securities, any company, municipal authority, or other body by whom the securities were issued or are managed shall, on the application of the Public Trustee, enter the Public Trustee in the books in which the securities are inscribed or registered as the proprietor of the securities so charged, and the Public Trustee shall, subject to the approval of the Minister, have power to sell or otherwise deal with the securities as proprietor of which he is so registered or inscribed.
(7) Where the property, right or interest vested in the Public Trustee by the Minister consists of land or any estate or interest in land, and a copy of the vesting order, certified under the hand of the Public Trustee, is lodged with the Registrar-General or Registrar of Titles or other proper officer of the State or part of the Commonwealth in which the land is situated, he shall whether the duplicate grant or certificate of title in respect of the property is produced or not, register it in the register and in the manner as nearly as may be in which dealings with land or any estate or interest therein are registered, and shall deal with and give effect to the registration as if it were a grant or conveyance or memorandum or instrument of transfer of the land or estate or interest therein to the Public Trustee duly executed under the laws in force in that State or part of the Commonwealth.