King, J.

1. This petition arises out of an application by the petitioner to set aside an ex parte decree passed by the District Munsiff of Badagara sitting on the small cause side. The procedure in regard to the presentation of such applications is laid down in Section 17 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act. It provides that at the time of the presentation of the application there must be either the deposit of the amount due under the decree or such security for the performance of the decree as the Court may on a previous application made by the applicant in this behalf have directed. The facts are that in this case the application was made on the 7th April, 1941, which was four days after the ex parte decree had been passed. The application was not accompanied by the deposit of the decree amount nor by the offer of any security. On the 9th April, however, there was a further affidavit in which certain property was offered as security to the Court in connection with the application to set aside the ex parte decree. The Court ordered notice to the decree-holder and also ordered the property offered as security to be tested. The result of the test was that the property wa