Laville J:

R A Monteiro, a Class I teacher in the English School, Batu Pahat, was one of the victims of the Japanese in the massacre at Ulu Tiram Estate on 14 March 1942.

A Wage-Earner's Administration Order had been made against him on his own application of 9 December 1941 at Batu Pahat and as result the Official Assignee was constituted receiver and assignee of his estate.Notice of the order was published in the Government Gazette of 24 December 1941, but owing to the Japanese invasion no further action was taken by the Official Assignee till after the liberation in 1945.

On 1 May 1948 the Asst Official Assignee received from the Superintendent of Education, Johore, a sum of $1,350 as a death gratuity payable to the legal personal representative of the debtor.Since then the Assistant Official Assignee has received a sum of $383.87 arrears of salary due to deceased from the Superintendent of Education, Johore.

On 13 June 1948 the First Meeting of the Creditors was held by the Assistant Official Assignee.Two creditors claiming $660 in all attended.As a result the Assistant Official Assignee applied to the Court for directions under s. 78(iii), Bankruptcy Enactment, as to whether the total sum of $1,733.87 now in his hands shall be applied for the maintenance of the debtor's widow and family or some portion of it be appropriated for the benefit of the creditors.

At the hearing Mr. McLeod appeared on behalf of Mrs. L I Monteiro, the widow of the deceased debtor who took out Letters of Administration to his estate in 1947, and contended that the sum of $1,350 in the possession of the

Assistant Official Assignee was a compassionate allowance payable to the personal legal representative of the deceased debtor who was his widow, as evidenced by the fact that she had Letters of Administration to his estate.

The Assistant Official Assignee contended that this sum should be made available for payment to deceased debtor's creditors and was part of his estate and not a compassionate allowance due to the decease debtor's relative.

The evidence shows, that the debtor became a pensionable officer on 1 May 1936 but in view of the fact that he died before he had completed ten years' pensionable service, was not entitled to receive a pension for his year's service in a pensionable office but had entitled his personal legal representative to be paid, subject to the approval of HH the Sultan in Council, not more than one year's pensionable emoluments under s. 19 of the Pensions Enactment 1929, Laws of Johore No. 95. This was the section under which the Superintendent of Education, Johore paid the sum of $1,350 to the Assistant Official Assignee.

The issues that arise therefore are: who is the legal personal representative of the deceased debtor who is entitled to receive this payment and secondly, is such sum part of the deceased's estate and liable for his debts?

Mr McLeod relied on the case of Re Mohamed Ariff, Ex-parte the Official Assignee Singapore [1926] SSLR 166, while the Assistant Official Assignee rested his case on Re F A Hendricks [1936] 1 MLRH 10, [1936] 1 MLJ 71 .

The latter case is entirely on all fours with the one now in discussion, and was brought under the provisions of s. 20 Pensions Ordinance, 1928, of the Straits Settlements, of which, mutatis mutandis, s. 19 of the Johore Pensions Enactment is an exact transcript.

In that case the learned Judge considered at length the relevant section of the Pensions Ordinance (which are the same as those of the Johore Enactment), and also the case on which Mr. McLeod relies Re Mohamed Ariff and held that a payment made to the deceased's personal legal representative under the provisions of that section was not a compassionate allowance to the debtor's relatives, but compensation due to the deceased for part service, and therefore formed part of the general corpus of his estate and was liable for his debts.

The learned Judge also held, on the authority of Surman v. Wharton (1891