Companies Act priority scheme prevails over insolvency law, limiting State Government priority claims under section 529(1).

The Companies Act was treated as containing a self-contained priority scheme for insolvent companies, so the State Government could not claim broader governmental priority under the insolvency law. Section 529(1) was construed narrowly as governing proof of debts and the relative position of secured and unsecured creditors, not as importing the insolvency statute's priority rules. The interpretation preserving consistency with the Companies Act's preferential-payment framework was preferred, and the general Crown priority under insolvency law was held inapplicable.

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Issues: Whether the State Government was entitled to priority for its debts otherwise than under the preferential-payment scheme in the Companies Act, and whether section 529(1) of the Companies Act attracted the priority rules of the insolvency law.

Analysis: The Companies Act was treated as containing a self-contained scheme of priority. The provision for preferential payments in the Act was held to govern insolvent companies and to be inconsistent with importing the broader governmental priority under the insolvency law. Section 529(1) was construed narrowly as dealing with the admission of debts to proof and the relative position of secured and unsecured creditors, not as incorporating the insolvency statute's priority rules. The construction that preserved consistency with the Companies Act's own priority scheme was preferred, and the general insolvency rule of Crown priority was held inapplicable.

Conclusion: The State Government's claim to priority beyond the Companies Act's preferential scheme was rejected, and section 529(1) was held not to attract the insolvency law's priority provisions.

Final Conclusion: The application failed because the Companies Act's internal priority scheme prevailed, and the broader insolvency-based claim to governmental priority could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Companies Act provides a self-contained and consistent scheme of preferential payments, section 529(1) is not construed to incorporate an inconsistent priority regime from the insolvency law.

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