1. This Act may be called the Arms Act, 1878; and it extends to the whole of Bangladesh.

But nothing herein contained shall apply to- (a) arms, ammunition or military stores on board any seagoing vessel and forming part of her ordinary armament or equipment, or (b) the manufacture, conversion, sale, import, export, transport, bearing or possession of arms, ammunition or military stores by order of the Government, ¹[* * *], or by a public servant ²[* * *] in the course of his duty as such public servant ³[* * *].

2. This Act shall come into force on such days as the Government by notification in the official Gazette appoints.

3. [Repealed by section 2 and Schedule of Act No. I of 1938.]

4. In this Act, unless there be something repugnant in the subject or context,-"cannon" includes also all howitzers, mortars, wall-pieces, mitrailleuses and other ordnance and machine-guns, all parts of the same, and all carriages, platforms and appliances for mounting, transporting and serving the same: ⁴[* * *]"arms" includes fire-arms, bayonets, swords, daggers, spears, spearheads and bows and arrows, also cannon and parts of arms, and machinery for manufacturing arms:"ammunition" includes also all articles specially designed for torpedo service and submarine mining, rockets, gun-cotton, dynamite, lithofracteur and other explosive or fulminating material, gunflint, gun-wads, percussion-caps, fuses and friction-tubes, all parts of ammunition and all machinery for manufacturing ammunition, but does not include lead, sulphur or saltpetre:"military stores", in any section of this Act as applied to any part of Bangladesh, means any military stores to which the Government may from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, specially extend such section in such part, and includes also all lead, sulphur, saltpeter and other material to which the Government may from time to time so extend such section:"license" means a license granted under this Act, and "licensed" means holding such license.

4. In this Act, unless there be something repugnant in the subject or context,-"cannon" includes also all howitzers, mortars, wall-pieces, mitrailleuses and other ordnance and machine-guns, all parts of the same, and all carriages, platforms and appliances for mounting, transporting and serving the same: [* * *]"arms" includes fire-arms, bayonets, swords, daggers, spears, spearheads and bows and arrows, also cannon and parts of arms, and machinery for manufacturing arms:"ammunition" includes also all articles specially designed for torpedo service and submarine mining, rockets, gun-cotton, dynamite, lithofracteur and other explosive or fulminating material, gunflint, gun-wads, percussion-caps, fuses and friction-tubes, all parts of ammunition and all machinery for manufacturing ammunition, but does not include lead, sulphur or saltpetre:"military stores", in any section of this Act as applied to any part of Bangladesh, means any military stores to which the Government may from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, specially extend such section in such part, and includes also all lead, sulphur, saltpeter and other material to which the Government may from time to time so extend such section:"license" means a license granted under this Act, and "licensed" means holding such license.