In the rule that statutes should be so. construed as to avoid “inconvenience,” this means, as applied to the public, the sacrifice or jeoparding of important public interests or hampering the legitimate activities of government or the transaction of public business, and, as applied to individuals, serious hardship or injustice. See Black, Interp. Laws, 102.; Betts V. U. S., 132 Fed. 237, 65 C. C A. 452.