The Short Title of this Act is “The Wairoa Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Act, 1903.”

This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act within the meaning of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” which Act is hereby incorporated with this Act.

In this Act the expression—

It shall be lawful for the Board, subject to the provisions of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” to construct such works as are defined by the words “harbour works” in the interpretation clause of such Act as shall be by the Board considered necessary for the requirements of the Port of Wairoa, and also to erect and construct all such cranes, sheds, and works for the improvement of the said port as shall be judged necessary and proper by the Board for the safety, convenience, or reception of vessels resorting to the said port, and for the more convenient loading and unloading of such vessels, or for the safety and protection of any works constructed or proposed to be constructed by the Board, and for providing proper access to and from any such works.

The Board shall have power to borrow, in addition to the sum authorised by any previous Act, subject to the provisions of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” and to the provisions of this Act, any sum not exceeding twenty thousand pounds, to be applied in and about the construction and carrying-out of the works mentioned in section four of this Act; but no money shall be borrowed under the authority of this Act which shall produce to the purchaser a higher rate of interest than five pounds per centum per annum.

It shall be lawful for the Board from time to time to issue debentures for any sums of money not being less than twenty pounds nor more than one thousand pounds, and not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of twenty thousand pounds, repayable on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four, bearing interest at a rate therein fixed, but not exceeding five pounds per centum per annum.

Every debenture shall be in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule of this Act, and shall be sealed with the seal of the Board, and signed by the Chairman, and countersigned by the Treasurer;

The debentures shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one, and shall have coupons attached thereto, signed by the Chairman and countersigned by the Treasurer, in the form in the Second Schedule to this Act, for every half-year’s interest, payable to the bearer.

The holder of any debenture shall not have any preference by reason of any priority of date or otherwise, but all debenture-holders shall rank alike, and be entitled to equal rights and remedies.

For the purpose of providing a sinking fund for the liquidation of the loan authorised by this Act, there shall, on the first day of January in each year after the passing of this Act, be set apart by the Board, out of the rates and other moneys hereinafter mentioned upon which the principal and interest of such debentures are to be charged, a sum not exceeding one pound per centum per annum on the aggregate amount for which debentures shall at that time be issued.

Before the said loan is raised the consent of the ratepayers in the district shall first be obtained, in the mode hereinafter prescribed. The Chairman shall convene meetings of the ratepayers, to be held within the Town Board district and several ridings comprising the district, upon a day not more than seven days after the last publication of a notice to be published as hereinafter mentioned, to consider the said proposal. Such meetings shall be convened by notice published on three consecutive days in a newspaper circulating in the district, and every such notice shall specify the time and place in the Town Board district and ridings at which meetings are to be held, and also the following particulars, namely:—

The Chairman shall appoint one of the members of the Town Board and of the County Council elected for each riding in the district to preside at each meeting within the Town Board district or riding which he represents, if such member shall be willing to act; and if no such member is willing to act, or becomes incapacitated from acting from any cause, then such person as the Chairman thinks fit. The member or person so appointed shall be called “the presiding officer,” and he shall preside at the meeting to be held in the Town Board district or riding for which he has been appointed, and shall also preside at the taking of any poll as hereinafter provided. After due consideration and discussion of the proposal, the presiding officer shall give notice that a poll will be taken.

The poll shall be taken as follows:—

Voting-papers.

Every ratepayer in every Town Board district or riding in the district shall be entitled to vote in every such Town Board district or riding, according to the following scale:—

If the number of valid votes recorded in favour of the proposal within the district exceeds the number of valid votes recorded against the same, the resolution in favour of the proposal shall be deemed to be carried, and the Board may proceed with the proposal accordingly; but if the number of valid votes recorded for the proposal does not exceed the number of valid votes recorded against the same the resolution shall be deemed to be rejected, and the Board shall not so proceed.

As soon as conveniently may be after the result of the poll has been ascertained the Chairman shall give public notice of the number of votes recorded for and against the proposal as above provided, and shall declare the resolution to be carried or rejected as the case may be.

When any such resolution is carried the Chairman shall send a notice thereof to the Colonial Secretary, who shall publish the same in the Gazette; and such notice so gazetted shall be final that the raising of the loan to which it refers has been duly authorised under the provisions of the Act, notwithstanding any omission or irregularity in any provision, matter, or thing required to be done hereunder or under “The Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876.”

The Board, after the passing of this Act, shall, if the resolution in favour of the proposal be carried as aforesaid, make and levy a rate upon all rateable property in the Wairoa Harbour Rating District, and the proceeds of such rate shall be applied towards payment of the annual charges to accrue in respect of any loans hitherto raised and to be raised under this Act and to provide for the sinking fund hereinbefore mentioned.

The amount to be levied by the Board in each year shall not exceed such amount as is required to provide for the necessary repairs and renewals of the works mentioned in section four hereof, and payment of the interest on the aggregate amount for which debentures shall at that time be issued, and, in addition, one pound per centum per annum on such aggregate amount, to be appropriated for the purposes of the sinking fund hereinbefore mentioned, after taking into account the amount (if any) which may be estimated as available for the current year’s revenue of the Board, having regard to all existing charges on such revenue, towards payment of interest and sinking fund on the loan hereby authorised to be made.

No rate made under this Act shall be capable of being set aside or of being quashed by any proceeding of any Court or otherwise, and no defect in the same shall be set up as a defence to any action which may be brought to recover the same.

For the purpose of making, levying, and recovering the rates hereby authorised to be made and levied, the Board shall have and may exercise all the powers of making, levying, and recovering rates in the Town Board districts, and each riding within the district, which any local body having rating-powers within such Town Board districts or riding shall or may have under the law for the time being in force regulating the recovery of the rates therein respectively.

When and so often as the Board shall fail to pay at the proper time and place for so paying either the principal sum secured by the debentures to be issued under this Act or the coupons for interest payable thereon, then, immediately on default being made, any person to whom any such sum is owing may apply ex parte by petition in a summary way to a Judge of the Supreme Court for relief under this Act, and the Judge may, if satisfied of the truth of the matter alleged in such petition, appoint, upon such terms as to security and remuneration as he shall think fit, a Receiver of the rate hereby authorised to be levied.

From and after the date of such appointment, and upon its being advertised by publication in the Gazette and in the newspapers circulating in the district for such times as the said Judge shall order, the said rate shall vest in the Receiver, and shall cease to be vested in the Board.

All powers vested in the Board for the making, levying, and recovering the said rate shall, after the appointment of the Receiver, and upon its being publicly notified in such a manner as directed by the previous section of this Act, cease to be exercised by the Board and shall be exercised by the Receiver.

All moneys received by the Receiver shall be applied—

and the Receiver shall account for all moneys received by him in such manner as the Judge shall direct.

When all sums overdue are paid, or at any time on the application of the Board, a Judge of the Supreme Court may order the powers of the Receiver to cease, and he shall thereupon pay over to the Board any moneys then in his hands, and the Board shall again be capable of exercising the powers of which the appointment of Receiver had deprived them.

The debentures to be issued under this Act, and the interests thereon, shall be a first charge on the rates hereby authorised to be levied on the revenue of the Board, subject, however, with regard to such revenue to the priority of all existing charges thereon, whether by way of debentures or otherwise, and including the annual charges in respect of the loan raised under “The Wairoa Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Act, 1898,” and also to all expenditure therefrom for works that may be deemed necessary by the Board.