This Act may be cited as the Town Boards Amendment Act, 1912, and shall form part of and be read together with the Town Boards Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

After the presentation to the Governor of a petition praying that any locality be constituted a town district the Governor may, if he thinks fit, direct a Commission, consisting of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and the officer in charge of the valuation district in which the locality is situated, to inquire and report to him as to the suitability or otherwise for municipal control of the locality defined in the petition, and to make such alterations of the boundaries thereof as they deem advisable.

The said Commission shall have all the powers and functions of a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908.

Notwithstanding anything in section six of the principal Act, the Governor may, by Proclamation, declare that the provisions of the principal Act shall come into force within the locality either as defined in the petition or as altered by the Commission as he thinks fit, and such locality shall be a town district accordingly.

The provisions of this section shall apply to petitions presented before as well as to petitions presented after the commencement of this Act.

Where under any Act any area of a town district becomes incorporated in any other district the Governor may, by Order in Council, make provision for the merger of the remaining area in some other district, and, where necessary, may declare that such remaining area shall form a separate subdivision of such other district or be annexed to some existing subdivision thereof.