The hospital districts named in the first column of the First Schedule hereto are hereby constituted hospital districts for the purposes of this Act, and each of those districts shall comprise the counties and other areas referred to in the second column of that Schedule opposite to its name.

When at any time after the passing of this Act a new county is created the limits whereof are wholly within one hospital district, the new county shall be included within and form part of that hospital district.

When at any time after the passing of this Act a new county is created the limits whereof extend into two or more hospital districts, the new county shall be included within and shall form part of such one of those hospital districts as the Governor-General by Order in Council determines. Any such Order in Council may be made retrospective, so as to operate as from the date of the creation of the new county or from such later date as the Governor-General thinks fit. Any such Order in Council may be at any time revoked and another substituted therefor.

Except where otherwise provided by this Act, a hospital district shall include every borough situated within the boundaries of any county included in the hospital district.

Except so far as otherwise provided by this Act, a hospital district shall include every borough contiguous to any county included in the hospital district, and for the purposes of this subsection a borough which is not itself contiguous to a county shall be deemed to be contiguous thereto if it is contiguous to another borough which is itself contiguous to that county.

A hospital district shall include every town district situated within the boundaries of any county included in the hospital district, whether the town district is part of the county or not.

When at any time after the passing of this Act the boundaries of a county, borough, or town district included in any hospital district are altered, that alteration shall operate with respect to the hospital district, and the boundaries of the hospital district shall be deemed to be altered accordingly.

If, on or at any time after the passing of this Act, there is any county, borough, or town district to which none of the foregoing provisions are applicable so as to include that county, borough, or town district in any hospital district, the Governor-General shall, by Order in Council, assign that county, borough, or town district to such hospital district as he thinks fit, and it shall be included in that hospital district accordingly. Any such Order in Council may be made retrospective to such extent as is necessary to secure the inclusion of that county, borough, or town district at all times in a hospital district. Any such Order in Council may be at any time revoked and another substituted therefor.

The area comprised in Waiheke Island is hereby included in and declared to form part of the Auckland Hospital District.

For the purposes of this Act the said area shall be deemed to be a county in which the Counties Act, 1920, is suspended.

The area comprised in the Picton Road District immediately before the merging of that district in the County of Marlborough shall not form part of the Wairau Hospital District, but shall continue to form part of the Picton Hospital District, and shall be deemed never to have ceased to form part thereof, and shall be a contributory district of that hospital district by the name of the Picton Rural District.

The Marlborough County Council shall be the contributory local authority in respect of the Picton Rural District.

The Marlborough County Council shall prepare from the county electors roll of the said county a separate electors roll of the county electors whose names have been placed on such county electors roll by virtue of a qualification within the area comprised in the Picton Rural District, and shall from time to time, as necessitated by amendments made in the county electors roll, amend such separate roll.

The separate electors roll prepared pursuant to the last preceding subsection shall be the roll of persons entitled to vote at any election of representatives of the Picton Rural District on the Picton Hospital Board.

All contributions payable to the Picton Hospital Board by the Marlborough County Council as the contributory local authority of the Picton Rural District shall be raised by a separate rate made and levied over all rateable property within that district.

The Valuer-General shall from time to time prepare and supply to the Marlborough County Council a valuation roll under the Valuation of Land Act, 1925, for the Picton Rural District. Such roll shall be the valuation roll of the district for the purposes of the Rating Act, 1925, and the provisions of that Act with respect to the making of rates and the preparation of a rate-book shall apply with respect to separate rates made pursuant to this section.

For the purposes of the apportionment of the estimated expenditure of the Wairau Hospital Board and the payment of contributions to that Board by the Marlborough County Council the Picton Rural District shall be deemed not to form part of the County of Marlborough.

In pursuance of resolutions passed by the Boards of any two or more hospital districts which constitute a single continuous area, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council made within twelve months after the passing of the earliest of those resolutions, abolish as from a date to be specified in the Order those hospital districts, and constitute as from the same date a new hospital district, under a name to be specified in the Order, and comprising the whole of the area included in the hospital districts so abolished.

No such resolution as is referred to in the last preceding subsection shall be passed by a Board at any meeting thereof unless notice of the intention to propose that resolution at that meeting has been given at a previous meeting of the Board held not less than fourteen days before the day of the meeting at which the resolution is passed.

A copy of any such resolution under the hand of the Chairman of the Board and transmitted to the Minister shall be conclusive proof that the resolution was duly passed in accordance with this Act.

All the provisions of this Act as to hospital districts constituted by this Act shall, so far as applicable and with all necessary modifications, apply to a hospital district so constituted by an Order in Council under this section.

The Board of any hospital district so constituted shall come into existence as a body corporate on the day on which the Order in Council comes into force, and shall be deemed to be the successor of the Boards of the hospital districts so abolished; and those Boards shall thereupon be dissolved, and all the provisions of this Act shall, so far as applicable and with all necessary modifications, apply accordingly.

By the Order in Council by which any such hospital district is constituted, or by any subsequent Order in Council, the Governor-General may exercise in respect of that district and the Board thereof all the powers vested in him by this Act with respect to the representation of contributory districts and the constitution and election of Boards, in the same manner, with all necessary modifications, as if that hospital district and the Board thereof had been constituted by this Act.

The election or appointment of the members of the Board of any hospital district so constituted may, if the Governor-General thinks fit, take place at any time after the making of the Order in Council by which that district is constituted, whether before or after the day specified in that Order as the date of the constitution of the new hospital district; but any persons so elected or appointed before the date of the constitution of the new district shall come into office on that date, and not sooner.

On the coming into existence of a Hospital Board under the last preceding section all real and personal property of every description vested in any Board, of which the first-mentioned Board is the successor by virtue of that section, shall vest in that Board, without conveyance or assignment, for the estate and interest therein of the Board of which it is the successor, subject to all liabilities, charges, obligations, or trusts affecting that property.

On the coming into existence of a Hospital Board under the last preceding section all the contracts, debts, and liabilities of any Board, of which the first-mentioned Board is the successor by virtue of that section, shall become the contracts, debts, and liabilities respectively of that Board.

For all purposes (except so far as otherwise expressly provided by this Act) a Hospital Board created a body corporate under the last preceding section shall be deemed to be the same corporation as any Board of which it is declared by that section to be the successor.

Where any land or any estate or interest in land becomes by virtue of this section vested in a Hospital Board without conveyance or assignment, and a Board of which it is the successor is the registered proprietor of that land, estate, or interest under the Land Transfer Act, 1915, the District Land Registrar shall, at the request of the Hospital Board, and on being satisfied, by statutory declaration or otherwise, of the title of that Board, register that Board as the proprietor of the said land, estate, or interest in lieu of the said Board of which it is the successor.

For every hospital district there shall be a Hospital Board constituted in manner hereinafter provided.

Every such Board shall be a body corporate by the name of “The [Naming the hospital district, but omitting the words ‘hospital district’] Hospital Board,” and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable of holding real and personal property, and of doing and suffering all that bodies corporate may do and suffer.

Every such Board shall be deemed to be in existence as a body corporate on the commencement of this Act, whether the full or any number of the members thereof has been elected or appointed or not.

All references in any other Act to a Hospital and Charitable Aid Board shall be deemed to be references to a Hospital Board.

Except where otherwise provided by this Act, every Hospital Board shall consist of one or more representatives of each of the contributory districts within the hospital district.

The number of representatives of each contributory district shall be such as is determined from time to time in each case by the Governor-General by Order in Council, having regard, in such manner as he thinks fit, both to the relative populations of those districts and also to the relative values of the rateable property in those districts.

The total number of the members of any such Board shall in no case be less than eight or more than twenty.

In any case in which, by reason of the number of contributory districts in any hospital district, or by reason of the smallness of the population of any such contributory district or of the value of the rateable property in that district, it is, in the opinion of the Governor-General in Council, impracticable or inexpedient to give full effect to the intent of the last preceding section, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council, combine into one or more combined districts any number of the contributory districts (whether of the same or of different kinds) in that hospital district for the purpose of the election of representatives on the Board of that hospital district.

In any such case the Governor-General shall, by the same or by any other Order in Council, from time to time prescribe the number of members to be elected in common as the representative or representatives of any such combined district, having regard, in such manner as he thinks fit, to the relative populations and the relative values of the rateable property of that district, and of every other combined or separate district within the hospital district.

In any such case the Governor-General shall, by the same or any other Order in Council, from time to time select and appoint one of the contributory local authorities of the combined district to be the principal contributory local authority of that combined district within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act.

For all the purposes of this Act other than the election or appointment of representatives, each of the contributory districts in a combined district shall be deemed to be a separate contributory district.

The creation, abolition, merger, union, division, or other alteration of any contributory district within a hospital district shall not in itself have any operation so as to affect the then existing membership of the Hospital Board of that district.

The Governor-General may from time to time, whenever in his opinion it becomes necessary or expedient so to do by reason of any such creation, abolition, merger, union, division, or alteration of contributory districts, or by reason of any other circumstance, revoke or amend any provisions made by him with respect to the representation of the contributory districts in a hospital district, or with respect to the creation or representation of any combined district in a hospital district; and may by Order in Council make with respect to any of those matters any other provisions which he thinks fit and which are not inconsistent with this Act.

If by any such Order in Council representation is given to any contributory district or combined district which is not already represented on the Board, or increased representation is given to any contributory district or combined district which is already represented on the Board, the Governor-General shall, by the same or any other Order in Council, fix the date of the first election of the representatives or additional representatives (as the case may be) of that district, and make all other provisions which are deemed necessary for that election.

If by any Order in Council under this section representation on a Board is taken away from any contributory district or combined district, the representatives of that district shall retire from office on the day appointed in that behalf by the Order in Council.

If by any Order in Council under this section a reduction is made in the number of representatives to which any contributory district or combined district is entitled, a sufficient number of those representatives shall retire from office on the day appointed in that behalf by the Order in Council so that the representation of that district may conform to the Order in Council. The representatives so to retire from office shall, in default of agreement among all the representatives of the contributory district or combined district, be determined by lot in manner determined by the Board.

The representatives on a Hospital Board of any contributory district shall be elected by the electors of the contributory local authority of that district.

Every such elector shall have one vote only.

Every such election shall be held in the same manner, with all necessary modifications, as the elections of members of the local authority of the contributory district, and all the provisions of the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1925, and of all other Acts affecting the mode of election of members of that local authority (including the penal provisions thereof, and the provisions relating to disputed elections), shall, so far as applicable, and so far as consistent with this Act, apply accordingly.

Where an election of representatives of a contributory district is held simultaneously with an election of members of the local authority of that district, the voting-papers provided for the former election shall be different in colour from those provided for the latter.

In the application of the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1925, as aforesaid every reference therein to the local authority shall be construed as a reference to the contributory local authority of the contributory district.

The Returning Officer of the contributory local authority shall be the Returning Officer for the purpose of elections of representatives of that contributory district under this Act.

The reasonable cost of every such election, except the expenses of scrutineers and other expenses incurred by or on behalf of candidates, shall be borne and paid by the contributory local authority.

Every candidate at any such election shall at the time of nomination deposit the sum of three pounds with the Returning Officer, and if that candidate does not receive one-eighth of the votes received by the successful candidate, or, as the case may be, by the successful candidate receiving the fewest votes, the deposit shall be forfeited to the local authority, but otherwise, or if the candidate is elected without a poll, the deposit shall be returned to him:

Provided that where a candidate duly withdraws his nomination the sum deposited or remitted by him or on his behalf shall be returned to the person who paid it.

The representatives on a Hospital Board of a combined district shall be elected by the electors of each of the contributory local authorities whose districts are included in the combined district.

Every such elector shall have one vote only, even though he is an elector of more than one of the contributing local authorities of that district.

Every such election shall be held in manner provided by regulations made by the Governor-General in Council either generally or in respect of any specified combined district or districts.

By such regulations the Governor-General in Council may apply to any such election, with such modifications, exceptions, and additions as he thinks fit, the provisions of the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1925, and of any other Act affecting the election of members of any of the contributory local authorities of a combined district.

The reasonable cost of every such election, except the expenses of scrutineers and other expenses incurred by or on behalf of candidates, shall be borne and paid by the several contributory local authorities of the combined district in the same proportions in which they are first assessed for contribution to the Hospital Board after the date of the election.

The first election of the representatives of any contributory district or combined district shall be held on such day as the Governor-General by Order in Council appoints; and by the same or any subsequent Order in Council the Governor-General may make all such provisions as are deemed necessary for the purposes of that election.

If any contributory district or combined district fails at the first or any subsequent election to elect the required number of representatives, the Governor-General may, by Warrant under his hand, appoint such qualified persons as he thinks fit to be the representatives of that district in lieu of those who ought to have been elected; and the persons so appointed shall hold office in all respects as if they had been duly elected in conformity with this Act.

On every day appointed for holding the ordinary general election of the members of any contributory local authority there shall be held at the same time an election of the representatives of the contributory district of that local authority on the Hospital Board.

On every day appointed for holding the ordinary general election of the members of the principal contributory local authority of a combined district there shall be held at the same time an election of the representatives of that combined district on the Hospital Board.

On the election under this section of representatives of any contributory district or combined district the former representatives thereof shall, unless re-elected, retire from office.

Every representative of a contributory district or combined district shall, unless his office sooner becomes vacant, hold office until the election or appointment of his successor in accordance with this Act, but shall be capable of re-election or reappointment.

Every representative of a contributory district or combined district who is elected or appointed after the commencement of this Act shall come into office on his election or appointment.

The following persons shall be incapable of being elected or appointed as members of a Hospital Board:—

Subject to the provisions of this section, any person, whether male or female, may be elected or appointed as a member of a Hospital Board.

The office of any member of a Hospital Board shall become vacant if he—

If any person does any act as a member of a Hospital Board after he has forfeited his office under this section he shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

If any member of a Hospital Board becomes concerned or interested in any contract made by the Board so as thereby to forfeit his office under this section he shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and shall not be entitled to enforce that contract as against the Board, and all moneys paid to him by the Board in respect of that contract shall be recoverable by action at the suit of the Board as a debt due by him to the Board.

Every member of a Board who knowingly takes part in the making by that Board of any contract in which any other member of the Board is so concerned or interested as thereby to forfeit his office under this section shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

When a representative of any contributory district vacates his office on the Board through the operation of the last preceding section, the contributory local authority of that district shall forthwith appoint some qualified person in his place as a representative of that district.

When a representative of a combined district vacates his office on the Board through the operation of the last preceding section, the several contributory local authorities of that combined district shall forthwith by agreement among themselves jointly appoint some qualified person in his place as a representative of that district.

If no such appointment is made within two months after the happening of the vacancy, the Governor-General may, by Warrant under his hand, make the required appointment.

The member so appointed shall hold office only for the unexpired portion of the term of office of his predecessor.

Notwithstanding anything contained in sections thirteen to twenty-five hereof, the Whangaroa County Council shall be the Hospital Board of the Whangaroa Hospital District, the Bay of Islands County Council shall be the Hospital Board of the Bay of Islands Hospital District, and the Hokianga County Council shall be the Hospital Board of the Hokianga Hospital District.

If in any of the said hospital districts there is at any time a contributory local authority other than a County Council named in subsection one hereof, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council, provide with respect to such hospital district either,—

The establishment of a Hospital Board and the validity or legality of acts done by such a Board shall not be affected by any error or defect in the election or appointment of any member of the Board, or by the fact that the full number of members has not been elected or appointed, or by the fact that any person acting as a member of the Board is disqualified or has vacated his seat.

A Hospital Board shall have the control and management in accordance with this Act of the following institutions:—

The provisions of this section shall be read subject to the special provisions contained in the Third Schedule hereto with respect to the institution therein referred to.

Every Hospital Board shall have the administration of charitable aid within the district of the Board in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Meetings of the Board shall be held at such times and places as the Board from time to time appoints.

The Chairman of the Board, or any five members thereof, may at any time call a special meeting of the Board.

It shall be the duty of the Secretary or Chairman of the Board to call a special meeting of the Board at any time when requested so to do by a requisition in writing under the hands of any five members of the Board.

During the month of April, or as soon thereafter as may be, in each alternate year the Board shall elect one of its members to be the Chairman of the Board, the first of such biennial elections hereunder being held in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-eight.

In the event of an equality of votes at any such election, the election shall be determined by lot in such manner as the Board directs.

When the Chairman of a Board resigns his office by writing under his hand delivered to the Secretary or to any member of the Board, or ceases to be a member of the Board, his office as Chairman thereof shall become vacant, and the Board shall so soon as may be thereafter elect one of its members as the Chairman thereof.

Every person elected as Chairman of the Board shall hold office until the election of his successor, unless his office sooner becomes vacant.

A Hospital Board may, if it thinks fit, pay to the Chairman of the Board by way of remuneration for his services a sum not exceeding in any year the following:—

At every meeting of a Board the Chairman, if present, shall preside.

If the Chairman is absent from any meeting, or if there is for the time being no Chairman, the members present shall choose one of their number to act as Chairman at that meeting, and the member so chosen shall have the same powers at that meeting as if he were the Chairman of the Board.

Every question before the Board shall be decided by the votes of a majority of the members present.

The Chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and in any case in which the votes are equal a casting-vote also.

No business shall be transacted at any meeting unless at least a quorum of members is present thereat during the whole time at which the business is transacted.

A quorum shall consist of half of the whole number of the members of the Board (irrespective of any extraordinary vacancies) when that number is even, and a majority of such members when the number is odd.

A Board may make to each of its members a travelling-allowance, not exceeding such rate as may be prescribed in that behalf by the Governor-General in Council, to cover all charges in respect of his attendance at any meeting of the Board or of any Committee thereof, or in respect of any visit of inspection to any institution when appointed by the Board or any committee thereof to make such inspection.

A Board may from time to time appoint a Secretary to the Board, a Treasurer to the Board, and such medical and other officers, matrons, nurses, attendants, and servants as it thinks required to assist in the management of any institution under the control of the Board or otherwise in the execution of this Act.

A Board may also from time to time appoint such district nurses as it thinks fit for the purpose of attending sick persons elsewhere than in an institution.

All persons so appointed shall be paid out of the revenues of the Board such salaries, wages, or other remuneration as the Board thinks fit.

It shall be the duty of every Hospital Board to appoint such number of medical practitioners, dentists, nurses, dental nurses, midwives, and other officers as the Director-General may from time to time deem necessary for the care and treatment of persons in the district of the Board, whether within an institution under the control of the Board or elsewhere within the district.

No appointment of any medical officer (including an honorary medical officer), or of a matron, master, manager, or engineer of an institution under this Act, or of the Secretary to a Board, shall be made until the expiration of twenty-one days after the Minister has been notified of the intention to make such appointment, unless the Minister has previously approved a proposal to make such appointment.

Before notifying to the Minister its intention to make any appointment as aforesaid the Board shall forward to the Minister a list of the applicants, and the Minister shall, as soon as conveniently may be, submit to the Board for its guidance such reports and recommendations as he thinks fit, and the Board shall give due and fair consideration to such recommendations before making any appointment.

Any contract which if made between private persons must be by deed shall if made by a Hospital Board be in writing under the seal of the Board.

Any contract which if made between private persons must be in writing signed by the parties to be charged therewith may if made by a Hospital Board be in writing signed on behalf of the Board by some person duly authorized in that behalf.

Any contract which if made between private persons may be made verbally without writing may be similarly made by or on behalf of a Hospital Board.

The common seal of a Hospital Board shall not be affixed to any document except pursuant to a resolution of the Board, and the execution of any document so sealed shall be attested by two members of the Board.

The proceedings of a Board and of every committee thereof shall be governed by such regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, as are made by the Board from time to time.

A Hospital Board affiliated to the Hospitals Association of New Zealand may from time to time, out of its general funds, pay the annual subscription of the Board to the association and the actual reasonable travelling-expenses of its representatives incurred in attending meetings of the association.

During each financial year, unless the Minister of Finance is satisfied that the Board has sufficient funds to carry out the administration of this Act during the year, there shall be paid to every Hospital Board by the Minister of Finance, without further appropriation than this Act, such sums as the said Minister decides, by way of subsidy, in respect of the moneys or other property received by the Board (whether for the general purposes of the Board or in trust for any special purpose other than the benefit of individual persons) during the same financial year.

The said subsidy shall not exceed—

The subsidy payable to a Board shall be payable at such time or times and in such manner as the Minister of Finance determines.

Every claim made by a Board for any sum payable by way of subsidy shall be supported by a statutory declaration made by the Chairman of the Board verifying a statement of all material particulars.

All moneys paid as subsidy in respect of any pecuniary bequest shall be, deemed to form part of that bequest, and shall be appropriated and expended in any manner in which the bequest may be lawfully appropriated and expended, and not otherwise.

If the Minister is of opinion that the purposes of any bequest are such that it is inadvisable that the subsidy received in respect of that bequest should be expended in the same manner, he may at any time, whether before or after the subsidy has been paid, grant to the Board, by warrant under his hand, a complete or partial exemption from the obligations of this section in respect of that bequest.

The Minister of Finance may from time to time, without further appropriation than this Act, advance out of the Consolidated Fund to a Board, in anticipation of its estimated subsidy in any year, any sums not exceeding two-thirds of such estimated subsidy.

All sums so advanced shall be deemed to have been paid on account of subsidy, and shall be deducted from all subsidies thereafter payable to the Board receiving the advance.

Every Hospital Board shall, for each financial year, make an estimate in the prescribed form of the amount of its expenditure for all purposes and of its receipts in that year. Such estimate shall show separately the estimated amount of capital expenditure and of maintenance expenditure, and in respect of capital expenditure shall show what portion (if any) it is proposed to borrow pursuant to section sixty hereof.

The estimate aforesaid shall be confirmed at a special meeting of the Board to be held on or before the eighteenth day of April of the year to which the estimate relates.

The estimate, as confirmed by the Board, shall be forwarded to the Minister on or before the twenty-first day of April of the same year, and the Minister may, if he thinks it necessary so to do, require the Board to amend the estimate.

If any Board fails to make an estimate of its receipts and expenditure as aforesaid for any year, or to furnish the same to the Minister as required by this Act, or to amend the same in accordance with the requirements of the Minister, the Board shall not while such default continues be paid any subsidy under paragraph (c) of subsection two of section forty-three hereof, anything to the contrary in this Act notwithstanding.

In this section the term “receipts” shall include all moneys in the hands of the Board at the commencement of the financial year and all capital moneys received by the Board during that year as well as other receipts.

Every estimate under the last preceding section shall include the amount (if any) of any deficiency in the revenues of the Board during the preceding or any former financial year, and the amount of the deficiency so estimated shall be deemed to form part of the expenditure of the Board in the year to which the estimate relates.

From the amount of expenditure estimated in accordance with the two last preceding sections of this Act there shall be deducted the estimated receipts of the Board during the same year from all sources other than contributions to be levied from contributory local authorities and subsidies payable out of the Consolidated Fund in respect of those contributions; and the remainder, after making such deduction, is hereinafter referred to as the net estimated expenditure.

The net estimated expenditure of the Board, after deducting therefrom the amount estimated by the Minister of Finance as the amount receivable by the Board from the Consolidated Fund by way of subsidy in respect of the contributions of local authorities, shall be apportioned by the Board among the contributory local authorities within its district in proportion to the capital value of the rateable property in each contributory district as determined by the Valuer-General under the Valuation of Land Act, 1925, as being approximately correct as on the first day of April in the financial year in which the apportionment is made.

On making such apportionment the Board shall furnish to each contributory local authority a statement setting forth—

The amount so apportioned by the Board to any contributory local authority shall constitute a debt payable by the corporation of that authority to the Board, and may be recovered by the Board by action in any Court of competent jurisdiction.

The said amount shall be payable to the Board by equal instalments, being not more than twelve or less than four, as the Board may from time to time determine, and every such instalment shall be due on the day fixed by the Board for the payment thereof. The Board shall give to the contributory local authority not less than fourteen days’ notice in writing of the due date of each instalment.

Interest at such rate as the Minister of Finance may from time to time decide shall be payable by the local authority to the Board on the amount of any instalment, or part thereof, remaining unpaid after the expiration of fourteen days from the date on which such amount became due.

If any contributory local authority fails to pay the required contribution, or any part thereof, the Minister of Finance, on the application of the Board, may deduct from the subsidies payable to that local authority under any Act or authority a sum equal to the amount of the contribution or to the part so remaining unpaid, together with interest thereon at the rate fixed by the Minister of Finance under the last preceding section, and may pay the same to the Hospital Board in satisfaction or part satisfaction of the contribution so due by the contributory local authority.

Every contributory local authority liable to pay any contribution under the foregoing provisions of this Act may pay the same out of its ordinary funds, or may, if it thinks fit, in addition to its other rating-powers, raise the required amount by a rate to be made and levied for that purpose.

If at any time during any financial year a Board is of opinion that the contributions required by it from the contributory local authorities as aforesaid in respect of capital expenditure are insufficient, the Board may, in respect of the deficiency, make a supplementary estimate and apportionment in the same manner as in the case of its main estimate and apportionment of expenditure, and the foregoing provisions shall apply accordingly, with the necessary modifications, to any supplementary contribution so required from any local authority.

If at any time during any financial year a Board is of opinion that the contributions required by it from the contributory local authorities as aforesaid in respect of expenditure (other than capital expenditure) are insufficient, the Minister of Finance may, on application by the Board and without further appropriation than this Act, pay to the Board out of the Consolidated Fund the deficiency or any part thereof.

The amount so paid to the Board shall, with interest thereon at the prescribed rate, be deducted by the Minister from the subsidy payable to that Board in respect of the next financial year.

When any contributions for capital expenditure required in any financial year from local authorities prove to be in excess of the necessities of the Board during that year, the Board may by resolution release those local authorities from the payment of any part of those contributions, but every such release shall be made uniformly and to the same degree to all the contributory local authorities in proportion to their respective contributions.

When a contributory local authority considers that the estimated expenditure of a Hospital Board is excessive, or that the apportionment of that expenditure among the contributory local authorities is not in accordance with this Act, or that in any other respect the Board has failed to conform to the requirements of this Act with regard to the contributions of local authorities, the local authority may appeal against the decision of the Board to the Minister by sending to him a copy of any resolution expressing the dissent of the local authority and the reasons for that dissent.

In any such case if the Minister is of opinion that there is reasonable ground for further inquiry he may direct an inquiry to be made by some fit person to be appointed as a Commissioner for this purpose by the Minister.

The Commissioner shall have all the powers of a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908 (other than powers as to costs), and shall report to the Minister his opinion as to the matter of the appeal.

The Minister shall thereupon, after taking into consideration the report of the Commissioner, give such decision in the appeal as he thinks fit, whether in accordance with that report or not, and shall give notice of his decision to the contributory local authority and to the Board, and the decision so given and notified shall be final and conclusive.

The costs of any such inquiry, as fixed by the Minister, shall be paid either by the local authority or by the Hospital Board, or partly by the local authority and partly by the Board, as the Minister determines, and all sums so directed to be paid shall constitute a debt recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction by the several persons to whom they are payable in accordance with the Minister’s determination.

When and so far as any such appeal to the Minister is successful, the Board shall thereupon make an amended estimate or apportionment in accordance with the decision so given, or otherwise conform to that decision; and any amended estimate or apportionment so made shall for all purposes be deemed to be substituted for the estimate or apportionment appealed against, and shall take effect accordingly.

When a Hospital Board proposes to expend or has expended any money in the purchase of land or the erection of buildings, or in making additions to buildings, or otherwise by way of capital expenditure, it may, if it thinks it expedient so to do, in any estimate of annual expenditure and any apportionment of expenditure among contributory local authorities, distribute the amount so expended or proposed to be expended over two or more financial years, and the amount so allocated to any financial year shall be deemed to be expenditure incurred in that year, and contributions from local authorities may be required and recovered accordingly.

When and so long as in any part of a hospital district there is no contributory local authority, the Valuer-General shall be deemed to be the contributory local authority thereof, and that part of the district shall be deemed to be a contributory district accordingly.

The Governor-General may, if he thinks fit, having regard both to the population and to the rateable value of the property in any such part of a hospital district, by Order in Council, in the month of December in each year, appoint such number of members as he thinks fit as representatives of that part of the district on the Board.

For the purposes of this section the following parts of a hospital district shall be deemed to be parts in which there is no contributory local authority:—

The Valuer-General, on receiving from the Board an account of the amount of contribution required from any such contributory district, shall forthwith proceed to raise by means of rates on the capital value of all rateable property therein the amount of that contribution, together with the amount of the estimated cost of making and collecting the rates.

For the purpose of making and collecting any such rate the valuation roll under the Valuation of Land Act, 1925, shall be deemed to be the valuation roll of the rateable property in that contributory district, and the Valuer-General shall be deemed to be a local authority within the meaning of the Rating Act, 1925, all the provisions whereof shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the making, levying, collecting and recovering of any such rate.

All rates so raised shall be paid to the Hospital Board less the amount of the expenses of making and collecting the same, and the amount of those expenses shall be paid into the Public Account and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

The last three subsections of the last preceding section shall also apply (if the Minister so directs by notice to the Valuer-General in any specified case) to any contributory district in which the local authority fails to levy such rate or to make such other provision as is necessary to enable it to pay any contribution due to the Hospital Board of the district.

For the purpose of erecting buildings or of making additions or alterations to buildings, or of purchasing land, or of paying off any loan which has theretofore been raised by the Board or for which the Board is liable, or for any other purposes of capital expenditure, a Hospital Board may, with the precedent approval of the Minister and subject to such conditions as the Minister may impose, borrow money, whether by way of bank overdraft or in any other manner; and as security for any such loan the Board may, with the consent of the Minister, issue debentures or mortgage or charge any land vested in it; but no such debenture, and no mortgage or charge, shall contain or imply any power of sale of any land which the Board has no power to sell.

For the purpose of meeting ordinary recurrent expenditure the Board may, with the precedent approval of the Minister and subject to such conditions as the Minister may impose, borrow money by way of bank overdraft; but the amount of any such overdraft shall not at any time in any financial year exceed the total amount of the contributions payable to the Board by contributory local authorities during that year and then unpaid, together with the estimated amount receivable by the Board during that year by way of subsidy under section forty-three hereof and then unpaid.

For the purpose of the issue of debentures as herein provided the Hospital Board shall be deemed to be a local authority within the meaning of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926, save that it shall not be necessary in any such case to take the steps prescribed by sections eight to twelve of that Act. In particular, but without limiting the general application of the said Act, the provisions of sections twenty-seven to sixty-one thereof, and of Parts IV, V, and VI thereof, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to the issue of debentures by Hospital Boards under the authority of this section:

Provided that the limitation imposed by section eighty-three of the said Act (relating to State-guaranteed loans) shall not apply with respect to the guarantee of debentures issued under this section.

The provisions of section ninety-one of the said Act, as applied by this Act, shall be deemed to authorize the investment by the Public Trustee of moneys belonging to the Common Fund of the Public Trust Office, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Public Trust Office Act, 1908.

Any Receiver appointed under section forty-eight of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926, in respect of a loan for which debentures have been issued under this section may, in the name and on behalf of the contributory local authorities, make and levy any special rates that may be necessary to meet all payments under such debentures.

In the apportionment of its expenditure for any year among the contributory local authorities the Board shall include the annual charges for the payment of interest and for the repayment of principal in respect of any debentures issued under this section.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Public Trust Office Act, 1908, the Public Trustee may invest moneys belonging to the Common Fund of the Public Trust Office on the security of debentures issued by a Hospital Board under the authority of the last preceding section, whether such debentures are issued with or without a State guarantee:

Provided that if such debentures are not so guaranteed the Minister of Finance shall, in the event of default being made in the payment of interest or the repayment of principal, pay to the Public Trustee all moneys then or thereafter becoming payable to the Board by way of subsidy or so much thereof as is sufficient to satisfy the amount for the time being outstanding in respect of arrears of principal and interest.

All moneys borrowed by a Board pursuant to subsection one of section sixty hereof shall, as and when raised, be paid into a separate account at the bank at which the moneys of the Board are kept, and shall not be drawn out of such account or expended except for the special purpose for which they were borrowed:

Provided that any surplus moneys remaining after the completion of the work for which the said moneys were borrowed may be expended for any other purpose for which the Board is authorized to borrow money as aforesaid, or may be applied towards the reduction of the loan.

All moneys belonging to a Board shall, pending investment or application thereof in accordance with this Act, be paid into such bank as the Board from time to time determines, and shall be paid thereout only by cheques signed by the Treasurer of the Board and countersigned by any two of such members as are authorized from time to time by the Board to sign cheques on its behalf.

Notwithstanding anything in the last preceding section, the Board may, pursuant to a resolution in that behalf, establish an Imprest Account, which shall, as the Board may determine, be kept in the Post Office Savings-bank or in any other bank within the meaning of the Banking Act, 1908.

The Imprest Account may be held jointly in the names of and be operated on by the Treasurer and one other person to be appointed in that behalf by the Board, or may, with the express approval in writing of the Audit Office, but not otherwise, be in the sole name of and be operated on by the Treasurer or other approved officer of the Board. Where the Imprest Account is held jointly in the names of the Treasurer and of one other person as aforesaid, such last-mentioned person shall be either a responsible officer of the Board or a member of the Board.

The Board shall from time to time, by resolution, fix the maximum amount that may be held at any time in the Imprest Account, not exceeding fifty pounds in any case where the Imprest Account may be operated on by one person acting alone.

Moneys in the Imprest Account shall be available only for the payment of casual wages and of emergency expenditure. A statement of all payments made from the Imprest Account shall be submitted to the Board for approval at its first ordinary meeting thereafter. The payment of moneys out of the Imprest Account for any purpose not hereby authorized shall be deemed to be the misappropriation of the funds of the Board.

All moneys held in trust by a Board shall, pending the application thereof in accordance with the terms of the trust, be invested, at the discretion of the Board, either in manner directed or authorized by the trust, or (notwithstanding the terms of the trust) in securities issued by the Government of New Zealand or by any local authority under any Act, or on first mortgage of freehold land in New Zealand.

All money, land, and other property which vests in a Hospital Board as the successor of any Board or of any body corporate in accordance with this Act shall remain subject to any trusts affecting that property at the time when it so vests, and shall at all times thereafter be appropriated and dealt with by the Board for the purposes of those trusts, and in accordance with the terms thereof, so far as those purposes and terms are consistent with this Act.

A Board may accept any money, land, or other property, by way of bequest, devise, or gift, in trust for the purposes of any existing or future institution under the control of the Board, or in trust for any purpose to which the Board can lawfully apply its own property.

All money, land, and other property accepted by a Board in trust under the authority of this section, and all income derived therefrom, shall be appropriated and dealt with by the Board for the purposes of the trust and in accordance with the terms thereof, so far as those purposes and terms are consistent with this Act.

When any money is received by a Board by way of bequest or gift in trust for the purposes of any institution, all such money shall, save so far as it is otherwise provided by the terms of the will or gift, be applied in such manner as the Board thinks fit in or towards the permanent improvement of the institution or the extension of the objects for which the institution is established, or shall be invested by the Board, and the income of such investments shall be appropriated and used for the purposes of that institution.

A Board may appoint such persons as it thinks fit for the purpose of collecting voluntary contributions and donations from the public for the purpose of the establishment or maintenance of any institution, or for any other special purpose within the powers of the Board, or for the general purposes of the administration of this Act by the Board.

All moneys so collected by a Board shall be applied for the purposes for which it was collected, and for no other purpose.

Lands vested in the Crown and reserved or set apart for the purposes of or as endowments for any Hospital Board, or any institution vested in that Board, may be granted to that Board, anything in the Public Reserves and Domains Act, 1908, to the contrary notwithstanding.

A Board may, with the consent of the Minister, sell or exchange any land vested in it other than land held in trust for any special purpose, and pay or receive any money by way of equality of exchange.

Nothing in this section shall authorize the sale or exchange of any land granted by the Crown or by any Act as an endowment to a Hospital Board under this Act, or to any Board or body corporate of which a Hospital Board is the successor.

Land granted by the Crown or by any Act as a site for any institution, or to be otherwise occupied and used for the purposes of any institution, shall not be deemed to be an endowment within the meaning of this section.

A Hospital Board may grant leases of any lands vested in it.

All such leases shall be subject to the provisions of the Public Bodies’ Leases Act, 1908, and every Hospital Board is hereby declared to be a leasing authority within the meaning of that Act.

The powers of leasing hereby conferred upon a Hospital Board shall extend to any reserve or endowment vested in the Board, and to land held by the Board upon any trust; but it shall not be lawful for the Board to grant a lease of any such reserve, endowment, or trust property for such terms or upon such conditions as are inconsistent with the due and proper use of the same for the purposes for which it is vested in the Board. No lease or agreement for a lease granted or made by a Board shall be invalid merely because it is inconsistent with the provisions of this subsection.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section three of the Public Bodies’ Leases Act, 1908, the powers of leasing hereby conferred upon a Hospital Board may be validly exercised notwithstanding any restriction or limitation of leasing-powers imposed by any other Act in force at the passing of this Act or by any trust to which the land is subject.

The powers of leasing hereby conferred upon a Board are in addition to and not in substitution for any powers of leasing conferred by any other Act or by any trust.

The powers of selling, exchanging, mortgaging, or charging land which are conferred upon a Board by this Act shall, with the consent of the Minister, extend to land held in trust for any special purpose notwithstanding the terms of that trust; but the proceeds of any such sale, and the land or money obtained by any such exchange, shall be subject to the same or similar trusts, so far as may be, as the land so disposed of.

Land required as a site for or otherwise for the purposes of any institution which is under the control of a Hospital Board, or which a Hospital Board, with the consent of the Minister proposes to establish, may be taken by the Board under the Public Works Act, 1908, in the same manner as if the institution were a public work and the Board were a local authority within the meaning of that Act, and all the provisions of that Act shall, with the necessary modifications, apply accordingly.

A Hospital Board may at any time establish new institutions of any of the following kinds:—

Any such institution may be established in any part of the hospital district of the Board by which it is established or in any place outside that district; but no institution shall be so established by any Board outside its own district unless the institution is reasonably required for the reception and relief of persons resident in that district.

No new institution shall be so established, or building erected, or structural addition or alteration costing more than two hundred and fifty pounds made to any building, and no capital expenditure for any other purpose in excess of the said amount shall be incurred, unless previous notice in writing of the proposed establishment, erection, addition, alteration, or expenditure has been sent to the Minister, and the consent in writing of the Minister has been previously given.

A Board may, with the previous consent in writing of the Minister, close any institution under its control.

It shall be the duty of every Hospital Board to provide and at all times to maintain such hospitals and to make such other provisions as the Director-General from time to time considers requisite in any part of the hospital district—

It shall be the duty of every Board, in pursuance of any directions given from time to time in that behalf by the Director-General, to receive into any hospital or other institution under the control of the Board, so far as adequate accommodation is therein available, any person suffering from any of the diseases for the relief of which that hospital or institution is established.

In this section the term “infectious disease” means any disease which is for the time being an infectious disease within the meaning of the Health Act, 1920.

No action for damages shall lie against a Board at the suit of any person in respect of any failure of that Board to conform to the requirements of this section.

The provisions of this section are subject to the provisions of subsection three of section seventy-five hereof.

Nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to authorize or require a Board to establish or maintain any hospital for infectious diseases in any such place or manner as to create a nuisance.

For the management of any institution under the control of a Board, or for the administration of any matter within the powers of a Board, the Board may, if and so long as it thinks fit, establish and maintain a committee.

Any such committee may include persons who are not members of the Board:

Provided that no person shall be qualified to become or to continue to be a member of any such committee who would be disqualified by virtue of section twenty-three or section twenty-four hereof from becoming or continuing to be a member of a Board.

Every such committee shall, subject to the control of the Board, have the general management of the institution or the general administration of the matter in respect of which the committee is established.

All the acts and proceedings of the committee shall be reported to the Board, and shall not, except so far as the Board by regulations otherwise provides, have any operation or effect until approved at a meeting of the Board.

The proceedings and powers of every committee shall be governed and determined by regulations made from time to time by the Board.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or elsewhere in this Act, the provisions of the Fifth Schedule hereto shall apply to the institution therein referred to.

A Hospital Board, in respect of any institution under its control, may from time to time make under the seal of the Board by-laws, not inconsistent with this Act, as to any of the following matters:—

Every such fine shall be recoverable on summary conviction.

No such by-law shall come into force unless and until it has been approved by the Minister in writing under his hand.

Every such by-law may at any time be disallowed by the Governor-General by Order in Council, and shall thereupon cease to be in force in the same manner as if it had been then revoked.

Any by-law may relate either to a single institution or to two or more institutions or generally to all institutions under the control of the Board.

The production of any document purporting to contain a copy of any by-law and to be authenticated by the seal of a Hospital Board, or the production of a copy of the Gazette purporting to contain a copy of any by-law, shall, without further evidence of the authenticity of the seal or of any other matter, be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, of the existence, validity, and provisions of the by-law, and of the approval of the Minister, and of the date of the coming of the by-law into force.

All by-laws in force with respect to any institution at the commencement of this Act shall, so far as they are consistent with this Act, remain in force with respect to that institution, and may be revoked, varied, proved, and enforced in the same manner as if they had been made by the Board in which the institution is vested.

The Minister may at any time, by writing under his hand, require any Board to make, in respect of any institution under its control, by-laws prescribing scales of fees to be paid in respect of relief granted by the Board in such institution.

Ifany Board refuses or fails to make such by-laws when required so to do by the Minister, or if any by-laws made by the Board are not approved by the Minister, acting under subsection three of section seventy-nine hereof, or are disallowed by the Governor-General, acting under subsection four of the said section, the Governor-General may, in respect of such institution, by Order in Council make regulations prescribing the fees to be paid in respect of relief granted as aforesaid.

Any regulations so made by the Governor-General in respect of any institution shall have the same force and effect as if they were by-laws duly made by the Board.

Two or more Hospital Boards may, by agreement between them, combine to establish and maintain any institution of any kind which a single Board may lawfully establish under this Act. Boards which have so combined to establish and maintain any institution are hereinafter referred to as contributory Boards.

The institution, and all land, buildings, and other property acquired or used for the purposes thereof, shall be vested in such one of the contributory Boards as is agreed upon by them; and for all the purposes of this Act, except so far as in this section expressly provided, the institution shall be deemed to be an institution under the control of that Board, and subject to the provisions of this Act accordingly.

For every such institution there shall be a joint committee of the contributory Boards. The constitution and procedure of the joint committee shall be such as is agreed upon by the contributory Boards, or in default of any such agreement, or so far as any such agreement does not extend, such as is determined from time to time by the Governor-General by Order in Council.

There shall be vested in the joint committee, with respect to the institution, such of the powers of the Board in which the institution is vested as may be agreed upon by the contributory Boards, or in default of agreement, or so far as any such agreement does not extend, then as may be determined from time to time by the Governor-General by Order in Council; and all powers so vested in the joint committee may be exercised by it on behalf of the Board in which the institution is vested, subject, however, to any conditions or restrictions imposed by any such agreement or Order in Council as aforesaid.

The Board in which the institution is vested shall not exercise any of its powers in respect of that institution except on the recommendation or with the consent of the joint committee.

All expenses and liabilities incurred in acquiring, establishing, or maintaining the institution shall be those of the Board in which the institution is vested; and all contracts made, rights acquired, and liabilities incurred by the joint committee shall be deemed to be made, acquired, and incurred by that Board:

Provided that, for the purposes of sections twenty-three and twenty-four of this Act (relating to disqualifications and forfeiture of office), every contract made in respect of the institution by any contributory Board or by the joint committee shall be deemed to be a contract made by each of the contributory Boards.

The other contributory Board or Boards shall contribute towards the expenses and liabilities so incurred by the Board in which the institution is vested in such proportion and to such extent as is agreed upon by the contributory Boards, or in default of any such agreement, or so far as such agreement does not extend, then as the Governor-General by Order in Council from time to time directs.

All moneys expended or contributed and all liabilities incurred under the provisions of this section by any Board in acquiring, establishing, or maintaining the institution shall be deemed for all purposes to be expenses and liabilities incurred by the Board in exercise of its powers and functions under this Act, and shall be chargeable against and recoverable from local authorities in the same manner as any other expenditure of the Board under this Act.

An agreement under this section may at any time be varied or determined by subsequent agreement of the parties, or may at a time after the expiration of ten years from the making thereof, or after the expiration of any shorter period fixed by the agreement in that behalf, be cancelled by any party thereto by giving to the other party or parties twelve months’ notice in writing.

On any such agreement being cancelled or determined the institution, and all land, buildings, and other property used for the purposes thereof, shall be disposed of in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as the contributory Boards agree upon, or in default of any agreement, or so far as any such agreement does not extend, then as the Governor-General by Order in Council directs.

On the agreement being cancelled or determined the amount of all existing liabilities incurred in respect of the institution by the Board in which it is vested shall be apportioned between the contributory Boards in manner agreed upon, or, in default of agreement, as the Governor-General by Order in Council directs.

It shall be the duty of the contributory Boards to carry into effect every such disposition of property or apportionment of liabilities as is agreed upon or directed in pursuance of the two last preceding subsections by the execution of all such conveyances or other instruments as may be required in that behalf.

The powers which may, by virtue of subsection four of the last preceding section, be vested in the joint committee of any institution established under that section shall include the power to receive and expend moneys on account of the institution.

All moneys received by the committee shall be paid into such bank as the committee from time to time determines, and shall be paid thereout only by cheques signed and countersigned in such manner as the committee may, by resolution approved by the Minister, from time to time determine.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, the committee shall have no power to overdraw its account, save with the consent of the Board in which the institution is vested.

The provisions of section thirty-five hereof shall extend, with the necessary modifications, to authorize the payment by any joint committee established under section eighty-one hereof of travelling-allowances to the members of that committee.

With respect to any school of medicine or surgery which is under the control of the University of New Zealand, or which is under the control of any college attached or affiliated to that University, the following provisions shall apply:—

Subject to the obligations of any trust affecting any funds or property of a Hospital Board, the Board may apply any moneys in its hands, in such proportions and in such manner as it thinks fit, for any of the purposes following:—

The last preceding section shall not be so construed as to authorize the payment by the Board for purposes other than capital expenditure of any moneys available only for capital expenditure, or to apply for purposes other than maintenance moneys available only for maintenance.

A Board may in every or any year set aside out of its revenue such sums as the Minister approves to form a fund for the erection of any building by the Board, or the repair, enlargement, or reinstatement of any buildings or other property of the Board; and may from time to time invest any moneys so set aside in such securities as may be approved by the Minister, and shall pay the proceeds of such investment into the said fund.

Every Hospital Board shall, before the month of May in every year, cause its accounts for the preceding financial year to be balanced, and a true statement and account to be prepared, in the form prescribed by regulations—

All such accounts shall be audited by the Audit Office, which for that purpose shall have and may exercise all such powers as it has under the Public Revenues Act, 1926, in respect of public moneys.

A true copy of every such annual statement of account shall, forthwith after the audit thereof, be sent by the Board to the Minister and to every contributory local authority.

Every Hospital Board shall cause books to be provided and kept, and true and regular accounts to be entered therein, in the form prescribed by regulations, of its income and expenditure, and of all sums received and paid by the Board, and of the several purposes for which those sums were received and paid.

A separate account shall be kept in respect of every trust fund or trust property under the control of a Board.

The said books of account shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any member of the Board.

A Hospital Board may contract for the payment to it, by any other Hospital Board, separate institution, body corporate, registered friendly society, registered branch of a friendly society, or other society or person, of the cost of any relief to be afforded by the first-mentioned Board to any person; and the amount so agreed to be paid, or a reasonable sum if no specific amount is so agreed upon, shall be a debt recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction.

Every contract under this section entered into by any Board after the commencement of this Act shall be subject to the approval of the Minister.

The existence of any such contract shall not be deemed to debar the Board in its discretion from charging in respect of relief afforded to any person an amount less than the cost specified in that contract in respect of such relief.

When a Hospital Board may lawfully grant any kind of relief to any person, it shall be lawful for that Board to contract for the granting of such relief to that person by the Crown in any sanatorium or other institution under its control, or by any other Hospital Board, or by any separate institution, body corporate, society, or person, and for the payment of the cost of that relief by the first-mentioned Board into the Public Account, or to the Board, separate institution, body corporate, society, or person so granting the relief, as the case may be.

The sum so payable by a Hospital Board shall be recoverable as a debt in any Court of competent jurisdiction, and may be paid out of any moneys which might have been lawfully expended by the Board in affording the said relief.

When a person receives relief from or at the expense of a Hospital Board at any time before he has resided in the district of that Board for three months immediately prior to the grant of that relief, the Board may recover the cost of the relief so granted to that person as a debt due by the Board in whose district he last resided for a period of one year at any time prior to the granting of that relief, whether he was still resident in that district or not at the time when the relief was granted.

A Board shall not be liable under this section for the cost of any relief which is granted to a person who has not at any time during the two years immediately preceding the grant of the relief resided in the district of that Board.

When a Board pays or is liable to pay any money to any other Board under the provisions of this section in respect of the relief of any person, all sums payable in respect of that relief by the person relieved or by any other person shall be recoverable from the person so liable either by the Board by whom the relief was granted or by the Board which has paid or is liable to pay the cost thereof under the provisions of this section. It shall be the duty of the Board by which any such relief was granted to afford to the Board liable to pay the cost of such relief all reasonable assistance to enable that Board to recover such cost from the person relieved or from any other person liable therefor, and if it fails so to do the Minister may determine, either wholly or in part, its right to recover from such other Board the cost of such relief.

For the purposes of this section the cost of relief shall be the sum agreed upon between the Boards concerned, or, in default of any such agreement, such sum as the Court in which the cost is sued for in pursuance of this section considers reasonable.

For the purposes of this section the cost of relief granted by a Board in respect of any child shall be deemed to include all moneys (if any) paid by the Board in respect of that child pursuant to subsection ten of section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Education Act, 1914.

When any person is continuously in receipt of relief for any period, such relief shall be deemed to be granted from day to day during that period and the dates of the granting thereof shall be determined accordingly.

In estimating for the purposes of subsection one of this section the period of the residence of any person in a hospital district no account shall be taken of any period or periods during which that person, while so resident, has been continuously in receipt of relief from the Board of that or any other district or from any separate institution situated in that or any other district, or has been continuously confined in any industrial school, mental hospital, or prison situated in that district, or has otherwise been lawfully in confinement in that district.

In the event of any dispute arising between two Boards in regard to liability for relief granted under this section, the same shall be referred to the Minister, whose decision shall be final, and shall be binding on the said Boards.

For the purposes of the last preceding section any question as to the place of residence of a child under the age of five years, or as to the period of residence of any such child in any district, shall be determined by reference to the place of residence of the parents or guardians of the child, and the place of residence of the parents or guardians shall be deemed to be the place of residence of the child.

Section ninety-two hereof shall not apply in respect of any relief granted after the passing of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Amendment Act, 1925, except as between the Boards of contiguous hospital districts.

It shall be the duty of every Hospital Board that has granted relief in any case to which section ninety-two hereof applies, so soon as practicable thereafter, to notify the particulars of its claim to the Board from which it is entitled to recover the cost of that relief; and if in the opinion of the Minister there has in any case been unreasonable delay in giving notice as aforesaid he may, by notice in writing delivered to each of the Boards concerned, determine that the cost of such relief shall as between those Boards cease in whole or in part to be recoverable.

If in any case to which the said section ninety-two applies the Board liable to pay the cost of such relief is of opinion that the cost is unreasonably high or that unnecessary relief has been afforded, it may appeal to the Minister, who may, by notice in writing delivered to each of the Boards concerned, determine the portion of the cost that may be recovered as between the Boards, and his determination shall be final.

Where after the passing of this Act application for relief is made to a Board by or on behalf of a person resident in the district of another Board, the last-mentioned Board shall not be liable for the cost of such relief unless—

The Director-General shall have the general administration of this Act under the direction of the Minister.

There may be appointed such Assistant Inspectors as may be considered necessary for the administration of this Act.

The Assistant Inspectors shall, under the control of the Director-General, perform such official duties as they are severally required to perform by this Act or by the direction of the Director-General.

All references in any other Act to the Inspector-General of Hospitals shall be deemed to be references to the Director-General of Health under the Health Act, 1920.

The authority to act for the Director-General of Health in the event of a vacancy in his office or of his absence from duty conferred on the Deputy Director-General of Health by the Health Act, 1920, shall extend and apply with respect to the powers of the Director-General under and for the purposes of this Act.

In case of the absence from duty of both the Director-General and the Deputy Director-General, the Director of the Division of Hospitals appointed under the Health Act, 1920, shall be charged with the duties of the Director-General in respect of this Act.

The Director-General or any Assistant Inspector may, without previous notice, visit and inspect any institution at any time he thinks fit.

It shall be the duty of every officer or servant employed in or in respect of any institution to give to the Director-General or Assistant Inspector so visiting the institution all information required by the Director-General or Assistant Inspector with respect to the institution and to the management thereof, and to all matters in connection therewith.

Every person who obstructs the Director-General or an Assistant Inspector in his visitation of an institution, or who fails or refuses to give any such information as aforesaid, or who gives untrue or misleading information on the matters aforesaid, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

The power to inspect institutions conferred by the last preceding section shall extend so as to authorize the inspection of all premises connected with any institution or under the control of a Board.

The Director of the Division of Hospitals and the Director of the Division of Nursing, respectively appointed under the Health Act, 1920, shall have the powers of visitation and inspection conferred on the Director-General of Health and on Assistant Inspectors by the last preceding section as extended by this section, and the provisions of that section shall apply to such visitation and inspection accordingly.

The Director-General may at any time call a special meeting of any Hospital Board, or require the Chairman or Secretary of any such Board to call such a meeting thereof, and it shall be the duty of the Chairman or Secretary to call a meeting accordingly.

The Director-General shall be entitled to be present at any meeting of a Board or of any committee of a Board, and to speak at any such meeting, but shall not take any other part in the proceedings thereof.

The powers conferred on the Director-General of Health by the last preceding section are hereby also conferred on and may be exercised by the Director of the Division of Hospitals under the Health Act, 1920.

Any other officer of the Department of Health authorized in that behalf by the Director-General shall be entitled to be present at any meeting of a Board or of any committee of a Board, and to speak at any such meeting, but shall not take any other part in the proceedings thereof.

The Director-General shall, before the month of July in each year, prepare and deliver to the Minister an annual report for the last preceding financial year, giving such particulars as to the administration of this Act as he thinks fit or as the Minister requires.

The Minister shall lay the report of the Director-General before Parliament within twenty-one days after the receipt thereof if Parliament is then in session, and if not, then within twenty-one days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

If at any time it appears to the Governor-General in Council that a Hospital Board has failed or refused to perform any duty imposed upon it by this Act, or has unreasonably failed or refused to exercise any power conferred upon it by this Act, or has done or intends to do any illegal act in the execution of its functions, it shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council to do either or both of the following things:—

When any money payable to a Board by way of subsidy has been so withheld, the Board shall forfeit its right to receive that money until and unless the Governor-General by Order in Council authorizes the payment thereof.

Any member, officer, or servant of a Board who obstructs the Director-General or any person authorized by him in that behalf in the execution of any act which the Director-General is directed or authorized to do under this section shall be liable on summary conviction, on the information of the Director-General, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

All expenses incurred by the Director-General in doing or causing to be done any act on behalf of a Board under the authority of this section shall constitute a debt due by that Board to the Crown.

If and so long as the Director-General is authorized under this section to do any act on behalf of a Board, all the powers and authorities vested in the Board by this Act in respect of the act so authorized may be exercised by the Director-General as if those powers and authorities had been lawfully delegated to him by the Board.

Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to exclude or affect any other remedy available against a Board, or the members thereof, or any other person in respect of any illegal act or omission done or intended to be done by the Board, or the members thereof, or any other person.

If the Secretary, Treasurer, or any other officer of a Board fails to do any act he is required to do by this Act or any regulation thereunder, or to do such act within the time therein limited, or if any person having the custody or control of any of the books or papers relating to the Board’s affairs fails to produce the same when so required by the Director-General or any officer appointed by the Director-General in that behalf, he shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, recoverable summarily on the information of any person appointed in that behalf, either generally or in any particular case, by the Minister.

Moneys expended by a constable or a local authority in rendering aid in cases of emergency to indigent sick persons or in the removal and burial of deceased destitute persons shall be refunded by the Board of the hospital district in which such service was rendered.

All moneys so refunded shall for the purposes of section ninety-two hereof be deemed to be relief received by the person in respect of whom the service was rendered, or by the representatives of that person, as the case may be.

A Board may compound with any person for such sum of money or other recompense as it thinks fit in respect of the breach of any contract, or in respect of any debt or money payable to the Board, whether before or after action brought for the recovery thereof.

All receipts given by or on behalf of a Board, and all declarations required or authorized by this Act, shall be exempt from stamp duty.

Where by reason of any alteration of the boundaries of a hospital district any institution which is vested in one Board becomes situated in the district of another Board, the Governor-General may by Order in Council, if he thinks fit, on the application of the Board of either of those districts, vest the institution in the Board of the district in which it has so become situated.

When any such Order in Council has been made, the following provisions shall apply as from the date of the Order in Council or as from such later date as is specified in the Order in Council as the date of the coming into operation thereof:—

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations for the reception into any institution under this Act of persons suffering from any contagious or infectious disease, and for the detention of such persons in such institution until they may be discharged without danger to the public health.

Any person in respect of whom an order under this section is made may at any time while such order remains in force appeal therefrom to a Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in the locality, and the Magistrate shall have jurisdiction to hear such appeal and to make such order in the matter as he thinks fit. An order of a Magistrate under this subsection shall be final and conclusive.

Regulations under this section may be made to apply generally or to any specified institution or institutions.

The institutions named or described in the Second Schedule hereto, and the corporations thereof, shall continue to exist, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

The said institutions are in this Act referred to as separate institutions.

The name of the corporation of any separate institution shall be the name by which the institution is referred to in the Second Schedule hereto, and by that name the corporation shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to hold land, to sue and be sued, and to do and suffer all that bodies corporate may do and suffer.

The corporation of any separate institution shall consist of the contributors for the time being to that institution as defined by this Act.

The contributors to any separate institution are, during any financial year,—

No person shall be entitled to vote as a contributor at any meeting of contributors unless he is of the age of eighteen years and has been a contributor for a period of not less than three months next before the day of the meeting.

The Trustees of any separate institution may elect as a life contributor to the institution any person who gives to the funds of the institution a donation in one sum of not less than twenty pounds.

A separate institution shall be governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of nine persons, who shall be elected by the contributors to the institution.

The Trustees of a separate institution who are in office at the commencement of this Act shall, unless their offices sooner become vacant under this Act, continue in office and may exercise the powers vested in Trustees by this Act until their successors come into office in accordance with this Act.

All Trustees of a separate institution elected under this Act shall come into office on their election, and shall continue in office until the election of their successors, unless they sooner vacate their offices in accordance with this Act.

An annual meeting of the contributors to any separate institution shall be held on the first Tuesday in April in each year, at a time and place to be determined by the Trustees and notified by advertisement in some newspaper circulating in the district where the institution is situated.

At each such annual meeting or at any adjournment thereof every Trustee who has been appointed under the provisions of section one hundred and eighteen hereof to fill a casual vacancy shall retire, and some person shall be elected as a Trustee in his place, but the Trustee so retiring shall be capable of being so elected. At the same time every existing vacancy in the Board of Trustees shall be filled by the election of a Trustee.

At every such annual meeting or at any adjournment thereof, if the number of Trustees to be elected under the last preceding subsection is less than three, a sufficient number of Trustees to create three vacancies in the Board of Trustees shall go out of office, and their places shall be filled by election, but the Trustees so retiring may be re-elected.

The Trustees so to go out of office shall be those who have been the longest in office without re-election; but where two or more have been in office for the same length of time, then those of them who are to go out of office shall be determined by lot in such manner as the Trustees determine.

If at any annual or general meeting of contributors at least ten of the contributors qualified to vote do not assemble and proceed to business within one hour after the time fixed for the meeting, no retirement or election of Trustees shall take place, nor shall any business be done at that time; but in such case the meeting shall stand adjourned to the same place and the same hour of the same day in the following week, of which adjourned meeting notice shall be given by the Trustees in some newspaper circulating in the district where the institution is situated, and at the adjourned meeting four contributors entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum.

Every question submitted to any meeting of contributors shall be decided by a majority of the votes of contributors then present and entitled to vote.

Every such contributor shall have one vote.

A general meeting of contributors may, by a resolution of the Trustees, be called at any time by notice to the contributors given by advertisement in some newspaper circulating in the district in which the institution is situated.

At every annual meeting of contributors or adjournment thereof the contributors present and entitled to vote shall, after electing Trustees as aforesaid, elect one of the Trustees to be Chairman of the institution, and the person so elected shall, unless he sooner vacates his office, hold office until the election of his successor.

The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Trustees or of the contributors at which he is present.

If the Chairman is absent from any meeting, or if there is no Chairman, the contributors present and entitled to vote, in the case of a meeting of contributors, or the Trustees present in the case of a meeting of Trustees, shall elect some contributor or Trustee (as the case may be) to preside at that meeting, and the person so elected shall have the same powers at that meeting as the Chairman would have had if he had been present.

At every meeting, whether of Trustees or of contributors, the Chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and in case the votes are equal he shall have a casting-vote also.

If the Chairman resigns or forfeits his office, or dies, the remaining Trustees shall appoint one of their number to be Chairman until the election of a Chairman at the next annual meeting of contributors or an adjournment thereof.

If any Trustee dies, or resigns or forfeits his office, the continuing Trustees, if three or more in number, shall fill the vacancy so created in the Board by appointing as Trustee some contributor to the institution.

If there are less than three continuing Trustees, or if they fail to make any such appointment within two months after the happening of the vacancy, the Governor-General may, by Warrant under his hand, appoint a contributor to the vacant office.

Every Trustee appointed under this section shall hold office until the election of his successor at the next annual meeting of the contributors or at an adjournment thereof.

Meetings of the Trustees of a separate institution shall be held at such times and places as the Trustees from time to time determine.

The Chairman of the institution or any five of the Trustees may at any time call a special meeting of the Trustees.

It shall be the duty of the Chairman or of the Secretary to call a special meeting of the Trustees at any time when requested so to do by a requisition in writing under the hands of any five Trustees.

The Trustees of a separate institution may at any time, by resolution approved by a general meeting of the contributors, decide to transfer the institution to the Hospital Board of the hospital district within which the institution is situated.

The Governor-General may thereupon, if he thinks fit, declare by Order in Council that the institution is transferred to that Board accordingly.

On the making of any such Order in Council the institution shall cease, as from the day specified in that behalf in the Order, to be a separate institution under this Act, and shall as from that day become vested in and under the control of the Hospital Board so named in the Order, and be subject in all respects to the provisions of Part I of this Act, and as from that day the corporation of the separate institution shall be dissolved, and the said Board shall be deemed to be the successor thereof under this Act.

The provisions of section eleven hereof shall apply, with all necessary modifications, to a separate institution transferred to a Hospital Board under this section.

The Trustees of a separate institution shall at all times keep a book (to be called the Contributors Book) in which shall be entered the names and addresses of all contributors and the amounts from time to time contributed by each, together with the dates of those contributions.

The Contributors Book shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any contributor, and all entries therein shall be sufficient prima facie evidence of the matters so recorded.

The provisions of Part I of this Act shall, to the extent indicated in the Sixth Schedule hereto, apply, with the necessary modifications, to a separate institution and to the Trustees and corporation thereof respectively; and in those provisions all references to an institution shall be read as references to a separate institution, and all references to a Hospital Board or to the members thereof shall be read as references to the Trustees or to the corporation of a separate institution, as may in the particular case be appropriate.

The Trustees of a separate institution may from time to time make, under the seal of the corporation of the separate institution, by-laws for any of the following purposes and matters in addition to the purposes and matters mentioned in section seventy-nine hereof:—

All the provisions of section seventy-nine hereof shall apply to by-laws made under this section.

The provisions of this Part of this Act shall be subject to the provisions contained in the Seventh Schedule hereto with respect to the separate institution therein referred to.

In this Part of this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

No house shall be used as a private hospital except under the authority of a license issued by the Minister under this Act.

If any house is used as a private hospital in breach of this section, the occupier thereof and all persons concerned in the management of the hospital are severally liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such use has continued.

Every application for a license to keep a private hospital shall be made in writing to the Minister, and shall contain the following particulars:—

Every such application shall be accompanied by a fee of ten shillings.

No license shall be granted unless the house in respect of which the license is applied for is approved by the Director-General as suitable for the purposes indicated in the application.

No license shah be granted unless the Minister is satisfied as to the character and fitness of the applicant.

Subject to the express provisions of this Act, the grant or refusal of a license shall in all cases be in the absolute discretion of the Minister.

Every licensed hospital shall, according to the tenor of the license issued in respect thereof, be either—

Every license shall state the maximum number of patients who may be received and lodged in the hospital at any one time.

Any license may, if the Minister thinks fit, be limited to the reception of any particular class or classes of patients.

On the grant of a license for a private hospital the licensee shall pay a fee of such amount, not exceeding five pounds, as may be prescribed:

Provided that if the license is granted after the thirty-first day of January in any year the prescribed license fee shall be reduced by one-twelfth for every complete month between the date of the grant of the license and the thirty-first day of December last preceding that date.

A licensee shall, in the month of December in each year, pay to the Crown such fee, not exceeding five pounds, as may be prescribed in respect of the continuance of the license.

When a license has been granted to two or more persons jointly, and during the currency thereof any of those persons dies leaving the other or others surviving, the license shall remain in force and have the same effect as if granted to the survivor or survivors.

On the application in writing signed by the licensee of any private hospital and by any person to whom he desires that his license shall be transferred, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, by endorsement on the license or otherwise in writing, transfer the license to that person, and thereupon that person shall become the licensee of the hospital, with the same rights and obligations as if the license had been granted to him.

If the licensee or the sole surviving licensee of a private hospital dies, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, by endorsement on the license or otherwise in writing, transfer the license to any person nominated in that behalf by the executors or administrators of the deceased licensee, and that person shall thereupon become the licensee of the hospital, with the same rights and obligations as if the license had been granted to him.

In the meantime, unless and until the license is revoked under this section or under section one hundred and thirty-five hereof, the hospital shall be deemed to continue to be a licensed hospital under this Act, and the manager and other officers thereof shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to continue in office in the same manner as if the licensee were still living.

If the license is not transferred under the authority of this section within two months after the death of the licensee or of the sole surviving licensee, the Minister may thereupon, by writing under his hand published in the Gazette, revoke the license without notice, and the hospital shall thereupon cease to be a licensed hospital.

Every license shall continue in force until revoked in accordance with this Act.

Every license may at any time be revoked by the Minister on any of the following grounds:—

Before a license is revoked on any of the grounds mentioned in this section the Minister shall give notice to the licensee or manager of the ground on which it is proposed so to revoke the license, and shall afford to the licensee or manager a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why the license should not be so revoked.

Any such notice may be given to the licensee or manager either personally or by leaving it at the licensed hospital, and any such revocation of a license shall be effected by a notice under the hand of the Minister and published in the Gazette.

The decision of the Minister as to the revocation of a license shall be final and conclusive, and shall not be questioned in any Court or in any proceedings.

No structural alteration or addition shall be made to any licensed hospital until a sufficient plan and description of the proposed alteration or addition have been given to the Director-General and approved by him.

If any alteration or addition is made in breach of this section, the licensee shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

For every licensed hospital there shall at all times be a manager resident on the premises of the hospital, who may be either the licensee himself, if qualified under this section, or some qualified person appointed and employed by the licensee.

The manager shall be either—

For every licensed medical and surgical hospital of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner there shall, in addition to the manager, be at all times resident on the premises of the hospital a registered nurse; and for every licensed maternity hospital of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner there shall, in addition to the manager, be at all times resident on the premises of the hospital a registered midwife; and for every hospital which is licensed both as a maternity hospital and as a medical and surgical hospital and of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner there shall, in addition to the manager, be at all times resident on the premises of the hospital a registered nurse who is also a registered midwife, or a registered nurse and a registered midwife.

No person other than a licensee shall be appointed as the manager of a licensed hospital until the name and qualifications of that person have been notified to the Director-General and he has approved of the appointment.

During the temporary absence, illness, or incapacity of the manager of a licensed hospital the licensee thereof may, without notice to the Director-General, appoint as acting-manager thereof any other person qualified in accordance with this section; and every person so appointed shall, while he so acts, be deemed for all the purposes of this Act to be the manager of the hospital. But no such acting-manager shall so act, whether under the same or successive appointments, for a longer continuous period than four weeks.

If at any time a licensed hospital is used as such while there is no manager thereof in accordance with this section, or while the manager is not resident on the premises of the hospital, the licensee thereof shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which it is so used.

The Minister may, in any case in which by reason of the special circumstances thereof he thinks fit so to do, and on such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, by warrant under his hand, exempt any licensed hospital from the requirements of subsection two of this section. Any exemption so granted by the Minister may be at any time withdrawn by him by notice under his hand and delivered to the licensee of the hospital.

After the commencement of this Act no license for a private hospital shall be granted, and no license (whether existing at the commencement of this Act or not) shall be transferred, to any person who is not qualified to be the manager of a licensed hospital in terms of the last preceding section.

In every licensed hospital there shall be kept a book (to be called the Register of Patients) in which the licensee shall enter or cause to be entered the following particulars:—

The particulars required to be entered in the Register of Patients shall be entered therein as soon as practicable after the occurrence of the act or event to which the entry relates.

Every person who knowingly makes in the Register of Patients an untrue entry is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Every licensee who fails to make or cause to be made any entry in the Register of Patients in accordance with this Act is liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

In addition to the particulars required to be entered in the Register of Patients in terms of the last preceding section, there shall be kept in the prescribed manner and at the prescribed times in every licensed hospital records as to the use therein of anæsthetics (whether general or local) and as to temperature-charts.

Every person who knowingly makes a false entry in any such record is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Every licensee who fails to keep or cause to be kept any such record in the manner and at the times prescribed is liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

Every registered medical practitioner in attendance on a patient in a licensed hospital shall furnish to the licensee or manager of such hospital such particulars as may be necessary for making the prescribed entries in the Register of Patients referred to in section one hundred and thirty-nine hereof or for keeping any records prescribed under the last preceding section.

Every such registered medical practitioner who refuses or fails to furnish particulars as required in the last preceding subsection or who furnishes any false particulars is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

All the provisions of Part I of this Act relating to the visitation and inspection of institutions shall, so far as applicable, apply to the visitation and inspection of licensed hospitals under this Part of this Act in the same manner as if such hospitals were institutions under the control of a Hospital Board.

If the Director-General has reason to believe or suspect that any house is used as a private hospital without any license being in force with respect thereto in accordance with this Act, he may at any time and from time to time by himself, or by any person authorized by him in that behalf, enter and inspect that house and every part thereof, and any person who prevents or obstructs or attempts to prevent or obstruct any such entry or inspection is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

A licensed hospital shall not be used for any purpose other than the purposes in respect of which the license is granted, and purposes reasonably incidental thereto.

If any licensed hospital is used in any manner contrary to the provisions of this section the licensee and the manager thereof shall be severally liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day or part of a day during which it is so used.

If at any time a licensed hospital is used for the reception of a greater number of patients than is permitted by the license, or for the reception of any patient of a kind not authorized by the license, the licensee and the manager of the hospital shall be severally liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day or part of a day during which it is so used.

The manager of a licensed hospital shall be deemed to be the occupier of the premises for the purpose of giving notice under section eighty of the Health Act, 1920, of any patient suspected to be sick of a notifiable infectious disease, and if the manager fails to give notice in accordance with that section he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds in lieu of that to which he is liable under that section.

The manager of a licensed hospital shall be deemed to be the occupier thereof for the purpose of giving notice or information under the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1924, of the death of any person or of the birth of any child in the hospital.

In any prosecution for an offence against this Part of this Act the burden of proving that any person residing in any house and there receiving medical treatment is not a patient within the meaning of this Act shall lie upon the defendant.

In any prosecution for an offence against this Part of this Act the burden of proving that a license is in force in respect of any private hospital, and of proving the terms of that license, and of proving that any person apparently having the charge, control, or management of the hospital is not the manager thereof within the meaning of this Act, shall lie upon the defendant.

Any licensee or manager of a private hospital and any medical practitioner may, by way of appeal, refer to the Board of Health any matter affecting him in respect of the administration of this Act in relation to private hospitals, and in any such case that Board shall have power to hear the appeal and to make such recommendations in the matter as in the circumstances it thinks proper.

Without restricting the generality of section one hundred and fifty-one hereof, the Governor-General may from time to time make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for all or any of the following purposes:—

All fees received under this Part of this Act shall be paid into the Public Account and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations, consistent with this Act, as are contemplated or provided for by this Act, or as he thinks necessary or expedient for carrying into full effect the provisions thereof.

The power to make regulations conferred on the Governor-General by the last preceding section shall extend so as to authorize the making of regulations for the protection of the interests and the promotion of the welfare of nurses engaged in public hospitals.

Regulations under this section may relate to the accommodation to be provided for nurses, the leave of absence from duty to be from time to time allowed, the working-conditions, and generally such other matters as the Governor-General thinks fit.

In hospitals of over one hundred beds the hours of employment of uncertificated nurses shall not exceed fifty-six in any one week.

Where by misadventure, accident, or mistake, whether of law or fact, anything is at any time done after the time or is not done within the time required by this Act, or is otherwise irregularly done in matter of form, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make provision for any such case, or may extend the time within which anything is required to be done, or may validate anything so done after the time required, or so irregularly done in matter of form, so that the true intent and purpose of this Act may have effect; but no such Order in Council shall affect any judicial proceedings theretofore instituted or any judgment, decree, or other decision thereupon made or given by any Court.

All Orders in Council made under the authority of this Act shall be gazetted, and shall be laid before Parliament within twenty-one days after the gazetting thereof if Parliament is then in session, and if not, then within twenty-one days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

The enactments mentioned in the Eighth Schedule hereto are hereby repealed, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:—

Savings.