The Short Title of this Act is “The Dunedin Cattle-market Reserve Leasing Act, 1885.”

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

It shall be lawful for the Corporation from time to time to lease the said lands, or any part or parts thereof, for building purposes by public auction, at an upset rental to be fixed by the Council, for any term of years not exceeding twenty-one years, to take immediate effect in possession, and such leases (hereinafter called “original leases”) may, in addition to all such covenants, agreements, conditions, and provisions as are usual in such leases, at the option of the Council, contain provisions to the following effect, that is to say: That three months previous to the expiration of the respective terms of such original leases two separate valuations shall be made by three indifferent persons to be appointed in writing as follows: One by the said Corporation, one by the lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, and the third by the two valuators to be appointed as aforesaid; that the decision of such three valuators, or any two of them, shall be binding on all parties; that one of such valuations shall be made of all the buildings and improvements then on the land demised, and the other of the fear annual ground-rent of the said lands only, without any building or improvements, for a further term not exceeding twenty-one years from the expiration of the term granted by such original lease as aforesaid; that before the expiration of such original lease a new lease of the said land and premises for a further term not exceeding twenty-one years, containing similar covenants and provisions to those contained in such original lease as aforesaid, shall be put up to public auction at the upset price of the annual rent of the said land so valued as aforesaid, without buildings and improvements, subject to the payment by the purchaser of the value of the said buildings and improvements so fixed by the valuators as aforesaid; that in the event of any person or persons other than the original lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns becoming entitled to such new lease, such person or persons shall forthwith pay in cash to the said Corporation, for the benefit of the original lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, the amount of the value of the buildings and improvements so fixed as aforesaid, and that the said Corporation shall pay over to the said original lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns the amount so paid to them by the purchaser of such new lease without any deduction whatsoever: Provided that the said original lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns shall have previously paid all rent and other charges payable under the original lease.

All rents reserved by any and every lease granted by the Corporation under the authority of this Act shall from time to time as, and when the same shall be received by or on behalf of the Corporation, be paid into such bank as the Council shall appoint or direct to the credit of an account to be called “The Dunedin Town Belt and Recreation Reserves Improvement Account” (hereinafter referred to as “the said account”), anything in “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876,” or any Act amending the same to the contrary notwithstanding.

The provisions contained in sections one hundred and twenty-six to one hundred and thirty-eight inclusive of “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876,” so far as they are applicable, shall apply to the said account in the same manner as if such account were a “separate account” within the meaning of that Act.

All moneys belonging to the said account shall be held in trust by the Corporation for the purpose of being expended in such sum or sums, and in such manner in all respects as the Council shall from time to time determine, in or towards the planting, improvement, and ornamentation of the Town Belt of Dunedin, and of all or any other lands in the said city reserved for the purpose of public recreation.

The Council may from time to time invest the whole or any part of the moneys standing to the credit of the said account in such securities as they may direct or approve of, and the Council may at any time sell and convert any such securities into money, provided that all interest accruing from such securities, and all moneys arising out of the sale thereof, shall be duly paid into the said account.

If any person into whose hands any portion of the moneys mentioned in sections four and seven shall at any time come fails to pay the same into the said account forthwith, or if any Councillor or officer of the Council shall at any time directly or indirectly consent to, or in any way authorize or sanction the payment or expenditure of, the whole or any portion of the moneys standing to the credit of the said account for any purpose other than the purposes hereinbefore mentioned, he shall be liable to be sued in any Court of competent jurisdiction, or if there shall be more than one such person, then they shall be liable to be sued jointly or severally, by any individual member of the Corporation, for any moneys which he or they shall have so failed to pay into the said account, or the payment or expenditure of which, contrary to the provisions of this Act, be or they shall have so consented to or in any way authorized or sanctioned, together with a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds and all costs of the proceedings.

The amount recovered by a judgment in any such action as aforesaid, less the sum awarded by way of penalty and costs, shall be paid by the defendant or defendants into the said account, and the residue of the amount so recovered shall be paid to the plaintiff, and unless and until such payments shall be duly made such judgment shall not be deemed to be satisfied.

In case the moneys recovered by a judgment in any such action be paid under a writ of fieri facias or a distress warrant, the Sheriff or other officer of the Court receiving the same shall thereupon in the first place pay to the plaintiff the amount awarded as costs in the action; and, secondly, shall pay in to the credit of the said account the moneys which should have been paid by the defendant into, or which shall have been so improperly paid or expended from, the said account as aforesaid; and, lastly, shall pay to the plaintiff any balance remaining after making such payments as aforesaid.