This Act may be cited as the Wairoa Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Act, 1909.

In this Act the expression—

The provisions of the Wairoa Harbour Act, 1878, and the Harbours Act, 1908, constituting the Wairoa Harbour Board shall, as from the date when the elective members of the Board as at present constituted cease to hold office, be repealed, and it is hereby enacted that from and after such date the Board shall be constituted as follows:—

The elective members shall be elected on the day appointed for the next election of the elective members of the Board.

Every non-elective member of the Board who is appointed by the Governor in Council and whose term of office has not on the date aforesaid expired shall, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, continue to hold office until the expiry of the term for which he was appointed, but subject to the provisions of the Harbours Act, 1908.

The entity of the Corporation shall not be affected by any such alterations as aforesaid.

It shall be lawful for the Board, subject to the provisions of the Harbours Act, 1908, to construct such harbour-works as the Board considers necessary for the requirements of the Harbour of Wairoa; and also to erect and construct all such cranes, sheds, and works for the improvement of the said harbour as are judged necessary by the Board for the safety, convenience, or reception of vessels resorting to the said harbour, and for the more convenient loading and unloading of such vessels, or for the safety and protection of any works constructed or proposed to be constructed by the Board, and for providing proper access to and from such works.

The Board shall have power to borrow, subject to the provisions of the Harbours Act, 1908, and to the provisions of this Act, any sum not exceeding seventy-eight thousand pounds, to be applied in and about the construction and carrying-out of the works mentioned in section four of this Act.

No money shall be borrowed under the authority of this Act which shall produce to the lender a higher rate of interest than five per centum per annum.

Such moneys may be raised in the manner prescribed by the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1908, and the provisions of that Act shall apply as if the Board were a local authority and the said works were public works within the meaning of Part I of that Act, subject, however, to the modification that where anything is required to be done by special order it may be done by the Board by resolution.

As security for the money authorised to be borrowed as aforesaid, the Board may make and levy a special rate not exceeding one penny in the pound on the capital value of all rateable property in the harbour district.

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

The Wairoa Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Act, 1903, is hereby repealed, and the power thereby given to the Board to borrow money revoked.