WHEREAS the Auckland Gas Company’s Act 1871 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) did not contain a definition of the term “gas”, and it is desirable to add such a definition and in particular to provide that the term “gas” shall include natural gas: And whereas it is desirable to extend the expression “Resident Magistrate” to include a Stipendiary Magistrate: And whereas various penalties were provided for in the principal Act, and it is desirable to increase those penalties to amounts more appropriate to present circumstances, and to add a provision that the imposition of a penalty under section 25 of the principal Act shall not prevent the Auckland Gas Company Limited from recovering the value of any gas wasted or lost or from recovering at law any other sum or sums which apart from that section it would have been entitled to recover: And whereas it is desirable to make an addition to section 35 of the principal Act to provide that the bylaws and regulations made under that section shall not be repugnant not only to the principal Act or to the Municipal Corporations Act 1954 but also to the Counties Act 1956: And whereas section 41 of, and the Schedule to, the principal Act are no longer appropriate and it is desirable to repeal the same: And whereas section 46 of the principal Act defined the limits of the principal Act as extending to and including the City of Auckland and such parts of the suburbs and vicinity thereof as lie within a radius of ten miles from a centre at the Post Office, Shortland Street, Auckland: And whereas that Post Office no longer exists, and it is desirable to extend the limits of the principal Act to include the said City of Auckland and the area within a radius of twelve and one-half miles from a centre at the Post Office, Jean Batten Place, Auckland: