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

For the purposes of this Act every borough (other than the Borough of Waihi) shall be deemed to be included within the territorial area of the county wherein it is situate or to which it is contiguous, although such borough does not actually form part of such county.

For the purposes of this Act a borough which is not itself contiguous to a county shall be deemed to be contiguous thereto when it is contiguous to another borough which is itself contiguous to such county.

In any case of doubt the Governor, by warrant under his hand, shall appoint the county wherein shall be deemed to be included any borough which is on the confines of more counties than one.

The divisions of New Zealand described in the Second Schedule hereto are hereby constituted hospital districts for the purposes of this Act, and shall be called by the names set over each such description.

When the boundaries of any county comprised in a hospital district are altered, such alteration shall operate with respect to any hospital district constituted under this Act, and shall take effect accordingly.

When a new county is at any time created the limits whereof extend into more hospital districts than one, the Governor, by warrant under his hand, shall appoint the hospital district wherein such new county shall be deemed to be included.

When a county that is wholly comprised in a hospital district is divided into two or more counties, all such counties shall be deemed to be comprised in that hospital district.

For the purposes of this Act a town district that is not part of a county shall be deemed to be part of the district within the boundaries of which such town district is situated.

For every hospital district there shall be a Board of administration.

The Board shall be a body corporate by the name of “The [Naming the district] Hospital and Charitable Aid Board,” and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable in law to hold real and personal property and to do and suffer all things which bodies corporate may do and suffer.

The Governor by Order in Council shall, during the month of October, one thousand nine hundred and ten, and at the same period in every third year thereafter, apportion the representation of the several contributory local authorities in any district on the Board of such district in the proportion to the amount contributed by such local authorities respectively to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Fund thereof during the year ending on the thirty-first day of March previous to the date of such Order in Council, and In proportion to the population of the districts of the several contributory local authorities:

Provided that in the case of the Picton Hospital District the Governor shall in every year, within fourteen days before the first Wednesday in December, appoint such number of persons not exceeding three, as he thinks fit, to be members of the Board of that district as representatives of the Sounds County, and such members shall continue in office until the coming into office of their successors to be appointed by the Governor as aforesaid.

Where a new district is constituted, the apportionment, so far as contributions are concerned, shall be made according to the contributions of the local authorities therein to the fund of the district whereof the new district had previously formed a part.

Every apportionment of representation as aforesaid shall be made so that no local authority shall have more than four members on the Board.

It shall not be necessary to grant a representative to each contributory local authority, but the local authorities may be grouped and return a member or members for such group.

The members apportioned as aforesaid shall be elected by the respective local authorities or groups of local authorities on the fourth Wednesday in November in each year, and shall come into office on the first Wednesday in December ensuing next after their election.

Members shall hold office for one year or until their successors come into office, but failing election by any local authority or group of local authorities the Governor may appoint a member or members for such local authority or group to hold office until the next yearly election.

Notwithstanding anything in the two last preceding sections the Boards shall, in the hospital districts hereinafter mentioned, consist of the local authorities and persons or local authorities herein also mentioned respectively, that is to say:—

In the case of every Board hereafter constituted the Governor shall appoint the day of the first election of the Board and the time and place of its first meeting, and may nominate some member of the Board to preside at such meeting, and may appoint the number of members necessary to constitute a meeting for the conduct of business.

The Board shall be deemed to come into office at such first meeting, and shall elect one of its number to be Chairman, who shall hold office until his successor is elected.

The Board shall hold its annual meeting on the first Wednesday in December in every year.

At such meeting the elective members of the Board for the previous year shall go out of office, and the members then recently elected shall come into office, and the Board shall there and then elect one of its number to be Chairman, who shall come into office on his election and hold office until his successor is elected.

At every meeting of the Board the Chairman shall have an original vote, and in case of an equality of votes a casting-vote.

Except as hereinafter provided, the exclusive superintendence and control of every institution within a district is hereby vested in the Board of such district.

Except as hereinafter provided, the Board of the district shall have the control of the distribution of charitable aid in the district, and may apply out of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Fund of the district such moneys as from time to time it thinks required for the purpose.

The office of a member of the Board shall become vacant in any of the following cases, that is to say:—

Such vacancy shall be deemed to be an extraordinary vacancy.

Whenever an extraordinary vacancy occurs, the Board shall declare the office vacant, and temporarily appoint thereto some fit person as member until the next annual meeting for the election of members, when the person so appointed shall retire as one of those who are required to go out of office.

If a sufficient number of members are not elected to supply any extraordinary vacancies, the Governor may appoint to the Board such persons as he thinks fit, as provided in section seven hereof on failure of election.

In case all the members of the Board resign, so that the functions thereof cannot be exercised, the Governor may appoint any persons he thinks fit as Commissioners to exercise the functions of the Board, and until a properly constituted Board comes into office such Commissioners shall be deemed to be the Board of the district for which they are appointed and shall exercise all the powers and authorities of the Board.

For every hospital district there shall be a Hospital and Charitable Aid Fund, consisting of the moneys arising from the following sources:—

During each financial year, unless the Minister of Finance is satisfied that the Board has sufficient funds to carry out the administration of this Part of this Act during such year, there shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund to the Board such sums by way of subsidy as the said Minister thinks sufficient, not exceeding—

Out of any moneys from time to time appropriated by Parliament for the purposes of this Part of this Act the Minister of Finance may in each year advance to the Board, in anticipation of its estimated revenue for such year, any sums not exceeding in any case a sum equivalent to the half of the amount of the estimated revenue from all sources exclusive of subsidies.

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

All bequests and devises of property made for the benefit or endowment of the Board or of any institution or separate institution shall be applied strictly in the manner directed by the testators respectively; but in the absence of any such direction the proceeds therefrom shall be applied in such manner as the Board directs for or towards the purposes of the Board, or, as the case may be, some permanent improvement of such institution or the extension of the objects for which the institution was founded.

Pending such application as aforesaid, all proceeds from any such bequest or devise shall be invested in securities issued by the Government, or by any local authority under any Act, or on mortgage of land in New Zealand held in fee-simple; and the interest accruing from year to year in respect of such investments may be applied for or towards the purposes of the Board or, as the case may be, the maintenance of the aforesaid institution.

All moneys paid from time to time as subsidies in respect of any bequest or devise shall be deemed to form part of such bequest or devise, and shall be appropriated and applied in the same manner, and not otherwise.

The Board shall take all necessary steps for providing funds for the maintenance of any institution vested in it or under its control, or for obtaining means to afford charitable aid, and may appoint persons to collect voluntary contributions or donations for all or any of such purposes, and shall collect and receive from the several contributory local authorities in the district the contributions they may be required to furnish from time to time.

At every institution a book, to be called “The Contributors’ Book,” shall be kept, in which shall be entered the names and addresses of all persons contributing towards the funds for the support thereof, and the amounts contributed by each person.

All moneys arising from any of the sources aforesaid shall be paid into such bank as the Board from time to time determines, to an account to be called “The Hospital and Charitable Aid Fund Account,” and shall be paid thereout only by cheques signed by the Treasurer and countersigned by any two members of the Board authorised from time to time to sign cheques.

The Board shall, as early as possible after first coming into office, and thereafter in every year before the last day of March, ascertain the amount of the expenditure required for the maintenance of the institutions in the district, and for the distribution of charitable aid therein up to the last day of March in the following year; and shall allocate the proportion of such expenditure to be contributed by the local authorities within the district in the manner hereinafter set forth.

The Board shall declare what local authorities within its district are liable to contribute to the support of the institutions therein, or to afford charitable aid therein, or both; and shall appoint the proportion of the contribution to be made by each such local authority respectively on a uniform or equivalent scale throughout the entire district, but proportioned as mentioned in section twenty-six hereof; and may appoint the time for the payment thereof.

No differential proportion of contributions shall be made in any district.

In case any contributions required from local authorities prove to be in excess of the actual necessities of the district or united district the Board may, by resolution, release such local authorities from the payment of any part of such 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.

Contributions from each of such local authorities shall be proportioned to the rateable value of the rateable property in the district or subdivision represented by each local authority respectively, as may be provided by resolution of the Board made under the powers herein contained.

From the total estimated annual cost of maintaining the institutions in any district or subdivision and of affording charitable aid therein the Board shall deduct the net annual income estimated to be available for such purposes, and the remainder shall be the total amount to be allocated for contribution by the local authorities in such district or subdivision, less such amount as may be receivable from the Consolidated Fund in respect of such remainder.

If any contributory local authority deems the amount of any contribution required of it by the Board to be unjust, it may appeal therefrom by transmitting a copy of any resolution expressing its dissent to the Minister, who shall thereupon direct an inquiry to be made in the manner provided by section fifty hereof for inquiring into objections against incorporation.

The said section shall apply mutatis mutandis, and the decision of the Commissioners shall be final.

If the appeal is successful the Board may make an amended requisition in accordance with the recommendations (if any) of the Commissioners who heard the appeal, and (subject to the provisions of the last preceding subsection) such amended requisition shall for all purposes be deemed to be an original requisition and shall take the place of the requisition which was appealed against.

Upon receipt of such requisition or amended requisition, as the case may be, the local authority concerned shall forthwith pay the amount of the contribution thereby required.

Every contributory local authority liable or willing to pay any contribution in aid or for the support of institutions, or for charitable aid, may pay the same out of the ordinary funds at its disposal or out of any moneys received by way of subsidy, or may, if it thinks fit, raise the required amount by a rate to be made and levied for that purpose.

Every rate authorised under this Act shall be made, levied, and collected in all respects, and with, under, and subject to the same powers, rights, and authorities in all respects, as rates levied by such local authority for general or ordinary purposes; and one-half of such rate may be deducted by the occupier paying the same from any rent payable by him to the owner of the land and premises occupied by him and so rated.

If necessary for the purpose of raising any such rate, the Governor in Council is hereby empowered to fix all times and to authorise all things to be done under “The Rating Act, 1908,” to enable such rate to be made, levied, and collected as nearly as may be in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

Where “The Counties Act, 1908,” is suspended in any county, the Council of such county may set apart any portion of the County Fund for the purposes of this Act, and shall have all the powers in respect thereof that such Council now has to apportion and divide such fund.

If any contributory local authority liable to pay any contribution authorised or required to be paid under this Act neglects or refuses, for a period of one month, to pay the same after the time prescribed for the payment thereof, such contribution may be recovered by the Board in any Court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due by such local authority to the Board.

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 any subsidies payable or to become payable to such local authority under any Act a sum equal to such contribution, or such part thereof as may be unpaid, and shall pay the same over to the fund of the district or of the institution in respect of which the failure occurred.

Any surplus funds not required for immediate expenditure, and remaining at the end of any year in the hands of the Board, shall be carried forward to the credit of the succeeding year in reduction of the amount of contributions to be collected for such year.

All surplus funds belonging to any institution which at the coming into operation of this Act are invested in any manner shall remain so, and the yearly proceeds of such investments shall be applied towards the current expenses of the institution in reduction of the contributions to be collected for such purpose.

The Governor, if he thinks fit, may at any time permit such investments to be realised, and the proceeds to be applied in any case of emergency or for such special objects permissible under this Act as the Board from time to time directs.

If any contribution authorised or required to be paid under this Act within a district or any part of a district cannot be recovered by reason of there being no local authority therein, or by reason of no rates being levied by any local authority therein, and no subsidies being payable under this or any other Act to any such local authority, the Minister of Finance, on the application of the Board and on receiving from it an account of the amount of contribution required from such district or part of a district, shall send such account to the Valuer-General.

Forthwith upon receiving such account it shall be the duty of the Valuer-General to raise, by means of rates upon all rateable property within such district or part of a district as aforesaid, the amount stated in such account, together with the amount of the estimated cost of making and collecting such rates.

For the purpose of making and collecting any such rate the valuation roll made under “The Valuation of Land Act, 1908,” shall be deemed to be the valuation roll of the rateable property in the aforesaid district or part of a district; and the Valuer-General shall be deemed to be a local authority within the meaning of “The Rating Act, 1908,” all the provisions whereof shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the making, levying, collecting, and recovering any such rate.

All rates so raised shall be paid to the Board of the district for which they were collected, less the amount of expenses for collecting the same, which shall be paid into the Public Account and form part of the Consolidated Fund.

The Board of the district may appoint any one or more local authorities in the district or in any subdivision thereof to distribute or to collect and distribute the charitable aid funds of the Board within the district under the jurisdiction of such local authority, and may from time to time vary or rescind any such appointment in whole or in part.

The Board may apply any of the moneys in its hands from time to time, in such proportions and in such manner as it thinks fit,—

and generally in payment of all charges and expenses incurred by the Board in carrying out this Act.

The Board may from time to time establish new hospitals or branch hospitals, or other charitable institutions, in any part of the district where it deems them to be required.

For the purpose of erecting new institutions, or of making additions, alterations, or repairs to existing institutions, the Board may from time to time borrow money on the security of its income or on mortgage of any land vested in the Board but not belonging to or held in trust for any separate institution:

Provided that no such mortgage of any endowment vested in the Board shall contain a power of sale.

The moneys payable to a Board by contributory local authorities shall include all moneys which are required by the Board for the purpose of purchasing or procuring land as a site for any hospital or other institution which the Board is authorised to erect or provide; and shall also include all moneys which are required by the Board for the erection, repair, extension, alteration, or equipment of any such hospital or other institution.

All moneys so required by a Board may be allocated among the contributory local authorities, and shall be recoverable from them by the Board in the same manner as other moneys required by the Board may be allocated and recovered.

It shall be lawful for a Board to distribute, over such period of years as the Board thinks fit, the amount recoverable from local authorities under the provisions of this section, and in each year to demand and recover from the contributory local authorities instalments of the said amount accordingly.

The Board may close any institution vested in it which it thinks not expedient to maintain any longer, and in such case shall provide for the distribution of the inmates or other persons receiving relief therefrom among other institutions within the district.

The Board may, out of the funds under its control,—

Before any person is paid any money for travelling-expenses under this section he shall deliver to the Chairman of the Board from which he claims the same a statutory declaration that he has not been paid, and is not entitled to receive any sum in respect of the same travelling-expenses from any other Board or corporation under this or any other Act.

No person being the holder of a free pass on a railway shall be paid any money in respect of expenses for travelling on such railway.

The Board may from time to time divide its district into subdivisions, and also may vary, alter, or abolish any such subdivisions and create new ones; but it shall not be lawful for any Board to dissever any subdivision of a district from such district.

The division of a district into subdivisions shall be made only for the purpose of facilitating the levying and collection of contributions from the contributory local authorities in such district, or the distribution of charitable aid therein, or for both those purposes.

For the purposes of the contribution for and distribution of charitable aid under this Act the hospital districts enumerated in this section shall be deemed together to form united districts respectively, and the members of the several Boards of such hospital districts shall together form the Board of such united districts respectively, that is to say:—

For the purposes aforesaid any two or more hospital districts may, by resolution passed by the respective Boards thereof, become joined into a united district.

A copy of such resolutions shall be transmitted to the Minister, who shall thereupon notify in the Gazette the fact of such union, if he approves it, but such union shall not take effect until the first day of April or October next succeeding the gazetting of such notification.

For the purposes aforesaid and for all purposes incidental thereto, the Board of a united district shall have all the powers, duties, and functions which, in the case of a hospital district, would devolve upon the Board of such hospital district, and shall supersede the Boards of the hospital districts forming part of such united district, and shall be deemed to be incorporated under this Act by the name of “The [Naming the united district] Charitable Aid Board.”

All provisions of this Act relating to hospital districts and the Boards thereof, so far as applicable and necessary to give effect to this enactment, shall apply in respect to the Board of a united district, and shall be construed, mutatis mutandis, as they would apply in respect of the Board of a hospital district.

In order to give full effect to the provisions of this section, “Board” in this Act shall, unless inconsistent with the context, be deemed to include the Board of a united district, and “district” to include a united district.

Every hospital district which is or becomes united to another hospital district for the purpose of distribution of charitable aid shall, in respect of the maintenance of hospitals, be known as a separate district, and the corporate name of the Board thereof shall be changed into “The [Naming the separate district] Hospital Board.”

In order to give full effect to the provisions of this section, the provisions of the last preceding section shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to each separate district and the Hospital Board thereof.

For every united district there shall be a fund called the Charitable Aid Fund, and for every separate district a fund called the Hospital Fund, consisting in each case of the moneys arising from the sources mentioned in section sixteen hereof.

On the formation of a united district the Hospital and Charitable Aid Fund of each hospital district out of which such united district is formed (and which thereby becomes a separate district) shall become the Hospital Fund of such separate district.

The powers hereinbefore conferred upon the Governor in Council to adjust and apportion the representation of Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards shall be exercisable by him on the same principle in the case of Charitable Aid Boards and Hospital Boards respectively.

Any institution supported in whole or in part by the voluntary contributions of not less than one hundred persons who have signified their intention to contribute and have contributed thereto in sums of not less than five shillings a yearly amount of not less than one hundred pounds, and each of whom has paid one year’s subscription in advance or a donation in one sum of not less than ten pounds, may be incorporated as hereinafter mentioned as a separate institution under this Act.

On the receipt of a petition signed by not less than fifty of the said persons praying that such institution may be incorporated as a separate institution, the Governor in Council may cause the substance or prayer of such petition to be gazetted.

If no counter-petition, signed by an equal or greater number of such persons, has been delivered at the office of the Minister within one month after the date of such gazetting, or if the appropriate Board of the district in which such institution is established, or intended to be established, has not lodged with the Minister within the same time an objection to such petition, the Governor in Council may declare the contributors for the time being to such institution to be, and they shall thereupon become and continue, a body corporate by the style and title named in the Order in Council, and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal.

In this and the succeeding sections of this Part of this Act relating to institutions “appropriate Board” means the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board or, as the case may be, the Hospital Board if the institution is for hospital purposes, and the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board or, as the case may be, the Charitable Aid Board if the institution is for charitable-aid purposes.

A copy of every such petition shall be transmitted by the petitioners to the said Board not less than fourteen days before the same is presented to the Governor.

On receiving notification from the Committee or persons or body having the actual charge and management of such institution, or on receipt of the copy of the petition to the Governor for the incorporation of the institution, the said Board may object to such incorporation on the ground that the institution is not necessary; and, if the said Board passes a resolution to that effect, shall transmit a copy thereof to the Minister and to the petitioners or intending petitioners, and thereupon all proceedings for incorporating such institution shall be suspended pending an inquiry into such objection.

The Minister shall thereupon require the said Board and the petitioners respectively to appoint a Commissioner to inquire into the case, and shall appoint some Magistrate residing or having jurisdiction in the aforesaid district to sit with the Commissioners upon such inquiry.

If either party fails to appoint a Commissioner within one month, the Minister shall make the necessary appointment.

The Commissioners shall sit as a Court of inquiry, and shall have the powers of Commissioners under “The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908,” and shall report their decision to the Minister, and such decision shall be final.

If the decision is that the institution is not required, then no further proceedings shall be taken for incorporating such institution.

If the decision is otherwise, then the proceedings for incorporation shall proceed as if they had not been suspended.

After the issue of an Order in Council incorporating the institution all previous and preliminary steps and proceedings as hereinbefore required shall be deemed to have been duly and properly taken, and no objection whatsoever shall be taken to the incorporation of such institution, but it shall under all circumstances be deemed to be duly and legally incorporated as a separate institution within the meaning of this Act, whether the provisions of this Act have been complied with or not.

Every such separate institution shall be governed by not less than six nor more than nine Trustees, to be elected by the voluntary contributors for the time being and by the local authorities for the time being contributing to the maintenance of such institution:

Provided that in the case of the separate institution known as the Waimate Hospital, the Council of the County of Waimate and the Borough Council of Waimate shall be the local authorities entitled to elect Trustees.

If the voluntary contributors contribute in respect of the total amount required for the maintenance of the said institution during the last preceding financial year—

The local authorities contributing for the time being to the maintenance of such institution shall elect the remainder of such Trustees, so as to make the total number of Trustees nine.

Retiring Trustees shall be eligible for re-election.

A local authority shall be deemed to contribute to the funds of a separate institution when it contributes any sum to the appropriate Board of the district in which such institution is situate, for the purpose of the same being paid to the separate institution.

A local authority shall be deemed to have contributed to the funds of a separate institution in any year if during such year it has contributed, upon requisition or otherwise, any sum to the Board out of whose funds moneys are paid in respect of such separate institution.

Every contributory local authority which contributes to the funds of a separate institution shall have the power hereinafter declared to elect Trustees of such separate institution.

If there are no more local authorities contributing to such separate institution than Trustees to be elected by them, then each shall elect one Trustee at the time of the first incorporation of the institution as a separate institution, and thereafter at the date and at the time when members of the appropriate Board are elected, and such Trustees shall hold office for one year or until their successors are elected.

If there are more local authorities contributing than Trustees to be elected, then each local authority contributing not less than the total amount contributed by the whole of the local authorities divided by the number of Trustees to be elected shall elect one Trustee, and the remaining local authorities shall elect the remaining Trustees to be elected.

Each of such remaining local authorities shall, for the purpose of electing such remaining Trustees, have one vote for every four thousand inhabitants after the first four thousand inhabitants in its jurisdiction according to the Registrar-General’s last published statistics, and the election shall be made by each such local authority deputing one of its members to meet and elect Trustees, such member exercising the votes belonging to such local authority.

Such election shall be on the first Monday in December in each year.

Any local authority ceasing for twelve months to contribute to the funds of a separate institution shall lose its right to elect or vote in the election of Trustees.

The Trustees having the control of any separate institution may elect any person who gives or has given a donation in one sum of not less than twenty pounds to the institution to be a life contributor, and to have during his life all the privileges of an annual contributor thereto, with the same right of voting at any meeting of the contributors to such institution, and the power of exercising his vote by a proxy given in writing under his hand.

Every life contributor to any separate institution under any former Act shall be deemed to be a life contributor to such institution under this Act.

Except in the case of a life contributor as aforesaid, no contributor shall be permitted to vote by proxy.

At any election of Trustees of a separate institution every contributor shall have and may give one vote only in respect of each Trustee to be elected by the contributors.

The first meeting of contributors to the institution shall be held at such time and place as the Governor by public notice appoints, and at such meeting the contributors shall elect Trustees as hereinbefore provided, and shall transact any other business relating to the institution.

On the second Thursday in the month of January in every year the annual meeting of contributors to the institution shall be held; and at such meeting, of the total number of Trustees elected by the contributors, one-third (or, as the case may require, the number next below one-third) shall retire from office.

The persons to retire shall be those who have been the longest in office without re-election, or where two or more have been in office for the same length of time, then those who are to retire shall be determined by lot.

Every meeting of contributors shall choose its own chairman, who shall have an original as well as a casting vote in the event of there being an equality of votes; and every question submitted to such meeting shall be decided by a majority of the votes of contributors then present.

No person shall be qualified to vote at any meeting of contributors for the election of any Trustee to the institution unless he is of the full age of eighteen years and has been a contributor to such institution for the space of one week previous to such meeting; but where a contributor has paid his subscription for the year immediately preceding the year in which any annual or general meeting takes place the payment of his subscription for the then current year at any time before such meeting shall entitle such contributor to vote.

If at any first meeting or at any annual or general meeting of the contributors at least ten of the contributors qualified to vote do not assemble and proceed to business within one hour from the time fixed for the meeting, no election of Trustees shall be made, nor shall any business be done at that time; but in such case there shall be another meeting of the contributors at the same place and at the same hour of the same day in the second following week, which meeting shall be publicly notified, and at such last-mentioned meeting any number of contributors qualified to vote as aforesaid exceeding three shall constitute a meeting.

If any Trustee dies, or resigns by letter under his hand addressed to the Secretary or Clerk of the institution, or becomes bankrupt, or compounds with his creditors, or is convicted of any indictable offence, or is absent without leave from four consecutive ordinary meetings of the Trustees, or holds any office or place of profit under or in the gift of the Trustees, or is concerned or participates (other than as a shareholder in an incorporated company or in an association or partnership consisting of more than twenty persons) in any contract with or work to be done for the Trustees, his office shall become vacant, and the remaining Trustees shall declare his office vacant and temporarily appoint thereto some contributor to such institution until the next annual meeting for the election of Trustees, when the person thus temporarily appointed shall retire as one of those who are hereby required to go out of office.

In the case of every separate institution hereafter incorporated the Governor shall appoint the time and place of the first meeting of the Trustees thereof, and may nominate one of the Trustees to preside at such meeting, and may fix the number of Trustees to constitute a quorum thereat.

The Trustees shall be deemed to come into office at such first meeting, and shall elect one of their number to be Chairman, who shall hold office until his successor is elected.

At every meeting of the Trustees of a separate institution the Chairman shall have an original vote, and in case of equality of votes a casting-vote.

If all the Trustees of a separate institution resign, so that the functions thereof cannot be exercised, the Governor may appoint any persons whom he thinks fit as Commissioners to exercise the functions of the Trustees, and until new Trustees come into office such Commissioners shall be deemed to be the Trustees of such institution, and shall exercise all the powers, functions, and authorities, and shall have all the responsibilities and liabilities, of the Trustees.

Such appointments shall be deemed to have been made as from the date upon which the resignations of the said Trustees were received by the Secretary or Clerk of the institution.

Nothing herein shall be construed to preclude the election of the same persons as Trustees, or to prevent any person from being elected a Trustee, for several separate institutions.

All the estate and interest in any real or personal property held by the Board or by any person in trust for any institution at the time of the incorporation thereof as a separate institution shall be vested in such incorporated institution.

All powers and authorities of the Board in respect of the management of any institution vested in it or under its control shall, in the case of a separate institution, be deemed to be vested in the Trustees of such institution elected under this Act.

For every separate institution there shall be an Institution Fund, consisting of the moneys arising from the following sources:—

Ibid, sec. 57

There shall be paid in each year out of the Consolidated Fund the following sums by way of subsidy to each separate institution in the same manner as the subsidies payable under section seventeen hereof in respect of institutions under the control of the therein-mentioned Board, and subject as mentioned in the said section, that is to say:—

The Trustees of each separate institution shall on their first coming into office, and thereafter before the last day of March in each year, ascertain the estimated gross cost of the maintenance of the institution vested in them, together with the estimated income from all sources of such institution for the twelve months next following, and shall transmit such estimates to the appropriate Board of the district in which the institution is situate, together with a requisition to such Board for a contribution from the fund of the Board to the amount of the difference between the estimated gross cost of maintenance and the estimated revenue; and such Board shall make contributions out of its fund to the Trustees according to their requisition.

If the appropriate Board deems the amount of any such requisition to be excessive or otherwise unreasonable, it may appeal therefrom by transmitting a copy of any resolution expressing its dissent to the Minister, who thereupon shall direct an inquiry to be made in the manner provided in section fifty hereof in relation to inquiring into objections against incorporation.

The said section shall apply mutatis mutandis, and the decision of the Commissioners shall be final.

Upon requisition by the Trustees of a separate institution the appropriate Board may contribute out of its funds moneys in or towards defraying the cost of necessary enlargements of or additions to the buildings of such separate institution, or of providing necessary additional furniture, appliances, or conveniences.

The Trustees of a separate institution, with the consent of the appropriate Board, may borrow money on the security of their endowments and income for making repairs, additions, or alterations to the institution or to any building annexed or belonging thereto, or may apply to any one or more local authorities for a special contribution towards such purposes.

Where any local authority grants any such contribution there may be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, in such manner as the Minister of Finance, if he agrees to such contribution, from time to time appoints, a special subsidy in aid of the aforesaid purposes not exceeding ten shillings for every pound of special contributions received from any such local authority:

Provided that the maximum sum to be granted out of the Consolidated Fund to any one institution in any one year shall not exceed two thousand five hundred pounds.

The Trustees of any separate institution may, out of the funds thereof, pay such salaries and general expenses as are necessary in and towards the due administration of this Act in respect of such institution, and may pay to any Trustee the actual cost of the fare by railway if he is not the holder of a free pass on such railway, or by coach or water conveyance, or by horse, incurred by any such Trustee in going to or returning from any meeting of the Trustees when duly summoned; but not more than five pounds in the whole shall be paid to any Trustee under this section in any one year.

The Board, in respect of institutions vested in it, and the Trustees of any separate institution in respect of such institution respectively, may from time to time, and subject to the provisions of this Act, make by-laws for or concerning all or any of the matters next mentioned, that is to say:—

All such by-laws shall be printed, and shall not come into force until a day to be fixed therein, not being less than fourteen days from the date of making the same.

One or more copies of all by-laws shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the making thereof, and before they come into operation, be affixed, and shall thereafter whilst in force be at all times maintained, in some conspicuous place in every institution to which the same relate.

A copy of every by-law shall be sent to the Minister before it comes into operation; and the Governor may at any time disallow any such by-law, but such disallowance shall not affect the validity of anything done prior thereto.

All the above provisions shall apply to any amendments or alterations of any by-law.

A printed copy of by-laws, purporting to be the by-laws of any Board or Trustees respectively, if authenticated by the seal of such Board or Trustees, shall be evidence of such by-laws and of their having been duly made.

Every by-law repugnant to this or any other Act shall be void.

Any by-law may provide a fine not exceeding five pounds for every breach thereof.

All fines under this Act or any by-law thereunder may be recovered in a summary way as provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1908.”

The Board and Trustees respectively may from time to time appoint a Secretary, Treasurer, and such medical and other officers, nurses, attendants, and servants to assist in the execution of this Act as they think proper, and may from time to time remove any of them and appoint others in their stead.

The Board and Trustees respectively may from time to time by ordinary resolution make rules not repugnant to or inconsistent with this Act for regulating their own proceedings and the general conduct of business, for determining the number of members necessary to form a quorum, and for calling special or general meetings of the Board or Trustees or of the contributors to any institution.

The Board and Trustees respectively having the control of an institution may make contracts for the maintenance, care, or attendance of any persons therein.

Every person maintained in or receiving relief from any institution, whether the same is supported wholly or partly only by public moneys, shall be liable to contribute a reasonable sum towards the same respectively according to his means.

The Board and the Trustees respectively, or any person authorised in that behalf by them respectively, are hereby authorised to sue for and may recover in any Court of competent jurisdiction such sum as the Court thinks reasonable as a debt due to the Board or Trustees from the person so maintained in or receiving relief from such institution.

Every person maintained in or receiving relief from any institution as last aforesaid who has not sufficient means to pay for the same respectively shall be deemed to be a destitute person within the meaning of “The Destitute Persons Act, 1908,” and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.

For the purposes of this Act in relation to any person maintained in or receiving relief from any such institution, the Public Trustee shall be deemed to be a near relative of such person in the place of his actual near relative who has died intestate; and the Public Trustee is hereby authorised to contribute, and shall contribute out of the estate of such intestate in his hands, towards the maintenance or relief as aforesaid of such person, in the same manner in all respects as the intestate would have been liable to contribute if he had been alive.

If an institution affords maintenance or relief to any person coming from beyond the contributing districts in which such institution is situated, the Board or Trustees having the control of the institution may recover from the appropriate Board of the district from which such person came the entire cost of such maintenance or relief, provided that such person has resided in the last-mentioned district at least six months next before such maintenance or relief began to be afforded.

The Board and Trustees respectively may enter into any contract with any person for doing anything which the Board or Trustees may be authorised to do or which is necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Any contract which if made between private persons—

All such contracts may be varied and discharged in the same manner respectively.

No contract the amount whereof exceeds ten pounds shall, except in case of urgent necessity, be made except after public tender, of which due public notice shall be given; but the Board or Trustees shall not be obliged to accept the lowest or any tender.

The Board and Trustees respectively may compound with any person for such sum of money or other recompense as they think fit in respect of the breach of any contract, or any penalty incurred thereunder, or of any debt or money due to the Board or to the Trustees respectively, whether before or after action brought for the recovery of the same.

Lands reserved or set apart for the purposes of or as endowments for any institution may be granted to the Board or Trustees of the institution for which the same are so reserved or set apart, anything in “The Public Reserves and Domains Act, 1908,” to the contrary notwithstanding.

This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act for the purpose of making any such grant as aforesaid.

Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, the Board and Trustees respectively may grant leases of any lands vested in them, or any part thereof, not required for immediate use at such rents and upon such terms and conditions as they determine.

The term of any such lease shall not exceed twenty-one years in the case of agricultural or pastoral land, and forty-two years in the case of town land or land used for building purposes.

Every such lease shall take effect in possession from the time of the execution thereof, and an annual rent shall be reserved, payable at such times or periods as the Board or Trustees respectively think fit.

If the term does not exceed twenty-one years, then the lease may be granted on the condition that at the end of that term the lease may be put up to auction for another term, and so on from time to time, the incoming tenant paying to the outgoing tenant the full value of all improvements on the land, such value to be determined by arbitration in manner to be provided by the lease.

Every lease shall be sold by public auction or public tender, and at least two months’ notice of such intended sale shall be publicly notified, and all rents and profits derived from the lease shall form part of the fund of the institution to which the land belongs.

Where any lease is for a longer term than twenty-one years, the annual rent reserved by such lease for any period beyond the first twenty-one years shall be an advance of at least fifty per centum upon the annual rent payable under such lease during the last year of the expired twenty-one years.

On no lease shall any premium, fine, or foregift be taken.

Nothing herein shall prejudice or affect any lease already granted or agreed to be granted under powers conferred upon and lawfully exercised by any former Trustees.

The Board and Trustees respectively under this Act shall, in respect of any such last-mentioned lease, have and exercise all the rights, remedies, and powers as though such lease had been duly made by the said Board or Trustees to the lessee therein named.

The Governor in Council shall from time to time, as soon as may be after the coming into operation of this Act, set apart not exceeding in the whole two hundred and fifty thousand acres of Crown lands, in such areas in different parts of New Zealand as he thinks fit, as endowments for the purposes of this Act.

The total amount of such endowments shall be allocated as hereinafter mentioned amongst the various institutions and separate institutions which are subject to this Act, that is to say,—

The allocation of the endowments shall be made by the Controller and Auditor-General in such manner as he thinks most equitable, having regard to the permanent annual income which the several institutions and separate institutions amongst which the said endowments are to be apportioned are estimated to be receiving, and with the object of aiding such institutions in proportion to their necessities.

No such allocation, however, shall take effect until it has been confirmed either in its original shape or as amended by a joint resolution of both Houses of Parliament.

The Governor shall have the same powers as he has in respect of Crown lands generally in respect of the dealing with any such endowments previous to their being allocated as aforesaid, but so that no disposition of any such endowments shall be made whereby any part thereof shall become absolutely alienated.

The proceeds to arise from any disposition of the aforesaid endowments shall, until the allocation aforesaid takes effect, be paid into the Consolidated Fund, and shall be paid in each year by the Minister of Finance to the several Boards having control of institutions under this Act, and to the Trustees of the separate institutions thereunder rateably in proportion to the total amount of subsidies paid out of the Consolidated Fund in such year to such institutions respectively.

On the aforesaid allocation taking effect, the share of endowments apportioned to each institution and separate institution shall vest in the Board or Trustees having respectively the control of such institution for the purposes of this Act, but so that no part of any such endowments shall at any time be absolutely alienated, unless otherwise provided by any Act.

After the allocation of the aforesaid nine-tenths is made, the proceeds of the unapportioned one-tenth of the aforesaid endowments shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund, and shall continue to be applied as mentioned in subsection six hereof, until by the establishment of new institutions, or the creation of new separate institutions, the said proceeds shall require to be allocated amongst such institutions last mentioned.

Except as otherwise declared by Act, the endowments may, after allocation as aforesaid, be leased as provided in section ninety-two hereof.

Every Board shall cause books to be provided and kept, and true and regular accounts to be entered therein of all sums received and paid for and on account of this Act, and of the several purposes for which such sums of money have been received and paid.

Such books shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any of the members of the Board.

Separate accounts shall be kept—

The Board shall cause its accounts to be balanced in every year to the thirty-first day of March in each year, and shall cause a true statement and account to be drawn out of all contracts entered into and of all moneys received or expended during the preceding year, and of all available assets of and of all debts then owing by such Board in respect of the entire district and of each subdivision thereof.

All such accounts shall be audited by the Controller and Auditor-General, who for that purpose shall have and may exercise all such powers as he has under “The Public Revenues Act, 1908,” in respect of public moneys.

The Trustees of every separate institution shall keep books and accounts, and have the same balanced and audited as hereinbefore provided in the case of Boards, and the four last preceding sections (relating to accounts and audit) shall accordingly, muta is mutandis, apply in the case of such Trustees.

The Governor may from time to time appoint one or more persons, as he thinks fit, to be an Inspector or Inspectors of institutions under this Act.

Any Inspector may, without previous notice, visit any institution at any time he thinks fit; and every person who refuses or obstructs any such Inspector in his visitation is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, to be recovered in a summary way.

Every Inspector shall, on or before the first day of May in each year, send a report to the Governor on the condition of the several institutions visited by him during the preceding twelve months.

Such report shall, within fourteen days after the receipt thereof by the Governor, be laid before Parliament if sitting, and if not, then as early as may be after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

Any Inspector may make special reports to the Governor from time to time as he thinks fit.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations for the inspection of all hospitals under this Act.

The reports of all such inspections shall be laid before Parliament as provided by the last preceding section.

The cost of maintaining at an industrial school any child who has become an inmate thereof under subsection one of section seventeen of “The Industrial Schools Act, 1908,” by reason of having no means of subsistence or of the indigent circumstances of its parents shall, out of moneys available for charitable aid in such district, be defrayed by the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board or, as the case may be, the Charitable Aid Board of the district wherein the order for sending the child to an industrial school was made, but such cost shall not exceed a rate of eight shillings a week.

Every order made at any place under subsection one of section seventeen of “The Industrial Schools Act, 1908,” for commitment of a child as an inmate of an industrial school shall be deemed to have been made within the hospital district or united district, as the case may be, wherein such place is situated.

The Board liable as aforesaid shall include the cost of maintaining such children in the annual estimate of the cost of affording charitable aid in the district under its jurisdiction required to be made by such Board on or before the thirty-first day of March in every year.

Where any such maintenance-money is not paid by the Board aforesaid, the manager of the school of which such child is an inmate may recover the same from the Board as a debt due to the said manager.

The Board which pays any money for the cost of maintenance of any inmate of a school as aforesaid shall have the same powers of proceeding against all persons liable to contribute for the maintenance of such inmate for the recovery of contributions from such persons for such maintenance as the manager of the school has under sections thirty-two to thirty-six of “The Industrial Schools Act, 1908,” which sections shall be read and construed mutatis mutandis, and shall apply accordingly for this purpose.

The Board or Trustees respectively having the control of any institution wherein are maintained children who have lost both their parents may appoint any fit person, to be approved by the Minister, to be the manager of such institution for the purposes of this section, and may apply to a Magistrate under the provisions of section twenty-seven of “The Destitute Persons Act, 1908,” for an order appointing the said manager to have the custody of any such orphan child.

The Magistrate is hereby authorised to grant such order, notwithstanding that any previous order for the maintenance of such child may not have been previously made by him or any other Magistrate under the said Act; and thereupon the guardianship of every child in respect whereof such order is made shall vest in the manager so appointed.

Every manager so appointed shall, as such guardian, have all the powers and authorities over the person over whom such guardianship is exercised which a guardian of the person of an infant appointed by the Supreme Court would have; and shall have and may exercise in respect of such person all the powers and authorities that the manager of any school under “The Industrial Schools Act, 1908,” has and may exercise over any inmate of such school as the guardian of such inmate.

With the consent of the only surviving parent of a child, to be expressed to a Magistrate at a private examination to be made by him of such parent, such Magistrate may, if he thinks fit, make a similar order in respect of any such child, and every order so made shall have the same effect as an order made as hereinbefore first mentioned; and upon the making thereof the surviving parent of the child in respect whereof the order is made shall wholly cease to have any legal control or guardianship over such child so long as the said order remains in force.

Any Magistrate may rescind or vary any order made under this section whether by himself or by any other Magistrate, and may transfer the guardianship of any such child from one manager to another appointed as aforesaid, whether of the same or any other institution as aforesaid; and every such order shall remain in force until the person over whom the guardianship is exercised by virtue of any such order or orders has attained the age of twenty-one years.

Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to apply to any asylum or institution established for the custody or treatment of lunatic or insane persons, or (except as provided by section one hundred and two hereof) to any school or other institution established or maintained under “The Industrial Schools Act, 1908.”

All receipts given by or on behalf of any Board or Trustees shall be exempt from stamp duty.

The cost of every appeal under section twenty-eight or seventy-two and of every inquiry under section fifty hereof shall be defrayed by the party to such appeal or inquiry against whom the decision is given, and may be recovered from such party by the Minister as a debt, due to the Crown, or the amount may be deducted by the Minister of Finance from any subsidy at any time payable under this Act to such party.

If any Board or any Trustees at any time by false pretences or by wilful misrepresentations obtain payment from the Consolidated Fund, or otherwise from the Minister of Finance, of any sum in excess of what may be due under this Act, every member of the Board and every Trustee respectively who consents thereto shall for every such offence be liable to a fine of two hundred pounds.

All moneys so fraudulently obtained shall be deemed to be a debt jointly and severally due to the Crown from each and all of the members of the Board, or from each and all the Trustees respectively, as the case may be, who consented as aforesaid to the obtaining of such moneys.

All actions or other proceedings to be commenced or prosecuted against any institution shall be brought or prosecuted by or against the Board or Trustees having the management thereof; and all goods, chattels, and effects belonging to any such institution shall be deemed and taken to be the property of such Board or Trustees, as the case may be, for all or any of the purposes of any action or other proceeding.

Where there is any omission in this Act, or where in the opinion of the Governor no provision or no sufficient provision is made, the Governor may from time to time make and prescribe all such regulations and orders, either general or applicable to particular cases only, as he thinks fit, for the purpose of facilitating or more effectively carrying into execution the provisions of this Act.

The Counties of Kawhia, Awakino, Waitomo, Taupo West, and Taupo East are hereby excepted from the operation of this Part of this Act:

Provided that the Governor may by Proclamation bring any of such counties or any part thereof under this Part of this Act, and create the same part of a district; and may from time to time by Order in Council make regulations for the due administration of this Act in the said counties, and for raising contributions therein for institutions and charitable aid in accordance with this Act, and otherwise may do all things necessary in or towards such administration.

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

No private hospital shall be carried on, used, or conducted except under the authority of a license granted by the Minister.

Every person who commits a breach of this section is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Every application for a license shall be addressed to the Minister, and shall state the full name, place of abode, and occupation of the applicant.

Such application shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee, and, except in the case of renewals, by—

No license shall be granted in respect of a house not previously licensed until the house and the buildings annexed thereto have been approved by the Inspector-General of Hospitals; and no alteration or addition to any private hospital shall be made until the plan thereof has been approved by him.

Before granting any such license the Minister shall satisfy himself as to the character and fitness of the applicant.

The license shall state whether it is in respect of a lying-in private hospital or a surgical and medical private hospital; and no lying-in patient shall be received in a private hospital unless it is licensed for such cases, and no patient other than a lying-in patient shall be received in a private hospital licensed for lying-in cases only:

Provided that where the Minister is satisfied that the accommodation is suitable he may specially license a private hospital for both purposes.

The fee payable for a license and for every renewal thereof shall be ten shillings.

The license shall continue in force until the thirty-first day of December next after the date thereof, unless it is previously revoked as hereinafter mentioned.

For every private hospital there shall be a resident manager, who may be either the licensee himself or some person appointed by the licensee; and in every case the manager shall be either a legally qualified medical practitioner, or

The full name and qualification of every person intended to be appointed from time to time under this section shall be submitted by the licensee to the Minister for approval.

The manager of a private hospital shall be deemed to be the occupier of the house for the purposes of—

If the manager of any private hospital fails to give any such notice or information he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds in lien of that imposed by the said section twenty-five.

In every private hospital there shall be kept in the prescribed form a Register of Patients, in which shall from time to time be entered—

Such particulars shall be entered on the register by the persons, and at the times, and in the manner prescribed by regulations.

Every person required by regulations to make any such entry who knowingly suppresses any material fact or enters any particulars that are untrue is liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Every private hospital, and every part thereof, together with the Register of Patients hereinbefore mentioned, shall at all times be open to inspection in the same manner and by the same persons as in the case of institutions under Part I of this Act.

A private hospital shall not during the currency of its license be used for any other purpose than that for which it is licensed.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations for the licensing, management, and inspection of private hospitals, and generally for carrying this Part of this Act into effect; and may by such regulations impose a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for any breach thereof.

The Minister may at any time cause an inquiry to be made, by some person to be appointed by him for the purpose, as to the management and conduct of any private hospital.

The person so appointed shall for the purposes of such inquiry have all the powers of a Commission under “The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908,” and shall report the result of the inquiry to the Minister.

The Minister may, if he thinks fit, after any such inquiry revoke the license granted in respect of the private hospital, and in such case no new license shall be granted to the person whose license is so revoked for a period not exceeding five years from the date of such revocation:

Provided that no license shall be revoked unless the licensee has been afforded opportunity of giving and producing evidence at the inquiry.

The fact that two or more persons, not members of the occupier’s family, are received into any house in any one month as lying-in cases, or who there receive medical or surgical treatment, attendance, or care, shall, unless the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence that the house is a private hospital within the meaning of this Act, whether or not it is proved that any charge is made for such treatment, attendance, or care.