This Act may be cited as the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1913, and shall form part of and be read together with the Public Revenues Act, 1910 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section fifteen of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “who shall take all such steps as he thinks fit,” and substituting the words “and shall take all such steps as it thinks fit.”

Section twenty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Treasury” wherever it occurs, and substituting the words “Paymaster-General.”

Section thirty of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Treasury,” and substituting the words “Paymaster-General.”

Section thirty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “the Treasury directs,” and substituting the words “the Receiver-General directs: Provided that a Receiver may, for the convenience of accounting, pay such moneys to another Receiver in such manner and at such times as the Receiver-General directs”; and by repealing subsection two.

Section thirty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Treasury,” and substituting the words “Receiver-General.”

Section thirty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Treasury” wherever it occurs, and substituting the words “Receiver-General”; by omitting the words “in the order of date, every sum of money received and every sum,” and substituting the words. “all moneys received and”; and by inserting, after the words “send to the Receiver-General,” the words “or such other officer as the Receiver-General from time to time directs.”

Section thirty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended—

Section fifty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Treasury” where it occurs in the first and second instances, and in each case substituting the words “Paymaster-General”; by omitting the words “when certified,” and substituting the words “shall be certified”; and by omitting all words after the word “respectively.”

Section fifty-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “on being authorized by the Treasury”; and by omitting from subsections two and three the word “Treasury,” and substituting the words “Paymaster-General.”

Section fifty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in subsection one, after the word “vote,” the words “fund or account”; by omitting from the proviso to the said subsection the words “ten thousand pounds,” and substituting the words “twenty thousand pounds”; and by omitting from subsection two the words “the close of business on Saturday in each week, or at such longer intervals,” and substituting the words “such intervals.”

Section fifty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection three the words “one hundred thousand pounds,” and substituting the words “one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.”

Section fifty-seven of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “the close of business on the Saturday in each week, and at such other times,” and substituting the words “such times.”

Section fifty-nine of the principal Act is hereby repealed.

Section sixty of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and the following substituted in lieu thereof:—

Subsection one of section sixty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (d) the words “the voucher has been duly receipted,” and substituting the words “a receipt has been duly given.”

Section sixty-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (c) the words “when signed by the Minister.”

Subsection one of section sixty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph (e), after the word “default,” the word “negligence”; and by inserting, after the words “to be in default,” the words “or responsible.”

The said section sixty-five is also amended by adding the following subsection:—

For the purposes of section sixty-nine of the principal Act the Audit Office may accept as a sufficient voucher for the payment of any sum as wages a wages-sheet setting forth the names of the several payees and the wages paid to them respectively, if the wages-sheet is signed by the paying officer and by some other officer or employee, who shall both certify on the wages-sheet that they were present when the wages were paid.

For the purposes of this section “wages” means any moneys paid in return for services rendered where the amount payable is determined by a fixed hourly, daily, or weekly rate.

Section seventy-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection three the words “on being authorized by the Treasury.”

Section seventy-five of the principal Act is hereby amended—

Section seventy-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “every month,” the words “or more frequently as required by the Treasury.”

Subsection two of section eighty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing paragraph (f).

The Audit Office may from time to time inspect and examine the books and accounts of any person who is for the time being liable for the payment to the Crown of any royalties under any lease or license.

The Controller and Auditor-General shall include in the report to be prepared by him, pursuant to subsection two of section eighty-four of the principal Act, a statement as to all royalties payable to the Crown and for the time being unpaid, setting forth in respect of such royalties—

Section eighty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “Advances Office,” the words “and such other Departments or offices of the Public Service as are from time to time declared by the Governor in Council to come within the provisions of this section.”

Subsection one of section ninety-two of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “State Fire Insurance Department,” the words “or such other Departments or offices of the Public Service as are declared by the Governor in Council to come within the provisions of section eighty-six hereof”; and by inserting, after the words “General Manager,” the words “or the permanent head of the Department or office.”

Section one hundred and eighteen of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “but does not include a City or Borough Council.”

Section one hundred and twenty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section one hundred and one of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, is hereby repealed.

Returns relating to the Public Account which are required by this Act to be presented to Parliament may be so presented, either separately or together, as may be determined by the Treasury.

The Schedule to the principal Act is hereby amended—

All sums from time to time paid to the Public Trustee out of the Consolidated Fund pursuant to section five of the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1912, shall form part of the common fund of the Public Trust Office, and shall with the accumulations thereon be applied, without further appropriation than this section, in such amounts as may from time to time be approved by the Minister of Finance, to the rebuilding or restoration of public buildings destroyed or damaged by fire.

Subsection two of section five of the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby repealed.

In the case of the illness, absence from duty, or other temporary incapacity of the Paymaster-General or of the Receiver-General, the person for the time being occupying the position of Accountant in the Treasury shall have and may exercise and perform all the powers, functions, and duties of the Paymaster-General or the Receiver-General, as the case may be.

All moneys raised for the purpose of paying off any loan heretofore or hereafter raised and charged upon the public revenues shall be forthwith paid into the Public Account to the credit of a separate account, to be called the Loans Redemption Account.

The moneys for the time being standing to the credit of the Loans Redemption Account shall be applied in or towards the payment of—

In addition to the powers conferred on the Minister by section thirty-nine of the principal Act, the High Commissioner, on being authorized by the Minister so to do, may, in anticipation of loans for which an authorizing Act within the meaning of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, has been passed, borrow moneys on the security of Treasury bills issued in London pursuant to this section.

The total amount of Treasury bills issued under this section and for the time being outstanding and unpaid shall not exceed the sum of five hundred thousand pounds.

Every such Treasury bill shall be in such form and shall bear such rate of interest, not exceeding five per centum per annum, as the Minister directs.

Every such Treasury bill shall be signed by the High Commissioner and the Audit Officer referred to in section seventy-five of the principal Act, and shall be payable at the place and on the day specified in the Treasury Bill, not being later than one year from the date of its issue.

Every such Treasury bill may be renewed from time to time by the issue of a fresh bill for a like amount.

The moneys accruing from the sale of such Treasury bills shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the fund or account mentioned in the authorizing Act.

The principal moneys of every such bill shall be a charge on the public revenues, and shall also be a first charge on and repayable out of the loan in anticipation of which the bill was issued, and all interest thereon shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

All costs, charges, or expenses in connection with the issue, renewal, or repayment of such bills shall be charged to and paid out of the fund or account referred to in subsection six hereof.

A register of all bills issued under this section shall be kept by the Treasury and also by the Audit Office.

The extended appropriation referred to in section forty-four of the principal Act shall be available for the payment of the increments of the salaries and wages of officers of the Government Railways Department, of officers in the Clerical Division and the General Division of the Public Service, and of officers in the Professional Division other than the officers of that Division referred to in subsection three of section twenty of the Public Service Act, 1912.

In the event of any reduction in the salary or wages of any such officer on the adoption by the House of Representatives of a recommendation in that behalf by the Governor, the salary or wages paid in excess of the amount authorized by Parliament shall be refunded, or deducted from any salary or wages accruing due thereafter.

Section twenty-two of the Public Service Act, 1912, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection two the words “and as may be provided in the annual estimates and authorized by Parliament.”