This Act may be cited as the Rabbit Nuisance Amendment Act, 1920, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Rabbit Nuisance Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section forty of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “five hundred sheep or one hundred head of cattle,” and substituting the words “one hundred sheep or twenty head of cattle.”

Section forty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (a) of subsection one the words “five hundred,” and substituting the words “one hundred.”

Section fifty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection one the following proviso:—

A Board constituted under Part III of the principal Act may, and on presentation to it of a requisition signed by not less than one-tenth of the ratepayers in the district shall, take a poll of the ratepayers on the proposal that in lieu of the power to levy rates conferred by section eighty-two of that Act the Board may levy rates on an acreage basis for the purposes referred to in that section.

Every person shall be entitled to vote at such poll who, pursuant to section seventy-four of the principal Act, is entitled to vote at an election of Trustees, and shall have the same number of votes as he would have at an election of Trustees.

A proposal under this section shall be deemed to be carried if a majority of the valid votes recorded at the poll is in favour of the proposal.

If the result of the poll is in favour of the proposal, the Board shall not thereafter levy the rate mentioned in subsection one of section eighty-two of the principal Act, but may in lieu thereof levy a rate not exceeding one shilling an acre on the area of all rateable land in the district.

The system of rating may from time to time be altered by the Board pursuant to a poll of the ratepayers taken as hereinbefore provided, so as to empower the Board to levy rates on the rateable value as provided in section eighty-two of the principal Act, or on an acreage basis as provided in this section:

Provided that a poll shall not be taken on any such proposal at any time within five years after the taking of a poll at which a proposal to change the system of rating has been carried, or within two years after the taking of any other poll under this section.

So long as the system of rating on an acreage basis is in force in the district the ratepayers list prepared pursuant to section seventy-two of the principal Act shall contain, in addition to the particulars prescribed by that section, a statement of the area of each holding in respect of which the name of any person appears on that list.

The subsidy payable in respect of rates out of the Consolidated Fund in any year pursuant to section eighty-three of the principal Act shall not exceed, in the case of any Board by which rates are levied on an acreage basis, a sum equal to the amount that would be receivable by way of rates on a rate of fourpence an acre.

Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to authorize the payment in any year of subsidies to Rabbit Boards of an aggregate amount exceeding the amount fixed by the proviso to section eighty-three of the principal Act.

A Board constituted under Part II or Part III of the principal Act may, in anticipation of its ordinary revenue, borrow money from the bank by way of overdraft, or from any corporation or person by way of temporary loan, at a rate of interest not exceeding five and a half per centum per annum.

The amount of all moneys borrowed under this section shall not, in the case of a new Board, exceed the amount of its estimated revenue for the first year, and in the case of any other Board shall not at any time exceed the total amount of the receipts of the Board during the year ending on the preceding thirty-first day of December, exclusive of any moneys received by way of grant from the Government or any moneys borrowed or any moneys received from special rates.

It shall not be lawful for the Board to borrow moneys under this section, or to enter into any engagements or contracts, whereby the total liabilities of the Board at the end of any financial year, exclusive of all loans lawfully raised, exceed the ordinary income of the Board for that year.

The limitation of the Board’s power to borrow fixed by this section shall not be so construed as to affect the right of any bank, or corporation, or person to be repaid out of the Board’s funds any moneys advanced in good faith to the Board.

The provisions of sections one hundred and fourteen and one hundred and fifteen of the principal Act shall extend and apply, with the necessary modifications, in respect of Boards constituted under Part III of the principal Act.

No prosecution shall be instituted for an offence against subsection one of section two of the Rabbit Nuisance Amendment Act, 1918, save on the recommendation of at least two Inspectors, and with the consent of the Minister or of a person appointed for the purpose by the Minister by notice in the Gazette.

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, authorize any Rabbit Board constituted under Part II of the principal Act (for the purpose of the effective exercise of the powers conferred on it by that Act) to take all necessary and proper steps for the destruction of rabbits on any land within its district without first giving the owner or occupier of any such land notice requiring him to destroy the rabbits thereon.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations—