This Act may be cited as the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1921, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Destitute Persons Act, 1910 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

Where a maintenance order has, whether before or after the passing of this Act, been made against any person by any Court in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in His Majesty’s dominions a certified copy of the order may be registered in New Zealand in the prescribed manner, and shall from the date of such registration be of the same force and effect, and all proceedings may be taken thereon in the same manner, as if it had been a maintenance order originally made by a Magistrate acting under the authority of the principal Act.

Where an application is made in New Zealand for a maintenance order against any person and it is proved that that person is resident in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in His Majesty’s dominions, the Magistrate hearing the application may, in the absence of that person, if after hearing the evidence he is satisfied of the justice of the application, make any such order as he might have made if a summons had been duly served on that person and he had failed to appear at the hearing; but in such case the order shall be provisional only, and shall have no effect unless and until confirmed by a competent Court in the place where the defendant is so proved to be resident.

The evidence of any witness who is examined on any such application shall be put into writing, and such deposition shall be read over to and signed by him.

Where such an order is made the Magistrate shall send to the Minister of Justice, for transmission in the appropriate manner to the Secretary of State or to the Governor of the part of His Majesty’s dominions in which the person against whom the order is made is alleged to reside, the depositions so taken and a certified copy of the order, together with a statement of the grounds on which the making of the order might have been opposed if the person against whom the order is made had been duly served with a summons and had appeared at the hearing, and also such information as the Magistrate possesses for facilitating the identification of that person and ascertaining his whereabouts.

Where any such provisional order has come before a Court in the United Kingdom or in any part of His Majesty’s dominions as aforesaid for confirmation, and the order has by that Court been remitted to the Magistrate who made the order for the purpose of taking further evidence, such Magistrate, or any other Magistrate, may, after giving the prescribed notice, proceed to take the evidence in like manner and subject to the like conditions as the evidence in support of the original application.

If upon the hearing of such evidence it appears to the Magistrate that the provisional order ought not to have been made, the Magistrate may rescind the order, but in any other case the depositions shall be dealt with in like manner as the original depositions.

The confirmation of an order made under this section shall not affect any power of a Magistrate or Court to vary or rescind the order:

Provided that on the making of a varying or rescinding order a certified copy thereof shall be sent to the Minister of Justice for transmission in the appropriate manner to the Secretary of State or the Governor of the part of His Majesty’s dominions in which the original order was confirmed:

Provided also that in the case of an order varying an original order the order shall not have any effect unless and until confirmed in like manner as the original order.

The applicant shall have the same right of appeal against a refusal to make a provisional order as he would have had against a refusal to make an order if a summons had been duly served on the person against whom the order is sought to be made.

Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to restrict the authority of a Magistrate to make an order under section seventy-three of the principal Act in any case where the defendant is absent from New Zealand.

Where a maintenance order has been made by a Court in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in His Majesty’s dominions, and the order is provisional only and has no effect unless and until confirmed in New Zealand, and a certified copy of the order, together with the depositions of witnesses and a statement of the grounds on which the order might have been opposed, has been transmitted in the appropriate manner to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Justice may cause the said documents to be sent to a Justice of the Peace with a requisition that a summons be issued calling upon the person to appear before a Magistrate to show cause why the order should not be confirmed, and upon receipt of such documents and requisition the Justice shall issue such a summons and cause it to be served upon such person.

At the hearing it shall be open for the person on whom the summons was served to raise any defence which he might have raised in the original proceedings had he been a party thereto, but no other defence, and the certificate from the Court which made the provisional order stating the grounds on which the making of the order might have been opposed if the person against whom the order was made had been a party to the proceedings shall be conclusive evidence that those grounds are grounds on which objection may be taken.

If at the hearing the person served with the summons does not appear, or on appearing fails to satisfy, the Magistrate that the order ought not to be confirmed, the Magistrate may confirm the order either without modification or with such modifications as, after hearing the evidence, he may deem just.

If the person against whom the summons was issued appears at the hearing and satisfies the Magistrate that for the purpose of any defence it is necessary to remit the case to the Court which, made the provisional order for the taking of any further evidence, the Magistrate may so remit the case, and may adjourn the proceedings for the purpose.

Where a provisional order has been confirmed under this section it may be varied or rescinded in like manner as if it had originally been made by the Magistrate confirming the same, and where on an application for rescission or variation the Magistrate to whom the application is made is satisfied that it is necessary to remit the case to the Court which made the order for the purpose of taking any further evidence, the Magistrate may so remit the case and adjourn the proceedings for the purpose.

Where an order has been so confirmed it shall be enforceable in all respects as if it were an order made under the principal Act:

Provided that the person bound thereby shall have the same right of appeal against the confirmation of the order as he would have had against the making of the order had the order been a maintenance order under the principal Act.

Any document purporting to be signed by any Judge, Magistrate, or officer of a Court in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in His Majesty’s dominions shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been so signed without proof of the signature or judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed it; and the officer of a Court by whom a document is signed shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been the proper officer of the Court to sign the document.

Depositions taken in a Court in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in His Majesty’s dominions for the purposes of this Act may be received in evidence in proceedings under this Act.

The authority conferred on any Magistrate by section forty-four of the principal Act to make a charging-order on any property of a defendant for the purpose of satisfying a maintenance order made against that defendant shall apply and be deemed at all times to have applied with respect to policies of life insurance notwithstanding the provisions of sections sixty-five and sixty-six of the Life Insurance Act, 1908 (providing for the protection of certain classes of such policies).

On the making of a maintenance order (including an affiliation order) under the principal Act, or at any time thereafter, the Magistrate making the order, or any other Magistrate, may, if he thinks fit, appoint a person, who for the purposes of such appointment shall be deemed to be an officer of the Court, whose duty it shall be, on the request in writing of the person to whom the moneys are payable in pursuance of the order or of some other person having authority in that behalf, to take proceedings for the recovery of any moneys payable under the order in respect of the payment of which default has been made for not less than fourteen days, or to institute proceedings under the Justices of the Peace Act, 1908, or any other Act in respect of offences against the principal Act.

All moneys payable under a maintenance order may be recovered by such officer suing in his own name, with the addition of the words “Suing on behalf of [Name and description of persons entitled] pursuant to section nine of the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1921,” or words to the like effect.

All moneys recovered under this section shall be applied

The Destitute Persons Amendment Act, 1915, is hereby repealed.

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