(1) In this section Board means the Grey Electric-power Board constituted under the Electric-power Boards Act 1925, and Minister means the Minister of Public Works.
(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, the Governor-General may by Order in Council authorize the purchase by the Minister of any electric-works or part thereof owned by the Board, and thereupon the Board shall have power to sell any such electric-works to the Minister subject to such conditions (if any) as may be imposed by the Governor-General in such Order.
(3) The Order in Council under the last preceding subsection shall fix the date for the completion of the purchase to which it relates.
(4) The Minister is hereby empowered to pay out of moneys appropriated by Parliament for the purpose the purchase price of the works as determined in subsection seven of this section.
(5) On the date fixed as aforesaid for the completion of the purchase, the lands and other property, whether real or personal, comprised in the electric-works so purchased by the Minister from the Board shall become vested in His Majesty the King for the estate or interest for which they were held by the Board, subject, however, to all charges, encumbrances, or other estates or interests then affecting the same.
(6) If the land or any part thereof which pursuant to this section is vested in the Crown is subject to the provisions of the Land Transfer Act 1915, the District Land Registrar for the district shall, on the application of the Minister, register His Majesty the King as the proprietor thereof, and for the purposes of this section the certificate of the Minister that any property is vested in the Crown by virtue of this section shall be accepted by the District Land Registrar as sufficient evidence of the fact so certified.
(7) The purchase price of the electric-works purchased pursuant to this section shall be determined at the value appearing in the Board's accounts as at the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, decreased by the amount of the provision for depreciation actually made as at that date in the said accounts in respect of such works, and further decreased by the amount of the provision for depreciation required to be made in such accounts up to the date fixed for the completion of the purchase in the Order in Council referred to in subsection two hereof, and increased by the amount of any expenditure on such works from the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, to the date fixed for the completion of the purchase:
Provided that no such expenditure shall be included in the purchase price unless the Minister has approved of such expenditure having been incurred.
(8) In the event of any dispute arising as to the amount of such expenditure that should properly be included in the purchase price the question shall be determined by the Audit Office, and the decision of that Office in any such dispute shall be final.
(9) Of the purchase price as determined as aforesaid the sum of thirty thousand dollars may, when received by the Board, be utilized for the expenditure in connection with the capital works in respect of which a loan of that amount was sanctioned by the Local Government Loans Board on the fourteenth day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and the balance shall be paid by the Minister to the Public Trustee as Sinking Fund Commissioner of the Board's loans, and thereupon the following provisions shall apply:—
(a) The amount so paid shall be credited by the Public Trustee to a consolidated sinking fund, to which shall be transferred all other sinking fund moneys held by the Public Trustee on behalf of the Board. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section forty-two of the Local Bodies' Loans Act 1926, the moneys paid to the Public Trustee in respect of the purchase price of the said electric-works may be invested by him in such securities as may be approved by the Minister of Finance:
(c) The Board shall in each and every financial year commencing with the year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, pay to the consolidated sinking fund such annual contributions as may be determined by the Minister of Finance as being necessary to provide at the date of maturity for the complete liquidation of all the Board's loans outstanding as at the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven:
(d) The principal moneys secured by any debentures executed by the Board and for which the Board is still liable when the consolidated sinking fund is established shall be paid by the Public Trustee as and when they become due out of the moneys in the consolidated sinking fund:
Provided that the Public Trustee may at the request of the Board pay off any such debentures before maturity date and may pay to the holder of any such debenture such amount, by way of premium or bonus, as may be determined by the Minister of Finance to be necessary to effect the repayment.
(10) For the purposes of the proviso to subsection three of section twenty of the Electric-power Boards Amendment Act 1927, the amount which may be deducted from the amount of the charge for depreciation for the year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, shall be the amount of sinking fund actually payable increased by the sum of six thousand four hundred and twelve dollars in respect of debt outstanding as at the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, notwithstanding that the sinking fund payments on account of such debt are not actually made. The sum of six thousand four hundred and twelve dollars shall be reduced in each subsequent financial year after the year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, by the amount of the interest previously payable on securities redeemable up to the end of such financial year.
(11) The Governor-General may by Order in Council authorize the Board to borrow or to owe money by way of bank overdraft as at the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, in excess of the limits laid down by section three of the Local Bodies' Finance Act 1921-22, to the extent and on the conditions set out in any such Order.
The references to “thirty thousand dollars”
, and “six thousand four hundred and twelve dollars”
were substituted, as from 10 July 1967, for references to “fifteen thousand pounds”
, and “three thousand two hundred and six points”
pursuant to section 7(1) Decimal Currency Act 1964 (1964 No 27).