WHEREAS by “The Dunedin Waterworks Act, 1874,” the Corporation of the City of Dunedin was empowered to borrow the principal sum of two hundred thousand pounds for the purposes therein mentioned, and by the said Act it was provided that, save as therein mentioned, sections seventeen to thirty, both inclusive, of “The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act, 1872,” as amended by “The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act Amendment Act, 1873,” should apply to the raising of the principal moneys aforesaid, and of the interest of the same: And whereas, in pursuance of the powers contained in the said Acts, the said Corporation of the City of Dunedin issued certain debentures for, and representing portions of, the said principal sum of two hundred thousand pounds, such debentures having coupons for interest thereunto attached, and the said debentures and coupons being respectively in the forms contained in Schedule A to this Act, such debentures and coupons being hereinafter referred to as “A debentures”: And whereas, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, the Council of the City of Dunedin agreed to give to the holders of A debentures other debentures in lieu of or exchange for the same, such other debentures and the coupons thereunto attached being respectively in the forms contained in Schedule B to this Act, such last-mentioned debentures and coupons being hereinafter referred to as “B debentures”: And whereas, in pursuance of the said agreement, many holders of A debentures exchanged such debentures for B debentures: And whereas, for the purpose of effecting such exchanges, certain parcels of B debentures were from time to time sealed with the common seal of the said Corporation, and signed by Keith Ramsay, as Mayor of the said Corporation, and Henry Smith Fish, junior, as a Councillor thereof, and were left in the custody of Joseph Morgan Massey, then and for long afterwards the Town Clerk of the said Corporation, for the purpose of being delivered to the persons entitled to receive the same in exchange for an equivalent number of A debentures: And whereas, by virtue of the provisions of “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876,” and of a certain Proclamation of the Governor of New Zealand bearing date on or about the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, issued in pursuance of the said Act, the said City of Dunedin became a borough constituted under that Act: And whereas, by “The Municipal Corporations Act Amendment Act, 1878,” the City of Dunedin was declared to be, and to have been, from the twenty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, a borough constituted under “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876,” under the name of “The City of Dunedin”: And whereas, in and by “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876,” it is provided that, when any place becomes a borough under that Act, the Municipal Corporation of such borough constituted under that Act shall, in respect of all property, rights, claims, obligations, liabilities, contracts, and engagements, and for all purposes whatsoever in law or equity, be deemed to be the same Corporation as that existing in such place before its constitution as a borough under that Act: And whereas, by the said last-mentioned Act, it is further provided that the inhabitants of every borough constituted under that Act shall be a body corporate, under the name of the Mayor, Councillors, and Burgesses of the borough, or the Mayor, Councillors, and Citizens of the city, and by that name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, with such capacities and powers as are therein mentioned: And whereas the said Joseph Morgan Massey continued to be the Town Clerk of the said Corporation until the twenty-first day of February, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, when be ceased to hold the said office: And whereas some time after that date it was discovered that the said Joseph Morgan Massey had feloniously stolen and fraudulently sold to certain persons in the Colony of Victoria thirty-four B debentures, that is, thirty-two for one hundred pounds each, and two for fifty pounds each, which had been left in his custody for the purpose of being exchanged for an equivalent number of A debentures as aforesaid, but for which no A debentures have ever been received by him in exchange, pursuant to that purpose: And whereas the said Joseph Morgan Massey was thereupon arrested, and was afterwards duly indicted, tried, and convicted upon the charge of having feloniously stolen from the said Corporation certain of the said B debentures which had been so left in his custody as aforesaid, and was thereupon sentenced to penal servitude: And whereas, the said Joseph Morgan Massey having failed, in his duty as such Town Clerk as aforesaid, to keep a proper register of debentures issued by the said Corporation, it cannot at present be ascertained how many of the B debentures, sealed and signed as aforesaid, remained in his custody unexchanged for A debentures at the time of his dismissal, or whether be has fraudulently issued and disposed of any more than the said thirty-four B debentures; but it is believed that he feloniously stole from the safe of the said Corporation more of such debentures, signed and sealed as aforesaid, with the fraudulent intent to sell and convert the same into money: And whereas, before the said dismissal of the said Joseph Morgan Massey, the said Corporation had borrowed and issued debentures for the whole of the said sum of two hundred thousand pounds irrespective of the said debentures so stolen and sold by the said Joseph Morgan Massey as aforesaid, and of any other B debentures which he may have also stolen: And whereas the said Corporation cannot, without the authority of the Legislature, lawfully assume any liability in respect of such stolen debentures: And whereas the said Corporation is desirous of assuming such liability in order to indemnify the persons who have innocently become purchasers of the said stolen debentures, and all subsequent holders thereof; and it is expedient to empower the said Corporation to indemnify such purchasers accordingly, and to make such provisions in relation to the premises as are hereinafter contained: