The Short Title of this Act is “The Napier Harbour Board Amendment and Further Empowering Act, 1889.”

In this Act—

The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth sections of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven are hereby repealed.

In order to raise money for the purpose of filling in and reclaiming the reserves mentioned in the fifth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, it shall be lawful for the Board to borrow, on the security of the lands described in the Fourth and Fifth Schedules to the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and of the rents of such lands, and of the special rate hereinafter mentioned, and of the general revenue of the Board, subject, however, with regard to such revenue, to the priority of all existing charges thereon, whether by way of debenture or otherwise, any sum or sums of money not exceeding in the whole the sum of thirty thousand pounds, repayable on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred, at any rate of interest not exceeding the rate of five pounds ten shillings per centum per annum, payable half-yearly.

Every such security shall be by way of debenture in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto, and shall be sealed with the seal of the Board, and signed by the Chairman and countersigned by the Treasurer. No such debenture shall create any liability against the public revenues of New Zealand, or against the General Government thereof.

The debentures shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one, and shall have coupons attached thereto, signed by the Chairman and countersigned by the Treasurer, in the form in the Second Schedule hereto, for every half-year’s interest, payable to bearer.

No holder of any debenture shall have any preference by reason of any priority of date or otherwise; but all debenture-holders shall rank alike, and be entitled to equal rights and remedies.

The fifteenth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven is hereby repealed, and the following provision is substituted therefor:—

Pending the investment by the Commissioners of the proceeds of sales authorised by the tenth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, the annual interest on the said loan shall be a charge upon, and shall be paid out of, such part (if any) of the general revenue of the Board as shall be available after defraying prior charges thereon, and, so far as the same shall be insufficient, then out of the special rate hereinafter mentioned; and in case after the investment of the proceeds of sales the interest to be derived therefrom shall not be sufficient to meet the annual interest on the said loan, the deficiency shall be a charge upon, and shall be paid out of, such part of the general revenue of the Board as shall be available and out of the special rate hereinafter mentioned.

Before the said loan is raised the consent of the ratepayers in the district shall be first obtained, in the manner provided by the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth sections of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, and the said sections, and the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first sections of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four are hereby incorporated in this present Act, and this Act shall be read and construed as if the provisions of the said sections had been expressly enacted herein.

The Board shall, if the resolution in favour of the proposal to raise a loan shall be carried, make and levy every year, so long as required, a special rate, in the proportions in the twenty-fifth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four mentioned, upon all rateable property in the district, and the proceeds of such rate shall be applied in payment of the annual interest on the said loan so far as the interest to be derived from the investment of proceeds of sales authorised by the tenth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and such part of the general revenue of the Board as may be available after defraying prior charges thereon, shall be insufficient to meet the annual interest of the said loan.

The amount to be levied by the Board in each year shall not exceed the estimated amount required to provide for the payment of interest on the aggregate amount for which debentures shall at that time be issued, after making allowance for all moneys (if any) then in hand on account of surplus moneys received on account of the special rate or general revenue in the previous year, or likely to be available during the ensuing year, from the interest to be derived from the investment of the proceeds of sales authorised by the tenth section of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven and from the available general revenue.

If the proceeds of the special rate for any year shall prove to be more than sufficient for the purpose of the eleventh section of this Act the surplus shall be carried forward to the next year.

The twenty-fifth to the thirty-third sections, both inclusive, of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four are hereby incorporated in this present Act, and this Act shall be read and construed as if the provisions of the said sections had been expressly enacted herein.

In addition to the remedies provided by the twenty-ninth and following sections incorporated herein of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four for the recovery of the principal and interest secured by the debentures to be issued under this present Act, any holder of any such debenture in respect of which any principal or interest owing thereupon shall be overdue and unpaid may apply ex parte, by petition, in a summary way, to a Judge of the Supreme Court for relief, and the Judge may, if satisfied of the truth of the matters alleged in such petition, appoint a Receiver of the rents and profits of all or any part of the lands described in the Fourth and Fifth Schedules of the said Act of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and may, if he think fit, order the Receiver to sell and dispose of such part of the said lands as the Receiver may deem to be sufficient to provide for the payments hereinafter mentioned, and the Receiver shall sell the same, and out of the proceeds thereof shall in the first place pay the costs of the application and order, and in the second place retain such remuneration as the Judge shall think fit, and in the third place pay pro tanto the sums then owing by the Board in respect of any principal or interest overdue and unpaid upon any debentures, and in the fourth place pay the residue (if any) to the Board; and the Receiver shall account for all moneys received by him in such manner as the Judge shall direct.

This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act within the meaning of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” and all the provisions of that Act shall extend and apply to this Act.