The Short Title of this Act is “The Timaru Harbour Board Loan Act, 1904.”

In this Act the following or any equivalent expressions mean as follows:—

The Board shall have power to borrow, in addition to sums authorised by any previous Acts, subject to the provisions of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” any sum not exceeding fifty thousand pounds, at a rate of interest not exceeding five pounds per centum per annum, to be applied in and about the construction, completion, and carrying-out of works for the improvement of the Port of Timaru, including such works as are defined by the words “harbour-works” in the interpretation clause of “The Harbours Act, 1878,” as shall be by the Board considered necessary for the requirements of the harbour of Timaru; and also to obtain, erect, and construct all such plant, cranes, sheds, and works of every description, and to enter into all contracts for or ancillary to the purposes of the improvement of the said harbour, as shall be judged necessary and proper by the Board for that purpose, or for the safety, convenience, or reception of vessels resorting to the said harbour, and for the more convenient loading and unloading of such vessels, or for the safety and protection of any works constructed or proposed to be constructed by the Board. The said sum may be raised by one or more loans, or, if a loan of the whole amount is authorised, it may be raised in one sum or different sums at different times, as the Board thinks fit; but no money shall be borrowed under the authority of this Act which shall produce to the lender a higher rate of interest than five pounds per centum per annum. All moneys borrowed under this section shall be devoted exclusively to the purposes authorised by this Act.

The holder of any debenture shall not have any preference by reason of any priority of date or otherwise, but all debentureholders shall rank alike and be entitled to equal rights and remedies.

The Board may repay out of any such loan any liabilities or overdrafts existing at the time this Act comes into force, and during the construction of the work for which the loan is raised may, for a period not exceeding two years from the coming into operation of this Act, pay out of such loan the interest thereon.

Before any such loan is raised the consent of the ratepayers in the harbour district shall be first obtained in the mode hereinafter prescribed:—

The Chairman shall convene such meetings as he may deem necessary of the ratepayers, to be held within the boroughs and town districts situate within the harbour district, and of the ratepayers of any county and part of a county which is within the harbour district, upon a day not more than ten days after the last publication of a notice to be published as hereinafter mentioned to consider the said proposal. Such meetings may be held on different days within the before-mentioned time, and shall be convened by notice published in a newspaper circulating in the harbour district, and every such notice shall specify the times and places in the boroughs and town districts, and counties or parts of counties, at which meetings are to be held; also the following particulars:—

The Chairman shall appoint one of the members of the Council of each borough, or of the Board of Commissioners of a town district, or some officer of the said Council or Board of Commissioners, or other proper person, to preside at the meeting to be held within each borough or town district; and shall appoint a member of each County Council, or some officer of the said Council, or other proper person, to preside at each of such meetings in the county if such person shall be willing to act; and if any such person shall be unwilling to act, or be unable to act from any cause, then such person as the Chairman thinks fit.

The person so appointed shall be called “the Presiding Officer,” and he shall preside at the meeting to be held in the boroughs or town district, or county or part of a county, for which he has been appointed, and he, or some other person appointed by the Chairman, shall preside at the taking of any poll as hereinafter provided; but if any such person shall at any time refuse, or be unwilling, or become incapacitated from any cause from presiding at the taking of any such poll, then the Chairman shall appoint such other person as he thinks fit to preside at such meeting or at the taking of any such poll.

After due consideration and discussion of the proposal, the Presiding Officer shall inform those present that a poll will be taken.

The poll shall he taken as follows:—

If the number of votes given for the proposal within the district exceeds the number given against it by one-fourth or more than one-fourth of the latter, the resolution in favour of the proposal shall be deemed to be carried, and the Board may proceed with the proposal accordingly; but if there is not such a majority in favour of the proposal the resolution shall be deemed to be rejected, and the Board shall not so proceed unless and until the proposal in its original or some modified form is again submitted to the ratepayers in manner hereinbefore provided and is carried by such majority as aforesaid.

As soon as conveniently may be after the result of the poll has been ascertained, the Chairman shall give public notice of the number of votes recorded for and against the proposal as above provided, and shall declare the resolution to be carried or rejected as the case may be.

When any such resolution is carried the Chairman shall send a notice thereof to the Colonial Secretary, who shall publish the same in the General Government Gazette, and such notice so gazetted shall be final and conclusive evidence that the raising of the loan to which it refers has been duly authorised under the provisions of this Act, notwithstanding any omission or irregularity in any provision, matter, or thing required to be done hereunder or under “The Local Elections Act, 1904.”

In case the Harbour Fund of the said district shall be insufficient to pay the expenses incurred by the Board in the construction, completion, maintenance, and repair of its present and future harbour-works, and all other current expenses, and the interest on previous loans and on the loan hereby authorised to be raised, or sooner should the available income of the Board prove insufficient to meet such interest, and the Board determine that it is desirable to make and levy a rate, a rate shall be levied by the Board upon the rateable value of all rateable property in the harbour district as appearing on the valuation rolls in force for the time being of the boroughs, town districts, and counties and parts of counties comprised within the said harbour district, and the proceeds of such rate shall be applied towards payment of the annual charges to accrue in respect of the loan to be raised under this Act:

Provided that, in lieu of making and levying such rate as aforesaid, or at any time after such rate shall have been made, in lieu of continuing to levy the same, the Board may from time to time allocate and recover from the local authorities in the harbour district mentioned in “The Timaru Harbour Board Empowering Act, 1890,” and the amendments thereof, a sum equivalent to the annual amount of such rate, to be fixed, apportioned, and raised in manner therein mentioned, and the provisions of the Act last above mentioned (as amended by “The Timaru Harbour District Rating Act, 1894, The Timaru Harbour Board Act, 1899,” and “The Timaru Harbour District and Harbour Board Act, 1903”) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the rate or contributions so to be levied or allocated, and generally to the loan or loans authorised by this Act, and shall be deemed to be incorporated with and to form part of this Act.

The amount to be levied or allocated by the Board in each year shall not exceed such amount as is required to provide for the payment of interest on the aggregate amount for which debentures shall at any time be issued, after taking into account whatever sum of money may be available from the revenue of the Board for the previous year for payment of interest on the loan hereby authorised to be made.

Any such sum available from the revenue of the Board for the previous year shall be taken into account as aforesaid, and the balance required for interest on the loan shall then be levied or allocated in manner hereby provided.

The Board may at any time raise a loan or loans without taking a poll as herein provided for the purpose of paying off or consolidating any existing loans, or any existing and future loans, or any future loans, and such repayment or consolidation may be effected in such manner and on such terms and conditions as the Board thinks fit.

No rate or allocation of contributions made under this Act shall be capable of being set aside or of being quashed by any proceedings of any Court or otherwise, and no defect in the same, or omission or irregularity in respect thereof, shall be set up as a defence to any action which may be brought to recover the same.

For the purpose of making, levying, and recovering the rate hereby authorised to be made and levied, the Board shall have and may exercise all the powers of making, levying, and recovering rates in each borough and town district, and each county and part of a county, within the district which any local body having rating-powers within such borough, town district, county, or part of a county shall or may have under the law for the time being in force regulating the making and recovery of rates therein respectively; and the provisions of the Acts for the time being in force in the boroughs, town districts, and counties or parts of counties included in the said harbour district providing for levying rates for the payment of the annual charges on loans raised by such boroughs, town districts, or counties shall, so far as applicable, be deemed to apply to the rate hereby authorised to be made and levied:

Provided, however, that the period for which the said rate shall be levied, or allocations of contributions shall be continued, shall be until the loan hereby authorised to be raised is paid off: Provided that during that period either of the two modes referred to may be adopted and varied from time to time as the Board may deem expedient.

All or any of the powers hereby granted to the Board as to the making, levying, recovering, and collecting the rate hereby authorised to be made may by resolution of the Board (which may, however, from time to time be varied or rescinded) be delegated by the Board to the Councils of the boroughs and to the Road Boards, Boards of Commissioners of town districts, and Councils of counties included within the said harbour district, or to one or more of them, so far as relates to rateable property situate within the boundaries of such boroughs, road districts, town districts, and counties respectively; and, on receipt of notices in writing of such delegations signed by the Chairman of the Board, the Mayor of each borough, and the Chairman of the said Road Boards, Boards of Commissioners, and Councils of counties, shall forthwith cause all necessary steps to be taken for the performance of the acts in respect of which power may have been delegated as aforesaid.

For the performance of the acts power to perform which may be delegated as aforesaid there shall be paid by the Harbour Board to the body performing the same remuneration, to include all disbursements and services, at the rate of two pounds ten shillings per centum on the net amount of all moneys collected by such body, and paid to the credit of the Harbour Board at the bank at Timaru at which its account for the time being is kept.

When and so often as the Board shall fail to pay, at the proper time and place for so paying, either the principal sum secured by the debentures to be issued for any loan hereby authorised, or the coupons for interest payable thereon, then immediately on default being made any person to whom any such sum is owing may apply, ex parte, by petition in a summary way to a Judge of the Supreme Court for relief under this Act; and the Judge may, if satisfied of the truth of the matters alleged in such petition, appoint, upon such terms as to security and remuneration as he shall think fit, a Receiver of the rate and contributions hereby authorised to be levied or allocated.

From and after the date of such appointment, and upon it being advertised by publication in the Government Gazette, and in one or more newspapers circulating in the district, for such time as the Judge shall order, the said rate and contributions shall vest in the Receiver, and shall cease to be vested in the Board; and the said Receiver may exercise all the powers of the Board in respect of such rate and contributions as aforesaid, and in making, allocating, enforcing payment thereof, and otherwise howsoever.

All moneys received by the Receiver shall be applied—

The Receiver shall account for all such moneys in such manner as the Judge directs.

The rates authorised to be levied under “The Timaru Harbour Board Loan Act, 1881,” “The Timaru Harbour Board Loan Act, 1885,” and “The Timaru Harbour Board Loan Act, 1899,” and the contributions authorised to be allocated for the payment of interest payable thereunder, may be made and levied and allocated with and included in the rate or contributions authorised to be made and levied or allocated under this Act.

Nothing in “The Local Government Voting Reform Act, 1899,” shall be deemed to affect the provisions of this Act.

This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act within the meaning of “The Harbours Act, 1878.”