The Short Title of this Act is “The Dunedin District Drainage and Sewerage Act 1900 Amendment Act, 1906.”

In this Act and the Acts hereby amended, if not inconsistent with the context, the following words and expressions shall be deemed to have and to have had from the passing of the said Acts respectively the meanings hereby given thereto, in addition to any meaning given to the same words or expressions by the said Acts respectively:—

The principal Act, the Amendment Act, and this Act, and all Acts hereafter passed amending or extending the same respectively, shall be read together and take effect as one Act.

The principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section twelve of the Amendment Act is hereby amended by substituting for the words “section twenty-six” the words “sections twenty-five, twenty-six, and twenty-seven.”

Section thirty-six of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is enacted as follows:—

The provisions of paragraphs (a) to (f), both inclusive, of section six of this Act shall apply to work, materials, and things executed, provided, and done by the Board under or by virtue of any agreement with an owner.

A memorandum of charge under the said Acts may be in the form in the Schedule hereto, and when incurred the same shall be registered in the office of the Drainage Board.

The provisions of section twenty-eight of the principal Act shall only be exercised with the consent of the Board.

The interest payable under or by virtue of such section shall be paid on the amount for the time being owing.

No demand shall be necessary as a condition precedent to enforcing payment of any instalment payable under or by virtue of such section.

Section forty-eight of the principal Act shall apply to sewers taken over by the Board as well as to sewers constructed by the Board, and also to each and every property winch or any part of which is drained into any such sewer, or which is situated within three hundred and thirty feet of a sewer into which it is possible to drain such property, with or without the consent of any other person, although no part of such property abuts on the street or part of street in which such sewer is laid, in like manner as if such property did in fact abut on such street.

The provisions of Part III of “The Land Drainage Act, 1904,” and of so much of Part IV of the same Act as are applicable to the provisions of Part III, shall extend and apply to the drainage within the meaning of the said Acts of lands in the district, and for this purpose “drain” where used in the said provisions as a noun shall include a drain communicating with a public drain or sewer, and where used as a verb shall include the discharge of drainage and sewage into a public drain or sewer.

No person shall fill in or cover over, or in any way (whether by filling in or otherwise) obstruct, or cause to be filled in, covered over, or obstructed, any natural watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or part thereof, in the district without having first made provision to the satisfaction of the Drainage Engineer for the disposal of the storm-water now flowing, or which under the conditions existing at the time of the passing of this Act would flow, or but for such obstruction would have flowed, in such watercourse, stream, creek, or gully.

If any natural watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or part thereof, in the district shall be filled in, covered over, or obstructed without provision having been made to the satisfaction of the Drainage Engineer for the disposal of storm-water as aforesaid, the Board shall be at liberty to make provision for the disposal of such storm-water in, along, or through the land in which such watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or part thereof, is situated, and either in the line thereof or in any other line, by such means and in such manner as the Board shall think fit.

The cost of all works, materials, and things executed, provided, or done by the Board under or by virtue of this section, together with interest thereon after the rate of six pounds per centum per annum, shall be paid to the Board by the owner of the land on which the watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or part thereof, is situated; and the provisions of paragraphs (a), (d), (e), and (f) of section six hereof shall extend and apply to works, materials, and things executed, provided, or done under or by virtue of this section, in the same manner as if such paragraphs were mutatis mutandis herein repeated.

Supervision of any such works by the Drainage Engineer, or the execution thereof by the Board, shall not impose upon the Board any liability whatever in respect of such watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or storm-water, or the provision made for the disposal of such storm-water; and any such works if executed by the Board shall be deemed to be executed as agent for and on behalf of the owner of the land on which such watercourse, stream, creek, or gully, or part thereof, is situated.

In addition to any other remedies, the Board shall be entitled to apply to the Supreme Court to restrain any person from doing or causing to be done anything in contravention of this section, and the Court may on any such application make such order as to it shall seem just.

If the Board shall at any time make use of the works executed by virtue of this section for the purpose of conveying sewage therein, the Board shall thereupon pay to the owner of the land on which such works are executed the then value of such works, such value in case of dispute to be decided by a Stipendiary Magistrate in the same manner as is provided by section forty-seven of the principal Act.

The Board and the officers and servants of the Board may enter upon any premises in the district for the purpose of examining as to the existence of any nuisance thereon, or as to the breach of any of the provisions of the said Acts or the by-laws (with power to examine any drain or other sanitary apparatus or appliances), or for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the said Acts and the by-laws, or for the purpose of executing, providing, or doing any works, materials, or things which the Board is authorised or empowered to execute, provide, or do under or by virtue of the said Acts or the by-laws.

Any owner or occupier of premises who shall refuse to permit or allow the Board or any of its officers or servants to enter thereon for any of the purposes mentioned in the last preceding subsection, and every person who shall obstruct the Board or any of its officers or servants in the exercise of any of the powers mentioned in the last preceding subsection, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds for each such offence.

The provisions of the said Acts shall take effect and be enforceable notwithstanding that no by-laws relating thereto shall have been made by the Board; but nothing in this Act contained shall fee deemed to limit or affect the power of the Board to make by-laws relating to the same subject-matters.

The recovery of a penalty in respect of the breach of any of the provisions of the said Acts or of the by-laws shall not prejudice or affect the power of the Board to execute, provide, or do any works, materials, or things which the person from whom such penalty shall have been recovered shall have made default in executing, providing, or doing.

The several owners of premises owned in joint tenancy or tenancy in common shall be jointly and severally liable for the performance of the obligations imposed on such owners by the said Acts and the by-laws; and any notice, demand, order, or direction by the said Acts or the by-laws required or authorised to be given or made by the Board, or any of its officers, to or upon such owners shall be deemed to have been effectually given or made if given or made to or upon any one of such owners.

Subject and without prejudice to the provisions of the said Acts, any notice, demand, order, or direction may be signed on behalf of the Board by the Secretary or Drainage Engineer; and any notice, demand, order, or direction purporting to be so signed shall be prima facie evidence that the same has been so signed, and of the appointment and authority of the person signing the same.

Any notice, demand, order, or direction by the said Acts or the by-laws required or authorised to be given or made by the Board or any officer thereof may be served personally upon the person to or upon whom the same is to be given or made, or by being sent through the Post Office as a registered letter addressed to such person at his usual address or the address last known to the Board, or may be left upon the premises (if any) to which such notice, demand, order, or direction relates.

In any proceedings instituted by or on behalf of the Board against the owner of any premises for the recovery of any moneys, or any penalty, or otherwise, a copy of a certificate of title under “The Land Transfer Act, 1885,” or of any document registered under that Act or “The Deeds Registration Act, 1868,” shall be prima facie evidence that such owner is seised or possessed of the estate or interest purporting to be vested in, or granted to, or conferred on him by such certificate or document, without proof of the signatures to such documents or any other matter whatsoever; provided that such copy be certified as a true copy by the District Land Registrar or Registrar of Deeds, as the case may be, at Dunedin, and such Registrar is hereby authorised to give such certificate upon payment of a fee of five shillings.

Section sixteen of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is enacted as follows:—

All fines and penalties recovered under the provisions of the said Acts or the by-laws shall be paid to the Board.

The Clerk or other proper officer of the Court in which any fines or penalties are recovered, and which are payable to the Board, shall pay the same to the Board.

Whenever any fines or penalties which ought to be paid over to the Board are by law required to be paid in stamps, and have been so paid, the Clerk or other proper officer aforesaid shall certify to the Colonial Treasurer the amount of the same, and thereupon the Colonial Treasurer, without the necessity of any appropriation by Parliament, shall pay the amount of such fines or penalties out of the Consolidated Fund to the Board.

Debentures and coupons issued under the said Acts may be signed in the manner provided in the form of debenture contained in the Schedule to the principal Act.