This Act may be cited as the Hawke’s Bay Rivers Act, 1910; and, except as to section fifteen, it shall come into operation on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and eleven.

The said section fifteen shall come into operation immediately on the passing of this Act.

In this Act, unless inconsistent within the context,—

The existing districts respectively known as the Taradale, Meanee, Clive, and Pukahu River Districts are hereby abolished, and the River Boards established in the said districts respectively are hereby dissolved; and there is hereby constituted a new district, to be called “the Hawke’s Bay Rivers District,” comprising the area described in the First Schedule hereto.

The said district shall be deemed to be a river district within the meaning of the principal Act, and all the provisions of that Act shall, mutatis mutandis, and so far as the same are applicable, extend and apply to the said district and to the Hawke’s Bay Rivers Board hereinafter mentioned:

Provided always that if and whenever the provisions of this Act shall be found to conflict with the provisions of the principal Act, then and in every such case the provisions of this Act shall prevail.

The said district shall be divided into seven subdivisions or wards—namely, the Taradale Ward, the Meanee Ward, the Papakura Ward, the Karamu Ward, the Clive Ward, the Pukahu Ward, and the Omaraenui Ward. The respective areas and boundaries of these wards are set out in the Second Schedule hereto.

There shall be a River Board in and for the said district, to be called “the Hawke’s Bay Rivers Board,” and to consist of nine members, to be elected as follows: three by the ratepayers of the Pukahu Ward, and one for each of the other wards by the ratepayers thereof respectively.

The Governor may appoint a day for the first election of members of the Board, and fix the time and place of their first meeting, and may appoint a Returning Officer, and make all such other appointments as shall be necessary, and generally do all things requisite or convenient for the due carrying-out of the said election.

Every appointment made by the Governor under this section shall be notified in the Gazette.

The Governor may appoint some fit person to make a roll of electors for the district, wherein shall be entered the names of all ratepayers entitled to vote at the said election, together with the number of votes exercisable by each such ratepayer; and in any case where a rateable property lies partly within and partly without the district, the person so appointed may, for the purpose of completing the roll, apply to the Minister of Internal Affairs for an assessment of so much of the property as lies within the district.

The members of the Board elected at the said first election shall hold office until the second Tuesday in January, nineteen hundred and fifteen; and on that day, and on the second Tuesday in January in every third year thereafter, all the members of the Board shall go out of office, and a general election of members shall take place.

Immediately upon the coming into operation of this Act—

Provided that any surplus assets belonging to any River Board hereby dissolved shall be administered so far as may be for the benefit of the area which was formerly within the jurisdiction of that River Board.

Nothing herein shall be deemed to alter or affect the incidence of any special rate formerly made and levied by any River Board hereby dissolved as security for any loan current at the commencement of this Act, but every such special rate shall continue to be a charge upon the whole of the area which immediately prior to the commencement of this Act was subject thereto, and shall not by reason of anything in this Act become chargeable upon any other or additional area; and every such special rate shall be levied and collected by the Board throughout the area so subject as aforesaid until the loan for which the rate is a security shall be repaid in full.

The Board may from time to time by special order—

For the purposes of this section “special order” means a resolution passed, publicly notified, and confirmed by the Board in the manner prescribed by section ninety-seven of the Counties Act, 1908, with regard to special orders made by the Council of any county; and the said section ninety-seven shall be read with and shall form part of this Act, subject to the substitution of the word “Board” for the word “Council,” and of the word “district” for the word “county,” wherever the words “Council” and “county” respectively appear in the said section.

The Board shall use their best endeavours to prevent the occurrence of floods within the district, and may employ engineers and other competent persons to devise schemes for that purpose, or to report on any scheme or schemes of flood-prevention proposed to be adopted, and may, out of their own moneys, pay any engineers or other persons so employed as aforesaid such remuneration as to the Board shall seem fit; but the Board shall not carry into effect, or attempt to carry into effect, any proposal for diverting the course of any river mentioned in the title hereto without the consent of the Governor in Council first had and obtained.

Notwithstanding anything in the Harbours Act, 1908, or in any other statute now in force, it shall be lawful for the Board (subject to the consent aforesaid) so to divert the course of either the Tutaekuri River or the Ngaruroro River, or so to divert the overflow from those rivers respectively, as to carry the waters thereof, or the overflow thereof, into the Ahuriri Lagoon, wherever in the shores of that lagoon an outlet for the said waters or overflow can, in the opinion of the Board, be most conveniently made, and that whether the place of outlet is within or without the district; and the Board may (provided always that the said consent to the diversion has been obtained, but subject only to that consent) execute any works, whether within or without the district, which they may consider necessary or proper for the purpose of any such diversion as aforesaid, and every such work shall be deemed to be a public work within the meaning of the Public Works Act, 1908, and its amendments.

Nothing herein shall be deemed or taken to debar the Board from so diverting (subject to the consent aforesaid) the waters or the overflow waters of the Tutaekuri River as to carry the same into the open sea at any point in the coast-line (being within the boundaries of the district) which the Board may choose, or from making (subject to the consent and within the boundaries aforesaid) a new outlet into the sea for the waters or the overflow waters of the Ngaruroro River.

It shall be lawful for the Board to purchase or otherwise acquire any barren or unproductive lands within the district—that is to say, any swamps, shingle-beds, or other areas of little or relatively little value—and by draining, planting, top-dressing, or other appropriate means to reclaim and improve the said lands and render them marketable, and to sell, exchange, lease, or otherwise dispose of or deal with any lands so acquired, for such consideration and on such terms as the Board shall in each case deem adequate and proper.

For the purpose of acquiring and improving any such lands as aforesaid, the Board may from time to time borrow moneys under the provisions of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1908.

Any special rate levied to provide interest and sinking fund in respect of any moneys so borrowed may be levied either on all rateable property within the district or on all rateable property within any ward or wards thereof:

Provided always that it shall not be lawful for the Board to take any steps under the last-cited Act with a view to levying any such special rate as aforesaid on any rateable property within the Pukahu Ward, except with the consent of all the members for that ward first had and obtained.

The rents and profits of any such lands as aforesaid, and the proceeds of any sale or other disposal thereof, may be applied in any manner in which the Board is authorized by this Act to apply moneys coming into their hands:

Provided that in any case where moneys have been borrowed for the purpose aforesaid and a special rate has been levied as security for those moneys and the interest thereon, the rents and profits of the lands purchased with those moneys, and the proceeds of the sale or other disposal of the same lands, shall be expended for the benefit of the area subject to that special rate:

Provided further that in the case last aforesaid it shall be lawful for the Board at their discretion to apply in the first instance all or any such rents, profits, and proceeds in or towards meeting the interest on and providing for the repayment of the moneys so borrowed, and to expend the balance only (if any) for the benefit of the said area, and either to remit the said special rate, or so much thereof as may no longer be required, or to continue collecting the same and from time to time to expend the same, or so much thereof as aforesaid, in such manner as the Board shall judge to be for the greatest advantage of the said area.

Nothing in the last preceding section shall be construed as empowering the Board to acquire for the purposes of that section the fee-simple of any “tidal lands” as defined by the principal Act, or to acquire for the said purposes any lands whatsoever except with the consent of all persons having any estate or interest therein.

If and whenever it appears that an area lying outside the district is deriving benefit, or will certainly derive benefit, from any works executed or proposed to be executed by the Board, and no preliminary agreement for apportioning the cost of these works has been made between the Board and the local authority exercising control within the said area, then and in every such case the Board may call upon the said local authority to pay a fair and reasonable proportion of the cost of the said works; and in case the said local authority shall refuse or neglect to pay such a proportion of the said cost, or in case the Board and the said local authority cannot agree as to what proportion of the said cost is fairly chargeable upon the said area, the Board may apply to the Governor to apportion the said cost between the Board and the said local authority, and the Governor may thereupon, by notice gazetted, apportion the cost accordingly, and the apportionment so gazetted shall be final and binding on all parties concerned.

Before making the apportionment aforesaid the Governor may, if he thinks proper, appoint some fit person to be a Commissioner, with all the powers of a Commission appointed by the Governor in Council under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, for the purpose of inquiring into the matters in dispute between the Board and the said local authority; and the Commissioner so appointed shall inquire into the said matters and shall report to the Governor thereon, but it shall be in the discretion of the Governor whether he will or will not act in accordance with any opinion that may be expressed by the Commissioner, and whether he will or will not give effect to any recommendation contained in the Commissioner’s report.

Notwithstanding anything herein or in the principal Act contained, the Governor may, if he thinks fit, at any time after the passing of this Act, appoint any three competent persons to be Commissioners for the purposes following, that is to say,—

The Governor may in and by the instrument appointing the said Commissioners declare what powers and authorities shall be vested in and exercisable by them while engaged in the performance of their duties:

Provided that no powers and authorities shall be so conferred upon them save such as may reasonably be deemed to be necessary for the purposes aforesaid.

All such rates so made by the said Commissioners shall be deemed to have been made by the Board in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act, and shall be levied and collected by the Board, and all such rates shall be recoverable by the Board under the provisions of the Rating Act, 1908.

The said Commissioners may, if they shall deem it expedient so to do, classify all lands within the district in the manner provided by section ninety-three of the principal Act, and may make a general rate to be levied throughout the district on a graduated scale according to the classification of the said lands, or they may in their discretion make a separate rate for each ward or subdivision of the district to be levied equally upon all rateable property within the ward, and so that the rate to be levied in any one ward may differ in amount from the rates to be levied in other wards.

In case the said Commissioners shall think fit to make a separate rate for each ward, it shall not be incumbent on them to prepare or publish any estimate of the proposed expenditure of any such separate rate.

The said Commissioners may further prescribe the maximum general rate leviable on any class of land as determined by the said classification, or the maximum separate rate leviable within any ward; but in neither case shall the maximum rate so prescribed exceed the rating limit imposed by the principal Act.

The provisions of sections ninety-five to one hundred of the principal Act shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to any such classification as aforesaid that may be made by the said Commissioners.

The said Commissioners shall make and sign a report in writing wherein they shall state what general or separate rates have been made by them as aforesaid, and what maximum rates have been prescribed by them as aforesaid; and a copy of this report shall be published in the New Zealand Gazette, as well as in some newspaper circulating in the district.

The power to make general or separate rates shall not be exercisable by the Board during the financial year above mentioned, but from and after the close of the said financial year the Board shall have and may exercise all and singular the rating-powers conferred upon River Boards by the principal Act:

Provided always that any such classification so made by the said Commissioners shall be binding on the Board:

Provided further that the Board shall not at any time be at liberty to impose a general rate upon any class of land or to levy a separate rate within any ward exceeding the maximum general rate or the maximum separate rate prescribed by the said Commissioners in respect of that class of land or of that ward, as the case may be.

Nothing in this section shall debar the Board from making and levying at any time after the commencement of this Act any special rate or rates as security for the repayment of any moneys that may be borrowed by the Board.

The Board shall prepare a rate-book for the district wherein shall be transcribed particulars of all rates made by the Commissioners appointed under the last preceding section.

With a view to preparing the said rate-book, the Board may require the Valuer-General to furnish to them, on payment of the prescribed fee, a valuation roll of all rateable property within each ward or subdivision of the district, compiled in accordance with the provisions of the Valuation of Land Act, 1908.

The provisions of section forty-nine and of sections fifty-one to fifty-four of the Rating Act, 1908, shall apply to the rate-book so prepared.

With respect to the Pukahu Ward the following provision shall apply:—

In case the Commissioners appointed under section fifteen hereof shall be of opinion that the assets belonging to the Pukahu River Board at the date of the dissolution thereof will be sufficient to cover the estimated expenditure in the Pukahu Ward during the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twelve, as well as to furnish a fair and reasonable contribution on the part of the said ward towards the general expenses incidental to the administration of this Act, then the said Commissioners may declare that no general or separate rate shall be levied within the said ward for that financial year.

All costs and expenses of and incidental to the promotion of this Act shall be chargeable against the Board, and shall be paid out of moneys belonging to the Board.