In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Proclamation dated the twenty-first day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and published in the Gazette of the twenty-eighth day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, constituting the Ohinemuri River District and declaring the Ohinemuri County Council to be a River Board, is hereby revoked as from the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and ten, and the said River Board is hereby dissolved as from that date, and the assets of the Board shall thereupon vest in the Ohinemuri County Council, which Council is hereby empowered to collect or recover any debts or rates legally due to the Board at the date of its dissolution, and to liquidate any liabilities of the Board at that date, and if the assets, debts, and rates so recovered by the Council are insufficient to cover the said liabilities the Council may strike and collect a special rate over the whole of the Ohinemuri River District sufficient to liquidate those liabilities.

The lands described in the First Schedule hereto are hereby declared to be a river district under the name of “The Waihou and Ohinemuri River District,” and that district is hereby declared to be the district to which this Act applies and within which the powers granted by this Act may be exercised:

Provided that the Governor, by Order in Council gazetted, may from time to time alter or amend the boundaries of the said district by including therein any other adjacent lands which in his opinion will benefit by the works authorized by this Act, or which are required to be included in the district, and all lands so included in the district shall be deemed to be part of the district for all the purposes of this Act, and this Act shall apply thereto as fully as if they had been included in the said Schedule.

Subject to the special powers contained in this Act, nothing in this Act shall affect any right which any person may have legally acquired in any wharf, ferry, or other work existing in or upon any part of the bed or bank of the Waihou or Ohinemuri River at the time of the passing of this Act, or any right which such person may have to charge fees or dues in respect to the same.

The Governor may from time to time make regulations for the purpose of giving full effect to the provisions of this Act, or for the use, management, or protection of any works constructed under the authority thereof, and may provide for fees or dues to be paid for the use of any wharf or other work or convenience constructed or acquired under this Act, and may prescribe penalties for the breach of any regulation; and any notice, Proclamation, or Order in Council authorized by this Act to be issued may be made and issued from time to time, or may in a similar manner be altered, revoked, or cancelled.

The Minister is hereby authorized to construct all necessary works and to do all other things that may be required for the following purposes:—

The powers granted to the Thames Harbour Board by the Thames Harbour Board Act, 1878, and its amendments, or by any other Act, shall be exercised by that Board subject to the provisions of this Act, and in the event of any dispute arising between the Board and the Minister in respect of anything done by him under or in pursuance of this Act, that dispute shall be referred to the Governor, whose decision shall be final; but, subject to the powers vested in the Minister by this Act, the powers, rights, functions, and duties of the Board shall not be affected, nor shall anything herein be deemed to affect the rights of any creditor of the Board, or relieve the Board of any duty cast upon it to keep the portion of the Waihou River within its jurisdiction in a fit state for navigation, whether by the use of dredges or otherwise, or to cast upon the Minister any liability or duty for so doing.

The sections of the River Boards Act, 1908, and of the Land Drainage Act, 1908, mentioned in the Second Schedule hereto are hereby incorporated in this Act, and shall apply to the river district constituted by this Act, and the powers conferred by those sections may be exercised by the Minister, and for that purpose all references in those sections to the “Board,” “Trustees,” or “Chairman” shall be construed to apply to the Minister as the case may require, and any right, act, function, or duty therein granted to or imposed on the Board, Trustees, or Chairman shall pertain to or may be exercised by the Minister accordingly.

In addition to the powers conferred by the last preceding section, the Minister may from time to time at his discretion—

All lands taken in pursuance of this Act shall vest in His Majesty, discharged from all mortgages, charges, claims, estates, or interests of what kind soever, for the work or purpose named in the Proclamation.

Save as is specially provided in this Act, full compensation shall be paid to any person injuriously affected by the taking of any land under this Act, or by the construction of any work thereby authorized.

In assessing such compensation the Court shall take into account in reduction or mitigation of the claim any benefit which has accrued or is likely to accrue to the claimant by reason of the construction of any work authorized by this Act

The Minister shall cause a survey to be made of all agricultural or pastoral lands covered by tailings from mining operations by reason of the floods which occurred in the river district in the years nineteen hundred and seven, nineteen hundred and eight, nineteen hundred and nine, and nineteen hundred and ten respectively.

Such lands shall be classified in three classes, as follows:

The Minister may appoint a Magistrate to inquire and report as to the value in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five of the lands totally destroyed, and also as to the value of permanent improvements placed upon those lands since that year which are now valueless by reason of the tailings deposited thereon, and also as to the damage sustained by the owners, lessees, or occupiers of the lands partially destroyed since the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five by the deposit of tailings on their lands.

The Magistrate shall recommend what amount should be paid as compensation to the owners, lessees, and occupiers of such lands.

The aggregate amounts payable to the owners, lessees, and occupiers of any land totally destroyed shall not in any case exceed the value of that land in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, together with the value of permanent improvements placed thereon since that date.

In the case of lands partially destroyed, one-half only of the loss sustained shall be awarded as compensation, and such compensation shall not exceed in the aggregate two pounds per acre.

In assessing compensation under this Act the Magistrate shall take into account, in reduction of compensation, the benefit which the remaining lands of the owner, lessee, or occupier will probably derive by the stop-banks and other works constructed or to be constructed under this Act.

The Magistrate shall also decide in what proportions the amount awarded shall be paid to the owners, lessees, or occupiers.

For the purposes of this section the Magistrate shall have all the powers of a Commission appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908.

The Minister shall pay or cause to be paid to the owners, lessees, and occupiers respectively of the lands totally destroyed the amounts of compensation awarded by the Magistrate, and on such payment being made the land may be taken as for a public work under the provisions of this Act without further payment of compensation.

The Minister may at his option either pay the amount awarded by the Magistrate to the owners, lessees, or occupiers respectively of the lands partially destroyed, or he may in the alternative take any such lands or any part thereof as for a public work under the powers provided by this Act, and in any such case the award of the Magistrate shall be void, and in lieu thereof the owners, lessees, and occupiers shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to compensation to be awarded in the manner prescribed by Part III of the Public Works Act, 1908.

The Minister may grant, on such terms as he thinks fit, to any person the right to work tailings or other gold-bearing sands or deposits in the bed or on the banks of any river in the river district, or on any land that may be taken or acquired under the powers prescribed by this Act. All rents, royalties, or other profits derived by the Minister therefrom shall be paid to the Public Account to the credit of the separate account referred to in section seventeen hereof.

The Minister may also erect flood-gates and protective works wherever he may consider the same to be necessary for the purpose of preventing scour from drains or watercourses from private lands flowing into any river in the river district, and he may recover the cost as a debt due to His Majesty in any Court of competent jurisdiction from the owners and occupiers of the lands from or through which such drain or watercourse flows. In the event of any dispute as to who should contribute to the cost of the work, or as to the proportion in which such contributions should be made, the Minister may require a Magistrate to investigate the matter and apportion the cost among the owners and occupiers concerned, and the decision of the Magistrate shall be final and may be enforced as in the case of a judgment for debt recovered in the Magistrate’s Court.

For the purpose of providing funds to enable the Minister to undertake the duties prescribed by this Act, the Minister of Finance, on being authorized by the Governor in Council so to do, may raise from time to time, on the security of and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums of money from time to time, not exceeding in the whole the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, as he thinks fit.

This Act shall be deemed to be an authorizing Act within the meaning of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908; and the moneys hereinbefore authorized to be raised shall be raised under and subject to the provisions of that Act accordingly.

The sums so raised shall bear interest at such rate (not exceeding four pounds ten shillings per centum per annum) as the Minister of Finance prescribes.

All moneys raised as aforesaid shall, as and when raised, be paid into the Public Works Fund to the credit of a separate account to be called “The Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Improvement Account,” and with respect to that account and the moneys therein the following provisions shall at all times apply:—

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Gold Duty Act, 1908, the Minister of Finance shall pay annually to the credit of the separate account mentioned in the last preceding section the sum of five thousand pounds from the gold duty which would otherwise be payable to the local authorities in the river district, and this amount shall be deducted from the share otherwise payable to such local authorities under that Act, in such proportions as the gold duty would otherwise be payable to such local authorities respectively.

Nothing in this Act shall be held to imply personal liability on the part of the Minister or of any person by his direction for any act or thing done or omitted to be done under or in pursuance of this Act, and no claim, demand, or action in respect to the same shall lie either against him or them personally.

When and so soon as the works authorized by this Act have been completed by the Minister to the extent of the funds provided, the Governor shall by Proclamation declare the river district to be a district within the meaning of the River Boards Act, 1908, under the name of “The Waihou and Ohinemuri River District,” and such district shall thereupon be deemed to be constituted accordingly, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in that Act; and, subject to this Part of this Act, the Governor shall do all things necessary to provide for the election of members of the Board for the district, in the manner provided by the River Boards Act, 1908, as if the district were a new district, and all the provisions of that Act relating to the election of members of a Board shall apply:

Provided that—

Upon the expiration of three months after the constitution of the district pursuant to the last preceding section all the powers and functions of the Minister under Part II of this Act shall cease and determine, and all works constructed by him in pursuance of this Act shall vest in the Board; and the Board shall, in addition to the powers contained in the River Boards Act, 1908, have all the powers conferred upon the Minister by Part II of this Act in respect to those works, and in respect to the rivers and drainage-works in the district, and in respect to the classification of the land:

Provided that (save as may be required for the support of any such works) any land taken in pursuance of this Act which is then unsold shall, at the request of the River Board, be dealt with and administered by the Land Board of the district, and the proceeds from the sale or lease or other disposal of such land shall (less necessary charges and expenses of administration) be paid by the Land Board to the River Board, and shall be applied by the said River Board in and towards the reduction of any debt due by the said Board to the Crown.

Within twelve months after the district has been constituted, the separate account provided for in this Act shall be closed, and the Controller and Auditor-General shall certify as to the total amount debited to the said account, together with the amount of liabilities chargeable to that account then outstanding and unpaid, and shall deduct from the total amount the sums paid up to such date to the credit of the separate account, and the balance so ascertained shall be deemed to be the cost of the works which have been vested in the Board. The amount so ascertained shall be a debt due by the river district to His Majesty, and a first charge upon the funds and revenues of the Board, and the Board shall make provision to annually pay to the Crown interest on such amount at x`the rate of four per centum per annum. The Board shall also pay annually to the Crown an additional amount (being not less than one and a half per centum of the amount aforesaid) as a sinking fund; but nothing herein shall be deemed to prevent the Board paying off the debt by instalments from time to time in any other manner agreed upon between the Board and the Minister of Finance.

The Board may, with the consent of the Governor, levy rates, dues, or charges on all boats, steamers, and vessels using any river in the district outside the Thames Harbour District, and may charge wharfage and wharf dues on any wharf the property of the Board, and may take or acquire any other wharf outside the said harbour district at present existing on the river on payment of reasonable compensation, and may construct, work, and maintain such wharves and ferries as it thinks fit, and may also levy such an amount of special rate over the river district as may be necessary to cover any deficiency in the payment of the interest and sinking fund provided for in section twenty-two hereof, or to provide for the general expenses of the Board.

If the Board makes default in the payment of interest and sinking fund as in this Act prescribed, the Minister of Finance may, in addition to any other remedy vested in him from time to time, retain the share of the gold duty and the annual contribution from the Consolidated Fund which by the terms of this Act is to be paid to the Board, and may in addition thereto from time to time levy and collect the special rate hereinbefore mentioned from the whole or any portion of the ratepayers of the district, in such sums and from time to time as the Controller and Auditor-General certifies to be necessary to cover the deficiency.

Upon the expiration of three months after the constitution of the district, paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection four of section seventeen hereof shall cease to be operative, and in lieu thereof the Board shall each year prepare estimates of the expenditure during the year necessary to pay the interest and sinking fund on the debt due by the Board to His Majesty, together with the cost of the annual upkeep, after completion, of the works constructed by the Minister under Part II of this Act, and for dredging the river where required, with office, engineering, and management expenses, including the cost of the collection of rates and of elections; and, upon such estimates being approved by the Governor in Council (who may, if he thinks fit, reduce such estimates to such reasonable sum as he considers to be necessary), there shall be paid to the Board the following sums:—

At the end of each financial year the Board shall ascertain the amount of its actual expenditure during such year for the purposes in this section hereinbefore mentioned, and if it is found that the Board has received under the provisions of paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) hereof more than the proportions of one-half, one-sixth, and one-sixth respectively of the actual expenditure so ascertained, it shall forthwith refund or give credit during the following year to the Minister, companies, or persons, as the case may be, in respect to the amounts received by the Board in excess of such proportions of such actual expenditure.

The contributions required by sections seventeen and twenty-five hereof to be made by the gold-mining companies therein referred to shall from time to time be apportioned by the Warden among the companies concerned, and he shall determine the proportions so to be paid by each company in such manner as he considers just, taking into account the estimated amount of tailings, slimes, or mining debris discharged into the river, and the amount of gold produced by each such company from its mine during the previous year; and the amount in the case of each company so determined is hereby declared to be a debt due from each such company or its assigns respectively to His Majesty or to the Board, as the case may require, and may be recovered in any Court of competent jurisdiction.