This Act may be cited as the Napier Harbour Board Empowering and Loan Act, 1914.

This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1908, which Act and the amendments thereof are hereinafter referred to as the said Act, and are hereby incorporated in this Act.

In this Act—

The constitution of the Board as enacted by section four of the Harbours Amendment Act, 1910 (in this section referred to as the before-mentioned Act), shall be and the same is hereby altered as follows, and the provisions of the before-mentioned Act are hereby modified accordingly, that is to say:—

The entity of the Board shall not be hereby affected.

It shall be lawful for the Board, without any further authority than this Act, to contribute sums, not exceeding in the aggregate five thousand pounds, to the cost of construction or maintenance of any tramway, within the meaning of the word “tramway” as defined in the Tramways Act, 1908, the line of which tramway traverses, or runs along any outside boundary of, or along any public road intersecting, any area or areas of land owned by or vested in the Board in so far as such area or areas of land lie within and form part of the district under the jurisdiction of the Hawke’s Bay County Council; and for such purpose and for any incidental purpose to enter into, carry out, and perform all such contracts, agreements, undertakings, and other instruments and writings with any “local authority” or “promoters,” within the meaning of these terms as defined in such last-mentioned Act, as the Board may think fit; and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Board shall have power to set apart and maintain, and to bind itself with any such local authority or promoters to set apart and maintain, any portion or portions of the lands of the Board which in the opinion of the Board shall be suitable for the purpose as and for the permanent-way for tramway-lines, and as and for sites for tramway stations, sheds, power-houses, depots, sidings, or other purposes connected with the carrying-on of tramway services, and to erect and maintain, or join in erecting and maintaining, or permit or suffer to be erected and maintained, thereon all necessary buildings, structures, and works.

The foregoing provisions shall enable the Board to enter into conditional contracts with any local authority or local authorities dependent upon such local authority or authorities obtaining an authorizing order for the construction of any tramway, or subject to any such other conditions precedent as the Board may think fit.

The Board shall have power to acquire by purchase, or by taking the same under the provisions of the Public Works Act, 1908, any lands adjoining or adjacent to any lands vested in the Board for the purpose of all or any of the following works, namely: facilitating the draining, reclamation, or filling-in, or levelling, or the subdivision into parcels or allotments, or the roading of, or affording access to, such last-mentioned lands, or connecting any such last-mentioned lands with any tramway or public highway; and for this purpose the foregoing works respectively shall be deemed to be a “public work” within the meaning of that term as used in the last-mentioned Act:

Provided always that it shall not be incumbent upon any vendor to the Board of lands so acquired by the Board, or upon any Compensation Court held under the provisions of the said last-mentioned Act, or upon any other person or persons or authority whomsoever or whatsoever, to inquire as to whether any lands acquired by the Board under the authority of these provisions are necessary or suitable for the purposes aforesaid or any of them; and the resolution of the Board that the lands so acquired be acquired or taken for the purposes aforesaid or any of them shall be sufficient evidence for all purposes that their acquisition by the Board is lawful.

The Board shall have power to sell and dispose of any lands acquired by the Board under the foregoing subsection hereof, or any equivalent or reasonably equivalent area of other lands of the Board, in such parcels, at such price or respective prices, and upon such terms as it may think proper; and a recital in the conveyance or transfer to the purchaser that the sale or disposition is made in pursuance of the powers contained in this section of this Act shall be conclusive evidence, so far as such purchaser and the title acquired by him is concerned, that such sale or disposition is lawful.

Nothing in this section shall be deemed to limit, restrict, or abridge any powers, rights, or authorities possessed by the Board under the Public Works Act, 1908, the Public Bodies’ Leases Act, 1908, the Harbours Act, 1908, or any other statute.

It shall be lawful for the Board, subject to the provisions of the said Act and of this Act, to construct such works as are defined by the words “harbour works” in the said Act as shall by the Board be considered necessary for the requirements of the Harbour of Napier in and about the construction, completion, development, and improvement of the inner-harbour portion of the said harbour, such inner-harbour portion being wholly or mainly comprised within the areas (being endowments of the Board) mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, but nevertheless without confining within such limits the operations of the Board in relation to such inner-harbour portion of the said harbour if it shall be necessary that any such operations shall extend to any waters or locality outside such limits but within the jurisdiction of the Board; and also (hut without limiting the generality of the foregoing provisions or any powers already possessed by the Board) to erect and construct all such cranes, sheds, weirs, embankments, flood-gates, dams, and works for the improvement of the said harbour or the carrying-out of the operations or safeguarding the interests of the Board as shall be judged necessary and proper by the Board 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, or of any contiguous or adjacent lands of the Board or of any other person or persons, or as shall be in any way incidental or ancillary to the main operations of the Board hereby authorized.

The Board shall have power to borrow, in addition to the sums authorized by any previous Acts, subject to the provisions of the said Act and of this Act, any sum or respective sums, not exceeding in the aggregate three hundred thousand pounds, at any rate of interest not exceeding five per centum per annum, to be applied in and about the construction, execution, and carrying-out of the works mentioned in the last preceding section hereof:

Provided always that out of the moneys so authorized to be borrowed the Board shall he entitled to expend a sum of not exceeding fifty thousand pounds in and about the following works, that is to say: repairing or renewing the present quays known as “West Quay” and “Iron Pot Quay” respectively, or such parts thereof respectively, or of the structures appertaining thereto respectively, as shall be decayed, unstable, or insufficient; and to that end rebuilding, reconstructing, or strengthening such quays, or the structures appertaining thereto respectively, so as to bring such quays up to date and of sufficient strength and capacity to cope with the present and anticipated requirements of the Harbour of Napier in so far as such requirements appertain to the premises, erecting new sheds, or enlarging or extending the present sheds, and generally supplying extra shed accommodation, in, upon, about, or in connection with the present inner-harbour portion of the Harbour of Napier; laying railway-lines upon the said West Quay and Iron Pot Quay, and any other quays appertaining to the present inner-harbour portion of the Harbour of Napier; purchasing all necessary material for all or any of the aforesaid purposes; and purchasing a new reclamation dredger, and the pipe-lines and all necessary equipment therefor.

All moneys hereby authorized to be raised may be raised in the manner prescribed by the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913; and the provisions of such Act shall, where not inconsistent with this Act, apply as if the Board were a local authority within the meaning of Part I of that Act, subject, however, to the modification that where anything is required to he done by special order it may be done by the Board by resolution, and subject, also, to the provisions contained in section ten of this Act.

The poll of ratepayers of the district required to be taken by section ten of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, shall be taken in manner following:—

The debentures issued under the authority of this Act, and the interest thereon, shall be a first charge on the Harbour Fund of the Board, subject, however, to the priority of all existing charges thereon, whether by way of debentures or otherwise.

For the purpose of providing for the repayment of the moneys hereby authorized to be borrowed the Board shall permanently appropriate and set apart as a sinking fund a sum equal to one-half per centum per annum on the aggregate amount of debentures which shall for the time being be issued under this Act, and the same shall be paid to Commissioners to be appointed for the purpose in accordance with the provisions in that behalf contained in the Harbours Act, 1908; and the provisions of that Act in relation to the appointment, removal, powers, and duties of Sinking Fund Commissioners, and otherwise in relation to sinking funds and the investment and application thereof, shall apply to this Act. All vacancies occurring in the office of Sinking Fund Commissioners owing to death, mental incapacity, absence from the Dominion of New Zealand, refusal to act, removal, or otherwise, shall be filled up as they arise by new appointments to be made by the Board; and a resolution of the Board declaring the office of Sinking Fund Commissioner held by any person to be vacant shall be conclusive proof of such vacancy having occurred.

If the poll of ratepayers hereinbefore provided for shall be carried, and any moneys shall be raised which shall be authorized by such poll, then, both in respect of the moneys so raised and in respect of any moneys raised under this Act for the purpose of raising which no poll of ratepayers is required, and notwithstanding anything elsewhere contained in this Act, any Receiver appointed as provided by section two hundred and three of the Harbours Act, 1908, shall, by virtue of his office, and without any further authority than this Act, and without prejudice to any other securities available to him, have power to make and levy from time to time, and as often has occasion shall require, a special rate on all rateable property in the district, in such proportions as that the rate to be levied on the rateable property in the Borough of Napier shall be double the rate to be levied on the rateable property in the remainder of the district, and the provisions of section two hundred and twenty of the Harbours Act, 1908, shall apply as if the Receiver were the Board.

The amount to be levied in each year by means of such special rate shall not exceed such amount as is required to provide for payment of interest on the aggregate amount for which debentures shall at that time be issued in pursuance of this Act, with the addition of the sinking fund hereinbefore provided for, and the expenses of making, levying, and recovering such special rate, and the remuneration of the Receiver, after taking into account whatever sum of money may be available from the revenue of the Board for the previous year for payment of such charges. Subject as aforesaid, the provisions of section two hundred and twenty-one of the Harbours Act, 1908, shall apply as if the Receiver were the Board.

No rate to be made in pursuance of the foregoing provisions shall be capable of being set aside or quashed by any proceeding of any Court or otherwise, and no defect in the same, or excessive amount of the same, shall be set up as a defence to any action to recover the same.

Notwithstanding the withdrawal of such Receiver, and that the functions and duties for which he was appointed shall be at an end, any special rate made by him in pursuance of the foregoing provisions shall nevertheless be a good, valid, and subsisting rate, and may be recovered by the Board as if the Board had been authorized by this Act to make, levy, and recover the same, and had made and levied the same accordingly.

The provisions set out in the Second Schedule hereto shall apply in the case of every special rate made and levied by the Receiver.

Without prejudice to the generality of the powers hereinbefore conferred, the Board shall have the power to expend any part of the moneys hereby authorized to be borrowed, in and about the filling-up and reclamation of all or any part or parts of all or any of the areas described in the Third Schedule to the Napier Harbour Board Amendment and Endowment Improvement Act, 1912, and by that Act authorized to be filled up and reclaimed.

The provisions of section ninety-five of the Trustee Act, 1908, shall, both in respect of trusts heretofore and hereafter created, apply to all bonds, debentures, or other securities issued or to be issued by the Board and forming the whole or any portion or portions of any loan which has been, or may hereafter be, raised by the Board under the authority of any Act or Acts of the General Assembly of New Zealand, including this present and any future Act.

The Napier Harbour Board Amendment and Endowment Improvement Act, 1912, is hereby amended by adding to section seven thereof the following words, namely:“and the words ‘Returning Officer’ are substituted for the words ‘Presiding Officer’ wherever the latter words occur in the said paragraph (6).”

This amendment shall take effect as and from the passing of the said last-mentioned Act.