When the Board proposes to construct any drainage-works which will not benefit directly or indirectly the whole of the district, the Board, if it thinks fit, may, before entering upon the construction of such works, define and create a special area comprising the lands that would, in the opinion of the Board, be benefited directly or indirectly by such works. When a special area has been created with respect to any works, all rates levied to defray the cost of construction and maintenance of such works, including special rates levied as security for any loan, shall be levied upon such special area in exoneration of the rest of the district.

Whenever any drainage-works proposed to be constructed will confer varying degrees of benefit upon the lands in the district or in any special area, the Board may, if it thinks fit, before entering upon the construction of such works, and, in the case of a special area (if the works are to be constructed out of loan-moneys), before depositing the special roll for public inspection as required by • paragraph (d) of section three of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, divide the district or such special area, as the case may be, into three subdivisions as follows,—

or into two subdivisions as follows,—

and any rates levied to defray the cost of construction and maintenance of such drainage-works (including special rates levied as security for any loan), anything to the contrary in the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, notwithstanding, may be levied upon the several classes of land as aforesaid in such proportions as the Board in each case appoints.

The definition and creation of a special area, and the division of the district or any special area into subdivisions, shall be by a resolution of the Board, and such resolution shall define the boundaries of the special area or of the subdivisions, as the case may be, and such resolution shall be published in the Gazette.

When a special area is divided into subdivisions in manner hereinbefore provided and a special roll is prepared for the purposes of a proposed loan under paragraph (c) of subsection three of section three of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, any person whose name appears on such roll shall, in addition to the right of objection given by paragraph (e) of the said subsection, have the right to object in the like manner to the inclusion in one subdivision of land (whether his own or that of some other person) which ought to be in some other subdivision.

No land shall be excluded from a special area for loan or any other purposes merely because such land will be only partially benefited by the expenditure of a proposed loan, anything to the contrary in the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, notwithstanding.

The Board may from time to time, by resolution published in the Gazette, and at least twice in a daily newspaper circulating in the district, alter the boundaries of any special area or subdivision:

Provided, however, that, after any special rate or rates shall have been appropriated or pledged as security for any loan, no amendment of boundaries shall affect the incidence or amount of the said special rate or rates.

Any person affected by any alteration of boundaries under the last preceding paragraph may appeal against the same. Notice of appeal, setting forth the grounds of the appeal, must be given to the Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court at Christchurch, and to the Board, within one month next after the first publication in a newspaper as herein required of the resolution appealed from.

Within three days after the expiration of the time limited for giving notice of appeal as aforesaid the Magistrate shall give public notice of a day for the hearing of such appeals, and such appeals shall be heard at the time and place named in such notice or at any time and place to which the same may be adjourned; and the Magistrate may, after hearing such appeals, cause the boundary of any special area or subdivision to be amended in such manner as appears to him to be reasonable, and the determination of the Magistrate shall be final and conclusive. The Magistrate by whom any appeal is heard shall have full power to award to the appellant or the Board the costs incidental to any such appeal and the hearing thereof.

Any resolution of the Board creating and defining a special area, or subdividing a district or special area, or amending the boundary of a special area or subdivision, may be proved for the purpose of any judicial proceedings by the production of a copy of such resolution certified as correct by the Chairman of the Board for the time being.

If any scheme of drainage-works undertaken by the Board is intended to be carried out in such a way that any portion of the district or of a special area or of a subdivision will not receive benefit until a later date than some other portion of the same respectively, the Board may, at any time and from time to time by resolution gazetted, remit, for such period as the Board may see fit, the whole or any part of any rate (special or otherwise) made or levied in connection with such scheme so far as regards any lands the benefit to which will be deferred as aforesaid:

Provided always that any remission of a special rate shall take effect subject to the rights of any person to whom such special rate may have been hypothecated or pledged, and if the unremitted portion of a special rate shall be insufficient to provide the interest, sinking fund, and other charges in respect of any loan secured on such rate the remission shall, pro tanto, fail to take effect.