This Act may be cited as the Auckland Electric-power Board Amendment Act, 1924, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Auckland Electric-power Board Act, 1921–22 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section six of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section eleven of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing paragraph (g) of subsection two thereof, and substituting the following paragraph:—

Section twelve of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing paragraph (h) of subsection one thereof, and substituting the following paragraph:—

Section twenty of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one thereof all the words after the word “property,” and by substituting the words “or as a member of an incorporated company in which there are more than twenty members, and of which he is not the general manager or manager.”

The application by section thirty-six of the principal Act of the provisions of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, shall be deemed to authorize, and at all times since the commencement of the principal Act to have authorized, the Board to raise a loan for an authorized purpose for the benefit of a defined part or of defined parts of the district (whether called by a distinctive name or not), and in any such case every constituent district within the defined part or parts shall, without limiting the meaning of the expression “legal subdivision” as used in section three of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, be deemed to be a legal subdivision.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, a loan may be raised by the Board for the benefit of defined parts of the district although such parts may not together form one continuous area.

Section thirty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “the excess may be raised,” the words “either wholly or in part”; and by adding to the section the following words: “If part only of such excess is raised as aforesaid, the balance may be raised by a separate rate or by separate rates on all rateable property within such portion or within such several portions of the district as may be defined for the purpose by special order.”

Section forty-seven of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one thereof the words “any moneys standing to the credit of the Power Fund Account and not appropriated for any special purpose,” and substituting the words “such moneys not appropriated for any special purpose as it thinks fit.”

Section fifty of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing paragraph (b) of subsection one thereof.

Section fifty-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (a) the words “on the sites and the routes defined in any plans prepared or deposited as required by any Act or within a distance of one hundred yards on either side thereof.”

In addition to the general powers conferred on it by section fifty-eight of the principal Act the Board may—

It shall be the duty of the Clerk of every local authority of each constituent district to send to the Board, not later than ten days before the date fixed for the holding of any election or the taking of any poll under the principal Act, a list of all ratepayers whose rates, or any part thereof, are then unpaid and have remained unpaid for a period of not less than six months.

Notwithstanding anything in the principal Act or in any other Act, no person whose name appears on a list furnished under the last preceding subsection for the purposes of any election or poll shall be entitled to vote at that election or poll.

With the consent in writing of the Minister and subject to such conditions as he may impose, the Board—

All land and the dwellings thereon disposed of under this section shall be disposed of by way of sale or lease to any workers or other persons employed in the service of the Board.

In the event of any dwelling acquired or erected by the Board for the purposes of this section being no longer required for those purposes the Board may sell, let, demise, exchange, or other-wise dispose of the same in such manner and on such terms as the Board, with the approval of the Minister, thinks fit.

The Board may, out of loan-moneys, pay any expenses incurred by ratepayers within the district prior to the election of the Board, and whether before or after the constitution of the district or incurred by the Board at any time within twelve months after the first election of the Board,—

Provided that no such expenses shall be so paid unless the Audit Office certifies that the expenses are reasonable and have been incurred in good faith for any of the purposes aforesaid.

In addition to the payments authorized by the last preceding subsection the Board may pay out of loan-moneys any moneys borrowed by way of bank overdraft pursuant to any lawful authority within the period of twelve months referred to in the last preceding subsection.

This section shall be deemed to have been in force as from the date of the coming into force of the principal Act.

The Board may from time to time appoint standing or special committees; and may delegate to such committees any matters for consideration or inquiry or management or regulation; and may delegate to any such committee any of the powers and duties by the principal Act or any other Act conferred or imposed upon the Board, except the powers to borrow money, to make a rate, to make a by-law, to execute a deed or contract, or to institute an action.

Every committee to which any powers or duties are delegated as aforesaid may, without confirmation by the Board, exercise or perform the same in like manner and with the same effect as the Board could itself have exercised or performed the same.

Every such committee shall be subject in all things to the control of the Board, and shall carry out all directions, general or special, of the Board given in relation to such committee or its affairs.

The Board appointing any committee may appoint a member of such committee to be the permanent Chairman thereof, and if no such appointment is made the committee may make the appointment. The Board may from time to time remove such Chairman and appoint another in his stead.

The Board may from time to time discharge, alter, continue, or reconstitute any committee.

The Board may in every financial year, out of the Power Fund Account, expend for purposes not authorized by any Act or law for the time being in force any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than one per centum of the gross receipts of the Board for that year exclusive of loan-moneys.

This section shall be deemed to have been in force as from the date of the coming into force of the principal Act.

The Board may from time to time and at any time during any financial year, in addition to any rate made or levied under the principal Act or this Act, make and levy separate rates within any defined portion or defined portions of the district.

The proceeds of any such rate or rates shall be deemed to be part of the income of the Board.

No rate made and levied under this section in any year shall in respect of any one property exceed thirty pounds or be less than one pound.

For the purposes of this section the expression “one property” means a continuous area of land occupied and used as one holding. An area of land shall be deemed to be continuous notwithstanding that it may be severed by a public road or by a railway or river if it is in fact occupied and used as one property.

Where one property is situated within different constituent districts, the rateable value of such property shall be the total rate-able values of the separate parts thereof as appearing in the district valuation rolls of such constituent districts.

Unless a supply of electricity is available at the boundary of the property or at a point within ten chains of such boundary from the Board’s mains, the Board shall not be entitled under this section to collect any rate in respect of that property, and every person liable to pay a rate under this section shall be entitled to receive free of charge for use on the property in respect of which the rate is levied a supply of electrical energy equivalent in value to the total amount of such rate at the scale of charges from time to time fixed by the Board.

In the event of electricity having been made available for any property at any time during the currency of the year for which a rate under this section is made, such property shall be liable only for a part of that rate proportionate to the unexpired portion of the year.

The Board may, with the consent of the Minister and subject to such conditions as he may require, let or lease any land or buildings or portion of any building not required for the use of the Board.

The Governor-General may, by regulations made under section ninety-six of the principal Act, prescribe fines for the breach of any regulation under that section not exceeding one hundred pounds for any offence.