This Act may be cited as the Auckland Centennial Memorial Park Act, 1941.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

There is hereby established a Board constituted as hereinafter provided.

The Board shall be a body corporate under the name of the Auckland Centennial Memorial Park Board, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable of holding real and personal property and of doing and suffering all that bodies corporate may lawfully do and suffer.

The Board shall be deemed to be a local authority for the purposes of the Public Works Act, 1928, the Land and Income Tax Act, 1923, the Local Bodies’ Finance Act, 1921–22, the Local Authorities (Members’ Contracts) Act, 1934, and the Public Reserves, Domains, and National Parks Act, 1928.

The Board shall consist of eleven members, comprising the following persons:—

The first members of the Board (other than the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) of the last preceding section who shall become members thereof upon the passing of this Act) shall be appointed as follows:—

The first elected and appointed members of the Board shall hold office until the members first elected and appointed under the next succeeding section come into office.

In every year in which municipal general elections are held under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, or any Act passed in substitution therefor, and in the month of such year following that in which such elections are held:—

With respect to every election by local authorities pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection one hereof the following provisions shall apply:—

Every member of the Board appointed or elected under subsection one of the last preceding section shall come into office on the day following that on which he is appointed or elected, and, unless his office sooner becomes vacant, shall continue in office until members appointed or elected at the next appointment or election under that subsection come into office.

Every member appointed or elected to fill any vacancy pursuant to section ten hereof shall come into office on the day following that on which he is appointed or elected, and shall hold office only for the residue of the term for which his predecessor was appointed or elected.

The office of a member shall become vacant if he—

Any vacancy occurring under this section shall be deemed an extraordinary vacancy.

In the event of an extraordinary vacancy occurring within six months of the time when the member whose seat has been vacated would have retired the same may be filled by the Board, except where that member was appointed by the Minister. In any case where the member whose seat has been vacated was appointed by the Minister, the vacancy, whenever it may have occurred, may be filled by the Minister. In all other cases—

Upon proof in the first instance, by affidavit or otherwise, that any member of the Board is or has become incapable under this Act or any other Act of holding his office, any Magistrate’s Court may grant a summons calling upon the person holding such office to show cause why he should not be adjudged to be ousted of the same.

If on the return of such summons it appears to the Court, on affidavit or oral evidence on oath, that such person is incapable under this Act of holding the said office, the Court may adjudge such person to be ousted of the same, and such person shall be ousted of such office accordingly.

In any such proceeding the Magistrate’s Court may exercise all the powers and authorities which it may exercise in its ordinary jurisdiction in civil cases, and the procedure of such Court shall, so far as applicable, apply generally to proceedings had under this section.

No matter in relation to a disputed election shall be heard by the Magistrate’s Court under this section.

No question which may be tried under this section shall be tried in the Supreme Court; and no proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court hereunder shall be removable into the Supreme Court, by certiorari or otherwise.

The Board shall at its first meeting, and thereafter at its annual meeting in each year, elect one of its members to be Chairman of the Board.

At every meeting for the election of Chairman the Secretary shall preside while the Chairman is being elected or, if there shall be no Secretary, then some person appointed by the Board not being a member of the Board shall so preside, and in case of an equality of votes shall determine the election by lot in such manner as the Board determines.

The Chairman shall come into office on his election and shall hold office until the election of his successor.

The Chairman may resign his office by writing under his hand delivered to the Secretary, and in such case, or in the case of his ceasing from any cause to be a member of the Board, his office shall become vacant, and the Secretary shall forthwith convene a meeting of the Board for the election of a fresh Chairman.

The Board may from time to time appoint one of its members to be Deputy Chairman either for a specified period or until the next annual meeting of the Board.

The first meeting of the Board shall be convened by the Town Clerk of the City of Auckland at such time and place as he may appoint, and if no quorum is present within half an hour of the time fixed for the holding of such meeting the same shall stand adjourned from day to day at the same time and place until a quorum is assembled.

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 this Act conferred or imposed upon the Board except the power to take land under the Public Works Act, 1928, to make a levy on contributing local authorities, to make a by-law, or to institute an action. The Board may appoint as members of any such committee persons who are not members of the Board.

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 may from time to time discharge, alter, continue, or reconstitute any committee appointed by it.

Every committee shall, unless sooner discharged by the Board, be deemed to be discharged on the coming into office of the members appointed or elected under subsection one of section seven hereof next after the appointment of the committee.

At every meeting of the Board the Chairman (if present), or in his absence the Deputy Chairman (if any) shall be the Chairman. If the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman (if any) are absent from any meeting of the Board, then such member as the members of the Board then present choose shall be Chairman of such Board meeting.

A quorum of the Board shall consist of five members.

The Board may fix the quorum of any committee appointed by it, and in default of its so doing the committee may fix the quorum.

A meeting shall be duly constituted if a quorum is present thereat, whether voting or not.

All acts of the Board and of any committee, and all questions before the Board or any committee, may be done and decided at a meeting of the Board or committee by the majority of such members of the Board or committee as are present and vote at such meeting.

The Chairman of any meeting of the Board or of any committee shall have a deliberative vote, and in case of equality of votes shall have a casting vote also.

No act or proceeding of the Board or of any committee, or of any person acting as a member of the Board, shall be invalidated in consequence of there being a vacancy in the number of the Board at the time of such act or proceeding, or of the subsequent discovery that there was some defect in the election or appointment of any person so acting, or that he was incapable of being such member.

The Board shall hold such ordinary meetings at such times and at such places as it from time to time appoints.

The Chairman or the Secretary shall give the prescribed notice in writing to each of the members of the time and place appointed from time to time for holding ordinary meetings, and the members shall attend such meeting without further notice of each meeting.

The Board shall hold an annual meeting in the month of July in each year at the office of the Board.

There may be paid to the Chairman and to the members of the Board or of any committee thereof out of the funds of the Board all amounts actually and reasonably expended by them in attending meetings of the Board or of any committee thereof, or in transacting any business of the Board pursuant to a resolution of the Board.

The Board may by resolution, subject to the provisions of this Act, make rules—

The Board may by resolution from time to time appoint fit persons to be Secretary, Treasurer, and all such other officers and servants as it thinks necessary for the purposes of carrying out its powers and functions under this Act, and may pay such persons such salaries, wages, and allowances out of the funds of the Board as it thinks fit.

No member of the Board shall be capable of holding any such office, unless without remuneration.

One person may hold two or more of such offices.

During the absence from duty of any officer of the Board by reason of illness, leave of absence, or other cause the duties and powers of such officer may be performed and exercised by an acting officer appointed by the Board, and any such appointment may be either general or for some occasion only.

The Board may from time to time provide offices with fitting furniture for transacting its business and for the use of its officers.

The Auckland City Council and any local authority mentioned in the First or Second Schedule hereto may out of its general fund contribute by way of advance such sum as it thinks fit towards the expenses that may be incurred by the Board before the end of the financial year in which it is constituted. All moneys advanced by a local authority under this section shall be repayable by the Board on demand, and shall be recoverable by the local authority as a debt due to it by the Board.

All moneys belonging to the Board amounting to five pounds and upwards shall, within seven days after they have come to the hand of the proper officer of the Board, be paid into such bank as the Board from time to time appoints to an account to be called the Auckland Centennial Memorial Park Account.

No money shall be drawn out of the bank except pursuant to a resolution of the Board, and all moneys shall be paid by the Board in cash or by cheque signed by any two of such of the members of the Board as the Board from time to time authorizes to sign cheques, and countersigned by an officer appointed by the Board for the purpose.

The Board may from time to time invest any of its funds not immediately required in any manner in which trustees are authorized by law to invest trust funds.

The income and revenue of the Board shall consist of the levies to be paid by local authorities as hereinafter provided, of all rents, fines, fees, or charges received by the Board in accordance with this Act, of any interest received on the Board’s funds, and of any donations which may be made to the Board upon revenue account.

His Majesty the King and the Auckland City Council are hereby empowered to grant, convey, or transfer to the Board any lands vested, as hereinbefore recited, in him or in the Corporation of the City of Auckland respectively for the purposes of the memorial scenic park, and to grant, convey, or transfer to the Board for the purposes of the park, with or without consideration, such additional or other lands vested in him or in the said Corporation as the Minister of Lands or the Council respectively may agree should be vested in the Board.

All lands granted, conveyed, or transferred to the Board pursuant to the last preceding section, together with any other lands which may be acquired by the Board, shall be held by the Board for the purposes of a scenic park, to be known as “the Auckland Centennial Memorial Park”, as a memorial to commemorate the completion in the year nineteen hundred and forty of the first hundred years of settlement and progress in the Metropolitan District of Auckland.

No stamp duty under the Stamp Duties Act, 1923, shall be payable in respect of any grant, conveyance, or transfer of any land to the Board for the purposes of the park.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may hold, manage, maintain, and develop as a scenic park the lands for the time being vested in it, and for or in connection with that purpose may do all or any of the following things:—

Any by-laws made by the Board shall be made by resolution of the Board, and shall have the seal of the Board duly affixed thereto, and a notice stating the object or purport of the proposed by-laws shall be published in some newspaper circulating in the district in which the park is situate once in each of the four weeks immediately preceding the day on which the by-laws are made.

Where any person is willing to agree with the Board that his land, or any part thereof, shall, so far as his interest in the land enables him to bind it, be made subject, either permanently or for a specified period, to conditions restricting the development or use thereof in any manner likely in the opinion of the Board to enhance the park, the Board may, if it thinks fit, enter into an agreement with him or accept a covenant from him to that effect. The Board shall have power to enforce such agreement or covenant against persons deriving title under him in the same manner and to the same extent as if the Board were possessed of or entitled to or interested in adjacent land and as if the agreement or covenant had been expressed to be entered into for the benefit of that adjacent land.

The Board may from time to time, for the purpose of providing funds for its use in accordance with this Act, make annual levies upon the Auckland City Council and the local authorities mentioned in the First Schedule hereto (hereinafter collectively referred to as the contributing bodies), and in respect thereof the following provisions shall apply:—

If any contributing body is dissatisfied with such assessment or considers the amount of the levy to be unreasonable in all the circumstances, such contributing body may, within twenty-eight days after notice of such assessment has been given to it, appeal to a Magistrate at Auckland against such assessment. Such appeal shall be commenced by notice of appeal being given to the Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court, who shall fix a day for the hearing thereof; and the contributing body appealing shall give notice in writing to the Board and to each of the other contributing bodies stating the date when the same is to be heard and the grounds of such appeal, and thereupon the levy and assessment shall be deemed to be set aside, and the levy and contribution to be paid by every contributing body shall be settled by the Magistrate, whose decision shall be final and binding upon the Board and all the contributing bodies.

The Magistrate shall have power from time to time to make regulations for the conduct of such appeals and the costs thereof.

The Board may, notwithstanding that the amount sought to be recovered is in excess of the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court, sue for and recover the amount of any such contribution in that Court as a debt.

The production in any Court of a document purporting to be a copy of the said notice to each contributing body purporting to be under the seal of the Board, shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of each contributing body therein mentioned to pay the Board the respective amount therein and thereby shown to be assessed as its contribution to the Board for the purposes of this Act.

Each contributing body shall within thirty days of receiving the written notice mentioned in paragraph (d) of section thirty-four hereof pay to the Secretary of the Board one-half of the amount of such assessment, and shall pay the other half thereof within six calendar months of the date of receipt of such notice as aforesaid. In case either half is not so paid such contributing body shall be liable to and shall pay interest on any and every amount remaining unpaid until payment thereof at the rate for the time being charged by the bankers of the Board for moneys owing to them by the Board or that would be chargeable if such moneys were owing, as the case may be:

Provided that if an appeal against any assessment has been lodged under section thirty-five hereof, then the amount fixed by the Magistrate shall be substituted for such assessment and payment of one-half thereof shall be made within thirty days from the date of the Magistrate’s decision, but interest on such half shall be payable at the rate aforesaid as from the expiration of thirty days from the receipt of the original assessment.

Every contributing body, for the purpose of enabling it to make, and making, such payment, shall have the following powers:—

The Board shall cause books to be provided and kept and true and accurate accounts to be entered therein of all sums of money received and paid under the authority of this Act and of the several purposes for which such sums of money have been received and paid.

Such books shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any member of the Board or of any contributing body or any person appointed by it, who may take copies of or extracts from the same.

The accounts of the Board shall be audited annually by the Audit Office, which for that purpose shall have all such powers as it has under the Public Revenues Act, 1926, in respect of public moneys.

The Board shall, before the end of April in each year, cause the accounts of the Board for the past year, ended the thirty-first day of March then last past, to be balanced and also full and true statements and accounts of all the moneys received and expended by the Board during the past year, and of the assets and liabilities of the Board at the end of the year, to be prepared; and such statements and accounts, signed by the Chairman and the Treasurer of the Board, shall be submitted by the Chairman to the Audit Office.

The Board shall forthwith after such audit make out a full abstract of the accounts for the year as audited, and cause a copy thereof to be submitted to each contributing body.

The Board may, pursuant to a resolution in that behalf, establish an Imprest Account, which shall, as the Board may determine, be kept in the Post Office Savings-bank or in any other bank within the meaning of the Banking Act, 1908.

The Imprest Account may be held jointly in the names of and be operated on by the Treasurer of the Board and one other person to be appointed in that behalf by the Board, or may, with the express approval in writing of the Audit Office, but not otherwise, be in the sole name of and be operated on by the Treasurer or other approved officer of the Board. Where the Imprest Account is held jointly in the names of the Treasurer and of one other person as aforesaid, such last-mentioned person shall be either a responsible officer of the Board or a member of the Board.

The Board shall from time to time, by resolution, fix the maximum amount that may be held at any time in the Imprest Account, not exceeding seventy-five pounds in any case where the Imprest Account may be operated on by one person acting alone, and not exceeding such amount as the Audit Office may approve in any other case.

Moneys in the Imprest Account shall be available only for the payment of wages and of emergency expenditure. A statement of all payments made from the Imprest Account shall be submitted to the Board for approval at its first ordinary meeting thereafter. The payment of moneys out of the Imprest Account for any purpose not hereby authorized shall be deemed to be the misappropriation of the funds of the Board.

The provisions of section twenty-six hereof shall be read subject to the provisions of this section.

The Board may in every financial year out of its funds 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, nor in any case to more than fifty pounds.

Any local authority whose district is situate within the Provincial District of Auckland may from time to time out of its ordinary funds contribute such amounts as it thinks fit towards the funds of the Board in respect of the establishment, maintenance, development, or extension of the park.

The foregoing subsection shall extend to authorize contributions by the contributing bodies over and above their shares of the levy hereinbefore provided for.

A local authority making a contribution or contributions under the authority of this section shall not be liable to see to the proper expenditure thereof.

Where a County Council makes any contribution pursuant to this section such contribution may, with the consent of the Councillor or Councillors representing any riding of the county be made wholly or in part out of the separate account of that riding.

Where anything is omitted to be done or cannot be done at the time required by or under this Act, or is done after such time or is otherwise irregularly done or sufficient provision is not made by or under this Act, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council gazetted at any time before or after the time within which such thing is required to be done, extend such time or may validate anything done after the time required or so irregularly done, or make other provisions for such ease as he thinks fit.

Any summons, writ, or other legal proceedings requiring to be served on the Board may be served by being left at the office of the Board, or given personally to the Secretary or Chairman thereof.

No action shall be commenced against the Board or any member thereof, or any person acting under the authority, or in the execution or intended execution or pursuance of this Act, for any alleged irregularity, or trespass, or nuisance, or negligence, or for any act or omission whatever, until the expiry of one month after notice in writing specifying the cause of action, the Court in which the action is intended to be commenced, and the name and residence of the plaintiff, and of his solicitor or agent in the matter, has been given by the plaintiff to the defendant.

Every such action shall be commenced within six months next after the cause of action first arose, whether the cause of action is continuing or not.

All fines recoverable under the provisions of any by-laws made by the Board may be recovered in a summary way, and when recovered shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the Consolidated Fund and be subject to section thirteen of the Finance Act, 1927 (No. 2).

Any contract which if made between private persons must be by deed shall, if made by the Board, be in writing under the seal of the Board.

Any contract which if made between private persons must be in writing signed by the parties to be charged therewith, may, if made by the Board, be in writing signed on behalf of the Board by some person duly authorized in that behalf.

Any contract which if made between private persons may be made orally without writing may be similarly made by or on behalf of the Board, but no oral contract shall be made for any sum exceeding twenty pounds.

No member of the Board shall be personally liable for any act or default of the Board done or omitted to be done in good faith in the course of the operations of the Board, and no officer of the Board shall be personally liable for any act or default done or omitted to be done in good faith in the course of his authorized duties.

A copy of any resolution of the Board or any committee thereof, certified by the Chairman of the Board to be correct, shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of such resolution in any proceedings under this Act.

Lands belonging to or vested in the Board which are either occupied by it or let by it to a tenant for not more than six months shall be deemed not to be rateable property within the meaning of the Rating Act, 1925, and it is hereby declared that if any such lands as aforesaid are at the time they are acquired by the Board liable for a special rate made as security for any loan the Board shall continue to be liable for the payment of that rate.

Any moneys which the Metropolitan executive of the Auckland Provincial Centennial Council or the Auckland Combined Metropolitan Centennial Memorial Committee may have heretofore expended for or towards the promotion of this Act and matters incidental thereto are hereby declared to have been validly expended.

The said Combined Metropolitan Centennial Memorial Committee shall pay to the Board all moneys held by it and received by it from the said metropolitan executive.

The Board shall pay out of such moneys all outstanding costs and charges incurred in connection with the promotion and passing of this Act and the establishment of the Board and the election of the first members thereof, and shall satisfy thereout any commitments which may previously have been undertaken by the said Executive having reference to the establishment of the park.

The balance of the said moneys shall be applied by the Board in or towards the acquisition of land for the extension of the park and the expenses incidental thereto or in or towards the development and improvement of the park.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, on the petition of the Board and with the consent of the local authority concerned, declare any local authority not included in the First Schedule hereto to be a contributing body for the purposes of this Act; and thereafter this Act shall apply as if the name of such local authority were included in the First Schedule hereto.

A local authority declared to be a contributing body pursuant to this section shall not be liable to contribute to any levy made by the Board prior to the date of the Order in Council issued hereunder.

No fresh election of members of the Board by the local authorities mentioned in the First Schedule hereto shall become necessary by reason only of the issue of an Order in Council under this section.

Where for the purposes of an election of a member or members of the Board or of the making and apportionment of a levy to be made by the Board it is necessary to ascertain the rateable capital values and populations of the districts of the contributing bodies, such values and populations shall be ascertained as at the thirty-first day of March in the calendar year preceding that in which the election is to be held or the levy is to be made, as the case may be.

At the request of the Board from time to time there shall, at the cost of the Board, be supplied to the Board by the Valuer-General a certificate showing the capital value of all rateable property within the district of each of the contributing bodies as at the thirty-first day of March in any year, and by the Government Statistician a certificate showing his estimate of the populations thereof as at such date, and such certificates shall be final and conclusive for the purposes of this Act.