This Act may be cited as the Ashburton Borough Special Rates Consolidation Act, 1945.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, the Ashburton Borough Council may from time to time, in lieu of any special rates made and levied, whether before or after the passing of this Act, over the whole of the Borough of Ashburton or over any defined portion or portions thereof, by special order, make and levy an annually recurring rate on a uniform basis for the whole borough (hereinafter referred to as a consolidated rate) on all rateable property within the borough of an amount calculated to produce a sum greater than the annual charges payable in respect of the loans secured by such special rates by an amount equal to ten per centum of those annual charges:

Provided that nothing in this section or in any special order made thereunder shall affect the liability of the Crown for the payment of any special rates in accordance with the provisions in that behalf of section one hundred and twenty-three of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926.

The powers conferred by the last preceding subsection shall extend so as to apply in respect of special rates made and levied, whether before or after the passing of this Act, by any local authority other than the Ashburton Borough Council over any area which now is or may hereafter become part of the Borough of Ashburton.

Every special order made under this section shall specify the several special rates in lieu of which the consolidated rate is made, and shall be published in the Gazette.

Nothing in this section shall prejudicially affect the security afforded by any special rate to the holders of any securities.

The proceeds of a consolidated rate made and levied under this section shall be applied for the purposes of the several rates in lieu of which the consolidated rate was made.