WHEREAS the South Canterbury Electric Power Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board) is an Electric Power Board duly constituted under the provisions of the Electric Power Boards Act 1925 in respect of the South Canterbury Electric Power District and outer area: And whereas by an Order in Council made pursuant to the Electric Power Boards Act 1918 (as amended by the Electric Power Boards Amendment Act 1920) on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, and published in the Gazette of the third day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, at page 1583, the Board was authorised to construct the electric works therein referred to on the conditions therein appearing: And whereas by an Order in Council made pursuant to the Public Works Amendment Act 1911 on the said thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, and published in the said Gazette at page 1586, the Board was authorised by licence issued thereunder to use electric lines for the purposes and on the conditions therein referred to: And whereas since the date of the said Order first mentioned the Board has constructed electric works within the meaning of subsection one of section seventy-six of the Electric Power Boards Act 1925 and has also since the date of the issue of the said licence laid, constructed, put up, placed, and used electric lines within the meaning of subsection one of section three hundred and nineteen of the Public Works Act 1928: And whereas by subsection one of section three of the Electric Power Boards Amendment Act 1952 all electric works constructed by any Electric Power Board before the commencement of the said Act were deemed to have been constructed with the authority of the Governor-General in Council for the purposes of section seventy-six of the Electric Power Boards Act 1925 and of the corresponding provisions of any former Act: And whereas by subsection two of the same section all electric lines laid, constructed, put up, placed, or used by any Electric Power Board before the commencement of the said Act were deemed to have been laid, constructed, put up, placed, or used under the authority of a licence issued to that Board by the Governor-General in Council under section three hundred and nineteen of the Public Works Act 1928, the said subsections one and two being subject to subsection three of the said section three: And whereas since the commencement of the Electric Power Boards Amendment Act 1952 doubts have arisen as to the nature and extent of the authorities granted by the said Order and licence respectively and whether the Board has complied with subsection one of section seventy-six of the Electric Power Boards Act 1925 and subsection one of section three hundred and nineteen of the Public Works Act 1928: And whereas by an Order in Council made pursuant to the Public Works Act 1928 and the Electric Power Boards Act 1925 on the eleventh day of June, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and published in the Gazette of the twelfth day of June, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, at page 757, the Board was authorised to lay, construct, put up, place, and use electric lines and to construct electric works within the area and on the conditions therein referred to, and the said Orders in Council hereinbefore referred to were thereby revoked: And whereas it is expedient to validate the construction by the Board of all electric works since the coming into force on the twenty-third day of October, nineteen hundred and fifty-two, of the Electric Power Boards Amendment Act 1952, and also the laying, construction, putting up, placing, and using by the Board of electric lines since that date and before the eleventh day of June, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight: