The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Contagious Diseases Act 1869.”

In this Act—

This Act shall extend and apply to such districts as the Governor shall from time to time by Proclamation published in the New Zealand Gazette declare to be subject to the provisions hereof and the limits of such districts shall for the purposes of this Act be such as are defined in such Proclamation And it shall be lawful for the Governor at any time to revoke any such Proclamation and thereupon this Act shall cease to apply to the district named therein unless re-proclaimed.

Expenses incurred in the execution of this Act shall be paid as may be directed by the Governor by the Province County or Borough within which the Act shall be proclaimed.

The Governor may from time to time appoint a medical officer for each of the districts to which this Act applies to be during pleasure visiting surgeon therein for the purposes of this Act and may from time to time on the death resignation or removal from office of any visiting surgeon appoint another such officer in his stead and the Governor may from time to time as occasion requires appoint a medical officer to be the assistant of any such visiting surgeon and every such assistant shall have the like powers and duties as the visiting surgeon to whom he is appointed assistant A notice of the appointment of every such visiting surgeon and of such assistant shall be published in the New Zealand Gazette A copy of the Gazette containing such a notice shall be conclusive evidence of the appointment.

The Governor may from time to time declare any gaol or other building or parts of any gaol or other building to be a female reformatory for the purposes of this Act and every female reformatory so declared shall be a public gaol Provided always that no person shall be committed thereto except under the provisions of this Act.

The Governor shall make adequate provisions for the moral and religious training and instruction of the persons in any female reformatory under this Act and shall make regulations for the management and government of every female reformatory under this Act and may from time to time alter any such regulations.

Where an information on oath is laid before a Justice by a Superintendent of Police charging to the effect that the informant has good cause to believe that a woman therein named is a common prostitute and either is resident within the limits of any district to which this Act applies or being resident within five miles of those limits has within fourteen days before the laying of the information been within those limits for the purpose of prostitution the Justice may if he thinks fit issue a notice thereof addressed to such woman which notice the Superintendent of Police shall cause to be served on her.

In either of the following cases namely—

the Justice present on oath being made before him substantiating the matter of the information to his satisfaction may if he thinks fit order that the woman be subject to a periodical medical examination by the visiting surgeon for any period not exceeding one year for the purpose of ascertaining at the time of each such examination whether she is affected with a contagious disease and thereupon she shall be subject to such a periodical medical examination and the order shall be a sufficient warrant for the visiting surgeon to conduct such examination accordingly.

The order shall specify the time and place at which the woman shall attend for the first examination The Superintendent of Police shall cause a copy of the order to be served on the woman.

Any woman in any place to which this Act applies may voluntarily by a submission in writing signed by her in the presence of and attested by a Superintendent of Police under this Act subject herself to a periodical medical examination under this Act for any period not exceeding one year.

For each of the districts to which this Act applies the Governor may from time to time make regulations respecting the times and places of medical examination under this Act at that place and generally respecting the arrangements for the conduct there of those examinations and a copy of all such regulations from time to time in force for each place shall be sent by the Governor to the Clerk of the Justices Visiting Surgeon and Superintendent of Police.

The visiting surgeon having regard to the regulation aforesaid and to the circumstances of each case shall at the first examination of each woman examined by him and afterwards from time to time as occasion requires prescribe the times and places at which she is required to attend again for examination and he shall from time to time give or cause to be given to each such woman notice in writing of the times and places so prescribed.

If on any such examination the woman examined is found to be affected with a contagious disease she shall thereupon be liable to be detained in a female reformatory subject and according to the provisions of this Act and the visiting surgeon shall sign a certificate to the effect that she is affected with a contagious disease naming the female reformatory in which she is to be placed and he shall sign that certificate in triplicate and shall cause one of the originals to be delivered to the woman and the others to the Superintendent of Police.

Any woman to whom any such certificate of the visiting surgeon relates shall proceed to the female reformatory named in that certificate and place herself there for medical treatment but if after the certificate is delivered to her she neglects or refuses to do so the Superintendent of Police or a constable acting under his orders shall apprehend her and convey her with all practicable speed to that female reformatory and place her there for medical treatment and the certificate of the visiting surgeon shall be a sufficient authority to him for so doing.

Where a woman certified by the visiting surgeon to be affected with a contagious disease places herself or is placed as aforesaid in a female reformatory under this Act for medical treatment she shall be detained there for that purpose by the visiting surgeon until discharged by him by writing under his hand.

The certificate of a visiting surgeon one of the three originals whereof shall be delivered by the Superintendent of Police to the visiting surgeon of the place named in such certificate shall be sufficient authority for such detention.

No woman shall be detained under any one certificate for a longer time than three months unless the visiting surgeon for the place in which she is detained certifies that her further detention for medical treatment is requisite (such certificate shall be in duplicate and one of the originals thereof shall be delivered to the woman) and in that case she may be further detained in the female reformatory in which she is at the expiration of the said period of three months by the visiting surgeon until discharged by him by writing under his hand Provided that no woman shall be detained under any one certificate for a longer time in the whole than six months.

If any woman detained in any female reformatory under this Act considers herself entitled to be discharged therefrom and the visiting surgeon refuses to discharge her such woman shall on her request be conveyed before a Justice who if he is satisfied upon reasonable evidence that she is free from a contagious disease shall discharge her from such female reformatory and such order of discharge shall have the same effect as the discharge of the visiting surgeon.

Every woman conveyed under this Act to a female reformatory shall while being so conveyed thither and also while detained there be deemed to be legally in the custody of the person conveying or detaining her notwithstanding that she is for that purpose removed out of one into or through another jurisdiction or is detained in a jurisdiction other than that in which the certificate of the visiting surgeon was made.

In the following cases namely—

Then and in every such case such woman shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and on summary conviction shall be liable to imprisonment either in a female reformatory or a gaol with or without hard labour in the case of a first offence for any term not exceeding one month and in the case of a second or any subsequent offence for any term not exceeding three months and in the case of the offence of quitting the female reformatory without being discharged as aforesaid the woman may be taken into custody without any warrant by any constable.

If any woman is convicted of and imprisoned for the offence of absenting herself or of refusing or neglecting to submit herself to examination as aforesaid the order subjecting her to periodical medical examination shall be in force after and notwithstanding her imprisonment unless the surgeon or other medical officer of the gaol or a visiting surgeon appointed under this Act at the time of her discharge from imprisonment certifies in writing to the effect that she is then free from a contagious disease and in that case the order subjecting her to periodical medical examination shall on her discharge from imprisonment cease to operate.

If any woman is convicted of and imprisoned for the offence of quitting a female reformatory without being discharged or of refusing or neglecting while in a female reformatory under this Act to conform to the regulations thereof as aforesaid the certificate of the visiting surgeon under which she was detained in the female reformatory shall continue in force and on the expiration of the term of imprisonment she shall be detained in a female reformatory under this Act under that certificate as if it were given on the day of the expiration of her term of imprisonment unless the surgeon or other medical officer of the prison or a visiting surgeon appointed under this Act at the time of her discharge from imprisonment certifies in writing to the effect that she is then free from a contagious disease and in that case the certificate under which she was detained and the order subjecting her to periodical medical examination shall on her discharge from imprisonment cease to operate.

If on any woman leaving a female reformatory under this Act a notice in writing is given to her by the visiting surgeon to the effect that she is still affected with a contagious disease and she is afterwards in any place for the purpose of prostitution at any time before a certificate in writing of a visiting surgeon appointed under this Act to the effect that she is then free from a contagious disease shall have been filed in the Resident Magistrate’s Court in or nearest to the place for which such visiting surgeon shall have been appointed she shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and on summary conviction before two Justices shall be liable to be imprisoned in a gaol (with or without hard labour) or in a female reformatory in the case of a first offence for any term not exceeding one month and in the case of a second or any subsequent offence for any term not exceeding three months.

Every order under this Act subjecting a woman to periodical medical examination shall be in operation and enforceable in manner in this Act provided as long as and whenever from time to time the woman to whom it relates is resident within the limits of the place to which this Act applies wherein the order was made or within five miles of those limits but not in any case for a longer period than one year and where the visiting surgeon on the discharge by him of any woman from such female reformatory certifies that she is free from a contagious disease (proof of which certificate shall lie on her) the order subjecting her to periodical medical examination shall thereupon cease to operate.

If any woman subjected to a periodical medical examination under this Act (either on her own submission or under the order of a Justice) desiring to be relieved therefrom and not being under detention in a female reformatory makes application in writing in that behalf to a Justice the Justice shall appoint by notice in writing a time and place for the hearing of the application and shall cause the notice to be delivered to the applicant and a copy of the application and of the notice to be delivered to the Superintendent of Police.

If on the hearing of the application it is shown to the satisfaction of a Justice that the applicant has ceased to be a common prostitute or if the applicant with the approval of the Justice enters into a recognizance with or without sureties as to the Justice seems meet for her good behaviour during three months thereafter the Justice shall order that she be relieved from periodical medical examination.

Every such recognizance shall be deemed to be forfeited if at any time during the term for which it is entered into the woman to whom it relates is (within the limits of any place to which this Act applies) in any public thoroughfare street or place for the purpose of prostitution or otherwise (within those limits) conducts herself as a common prostitute.

If any person being the owner or occupier of any house room or place within the limits of any district to which this Act applies or being a manager or assistant in the management thereof having reasonable cause to believe any woman to be a common prostitute and to be affected with a contagious disease induces or suffers her to resort to or to be in that house room or place for the purpose of prostitution such person shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and on summary conviction thereof before any two Justices shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds or at the discretion of such Justices to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months with or without hard labour Provided that any conviction under this Act shall not exempt the offender from any penal or other consequences to which he may be liable for keeping or being concerned in keeping a bawdy-house or disorderly house or for the nuisance thereby occasioned.

All proceedings under this Act before and by Justices shall be had according to the provisions of “The Justices of the Peace Act 1866” and “The Justices of the Peace Act Amendment Act 1867” so far as those provisions respectively are not inconsistent with any provisions of this Act and save that the room or place in which a Justice sits to inquire into the truth of the statements contained in any information or application under this Act against or by a woman shall not unless the woman so desires be deemed an open Court for that purpose and unless the woman otherwise desires the Justice may in his discretion order that no person have access to or be or remain in that room without his consent or permission.

The forms of certificates orders and other instruments given in the Schedule to this Act or forms to the like effect with such variations and additions as circumstances require may be used for the purposes therein indicated and according to the directions therein contained and instruments in those forms shall (as regards the form thereof) be valid and sufficient.

Any certificate order notice or other instrument made or issued for the purposes of this Act may he partly in print and partly in writing.

In any proceeding under this Act any notice order certificate copy of regulations or other instrument purporting to be signed by a Justice Superintendent of Police Visiting Surgeon Assistant Visiting Surgeon Surgeon or other Medical Officer of a Prison or Female Reformatory shall on production be received in evidence and shall be presumed to have been duly signed by the person and in the character by whom and in which it purports to be signed until the contrary is shown.

Every notice order or other instrument by this Act required to be served on a woman shall be served by delivery thereof to some person for her at her usual place of abode or by delivery thereof to her personally.

Any action or prosecution against any person for anything done in pursuance or execution or intended execution of this Act shall be laid and tried in the judicial district where the thing was done and shall be commenced within three months after the thing was done and not otherwise.

Notice in writing of every such action and of the cause thereof shall be given to the intended defendant one month at least before the commencement of the action.

In any such action the defendant may plead generally that the act complained of was done in pursuance or execution or intended execution of this Act and give this Act and the special matter in evidence at any trial to be had thereupon.

The plaintiff shall not recover if tender of sufficient amends is made before action brought or if a sufficient sum of money is paid into Court after action brought by or on behalf of the defendant.

If a verdict passes for the defendant or the plaintiff becomes nonsuit or discontinues the action after issue joined or if on demurrer or otherwise judgment is given against the plaintiff the defendant shall recover his full costs as between attorney and client and shall have the like remedy for the same as any defendant has by law for costs in other cases.

Though a verdict is given for the plaintiff he shall not have costs against the defendant unless the Judge before whom the trial is had certifies his approbation of the action.

It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council from time to time to order and direct that all or any of the powers functions duties and authorities vested in or required to be performed by the Governor or Governor in Council by this Act within any Province or District of the Colony within which this Act shall have been brought into operation shall be exercised or performed by the Superintendent of any such Province or by any other person the Governor may think fit subject however to any limitations or restrictions as he may think fit and thereupon such functions powers duties and authorities may by such Superintendent or other person be exercised or performed within the Province or other district of the Colony specified in such order and in like manner to alter or revoke any such order.