The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Diseased Cattle Act Amendment Act, 1873.”

This Act shall be read and construed with and as part of “The Diseased Cattle Act, 1871,” (hereinafter called “the said Act”).

The term “cattle” in the said Act mentioned shall, for the purposes thereof and of this Act, extend to and include as well the animals in the said Act mentioned as also horses sheep goats swine and such other animals as the Governor in Council shall from time to time declare subject to the said Act and this Act; and such term shall apply to all the animals in the said Act or in this Act mentioned, whether the same shall be living or dead, and shall include the hides skins hair horns hoofs offal or other parts of such animals.

It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council, from time to time, to make alter or vary and revoke such orders as may seem necessary, declaring what animals, other than those hereinbefore mentioned, shall be subject to the said Act and this Act.

The Governor in Council may in like manner from time to time declare what diseases shall be considered diseases to which cattle or other animals subject to the said Act and this Act shall be deemed to be liable, and which shall be diseases for the purposes of the said Act and this Act; and until any such Order in Council shall be made as aforesaid, the diseases mentioned in the second column of the Schedule hereto shall be deemed to be diseases peculiarly affecting the animals the description or kind of which is set forth in the first column of the said Schedule, opposite the names of such diseases respectively.

From and after the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, no cattle shipped to New Zealand from any foreign district shall be landed in New Zealand, unless the owner of such cattle shall produce to the Cattle Inspector at the port or place in New Zealand where the same shall arrive, a certificate in writing, signed by a duly qualified veterinary surgeon, to the effect that such cattle were inspected and examined by him immediately before shipment, and that they were at the time of such examination and shipment free from any contagious or infectious disease whatever, and which would be likely to propagate amongst men or animals any such contagious or infectious disease, or any other disease.

Every such certificate of inspection and examination shall be attested before a Justice of the Peace or a notary public.

Every such certificate so attested before a Justice of the Peace or a notary public as aforesaid, shall, for all purposes, be receivable in the Colony as sufficient evidence of compliance with the provisions of this Act by any such owner as aforesaid.

From and after the passing of this Act, no cattle imported from any foreign district shall be landed at any port or place in the Colony of New Zealand except at a port proclaimed to be a port where cattle may be landed; and such cattle shall only be landed at such place in such port as the Local Cattle Board may from time to time appoint.

The Governor may from time to time proclaim such ports within the Colony as he thinks fit to be ports at which cattle may be landed; and from and after the publication of such Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette, cattle shall be landed at such proclaimed port, and at no other port or place.

Whenever it shall appear to the Local Cattle Board that any such cattle as last aforesaid are affected with any disease which is by this Act, or may hereafter be, declared to be a disease for the purposes of this Act, the Local Cattle Board at the port or place where such cattle shall arrive shall cause the same to be forthwith destroyed, and the owner thereof shall not be entitled to any compensation whatsoever for the cattle so destroyed.

Whenever cattle imported from a foreign district shall be driven or taken to a quarantine ground, or to any place to be appointed under this Act as a place to which cattle shall be driven or taken, such cattle shall be kept therein at the risk and expense of the owner for such period as may be prescribed by any regulations to be made in that behalf. And in case any such disease as aforesaid shall break out amongst such cattle when in quarantine, or in such place as aforesaid, the same shall be destroyed by the owner on being required to do so by the Local Cattle Board, and such owner shall not be entitled to any compensation whatsoever by reason of such destruction.

The provisions of the thirty-sixth section of the said Act shall only extend and apply to the animals in the said Act mentioned, and the compensation provided to be paid under that section shall not in any case exceed thirty shillings for every head of cattle destroyed.

The Governor may from time to time by Proclamation prescribe the amount of compensation which shall be paid to the owners of any other animals that are by this Act declared to be included within the provisions of the said Act and this Act, or that may hereafter be declared to be subject to the said Act and this Act, in the event of any such animals being destroyed under the provisions of the said Act and this Act, and may also prescribe the time and mode of payment of such compensation.

Notwithstanding anything in the thirty-first section of the said Act, no imported cattle of any kind whatsoever shall be destroyed upon notice given by an Inspector of Diseased Cattle, unless and until he shall have received the written authority of the Local Cattle Board at the port or place where such cattle shall arrive to give such notice.

The provisions of subsection (d) of the thirty-first section of the said Act, shall be and the same are hereby repealed, and the following provision shall be made in lieu thereof, that is to say:—

Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, if in any case the Local Cattle Board at the port or place where any such cattle shall arrive shall be of opinion that it would be desirable that any cattle should be landed and kept in any place other than at a quarantine ground, it shall be lawful for such Board from time to time to set apart such other place or premises to which such cattle may be driven or taken, as such Board shall think fit; and the Inspector may, in any quarantine certificate, specify any such place or premises so set apart as a place to which cattle may be so taken or driven, and such cattle may be taken or driven thereto accordingly.

Every such place or premises shall be deemed to be an infected place within the meaning of the said Act, and any cattle taken or driven thereto, or enclosed therein, shall be deemed to be cattle affected with disease, and liable to the provisions of the said Act and this Act, and such cattle shall be kept at such place or premises in like manner and subject to the same regulations as if they were kept at or in a quarantine ground.

Every Order in Council, and every Proclamation made under the said Act or this Act, shall fix a time within which the same shall come into force, and may also prescribe a period during which the same shall be and remain in force; and if any period shall be so prescribed, such Order in Council or Proclamation, as the case may be, shall cease to have any effect after the expiration thereof, and it shall not in such case be necessary expressly to revoke any such Order in Council or Proclamation.

Any Order in Council or Proclamation made as aforesaid may declare that the provisions thereof shall only apply to one or more of the kinds of animals hereinbefore mentioned, and not to any other kinds of animals, and may also declare that the provisions of any such Order in Council or Proclamation shall apply to the whole Colony, or only to such part or parts thereof as the Governor in Council or the Governor, as the case may be, shall direct or appoint.

All Orders in Council and Proclamations made as aforesaid shall have the like force and effect as if the same had been inserted in this Act; and all persons offending against any such Order in Council or Proclamation shall, for each and every offence, forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding five hundred pounds, or such smaller sum as by such Order in Council or Proclamation may be provided.

Notwithstanding anything in the said Act contained, all the expenses and charges of carrying the said Act and this Act into execution, and all sums of money to be paid by way of compensation for the destruction of any cattle, instead of being paid out of a special rate to be levied as by the said Act provided, shall be paid and borne out of moneys to be appropriated from time to time by the Provincial Legislature of the Province within which the same shall be incurred or arise.