The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Oamaru Gasworks Act, 1875.”

The following words and expressions shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them, unless such meanings be repugnant to the subject or context; that is to say,

The Council may construct complete and maintain such gasworks as they may deem necessary for the purpose of supplying and lighting the town with gas.

Any person who shall wilfully obstruct any person or persons acting under the authority of the Council in carrying out any works or interfere with impede damage or destroy the works, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds for every such offence.

For the purpose of carrying out the works, the Council may borrow and take up at interest not exceeding eight pounds per centum per annum any sum or sums of money not exceeding in the whole the sum of ten thousand pounds, and such sum shall be in addition to any moneys which the Council has borrowed or is authorized to borrow under any Ordinance or under any other Act relating to Municipal Corporations in New Zealand.

Sections seventeen to thirty-four, both inclusive, of “The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act, 1872,” (in this Act hereafter referred to as “the Act,”) shall be incorporated with and read as part of this Act, except that any debentures as mentioned in section nineteen of the Act shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule A to this Act, instead of being in the form prescribed in Schedule A to the Act: Provided that nothing herein contained shall authorize the levying of a special gas rate so long as gas is supplied to the public at a less price than ten shillings for one thousand feet.

Subject as hereinafter mentioned, the Council may levy and take within the town any gas rates which may from time to time be fixed or determined upon by the Council.

The Council may supply any person or body politic or corporate outside the boundaries of the town with gas, and for that purpose may cause pipes to be laid down at such rate and upon such terms and conditions as shall from time to time be agreed upon in writing between the Council and the person or body desirous of having such supply: Provided that in every agreement to be made for such supply as mentioned in this clause, there shall be a clause empowering the Council at any time, at their absolute discretion, on giving one calendar month’s notice, to discontinue such supply without being liable to make any compensation therefor.

Sections thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-two, forty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five, eighty, and eighty-one, of “The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act, 1872,” (varied by substituting throughout the said sections the word “gas” for the word “water,”) shall be incorporated with and read as part of this Act.

The Council may open and break up the soil and pavement of the several streets bridges and wharves within the Town of Oamaru, and may open and break up any sewers drains or tunnels within or under any such streets bridges or wharves, and lay down and place within the same limits pipes conduits service pipes and other works, and from time to time repair alter or remove the same, and also make any sewers that may be necessary for carrying off the washings and waste liquids which may arise in the making of the gas, and for the purposes aforesaid may remove and use all earth and materials in and under such streets bridges and wharves, and may in such streets erect any pillar lamps and other works, and do all other acts which the Council shall from time to time deem necessary for supplying gas within the limits aforesaid, doing as little damage as may be in the execution of the powers hereby granted, and making compensation for any damage which may be done in the execution of such powers.

Provided always that nothing herein shall authorize or empower the Council to lay down or place any pipe or other works in to through or against any buildings, or in any land not dedicated to public use, without the consent of the owners and occupiers thereof, except that the Council may at any time enter upon and lay or place any new pipe in the place of an existing pipe in any land wherein any pipe hath been already lawfully laid down or placed by the Council in pursuance of this Act, or of any other Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, or any Act of the Imperial Parliament, and may repair or alter any pipe so laid down.

Provided further, that it shall be lawful for any owner or occupier of any building or land not dedicated to public use in to through or against or in which any pipe or other works shall have been laid down or placed with such consent as aforesaid, at any time thereafter, if such owner or occupier shall deem it necessary or expedient, upon giving forty-eight hours’ notice in writing to the Council, at his own costs and charges, but under the superintendence of the town surveyor of the Corporation, or any other officer to be appointed by them, to alter and vary the position of such pipes or other works, and to relay and replace the same, so that full compensation be made for any damage done thereby to the Council, or for any hindrance or obstruction which may thereby be occasioned to the lighting of any public or private lamp.

The Council may let for hire any meter for ascertaining the quantity of gas consumed or supplied, and any fittings for the gas, for such remuneration in money as shall be agreed upon between the Council and any person to whom the same may be so let, and such remuneration shall be recoverabe in the same manner as the rents or sums due to the Council for gas, and such meters and fittings shall not be subject to distraint for rent of the premises where the same may be used, nor to be taken in execution under any process or proceeding of a Court of law or equity, or in bankruptcy, against the person in whose possession the same may be.

The clerk, engineer, or other officer duly appointed for the purpose by the Council, may at all reasonable times enter any building or place lighted with gas supplied by the Council in order to inspect the meters fittings and works for regulating the supply of gas, and for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of gas consumed or supplied; and if any person hinder such officer as aforesaid from entering and making such inspection as aforesaid at any reasonable time, he shall for every such offence forfeit to the Council a sum not exceeding five pounds.

If any person supplied with gas neglect to pay the rent due for same to the Council, the Council may stop the gas from entering the premises of such person by cutting off the service-pipe, or by such means as the Council shall think fit, and recover the rent due from such person, together with the expense of cutting off the gas, and the costs of recovering the rent by action in any Court of law of competent jurisdiction.

In all cases in which the Council are authorized to cut off and take away the supply of gas from any house building or premises under the provisions of this Act, the Council, their agents, or workmen, after giving forty-eight hours’ previous notice in writing to the occupier, or if no occupier, then after leaving such notice on any portion of the premises, may enter into any such house building or premises between the hours of nine in the forenoon and four in the afternoon, and remove and carry away any pipe meter fittings or other works the property of the Council.

Notice to the Council from a consumer for the discontinuance of a supply of gas shall not be of any effect unless it be in writing, and be left at the office for the time being of the Council.

Every person who shall lay or cause to be laid any pipe to communicate with any pipe belonging to the Council without their consent, or shall fraudulently injure any such meter as aforesaid, or who, in case the gas supplied by the Council is not ascertained by meter, shall use any burner other than such as has been provided or approved of by the Council, or of larger dimensions than he has contracted or agreed to pay for, or shall keep the lights burning for a longer time than he has contracted or agreed to pay for, or who shall otherwise improperly use or burn such gas, or shall supply any other person with any part of the gas supplied to him by the Council, shall forfeit to the Council the sum of five pounds for every such offence, and also the sum of forty shillings for every day such pipe shall so remain, or such works or burner shall be so used, or such excess be so committed, or continued, or such supply furnished, and the Council may take off the gas from the house and premises of the person so offending, notwithstanding any contract or agreement which may have been previously entered into.

Before any person connects or disconnects any meter through which any of the gas of the Council is intended to be or has been registered, he shall give not less than twenty-four hours’ notice in writing to the Council of his intention to do so, and any person offending against this enactment shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

When any consumer leaves the premises where gas has been supplied to him without paying to the Council the gas rent due from him, the Council shall be entitled to require from the next tenant payment of the arrears accruing since the meter shall have been last taken by the Council and left unpaid by the former tenant, if such next tenant shall consume any gas of the Council without having first given to the Council twenty-four hours’ notice of his intention to do so, and if such notice shall be given, such incoming tenant shall not be liable for such arrears as aforesaid.

Every person who shall wilfully disconnect remove destroy or damage any pipe pillar plug post lamp or other work of the Council for supplying gas, or who shall wilfully extinguish any of the public lamps or lights, or waste or improperly use any of the gas supplied by the Council, shall, for each such offence, forfeit to the Council any sum not exceeding five pounds, in addition to the amount of the damage done.

Every person who shall carelessly or accidentally break throw down or damage any pipe pillar or lamp belonging to the Council, or under their control, shall pay such sum of money by way of satisfaction to the Council for the damage done, not exceeding ten pounds, as any two Justices shall think reasonable.

Every person supplied with gas by the Council who wilfully suffers any pipe meter or other gas fitting to be out of repair, so that the gas supplied to him is wasted, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay to the Council any sum not exceeding five pounds, over and above the loss which the Council sustain by reason of such waste.

Whenever any gas shall escape from any pipe laid down or set up by or belonging to the Council, they shall, immediately after receiving notice thereof in writing, prevent such gas from escaping, and in case the Council shall not, within forty-eight hours next after service of such notice, effectually prevent the gas from escaping, and wholly remove the cause of complaint, they shall for every such offence forfeit to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, the sum of five pounds for each day during which the gas shall be suffered to escape after the expiration of forty-eight hours from the service of such notice, unless reasonable cause for such delay be shown to two Justices of the Peace.

Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the Council from being liable to an indictment for nuisance, or to any action or other legal proceeding to which but for this Act they would be liable in respect of any nuisance committed by them.

The Council shall publish the short particulars of the several offences for which any penalty is imposed by this Act, or by any by-law of the Council, affecting other persons than officers or servants of the Council, and of the amount of every such penalty, and shall cause such particulars to be painted on a board to be hung up or affixed in some conspicuous part of the offices of the Council, and when any such penalties are of local application, shall cause such board to be affixed in some conspicuous place in the immediate neighbourhood to which such penalties are applicable, or have reference, and the Council shall renew such particulars as often as the same or any part thereof is obliterated or destroyed, and no such penalty shall be recoverable unless such particulars shall have been published and kept published in the manner hereinbefore required.

If any person pull down or injure any board put up or affixed as required by tins Act for the purpose of publishing any by-law or penalty, or shall obliterate any of the letters or figures thereon, he shall forfeit for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds, and shall defray the expenses attending the restoration of such board.

All fines penalties forfeitures or sums of money which under or by virtue of this Act, or any by-law or regulation of the Council, are or shall be authorized or directed to be imposed on any person, shall and may be recovered in a summary way before any two Justices of the Peace, in the manner provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1866,” so far as the same relates to summary convictions, or by any Act repealing or amending the same, or for the like purposes.

No person shall be liable to the payment of any penalty or forfeiture imposed by or by virtue of this Act or by any by-law made in pursuance thereof, unless the complaint respecting the offence shall have been made before a Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace within six months after the commission thereof.

If, through any act neglect or default on account whereof any person shall have recovered any penalty imposed by this Act, or by virtue of any by-law made in pursuance thereof, any damage to the property of the Council shall have been committed by such person, he shall be liable to make good such damage, as well as to pay such penalty. The amount of such damage shall, in case of dispute, be determined by the Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace, by whom the party incurring such penalty shall have been convicted, and shall be leviable by distress and sale as in the case of a judgment by a Resident Magistrate.

Any conviction for any offence under this Act may be drawn, or to the like effect, as in the form in the Schedule B to this Act annexed.

No proceeding under this Act shall be quashed or vacated for want of form.

Every person who, upon any examination upon oath under the provisions of this Act, shall wilfully and corruptly give false evidence, shall be liable to the penalties of wilful and corrupt perjury.

The Council shall at all times after the expiration of six months from the passing of this Act, or of any future Act amending or repealing the same, or otherwise empowering the Council, keep in their principal office of business a copy of this Act and of such future Act, printed under the authority of the Government of New Zealand, and shall also within the space aforesaid deposit in the office of the Clerk of the Bench of the Resident Magistrate for the Town of Oamaru in the said district, and in the office of the Town Clerk of the Council, a copy of this Act and of such future Act so printed as aforesaid, and the said Clerk to the Bench and Town Clerk respectively shall keep the said copies, and shall permit all persons interested to inspect the same, and shall furnish copies thereof or extracts therefrom at all reasonable hours in the day upon payment of one shilling for every such inspection, and sixpence per folio for every folio of seventy-two words thereof copied or extracted.

In case the Council shall fail to keep any copy of this Act, or shall not permit any person interested to inspect the same, or shall fail to furnish copies thereof or extracts therefrom at any reasonable hour of the day upon such payment as aforesaid the Council shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of five pounds to be recovered with costs in a summary way by such person interested.

No holder of any debenture mortgage or other security issued under this Act shall have any claim whatsoever in respect of any such debenture mortgage or other security on the revenue of the Colony of New Zealand or of the Province of Otago, but every such debenture mortgage or other security shall be chargeable only on the works material property and security charged therewith by this Act.

In case default shall be made in payment of the moneys borrowed under the authority of this Act, or any instalment thereof, or of the interest which may become payable in respect thereof, for the space of six calendar months after the same shall become due, it shall be lawful for the Supreme Court, on the application of the holders of sureties to the amount of not less than one thousand pounds, to appoint a receiver of all rates and moneys upon which the same shall be secured.