This Act shall be called “The Immigration and Public Works Appropriation Act, 1878,” and shall be deemed to have been in operation on and after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.

Towards defraying the expenses hereinafter mentioned, the Colonial Treasurer may issue and apply any sum or sums of money not exceeding in the whole the sum of two millions nine hundred and ten thousand nine hundred and twenty-one pounds three shillings and sevenpence out of the several Ways and Means mentioned in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

All sums so issued shall be applied, as mentioned in the several votes set forth in the Fifth Schedule to this Act, towards defraying so much of the expenses incurred or to be incurred in the several works and services in the said Schedule mentioned as shall come in the course of payment during the financial year ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, and to no other purpose whatsoever.

The sum of fifty thousand pounds appropriated in the Fifth Schedule “For loans to be made to local governing bodies to enable them to repair damages caused by the recent floods” may be lent in such sums and to such local governing bodies as the Minister for Public Works may determine, and on such terms and conditions as may be agreed on between the Minister for Public Works and the Council or Board of the local body concerned: Provided that in any such terms and conditions it shall, in addition to any other terms, be expressly stipulated that the sum lent shall be repayable by deduction from any moneys payable by the Colonial Treasurer to any such local bodies by instalments extending over a period of not more than five years from the date of issue of the money hereby authorized.

Whenever it is not possible to determine at the time of payment to which particular vote mentioned in the Fifth Schedule hereto the cost of any material or other expense should be charged, the Colonial Treasurer may notwithstanding issue and pay the same out of the several Ways and Means mentioned in the Fourth Schedule hereto: Provided that he shall from time to time carry each such payment to and charge the same against the vote on account of which such payment was made, so soon as the same can be ascertained: Provided also that all such expenditure shall be included in and shall not be in excess of the total sum hereby authorized to be issued and paid under each vote in the Fifth Schedule mentioned.

Nothing in this Act shall limit the authority of the Colonial Treasurer to issue and pay any moneys which he may be otherwise authorized to issue and pay under the authority of the thirty-seventh or forty-fourth section of “The Public Revenues Act, 1878.”

And whereas the Colonial Treasurer has, under the authority of the twelfth section of “The Public Revenues Act, 1877,” issued from the Public Account, during the year ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, moneys in excess of or without the appropriation of Parliament, amounting in the whole to twenty-two thousand and nine pounds and fourteen shillings, and has applied the said sum to the several purposes and services mentioned in the Sixth Schedule hereto annexed: Be it enacted that the application of the said sum is hereby sanctioned.

Sections nine, ten, eleven, and twelve of “The Immigration and Public Works Appropriation Act, 1877,” are hereby repealed.

The construction of the water-race in the Provincial District of Westland, known as the Mikonui Water-race, may be undertaken and completed by any joint-stock or other incorporated company established for that purpose, or by any person or persons.

Upon obtaining from the Council of the Borough of Ross an undertaking that the third or “tunnel” section of such race, as the same has been surveyed and approved by the Public Works Department, will be constructed by a company or persons as aforesaid without any assistance from or charge upon the colony, the Governor, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, may agree with the said Council that a sum not exceeding twenty thousand pounds shall be contributed towards the construction of the first two sections of such race.

The Council of the Borough of Ross is empowered to enter into any agreement for the purposes aforesaid, and, under the common seal of the body corporate which it represents, may execute all necessary deeds or instruments for the purpose of giving effect thereto.

Subject to such agreement being made, and after the said third section of the said water-race is constructed, there may be paid to any contractor for the completion of the said race the said sum of twenty thousand pounds.

Any such agreement may prescribe what security shall be given to the colony in order to give effect to this Act, and may provide that any portion of the Borough Fund then in existence, or to accrue for a prescribed period, shall be charged and chargeable with any moneys provided by the colony under this Act.

If the said Council or any other governing body or bodies, as the case may be, shall make default in carrying out any such agreement, the Colonial Treasurer may from time to time deduct all moneys for the time being due to the colony under such agreement from any subsidies or other moneys payable to such borough or local body or bodies under the authority of this or any other Act of the General Assembly.

The moneys appropriated by this Act for the construction of works and for other purposes may be paid over to such local governing bodies as the Minister for Public Works may determine, upon such terms and conditions as shall be agreed upon between the said Minister and any such local governing body, and the Colonial Treasurer shall make all such payments in accordance with any such agreement.

The Minister for Education may authorize Education Boards to enter into contracts for the erection of school buildings involving an expenditure not exceeding in all two hundred thousand pounds, inclusive of the sum of one hundred thousand pounds appropriated for such purposes by this Act, and in anticipation of a like sum to be voted by the General Assembly for the financial year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.

This Act shall be deemed a special Act within the meaning of “The Public Works Act, 1876,” authorizing the construction of all or any of the railways enumerated or named in Vote numbered eighty, Class III., in the Fifth Schedule to this Act: Provided that no contract for the construction of any of such railways so enumerated in the said vote shall exceed the appropriations in such vote for each railway.