The Short Title of this Act is “The New Zealand Colonial Inscribed Stock Loan Act, 1882.”

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council, authorize the Colonial Treasurer to borrow and raise in the colony such sum or sums as may be mentioned in such order, not exceeding in the whole two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling.

Each such Order in Council shall direct the mode and time of raising the moneys thereby authorized to be raised, and also shall fix the date or dates when such loan shall be repayable, and the place or places where the principal and interest shall be payable:

Provided that no smaller amount than five pounds shall be so borrowed from any one person, nor shall any money be so borrowed at a price which shall yield to the lender a higher rate of interest by the year than at the rate of five pounds for every hundred pounds of stock.

All moneys so borrowed shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the Public Works Fund for expenditure upon public works according to appropriation by Parliament.

Any person who shall lend any portion of the loan hereby authorized shall, in lieu of receiving a debenture and interest coupons in respect of the same, be entered in the prescribed form in the register as the owner of Inscribed Stock for the amount which he shall so lend as aforesaid.

The register shall be in such form as may be prescribed.

Each person whose name is entered in the register as an Inscribed Stock holder shall be deemed to be an Inscribed Stock holder for the amount of Inscribed Stock for the time being standing to his credit in the said register, with the right to receive interest thereon half-yearly on the first day of November, and the first day of May in each year, at a rate not exceeding five pounds per centum per annum.

The register may be searched at any time during business hours on application to the Registrar, in such manner and upon payment of such fee as may be prescribed.

The Registrar shall give, within a reasonable time after application, a copy of any entry in the register upon payment of such fee as may be prescribed, certified as correct under his own hand, which certified copy shall, for all purposes and in all Courts whatsoever, be conclusive evidence of the entry in the register contained in such copy as on the date of such copy.

No notice of any trust in respect of any Inscribed Stock, or of any stock certificate thereof, shall be entered in the register or receivable by the Registrar; and neither the Registrar, nor Her Majesty, nor the Government of the colony, shall be liable in any way to be affected by express, implied, or constructive notice, however given, of any trust affecting any Inscribed Stock.

A Judge of the Supreme Court, upon the summary application of any interested person, made either by petition or otherwise, and either ex parte or upon service of notice upon any other person, as such Judge may direct, may issue an order prohibiting, for a time to be named in such order, any dealings with any Inscribed Stock mentioned in such order, not being stock for which a certificate to bearer has been issued, and it shall be in the discretion of such Judge to make or refuse any such order, and to annex thereto any terms or conditions he may think fit, and to discharge such order when granted, with or without costs, and generally to act in the premises in such manner as in his opinion the justice of the case requires; and the Registrar, without being made a party to the proceedings, upon being served with such order or an office copy thereof shall obey the same.

The Registrar shall, on being so served, make an entry of such order in the prescribed form in the register.

The Registrar shall, on the application of any Inscribed Stock holder, issue a stock certificate in his favour in such form and on such conditions as may be prescribed for the whole or any portion, not being less than five pounds, of the Inscribed Stock of which he is the holder, and shall make an entry to that effect in the register in the prescribed form.

There shall be issued with such certificate coupons entitling the person named in the said certificate to the interest on the stock specified in such certificate for such period as may be prescribed.

On the expiration of the period for which the coupons issued with such certificate have been issued under this Act, other coupons shall be issued in favour of the person in whose name such certificate was issued for such further period as may be prescribed.

Subject to the regulations the Registrar shall, on the application of any Inscribed Stock holder, issue a certificate in favour of bearer, in the prescribed form for the whole or any portion, not being less than five pounds, of the Inscribed Stock of which he is the holder, and shall make an entry to that effect in the register in the prescribed form:

Provided that if he be the holder of a certificate issued under the last preceding section hereof, he shall, before obtaining a certificate in favour of bearer, deliver up such first-mentioned certificate with the unpaid coupons to be cancelled in manner prescribed by the regulations.

There shall be issued with such certificate coupons entitling the bearer to the interest on the stock for such period as may be prescribed.

On the expiration of the period for which the coupons issued with an Inscribed Stock certificate to bearer have been issued under this Act, other coupons shall be issued in favour of bearer for such further period as may be prescribed.

Whenever the Registrar shall be satisfied that a mistake has been made in any entry in the register, or in any stock certificate or interest coupon issued hereunder, he may correct the same on such terms and in such manner as may be fixed by an Order in Council.

The Deputy-Registrar may, in the absence of the Registrar from Wellington, or when the Registrar is on leave, or during his illness or incapacity from any cause, exercise all the powers and authorities hereby conferred and shall discharge all the duties hereby imposed upon the Registrar.

On delivery to the Registrar of an Inscribed Stock certificate, and of all unpaid coupons belonging thereto, the Registrar shall enter the person named in such certificate, or, if the certificate be to bearer, shall enter the bearer in the register as proprietor of the stock described in the certificate, and shall cancel the said certificate and coupons in manner prescribed; and thereupon such stock shall become transferable and the interest thereon payable as if no stock certificate had been issued in respect of such stock.

Inscribed Stock to the amount of five pounds and upwards, unless a certificate in favour of bearer has been issued in respect of it, shall be transferred by the Registrar by an entry in the register in the prescribed form upon the fees prescribed being duly paid, and upon an application in the prescribed form being lodged with him, signed by the transferror, and attested as prescribed.

The Governor may from time to time, subject to the regulations, appoint agents with whom any applications which may be made to the Registrar may be lodged; and the Registrar may effect transfers, and do any other acts which he is hereby empowered to do on the lodging of such applications, upon being informed by any such agent by telegraph or otherwise that such application has been so lodged.

Any such application shall be forthwith forwarded by the agent to the Registrar.

The Governor may from time to time revoke any such appointments.

The entry of a transfer in the register, signed by the Registrar, shall have the effect of vesting the Inscribed Stock so dealt with absolutely in the transferee, who shall thereby become the holder of such Inscribed Stock; and the receipt of such transferee shall be a valid discharge both at law and in equity for all interest payable thereon, or for the principal when the same becomes payable.

The executors or administrators of a deceased Inscribed Stock holder shall alone be recognized by the Registrar as having any title to the Inscribed Stock of such deceased Inscribed Stock holder, or any interest thereon.

If the Inscribed Stock which is desired to be transferred be stock of which a certificate has been issued under section thirteen hereof, then the Registrar shall not transfer such stock unless such certificate with the unpaid coupons be delivered up to be cancelled in manner prescribed, but a new certificate may be issued to the transferee if desired.

Inscribed Stock for which a stock certificate to bearer is in force shall be transferable by delivery.

Whenever the right at law and in equity to any Inscribed Stock is acquired by bankruptcy, or under a writ of execution, or warrant of distress, issued out of any Court whatsoever, or in any other way howsoever, the person so acquiring such right and desiring to have his title to the Inscribed Stock registered shall produce to the Registrar the evidence necessary to establish such right; and the Registrar, if satisfied with the said evidence, or with such further evidence as he may call for, shall make the entry as aforesaid in the register, transferring the Inscribed Stock to such person, and such entry shall vest the Inscribed Stock in the person so acquiring title thereto as fully and effectually as if it had been transferred to him under the provisions hereof.

Before being required to effect any transfer hereunder, the Registrar may require such reasonable evidence as he thinks fit as to the authenticity of the signature to the above-mentioned application or as to any other matters which might in his opinion affect the validity or genuineness of such document.

If the Registrar shall refuse, for any reason whatsoever, to effect any transfer hereby provided for, it shall be lawful for any person desiring to have such transfer effected to call upon the Registrar, by summons before a Judge of the Supreme Court in chambers, to show cause why such transfer should not be effected; and, after hearing such evidence as may be brought before him, either vivâ voce or upon affidavit, such Judge may make an order compelling such transfer to be effected or otherwise as he shall think fit, and may make such order either with or without costs, or upon such terms and conditions as he shall think fit.

If the Judge shall order such transfer to be effected, the Registrar shall forthwith effect the same, and any transfer effected in pursuance of a Judge’s order shall absolutely discharge the Registrar, and Her Majesty, and the Government of the colony, from any responsibility or liability arising therefrom.

Any minor, if over ten years of age, may become an Inscribed Stock holder, and may apply for a transfer of such Inscribed Stock as effectually as if such minor were of the age of twenty-one years.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act as to transfers, nothing herein contained shall operate to prevent any competent Court or Courts from enforcing any equities which may exist as between the parties to any transaction or matter relating to any Inscribed Stock with regard to such Inscribed Stock, or any interest thereon.

Subject to the provisions hereinbefore contained as to payment of interest by coupons on stock for which certificates have been issued, the interest on stock shall be payable to the persons who, at four o’clock in the afternoon of the fifteenth day before the date hereinbefore mentioned for payment of interest, are inscribed on the register as the stockholders.

Interest shall not be payable on any portion of any stock held by any stockholder representing a fraction of a pound, and when the interest payable on any stock includes the fraction of a penny such fraction shall not be payable.

The interest payable under this Act on all stock for which certificates have not been issued as hereinbefore provided shall be payable by the issue of warrants, in the prescribed form, entitling the stockholder to payment of the interest at the place mentioned therein.

Such warrants shall be posted, at least seven days before the day on which interest is payable, to the address as appearing on the register of the stockholder entitled thereto.

Interest coupons attached to certificates issued under the thirteenth section hereof, and interest warrants, such as referred to in the last preceding section, may be transferred by indorsement, signed by the stockholder, and made in the form and attested as prescribed.

Whosoever shall unlawfully destroy, deface, or injure, or cause or permit to be destroyed, defaced, or injured, the whole or any part of the register, or any certified copy of any entry in the register, or any stock certificate, interest coupon, or interest warrant, or shall forge or fraudulently alter any entry in the register, or shall forge or fraudulently alter any such certified copy, stock certificate, interest coupon, or interest warrant as aforesaid, or shall knowingly and unlawfully insert, or cause or permit to be inserted, in the register, or in such certified copy, stock certificate, interest coupon, or interest warrant as aforesaid, any words or figures, or shall knowingly and unlawfully certify any writing to be a copy of any entry in the register knowing such writing or any part thereof to be false in any material particular, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any such register, certified copy, stock certificate, interest coupon, or interest warrant, or writing, knowing the same to be false, forged, or altered, shall be guilty of felony; and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any time not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make, alter, or revoke such regulations as he shall think fit, not being inconsistent with this Act, for fixing the fees to be paid for matters done under this Act, and for all the matters mentioned in this Act as to be prescribed by regulations, and generally for the better and more effectually carrying this Act into operation.

All stock, and the interest thereon, and all charges and expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Act, shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund, and the Colonial Treasurer shall issue and pay the same thereout accordingly.

Nothing in this Act and nothing done under this Act, except by agreement, shall take away, abridge, or prejudicially affect any right or interest, by way of priority or otherwise, of any person in or against the Consolidated Fund or the revenues of New Zealand, or any of them, or in any sinking fund, or any remedy which any person would have had or might have exercised in respect of any such right or interest if this Act had not been passed.