This Act may be cited as the Orchard-tax Act, 1916.

For the purposes of this Act—

There shall be payable by the occupier of every orchard as on the thirtieth day of September in each year a tax, hereinafter referred to as an orchard-tax.

The orchard-tax imposed by this Act shall be calculated at the rate of one shilling for every acre or part of an acre comprised in the orchard in respect of which the tax is payable:

Provided that in no case shall the tax payable in respect of any orchard be less than two shillings and sixpence for any year.

The tax imposed by this Act shall be payable on the first day of November in each year, and shall be paid to such person or persons as may be authorized by the Minister of Agriculture to receive the same.

If any tax imposed by this Act remains unpaid at the expiration of twenty-one days after the due date thereof, there shall be added thereto by way of additional tax an amount equal to ten per centum thereof.

All unpaid tax shall be recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Crown.

All moneys received under this Act shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund; and the Minister of Finance may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and without further appropriation than this Act, pay over the amount of such tax, or such part thereof as he thinks fit, to the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation (Limited).

All moneys paid to the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation (Limited) under the authority of the last preceding section shall be expended for such purposes, in the furtherance of the interests of the fruitgrowers of New Zealand, as may be approved in accordance with regulations under this Act.

For the purposes of this Act the Governor may, by Order in Council, make such regulations as he thinks fit—

This Act shall remain in force until the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and no longer.