This Act may be cited as the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Amendment Act, 1916, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, 1915 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

References in the principal Act to the discharge from service of a member of an Expeditionary Force shall, in the case of an officer of any such Force, be deemed to be references to the termination of his appointment.

The Board may, with the approval of the Minister of Lands, dispose of any land under the principal Act to any person not being a discharged soldier within the meaning of that Act as if he were such a discharged soldier, if the Board is satisfied as to the following matters, namely:—

For the purposes of this section residence in New Zealand shall not be deemed to be affected by reason of temporary absence therefrom if the applicant satisfies the Board that during such absence he had a fixed intention of returning to New Zealand for the purpose of residing there.

The power conferred on the Board and the Minister by section six of the principal Act shall extend and apply so as to enable assistance under that section to be given to any discharged soldier who may be, or may hereafter become, the lessee or licensee of any Crown land, settlement land, or other land administered by a Land Board and acquired by the lessee or licensee otherwise than pursuant to section four of the principal Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, land required for the purposes of the principal Act may be taken under the Public Works Act, 1908, as for a public work within the meaning of that Act, and compensation therefor shall accordingly be computed and payable in the manner prescribed by that Act, and not in the manner prescribed by the Land for Settlements Act, 1908.

Nothing in this section shall authorize the taking of any land that could not be compulsorily taken pursuant to the provisions of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908:

Provided that any land that could be taken under section sixteen of that Act as sites for workers’ homes may be taken under this section for the general purposes of the principal Act:

Provided also that for the purposes of this section, but not otherwise, the Minister of Lands may, in the case of land situate more than five miles from any of the Cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, or Dunedin, reduce the prescribed maximum within the meaning of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, to—

In the case of land situate not more than five miles from any of the cities aforesaid the Minister may reduce the prescribed maximum to fifty acres of land.

All land so taken shall be deemed to be settlement land, and shall forthwith be set apart under section three or section four of the principal Act.

All moneys payable by the Crown as compensation or otherwise in respect of the land so taken shall be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account.

In the annual report to be prepared by the Minister of Lands pursuant to section fourteen of the principal Act there shall be included full particulars of lands acquired under this section during the year to which the report relates, including particulars of—

In addition to the moneys authorized to be raised by section sixty-two of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1913, for the purpose of providing funds for the acquisition of land under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, the Minister of Finance, on being authorized so to do by the Governor in Council, may from time to time raise, on the security of and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums of money as he thinks fit, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of five hundred thousand pounds.

The sums so raised shall, as and when raised, be paid into the Land for Settlements Account, and shall bear interest at such rate, not exceeding five per centum per annum, as the Minister of Finance prescribes.

All moneys raised under this section shall be applied in payment of the purchase-money or compensation and other expenses incurred in connection with the acquisition of land for the purposes of the principal Act.

This Act shall be deemed to be an authorizing Act within the meaning of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, and the moneys hereby authorized to be raised shall be raised under and subject to the provisions of that Act accordingly.

Section eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “fifty thousand pounds,” and substituting “one hundred thousand pounds.”