This Act may be cited as the Electric-power Boards Amendment Act, 1920, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Electric-power Boards Act, 1918 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section two of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding thereto the following definition:—

The term “local authority” as used in the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1908, the Mining Act, 1908, and the Valuation of Land Act, 1908, is hereby extended to include in each case an Electric-power Board.

Section three of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to paragraph (c) thereof the words: “In publicly notifying the petition it shall be sufficient to set forth the object, purport, or general effect thereof, if a copy of the petition is deposited at the office of each of the local authorities aforesaid and is open to the inspection of the public during the usual office hours of the local authority for not less than one month before presentation as aforesaid.”

The first meeting of the Board after the constitution of an electric-power district shall be held at such time and place as the Minister by notice in the Gazette appoints.

The Board shall hold an annual meeting on the fourth Tuesday in November in each year at the office of the Board.

Section twenty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsection three thereof.

Section twenty of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “not exceeding two hundred pounds, as the Board from time to time fixes,” and substituting the words “as may from time to time be fixed by the Board, with the approval of the Minister.”

There may be paid to the Chairman and to the members of the Board, out of the funds of the Board, all amounts actually and reasonably expended by them in attending meetings of the Board, or of any committee thereof, or in transacting any business of the Board pursuant to a resolution of the Board:

Provided that no moneys shall be payable under this section in respect of travelling-expenses incurred out of New Zealand, save with the approval of the Minister.

Section thirty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “and travelling-expenses.”

Section thirty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph (d) of subsection one thereof, after the words “public office of the Board,” the words “and at the office of the local authority of each constituent district.”

For the purposes of any poll of ratepayers to be taken by an Electric-power Board the rolls of the ratepayers of the several constituent districts taken together, or so much of those rolls as relates to lands within the electric-power district, shall be deemed to be the roll of the ratepayers of the electric-power district.

It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the local authority of each constituent district, whenever requested so to do by the Electric-power Board, to supply to the Board a certified roll of the ratepayers of such constituent district, together with as many copies thereof as the Board may require.

The cost of preparing any roll of ratepayers of a constituent district for the purposes of this section and of supplying copies thereof shall be paid by the Board.

At any poll taken on a proposal of an Electric-power Board to borrow money, only those persons whose names appear on the roll of ratepayers shall be entitled to vote, and every such ratepayer shall have one vote only.

If the total number of valid votes recorded in favour of any such proposal is at least three-fifths of the total number of valid votes recorded at the poll, then, and not otherwise, the proposal shall be deemed to be carried.

At any such poll the vote of any ratepayer may be recorded at any polling-place within the constituent district in which is situated the rateable property in respect of which he is a ratepayer, or at any polling-place, within the electric-power district but not within that constituent district, which may be specially appointed as a polling-place at which may be recorded the votes of ratepayers irrespective of the location of the rateable property in respect of which they are entitled to vote.

For the purposes of any poll taken by an Electric-power Board the Returning Officer appointed by the local authority of each constituent district shall for such constituent district be a Deputy Returning Officer of the electric-power district.

The Board may make and levy rates under the principal Act by resolution.

Section forty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “special order,” and substituting the word “resolution”; and by inserting, after the words “to be forwarded” in that subsection, the words “by registered letter.”

Section forty-three of the principal Act is hereby further amended by adding to subsection three the following proviso: —

Before making and levying any rate under the principal Act the Board shall by resolution determine whether the rate when made and levied shall be collected by the Board or by the local authorities of the constituent districts on behalf of the Board.

Any resolution under this section may be in like manner rescinded at any time before the collection of the rate.

If the Board determines that any rate shall be collected by the Board itself it shall cause a valuation roll and a rate-book to be provided, and, subject to the provisions of this Act and the principal Act, the provisions of the Rating Act, 1908, and the Valuation of Land Act, 1908, shall apply accordingly.

For the purposes of this section the several valuation rolls and rate-books in force in the several constituent districts, taken together, or so much of those rolls and rate-books as relates to lands within the electric-power district, may be deemed to be the valuation roll and rate-book respectively of the electric-power district.

It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the local authority of each constituent district, whenever requested so to do by the Electric-power Board, to supply to the Board a certified copy of the valuation roll and rate-book of the constituent district so far as it relates to lands within the electric-power district.

The cost of preparing such certified copy of the valuation roll and rate-book shall be paid by the Board.

If the local authority of any constituent district, or any officer or servant of such local authority, fails to take the steps required by law to be taken for the collection or recovery of any rate pursuant to section forty-three of the principal Act, the amount of such rate or of any part thereof uncollected or unrecovered owing to such failure shall be deemed to be a debt owing by the local authority to the Board, and may be recovered by action by the Board from that local authority accordingly.

The Valuer-General shall, at the request of the Board, and on payment of such fees as the Governor-General in Council may from time to time prescribe, supply to the Board a statement showing the total value of all the rateable property within each constituent district and such other particulars as the Board may require for the purpose of making and levying any rate under the principal Act.

Section forty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

For the purposes of section forty-nine of the principal Act, as amended by this section, the Governor-General may authorize the purchase by the Board of any electric works the property of the local authority of any constituent district, and thereupon that local authority shall have power to sell any such electric works to the Board, subject to such conditions, If any, as may be imposed by the Governor-General in Council, anything to the contrary in its local governing Act or in any other Act notwithstanding.

Sections fifty, fifty-one, sixty-three, and sixty-four of the principal Act are hereby repealed.

Section fifty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “deposit of a plan and book of reference as before provided,” and substituting the words “issue of an Order in Council under section forty-nine hereof.”

Section fifty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended—

The local authority of any constituent district may, out of its general fund, contribute, by way of advance, such sum as it thinks fit, not exceeding in any case the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds, towards the expenses incidental to the constitution of the electric-power district and the election of the Electric-power Board, and towards any expenses that may be incurred by the Board before the end of the financial year in which it is constituted.

All moneys advanced by a local authority under this section shall be repayable by the Board on demand, and shall be recoverable by the local authority as a debt due to it by the Board.

Subject to the provisions of an Order in Council under section forty-nine of the principal Act as amended by this Act, the Board may from time to time make by-law’s in respect of any electric works for the following purposes, that is to say:—

By-laws under the last preceding section shall be made in the manner and subject to the conditions following, that is to say:-

A copy of any such by-laws sealed with the common seal of the Board shall be received as evidence of the same having been duly made as provided by this Act unless the contrary is proved.

The Board shall cause printed copies of all such by-laws to be kept at the office of the Board and to be sold at a reasonable charge to any person applying for the same.

Every person who commits a breach of any by-law made under this Act is liable to a fine of fifty pounds; or where the breach is a continuing one, then to a further fine of five pounds for every day or part of a day during which such breach continues.

The Board may, after conviction for the continuing breach of any by-law, apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction to restrain the further continuance of such breach by the person so convicted.

The continued existence in a state contrary to any by-law of any work or thing shall be deemed a continuing offence within the meaning of this section.

Section fifty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “sections two, three, four, five, and six of.”

Section ninety-two of the principal Act is hereby repealed.

Where in exercise of the powers conferred on it by section eighty-eight of the principal Act the Board has, whether before or after the passing of this Act, installed any motor, electric wires, electric lamps, or other fittings or equipment on any land, or in any building thereon, the cost of any such motor, electric wires, electric lamps, and other fittings and equipment and of the installation thereof, or any rent payable for the use of any such fittings or equipment, shall be a charge on such land, and may be recovered as rates are recovered under the Rating Act, 1908, and the provisions of that Act as to the recovery of rates shall apply accordingly.