The Minister of Finance is hereby empowered to borrow, 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 four million pounds.

The sums so borrowed shall bear interest at such rate as the Minister of Finance prescribes.

All moneys borrowed under the authority of this section shall, as and when borrowed, be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the General Purposes Account of the Public Works Fund, and shall from time to time be applied, in such amounts as may be from time to time appropriated by Parliament, for the following purposes, namely:—

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

Of the moneys which the Minister of Finance is authorized to borrow for any purpose (whether such authority has been granted before or after the passing of this Act), he may raise by the issue of inscribed stock, but not otherwise, such amount as he thinks fit, not exceeding in any financial year the sum of five hundred thousand pounds, subject to the special provisions of this section.

The administrator of the estate of any deceased person, or other person by whom death duties may be payable in respect of that estate, may pay the whole or any part of the death duties so payable by him in respect of that estate by means of inscribed stock issued subject to the provisions of this section, and the Commissioner of Stamp Duties shall accept such stock accordingly in satisfaction in whole or in part, as the case may be, of the amount of death duties payable as aforesaid.

All stock transferred to the Commissioner of Stamp Duties under this section shall be deemed to mature for payment on the date of transfer, and shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be of the nominal value thereof with the addition of any interest accrued due but remaining unpaid at the date of transfer.

No transfer of stock issued under this section shall be registered, and no stock certificate shall be issued in respect thereof, during the lifetime of the registered holder.

If the holder of any inscribed stock issued under this section exchanges such inscribed stock for debentures or other securities pursuant to the authority in that behalf of section three of the New Zealand Inscribed Stock Act, 1917, the debentures or other securities so issued in exchange shall not themselves be deemed to be available for the payment of death duties.

If on the death of the registered holder of any inscribed stock under this section the whole or any portion of that stock is not used for the payment of death duties in respect of the estate of the deceased, such stock so remaining unused shall cease to be stock available for the payment of death duties, and may be dealt with accordingly.

For the purpose of providing moneys to enable the Minister of Finance to make payments by way of loan to the Samoan Treasury, pursuant to section thirty-three of the Samoa Act, 1921, the said Minister is hereby empowered to borrow, on the security of and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums as may from time to time be required, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of thirty-two thousand pounds.

The sums so borrowed shall bear interest at such rate as the Minister of Finance prescribes.

This section 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 borrowed shall be borrowed under and subject to the provisions of that Act accordingly.

All moneys borrowed under the authority of this section shall be paid into a Suspense Account, and shall from time to time, as required, be paid to the Samoan Treasury as if they had been appropriated by Parliament for the purpose of making loans to the Samoan Treasury.

In addition to all moneys which the Minister of Finance has heretofore been authorized to borrow for the purposes of the Hauraki Plains Act, 1908, the said Minister may, for those purposes, borrow such further amount, not exceeding twenty-five thousand pounds, as he thinks fit, and all moneys so borrowed shall be dealt with as provided in section two of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1913.

The total amount of all sums issued under section fifty-four of the Public Revenues Act, 1910 (relating to unauthorized expenditure), shall not exceed in any financial year one hundred thousand pounds for services in connection with working railways under the control of the Government Railways Department and one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for all other services.

Section three of the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1915, and subsection two of section thirty-nine of the Finance Act, 1916, are hereby repealed.

The Minister of Finance shall, without further authority than this section, pay to the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds in each financial year, commencing with the year beginning on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, to be applied in or towards payment of the general expenses of the Institute.

This section is in substitution for section ten of the New Zealand Institute Act, 1908, and that section and the New Zealand Institute Amendment Act, 1920, are hereby repealed.

The Minister of Finance may, without further appropriation than this section, pay to every racing club by way of refund in respect of the totalizator duty received from that club for the year commencing on the first day of August, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, and for each year thereafter, an amount equal to one and a quarter per centum of the gross takings of the totalizator at race meetings conducted by the club during the year, but not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds to any club in any year. Payment under this section may be made only in cases where the Minister is satisfied that the club, during the year in which such refund is made, has expended, or has incurred liability to expend, an amount not less than the amount of such refund in the erection of buildings on, or otherwise in the permanent improvement of, the racecourse.

All moneys collected pursuant to section twelve of the Greymouth Harbour Board Act, 1884, by the Greymouth Harbour Board on or before the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, in respect of coal brought for shipment at the Port of Greymouth and payable into the Public Account shall, without further appropriation than this section, be applied by the Minister of Finance, on behalf of the Board, in redemption of debentures issued by the Board pursuant to section seven of the Greymouth Harbour Board Amendment Act, 1920.

Section five of the Greymouth Harbour Board Amendment Act, 1920, is hereby amended as follows:—

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Railways Improvement Authorization Act, 1914, moneys raised under that Act may be expended in the construction of any of the works mentioned in the Schedule to this Act in addition to any works heretofore authorized.

The New Zealand Consols Act, 1908, is hereby repealed.

All moneys in the New Zealand Consols Account on the passing of this Act shall forthwith be paid into the Ordinary Revenue Account of the Consolidated Fund.

All securities existing at the passing of this Act in respect of the investment of moneys in the New Zealand Consols Account shall thereafter be deemed to be securities in respect of the investment of moneys belonging to the Ordinary Revenue Account of the Consolidated Fund, and may be dealt with accordingly.

Section six of the Finance Act, 1923, is hereby amended as from the passing of that Act by adding the following subsection:—

The War Expenses Account established by section two of the Finance Act, 1918 (No. 2), is hereby abolished, and all moneys which at the commencement of this Act are standing to the credit of that account shall forthwith be transferred to the Loans Redemption Account established by section thirty-three of the Public Revenues Amendment Act, 1913, and shall, together with all other moneys required by this section to be paid into that account, be applied in repayment of such loans raised for war purposes as the Minister of Finance may direct.

Save as provided in the next succeeding subsection, any moneys hereafter received which but for the passing of this section would be payable into the War Expenses Account shall be paid into the Loans Redemption Account.

So much of the moneys received by the State Advances Superintendent under section thirteen of the State Advances Amendment Act, 1922, as are by that section directed to be paid into the War Expenses Account shall in the first place be paid into the Advances Account to be used, without further appropriation than this section, for the purposes of the Repatriation Act, 1918. The Superintendent shall from time to time, without further appropriation than this section, pay into the Loans Redemption Account such of the moneys to which this subsection applies as in his opinion are no longer required for the purposes of the Repatriation Act, 1918. The authority conferred by this subsection shall be deemed to have been conferred as from the commencement of the current financial year.

All assets of the War Expenses Account other than cash and investments may, with the approval of the Minister of Defence, be transferred to the control of any Department of State, and all such transfers heretofore made are hereby validated.

Subsection one of section seven of the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Act, 1918, is hereby amended by omitting the words “War Expenses Account,” and substituting the words “Ordinary Revenue Account of the Consolidated Fund.”

Sections two, three, and four of the Finance Act, 1918 (No. 2), section eleven of the Repatriation Act, 1918, section twenty of the Finance Act, 1920, and section sixteen of the Appropriation Act, 1921–22, are hereby repealed.

Section twenty-one of the Finance Act, 1924, is hereby amended as follows:—

The State Supply of Electrical Energy Act, 1917, is hereby amended by omitting all references to a Depreciation Fund, and in each case substituting a reference to a Depreciation Reserve.

Section fourteen of the said Act is hereby consequentially amended as follows:—

On all loans that may hereafter be granted to settlers or workers pursuant to Part II or Part III of the State Advances Act, 1913, or to local authorities pursuant to Part III of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, interest shall be charged at such rate as the State Advances Board, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, shall from time to time determine. The rate so determined with respect to settlers and workers shall be inclusive of any rebate to which the borrower may be entitled under section forty-one of the State Advances Act, 1913.

The enactments relating to the grant of loans by the State Advances Board are hereby consequentially amended as follows:—

Whereas an area of seventeen thousand and forty-eight acres, situated in the Auckland Land District, and comprising portion of the Reporoa Settlement, was acquired under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, but is unsuitable for settlement in accordance with that Act, and is now required for purposes of forestry: And whereas the value of the said land as fixed by the Minister of Lands is six thousand three hundred and ninety-three pounds: And whereas it is desirable that the said area should be set apart as a permanent State forest, and that a sum equal to the value thereof should be transferred from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account: And whereas by a Proclamation dated the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and published in the Gazette of the third day of August, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as amended by a Proclamation dated the ninth day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and published in the Gazette of the twelfth day of that month, a part of the said area containing five thousand three hundred and eighty-three acres was set apart as a permanent State forest: And whereas the sum of five thousand six hundred and twenty-five pounds has been transferred from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account in respect of the land defined in the amending Proclamation aforesaid: And whereas the authority conferred by the Forests Act, 1921–22, to set apart Crown lands as State forests does not extend to authorize the setting-apart of settlement land, and it is expedient accordingly to validate the setting-apart of the said land and the transfer in respect thereof of the said sum of five thousand six hundred and twenty-five pounds from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account: And whereas it is further desired to authorize the setting-apart by Proclamation of an area of eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-five acres, the residue of the aforesaid area of seventeen thousand and forty-eight acres, as a permanent State forest, and to authorize the transfer of a further sum of seven hundred and sixty-eight pounds from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account in respect of the land to be so set apart: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

The hereinbefore-recited Proclamation of the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as amended by the Proclamation of the ninth day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, is hereby validated, and shall be deemed to have taken effect in its amended form as from the date of the publication of the first-mentioned Proclamation in the Gazette.

The transfer of the sum of five thousand six hundred and twenty-five pounds from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account in respect of the land declared to be set apart as a permanent State forest as aforesaid is hereby validated.

The setting-apart by Proclamation of a further area of eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-five acres of Reporoa Settlement as a permanent State forest and the transfer of a further sum of seven hundred and sixty-eight pounds from the State Forests Account to the Land for Settlements Account are hereby authorized.

Subsection one of section twenty-two of the Finance Act, 1924, is hereby amended as follows:—

Section twenty-three of the said Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Wherever in any Act or otherwise the Government Insurance Commissioner is appointed a member of any Board, any officer of his Department having authority to act in his place during his absence from office may act for him as a member of that Board, and any such officer while so acting shall be deemed to be a member of the Board.

The fact that any such officer so attends and acts at any such meeting shall be conclusive proof of his authority so to do.

The payment of the sum of one thousand four hundred pounds to the Inglewood County Council in respect of the abolition of certain toll-gates in the Provincial District of Taranaki is hereby validated. The said sum of one thousand four hundred pounds may be transferred, without further appropriation than this section, from the Revenue Fund of the Main Highways Account to the fund or account from which it was originally paid.

There may, without further appropriation than this section, be made out of the Revenue Fund of the Main Highways Account in respect of the abolition of certain other toll-gates in the said Provincial District the following payments, namely:—

There may be paid out of the Construction Fund of the Main Highways Account such sum, not exceeding eight thousand pounds, as may be appropriated by Parliament for the purpose towards the cost of the construction of the bridge recently erected over the Wairoa River at Dargaville, such bridge having been declared a main highway within the meaning of the Main Highways Act, 1922.

The rate made and levied by the Minister of Lands pursuant to section six of the Rangitaiki Land Drainage Act, 1910, for the year ended on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, is hereby cancelled, and all moneys heretofore received from the occupier of any land in respect of such rate may, without further appropriation than this section, be refunded, or may be applied in satisfaction to the extent thereof of rates that may hereafter be made and levied in respect of the same land.

The capital sum as at the date of the passing of this Act in respect of which the Minister of Lands is by virtue of section six of the said Act authorized to make and levy rates is hereby reduced to the sum of two hundred and five thousand pounds.

Section eight of the Government Life Insurance Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “the granting of endowments,” the words “and for the establishment, accumulation, provision, and payment of sinking funds, annuities certain, and sinking fund and capital redemption insurance policies.”

Section thirteen of the Finance Act, 1921, shall be deemed to confer power on a local authority, with the consent of the Governor-General in Council, to raise any loan or part of a loan upon terms providing for the repayment thereof by means of a sinking-fund policy issued under this section. In any such case the interest upon the loan and the premium payable upon such sinking-fund policy shall together be deemed to constitute an instalment in terms of the said section thirteen, and the provisions of the said section shall apply accordingly to such loan or part of loan.

Notwithstanding anything in the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, or in any other Act, it shall be competent for any local authority to appoint the Government Insurance Commissioner as a sole Commissioner of the sinking fund of any loan raised by such local authority.

Section twenty-seven of the Government Life Insurance Act, 1908, is hereby amended by repealing subsection three.

The Commissioner may, with the approval of the Minister in each case, obtain advances from the Treasury or the State Advances Office, or, failing them, from any bank, for such periods and at such rates of interest as may be mutually agreed upon, by hypothecating securities held by him in respect of investments of the Government Insurance Department or in such other mode as may be agreed upon.

All such advances (other than those obtained from a bank) shall be made out of moneys available for temporary investment and under the control of the Treasury or the Superintendent of the State Advances Office, as the case may be.

Section forty of the Government Life Insurance Act, 1908, is hereby amended as follows:—

In this section the term “Superannuation Fund” includes the Public Service Superannuation Fund, the Government Railways Superannuation Fund, and the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund.

In any case where the widow or any child of a deceased contributor to a Superannuation Fund is entitled to receive from that fund an annual or other periodical allowance, such allowance shall, as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, be computed at the following rates, namely:—

There shall from time to time, without further appropriation than this section, and in addition to any subsidies otherwise payable, be paid out of the Consolidated Fund into the appropriate Superannuation Fund an amount sufficient to provide for the payments to be made pursuant to this section, in so far as such payments exceed the amounts that would otherwise be payable.

In the case of any person (being a former contributor to the Public Service Superannuation Fund or the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund) who duly elected, in terms of section eleven of the Public Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1921–22, to continue to contribute to such Superannuation Fund as if his salary or wages had not been reduced by that Act, the limit fixed by subsection two of section thirty-seven of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Act, 1908, as amended by section nine of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Act, 1909 (in the case of former contributors to the Public Service Superannuation Fund), or fixed by subsection two of section fourteen of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Act, 1908, as amended by section thirteen of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Act, 1909 (in the case of former contributors to the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund), shall be computed with reference to the rate of salary or wages in respect of which contributions were so made to the Superannuation Fund and not with reference to the rate of salary or wages actually receivable by the contributor at the date of his retirement.

This section shall be deemed to have been in force as from the commencement of the Public Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1921–22.

In this section—

If any contributor to the fund is provided, in respect of his office, with board or lodging, or with the use of a house, or is paid an allowance in lieu of being so provided with board or lodging or the use of a house, the value of such benefits determined as hereinafter provided shall for the purpose of computing the amount of the contributor’s contributions to the fund and of his retiring-allowance be deemed to form part of the salary received by the contributor:

Provided that this section shall not apply with respect to a lodging-allowance paid to any officer of the Public Service, or to any young teacher in training, or to any relieving teacher, by reason of his being stationed away from his home.

The annual value of any benefits so received by a contributor shall be determined from time to time by a committee consisting of the Secretary to the Treasury and the Public Service Commissioner, together with the Director of Education (in cases affecting contributors to the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund) or the Commissioner of Police (in cases affecting officers of the Police Department), save that in cases where the value of any such benefits is stated in any classification list, or in any Act or regulations for the time being in force, such value shall for the purposes of this section be conclusively deemed to be the true value. For the purposes of this subsection a resolution passed by any two members of the committee shall be the determination of the committee.

Contributions to the fund in respect of the value of any such benefits shall be payable from time to time as contributions become payable in respect of the contributor’s salary, and shall be deducted from his salary accordingly.

This section, in its application to either of the aforesaid funds, shall be deemed to have been in force as from the date of the establishment of that fund:

Provided that this section shall not apply to any person who, before the passing of this Act, has retired from the Service, or to any present contributor in respect of any benefits as aforesaid, unless within six months after the passing of this Act such contributor or retired contributor so elects by notice in writing delivered to the Secretary to the Board.

Arrears of contributions in respect of any benefits to which this section applies received before the passing of this Act, together with compound interest thereon computed with yearly rests at the rate of five per centum per annum, shall be payable within such time, by instalments or otherwise, as the Board may in any case direct.

Section forty-eight of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Act, 1908, is hereby amended as follows:—

Section five of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by adding to subsection three the following words: “and his rights and liabilities shall be determined in all respects as if he had become a contributor to the fund on the date fixed in that behalf by the Board pursuant to the next succeeding subsection.”

Whereas by section thirty-six of the Finance Act, 1924 (relating to the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund), provision was made for the revocation by the persons concerned of elections theretofore made by them to remain subject to Part IX of the Education Act, 1908: And whereas the right of revocation conferred by that section was limited to persons who were then contributors to the fund or who were then in receipt of retiring-allowances from the fund: And whereas Frederick Giles Gibbs, Esquire, was not then either a contributor to the fund or in receipt of a retiring-allowance from the fund, having retired from the Education service pursuant to the special provisions of section two hundred and thirty-five of the Education Act, 1908: And whereas it is desired to give to him the same right of revocation as he would have enjoyed if at the passing of the Finance Act, 1924, he had been in receipt of a retiring-allowance from the fund: And whereas it is further desired to extend the time within which an election to remain subject to the aforesaid Part IX of the Education Act, 1908, may be revoked: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

The said Frederick Giles Gibbs, Esquire, may at any time on or before the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, revoke his election to remain subject to Part IX of the Education Act, 1908.

Section thirty-six of the Finance Act, 1924, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one and also from subsection three the words “nineteen hundred and twenty-five,” and substituting the words “nineteen hundred and twenty-six.”

The provisions of section thirty-six of the Finance Act, 1924, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to any revocation that may be made under this section.

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, declare that any person who at the passing of this Act is, or hereafter shall be, exclusively engaged as general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants or of the Engine-drivers, Firemen, and Cleaners’ Association, and who prior to being so engaged has or shall have been a contributor to the Government Railways Superannuation Fund, and whose period of engagement as aforesaid has or shall have been continuous with his service in the Department, shall be deemed to have been or to be a contributor to the Government Railways Superannuation Fund during and in respect of the period of his engagement as aforesaid.

Any such Order in Council may be made subject to such conditions as the Governor-General in Council may think fit.

The contribution of any such person to the fund shall be a percentage of the salary paid to him by the society or association by which he is employed, and such percentage shall be the same as he contributed to the fund during the period of his service in the Department. There shall in addition to such contribution be paid into the fund by the appropriate society or association such further sum or sums as the Governor-General in Council shall determine.

Any such person shall, subject to the provisions of this section and of any Order in Council made thereunder, have all the rights, privileges, and liabilities to which a contributor to the Government Railways Superannuation Fund is entitled or subject under the provisions of Part III of the Government Railways Act, 1908; and continuous service under any such engagement as aforesaid shall for the purposes of the said provisions be deemed to be service in the Department.

Any such person’s pay shall for the purpose of computing any retiring-allowance or other money to be granted to a contributor and calculated on the basis of his pay be the average rate of pay received by him during the three years immediately preceding his retirement:

Provided, however, that in no case shall any such person be entitled to a retiring-allowance exceeding three hundred pounds per annum.

The Governor-General in Council may, as and when he thinks fit, revoke, alter, or amend any Order in Council made under the provisions of this section:

Provided that if any such Order in Council is revoked any moneys paid into the fund by any person, society, or association affected thereby shall be repaid without interest out of the fund to such person, society, or association:

Provided further that if any such person has after retirement received payment in respect of any retiring-allowance to which he shall have become entitled, his right to continue to receive such allowance shall not be affected by the revocation of any Order in Council made under the provisions of this section.

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this section.

Whereas the Repatriation Act, 1918, provides for the establishment of a Repatriation Department and for the appointment of a chief administrative officer to be called the Director of Repatriation: And whereas section nine of that Act is in the following terms: “Any officer holding office under the Public Service Act, 1912, may, with the consent of the Commissioner under that Act and of the Minister in charge of the Department to which that officer belongs, be appointed by the Board as an officer of the Repatriation Department, and shall thereupon hold both offices concurrently; but shall be deemed, so long as he remains an officer of the Repatriation Department, to be on leave without pay from his office under the Public Service Act, 1912, without prejudice, however, to his rights of promotion and advancement in respect of that office”: And whereas, pursuant to the authority conferred by that section, John Robert Samson, Esquire, an officer of the Government Life Insurance Department (hereinafter referred to as the contributor), was appointed Director of Repatriation, and continued to hold that office until the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, when the duties of the Repatriation Department were assumed by the Superintendent of the State Advances Office: And whereas it has been determined that the office of the Director of Repatriation was not an office of the Public Service within the meaning and for the purposes of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Act, 1908: And whereas there is not in the Public Service any suitable position to which the contributor can now be appointed, and it is equitable, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, that special provision should be made in respect of him: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

The office of Director of Repatriation shall be and be deemed at all times since its creation to have been an office in the Public Service within the meaning of the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Act, 1908.

The election made by the contributor in terms of section eleven of the Public Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1921–22, to continue to contribute to the Public Service Superannuation Fund as if his salary had not thereby been reduced shall be deemed to have been an effective election with respect to his salary as Director of Repatriation.

The Minister of Finance is hereby empowered, without further appropriation than this section, to pay out of the Consolidated Fund—

The contributor shall be entitled to retire from the Public Service as from the thirtieth day of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, and shall thereupon be entitled to receive from the Public Service Superannuation Fund a retiring-allowance computed on the basis of the salary receivable by him as Director of Repatriation immediately prior to the taking-effect of the Public Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1921–22, but otherwise in the same manner as if he had retired from the Public Service as medically unfit for further duty.

Save as herein provided, section thirty-nine of the Finance Act, 1924, in its application to Magistrates in office at the passing of that Act shall not apply and shall be deemed never to have applied to any Magistrate who was not at the time of the passing of that Act a contributor to the Public Service Superannuation Fund.

Any person in office as a Magistrate on the passing of the Finance Act, 1924, who was not then a contributor to the Public Service Superannuation Fund may, within six months after the passing of this Act, elect to accept the benefits provided for by that section on terms to be fixed by the Governor-General in Council.

In lieu of complying with the requirements of subsection seven of the aforesaid section (relating to the transfer of contributions from the Public Service Superannuation Fund to the Consolidated Fund), the moneys to which that subsection applies may be held in the Superannuation Fund as an investment, and all contributions to the Consolidated Fund, whether received before or after the passing of this Act, may in like manner be paid to the Public Service Superannuation Board for administration on behalf of the Consolidated Fund.

So far as practicable the charges on the Consolidated Fund arising out of the said section may be paid out of moneys so held by the Public Service Superannuation Board.

For the purposes of the said section thirty-nine every Magistrate who, whether before or after the passing of that Act, has been engaged or employed in any capacity in Western Samoa or in the Cook Islands while holding office as a Stipendiary Magistrate shall be entitled to count such service as part of his service as a Magistrate, and every year of service in Western Samoa or the Cook Islands shall be computed as one year and a half.

The Minister of Education may authorize any Education Board established under the Education Act, 1914, to pay to the Chairman of that Board such sum by way of remuneration for his services as the Minister may approve, not exceeding in any year the sum of one hundred pounds. The total amount paid under this section in any year by all Education Boards shall not exceed five hundred pounds.

Payments under this section may be made by monthly or other instalments as the Minister of Education may approve.

Whereas subsidies as provided for in paragraph (b) of subsection two of section thirty-eight of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1909, have heretofore been paid out of the Consolidated Fund to the Auckland Hospital Board in respect of certain moneys received by that Board from the Auckland Ladies’ Benevolent Society and the Onehunga Ladies’ Benevolent Society respectively: And whereas, by reason of conditions attached by the said societies to the payment of such moneys to the Auckland Hospital Board, subsidy was not legally payable thereon, and it is necessary accordingly that payments so made by way of subsidy should be validated: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

All moneys paid prior to the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Fund to the Auckland Hospital Board by way of subsidy on moneys theretofore received by that Board from the Auckland Ladies’ Benevolent Society and the Onehunga Ladies’ Benevolent Society respectively shall be deemed to have been lawfully so paid as if the moneys so received by the said Hospital Board from the societies herein referred to were voluntary contributions or gifts of money made to that Board within the meaning of section thirty-eight of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1909.

It shall be and be deemed to have been lawful for any local authority to expend out of its general fund or account any sum or sum of money for the purpose of celebrating the visit to New Zealand of the United States Fleet, and of welcoming, entertaining, and otherwise providing hospitality to the Admirals, officers, and men of the vessels during their visit to New Zealand, or of contributing to any fund established for any of such purposes.

To provide such sum or sums as aforesaid a local authority may borrow from its bankers by way of overdraft or from any person or persons, and moneys so borrowed shall not at any time prior to the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, be taken into account in computing for the purposes of section three of the Local Bodies’ Finance Act, 1921–22, the maximum amount that may lawfully be borrowed by the local authority, or the amount that such local authority may owe at the end of any year on its general account or on any separate account.

For the purposes of this section the term “local authority” means a Borough Council, County Council, Road Board, Town Board, Harbour Board, Education Board, Hospital Board, or Electric-power Board.

Section thirty-seven of the Finance Act, 1922, is hereby amended as follows:—

The Board of the local railway district constituted pursuant to the said section thirty-seven may, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by virtue of section forty of the Local Railways Act, 1914, but without taking the steps prescribed by sections eight to twelve of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, borrow such amount as the Minister of Public Works may approve for the improvement of its railway-line and plant, and for the purchase of additional rolling-stock:

Provided that the approval of the Minister as aforesaid shall not be given to any proposed loan of such an amount that the total amount of debentures issued by the Board and not redeemed shall at any time exceed two hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

The provisions of section thirty-seven of the Finance Act, 1922, shall apply with respect to debentures issued for the purposes of the last preceding subsection.

It shall be and be deemed to have heretofore been lawful for any local authority the district of which is within or partly within the Electoral District of Tauranga to contribute out of its general fund or account any sum or sums of money as a subscription towards the erection of a memorial to the late Sir William Herries.

For the purposes of this section the term “local authority” means a Borough Council, County Council, Road Board, Town Board, River Board, Drainage Board, or Harbour Board.

The authority conferred on the State Advances Superintendent by section seventeen of the Finance Act, 1921, and by section fifty-two of the Finance Act, 1924, to lend to the Buller Hospital Board, for the purposes mentioned in those sections, an amount or amounts not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of eleven thousand pounds is hereby extended to empower the said Superintendent to lend to the said Board a further sum of two thousand pounds for the purpose of making further additions to the buildings under the control of the said Board.

Each of the authorities to which this section applies may in any year expend out of its general fund for purposes not authorized by any law for the time being in force any sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate one hundred pounds.

This section applies to the Senate of the New Zealand University, the Councils of the Auckland and Victoria University Colleges, the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, and the Council of the University of Otago.

Whereas an agreement, dated the twentieth day of August, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, has been entered into between Alfred Henry Miles, of Wellington, company director, and William Thomas Strand, of Lower Hutt, settler, for the purchase by the said William Thomas Strand of the land hereinafter in this section referred to for the sum of ten thousand seven hundred pounds: And whereas in entering into the said agreement the said William Thomas Strand was acting in the interests of the Crown and of certain public bodies, but without express authority in that behalf: And whereas it is desired to enable the adoption of the benefit of the rights so secured by the aforesaid agreement: Be it therefore enacted as follows:—

The Commissioner of State Forests, for and on behalf of His Majesty the King, is hereby empowered to enter into an agreement with the Wellington City Council, the Borough Councils of Petone, Lower Hutt, and Eastbourne, the Upper Hutt Town Board, and the Hutt County Council, or any of those local authorities, each of which is hereby empowered to enter into such agreement, in respect of the purchase from Alfred Henry Miles, of Wellington, company director, of all that area of land comprising five thousand three hundred and fifty acres, more or less, being Lots 1 to 5 inclusive of Block V, and Lots 1 to 7 inclusive of Block VI, Akatarawa Survey District, in the Wellington Land District.

If an agreement in terms of the last preceding section is entered into, the Commissioner of State Forests may purchase the said land, and upon such purchase being completed the said land shall become vested in His Majesty as a reserve for forestry, electric-power, and water-supply purposes for the benefit of the Crown and of the several local authorities contributing towards the purchase of the said land.

All moneys payable in respect of such purchase shall be paid, without further appropriation than this section, out of the State Forests Account, and thereupon the local authorities which have entered into an agreement in respect of such purchase shall become jointly liable to pay to His Majesty an amount equal to one-half of the amount so paid out of the State Forests Account.

The amount for which such local authorities become jointly liable as aforesaid shall, save as may be otherwise mutually agreed, be apportioned as follows:—

The amount so apportioned to any local authority shall constitute a debt due to the Crown by that local authority, and may be recovered accordingly in any Court of competent jurisdiction. The local authority may pay such amount out of its general fund or account, or may borrow the same by way of special loan under the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, as for a public work, without taking the steps described in sections eight to twelve of that Act. All moneys paid to the Crown pursuant to this subsection shall be paid into the State Forests Account.

The control and management of the said land shall be vested in the State Forest Service, which shall deal with it as if it were a State forest, and for such purpose the Commissioner of State Forests may from time to time, by warrant under his hand, apply to the said land such of the provisions of the Forests Act, 1921–22, as may be specified in the warrant.

All moneys received in respect of the said land, whether by way of revenue or otherwise howsoever, shall be paid in the first place into the State Forests Account, and the costs of administration of the said land may be paid out of that account.

If in any financial year the moneys received in respect of the said land are not sufficient to meet the cost of administration for that year, one-half of the deficiency shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Crown from the local authorities in the proportions specified in subsection four hereof with respect to the apportionment of the purchase-money.

If in any financial year the moneys received in respect of the said land are more than sufficient to meet the cost of administration for that year, one-half of the excess shall be retained in the State Forests Account for the purposes of that account, and the balance shall be paid to the several local authorities in the proportions hereinbefore specified.

The said land shall not be used for purposes of electric power or water-supply except under the authority of a special Act.

The provisions of section seventy-three of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1913, in so far as they require or provide for the appointment of a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, in respect of the transfer or apportionment of liability in respect of loans shall be obligatory in cases where the only liability to be transferred or apportioned is in respect of loans of any of the classes referred to in subsection thirteen of that section.

Save as provided in the last preceding subsection, any award duly made pursuant to any Act in respect of the apportionment of liabilities between two or more local authorities may, according to its tenor, apply with respect to the liability for any loan of any of the classes referred to in subsection thirteen of the aforesaid section.

This section shall apply with respect to awards heretofore made as well as to awards that may be made after the passing of this Act.

Section five of the Education Amendment Act, 1921–22, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the word “fifty,” and substituting the words “one hundred.”

The Westland Hospital Board is hereby empowered to pay to the licensee of any licensed maternity hospital, by way of subsidy, such amount as the Minister of Health may approve in any year, on condition that the hospital shall be available for the reception of patients recommended by the said Hospital Board.

Any local authority, having established a fund under the Local Authorities Superannuation Act, 1908, may by special resolution determine to increase the amount of any annuity or of any weekly sum payable under section twenty-nine of that Act to or on behalf of the widow or children of a deceased contributor or annuitant as follows:—

The authority conferred by this section shall extend to apply, as from the commencement of this Act, with respect to the widows and children of deceased contributors or annuitants.

Every special resolution under this section shall be subject to the provisions of section six of the Local Authorities Superannuation Act, 1908, in the same manner as if it were a special resolution establishing a fund.

It shall be lawful for the local authority to appropriate a sum in any year out of its ordinary revenues towards the creation of a special fund to provide for any additional payments to be granted under this section, and the local authority may from time to time apply such special fund or any part thereof for that purpose.

Any special resolution passed under this section may in like manner be at any time revoked or amended.

The Minister of Finance is hereby empowered, without further appropriation than this section, to pay to the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Company (Limited) by way of loan out of the Consolidated Fund such sum or sums as he thinks fit, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds. The loan hereby authorized shall bear interest at the rate of five and one quarter per centum per annum, and shall be on such terms (including terms as to the security to be given therefor and as to its repayment) as may be mutually agreed to by the Minister and the said company.

The power conferred on local authorities by section seventy-five of the Finance Act, 1924, to expend moneys out of their ordinary revenues for certain purposes in connection with the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition is hereby extended to enable any local authority within the meaning of that section to borrow money from its bankers by way of overdraft or from any person or persons for those purposes, and money so borrowed shall not at any time prior to the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, be taken into account in computing for the purposes of section three of the Local Bodies’ Finance Act, 1921–22, the maximum amount that may lawfully be borrowed by the local authority, or the amount that such local authority may owe at the end of any year on its general account or on any separate account.

The term “local authority” as used in section seventy-five of the Finance Act, 1924, is hereby extended to include an Electric-power Board, and the Selwyn Plantation Board established under section seventy-seven of the Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, 1910.

Section seventy-three of the Finance Act, 1924, is hereby amended by adding to subsection one the following paragraph:—

The said section seventy-three is hereby further amended by adding to subsection two the following proviso:—

The Trustees of the Dunedin Savings-bank are hereby empowered to grant a sum not exceeding three hundred pounds to the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Company (Limited) for the purposes of the Education Court of the Exhibition proposed to be held by the said company.