This Act may be cited as the Counties Amendment Act, 1931, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Counties Act, 1920 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

The Council of any county may by special order declare that sections one hundred and twenty-one and one hundred and thirty-one of the principal Act shall not apply to the Council.

A copy of such special order together with a certificate signed by the Chairman or the Clerk to the effect that it has been duly made shall be forwarded to the Minister of Internal Affairs and shall forthwith be gazetted by him, and such special order shall take effect from the close of the financial year in which it is gazetted or from the close of such later financial year as is specified in the special order or by the Minister.

On the taking effect of such special order the Council shall forthwith close the separate riding accounts kept pursuant to subsection three of section one hundred and thirty-one of the principal Act, by incorporating in the General Account of the County Fund the balances of such separate accounts.

Subject to subsection two of section one hundred and twenty of the principal Act, the Council shall thereafter make and levy all general rates over the county as a whole instead of separately in each riding, and before making any such rate shall cause an estimate to be prepared of the proposed expenditure of the Council during the period for which the rate is to be made, showing any sums available for such purpose, the additional sum required, the total rateable value of the property on the valuation roll, and the general rate thereon necessary to raise the money required; and such estimate, being approved by the Council, shall be publicly notified in the county not later than one week before the proposed rate is made.