This Act may be cited as the Housing Survey Act, 1935.

This Act applies with respect to—

For the purpose of ascertaining the extent to which the existing housing accommodation in the Dominion falls short of reasonable requirements, and in particular for the purpose of ascertaining particulars as to—

it shall be the duty of every local authority to which this Act applies, forthwith after the passing of this Act or after the application of this Act to that local authority, as the case may be, to proceed to make a housing survey of the whole of its district, or, with the approval of the Minister of Internal Affairs, of any defined areas within its district to the exclusion of other areas.

If any local authority to which this Act applies refuses or fails to make a housing survey of its district or of any defined area within its district in accordance with this Act, the Minister of Internal Affairs may, at the cost in all things of the local authority, proceed to make such survey, and in any such case the cost of making the survey may be recovered from the local authority concerned as a debt due to the Crown.

Every housing survey prepared pursuant to this Act shall, in respect of the district or area for which it is prepared, contain particulars as to the following matters:—

For the purpose of making any housing survey under this Act, any person authorized in writing in that behalf by the local authority concerned, or by the Minister of Internal Affairs, as the case may be, may, after giving not less than twenty-four hours’ notice to the occupier, enter any dwellinghouse or other premises and make such examination thereof as may be necessary for the purposes of the survey. If the occupier of any premises is not the owner, notice under this section shall, if practicable, be also given to the owner.

Every person who obstructs any duly authorized person in the exercise of his powers of entry and examination under this section commits an offence and is liable on summaryconviction to a fine of ten pounds for every day on which such offence is committed.

For the purposes of any housing survey to be made under this Act, the local authority or the Minister of Internal Affairs, as the case may be, may serve on the occupier of any dwellinghouse a notice requiring him to furnish a statement in writing disclosing the number, ages, and sexes of the persons habitually living in the house and any other particulars with reference to the dwellinghouse that may be reasonably required. If the occupier makes default for more than fourteen days in furnishing any of the particulars required, or furnishes a statement which to his knowledge is false in any material particular, he shall be guilty of an offence, and be liable on summary conviction to a fine of five pounds.

Every housing survey under this Act shall be prepared in accordance with regulations, and, when completed, shall be submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations prescribing the matters to be disclosed in housing surveys made for the purposes of this Act, and such other regulations as may be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to this Act.

This Act shall continue in force until the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and shall then be deemed to be repealed.