This Act may be cited as the Wool Industry Promotion Act, 1936.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

There is hereby established a body corporate to be known as the New Zealand Wool Publicity Committee.

The Committee shall consist of—

The first members of the Committee appointed pursuant to paragraph (b) of the last preceding subsection may, notwithstanding anything in that paragraph, be appointed on the recommendation of the Minister, to hold office until the thirtieth day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven.

Except as provided in the last preceding subsection, every member of the Committee (other than the associate members) shall be appointed for a term of three years, but may from time to time be reappointed.

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, every member of the Committee shall continue to hold office until his successor comes into office.

On the death, resignation, or removal from office of any member of the Committee the Governor- General may appoint a fit person to be a member of the Committee for the residue of the term for which such first-mentioned person was appointed. Such appointment shall be made on the recommendation of the Committee in the case of a wool-growers’ representative, and on the recommendation of the Minister in the case of a Government representative.

The powers hereinafter conferred on the Committee shall not be affected by any vacancy in the membership thereof.

The Committee shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable of holding real and personal property, of suing and being sued, and of doing and suffering all such other acts and things as bodies corporate may lawfully do and suffer.

Any contract which, if made between private persons, must be by deed shall, if made by the Committee, be in writing under the seal of the Committee.

Any contract which, if made between private persons, must be in writing signed by the parties to be charged therewith shall, if made by the Committee, be either under the seal of the Committee or signed by two members of the Committee on behalf of and by direction of the Committee.

Any contract which, if made between private persons, may be made verbally without writing may be similarly made by or on behalf of the Committee by any two members acting by direction of the Committee, but no verbal contract shall be made for any sum exceeding twenty pounds.

The Government representative shall be the Chairman of the Committee.

Meetings of the Committee shall be held at such times and places as the Committee or the Chairman may appoint.

At all meetings of the Committee four members (of whom not less than three shall be members having voting-powers) shall form a quorum.

The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Committee at which he is present.

In the event of the absence of the Chairman from any meeting of the Committee the members present at such meeting shall appoint one of their number to be the Chairman of the meeting.

At any meeting of the Committee the Chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and, in the case of an equality of votes, shall also have a casting vote.

In the absence from any meeting of the Committee of either of the associate members any officer of his Department having authority to act in his place during his absence may attend such meeting in his stead, and while so attending shall be deemed to be an associate member of the Committee.

The associate members of the Committee shall have full rights of discussion but shall not be entitled to vote on any question before the Committee.

Except as otherwise provided herein, the Committee shall regulate its own procedure.

The Committee may appoint such officers as it deems necessary for the efficient carrying-out of its functions under this Act.

Any officer of the Public Service may, with the approval of the Public Service Commissioners, be appointed an officer of the Committee, to hold office as such concurrently with his office in the Public Service.

The functions of the Committee shall be—

For the purpose of providing funds to enable the Committee to carry out its functions there shall be charged, in accordance with this Act, a levy on all wool produced in New Zealand which, at any time after the passing of this Act,—

The rates of the levy shall be fixed for each season by the Minister by notice given under his hand and published in the Gazette. The rates so fixed shall not exceed—

In the case of wool exported from New Zealand, the levy shall be payable by the exporter thereof on or before the entry of the wool for export and shall be paid to the Collector of Customs at the port of entry for export.

The person by whom any wool is entered for export, and any person for whom such first-named person was acting as agent in effecting an entry for export, and every person having at the time of entry any interest as owner in or by way of security over any wool entered for export, shall be jointly and severally liable for payment of all levies imposed under the authority of this Act in respect of the wool so entered.

In the case of wool intended for use in New Zealand, the levy shall be payable by the wool-manufacturer by whom such wool is acquired for use, on the delivery of the wool to him or to any person on his behalf, and shall be paid to the Collector of Customs at the port nearest to the place of business of the wool-manufacturer.

All moneys payable by way of levy under this section shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Crown, by action at the suit of a Collector of Customs in any Court of competent jurisdiction.

If the levy payable in respect of any wool by a wool-manufacturer is not paid within twenty-eight days after the end of the month in which it became payable there shall be added thereto, by way of additional levy, an amount equal to ten per centum of the amount in respect of which default has been made.

Except as may be otherwise agreed upon by the parties, all levies paid in respect of any wool under the foregoing provisions of this Act (not including amounts paid by way of penalty under the last preceding section) shall be deemed to have been paid on behalf of the wool-grower, and may be recovered from the wool-grower accordingly.

Subject to the provisions of the last preceding subsection, an allowance for the levy to be paid by the wool-manufacturer or the exporter, as the case may be, may be made in all transactions of sale and purchase between the wool-grower and a wool-buyer, and in all subsequent transactions, so that the levy shall in fact be imposed on and borne by the wool-grower.

Every person who carries on business or proposes to carry on business as a wool-manufacturer in New Zealand shall, within twenty-eight days after the passing of this Act or within twenty-eight days after the commencement of his business (whichever is the later), advise the Collector of Customs at the port nearest to his place of business as to the address of such business and the name under which it is carried on, and shall, within twenty-eight days after the end of each month, deliver to the Collector of Customs a return in the prescribed form setting forth the total number of bales or other packages of wool delivered to him during that month.

Every such return shall be verified by declaration in the prescribed form and shall be accompanied by the amount of the levy payable.

Every declaration made for the purposes of this section shall be exempt from stamp duty.

All moneys received by way of levy under this Act shall be paid in the first place into the Consolidated Fund to the credit of a Deposit Account. The expenses of collection shall be deducted from the amount so received and shall, without further appropriation than this section, be paid to the credit of the appropriate fund or account.

The residue of the moneys collected shall from time to time, on the recommendation of the Minister and without further appropriation than this section, be paid to the Committee.

The Committee may pay to any member of the Committee (not being an officer of the Public Service) the travelling-expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him in attending any meetings of the Committee or in attending to any business of the Committee pursuant to a resolution of the Committee.

The Committee may also, with the approval of the Minister but not otherwise, pay to any member of the Committee in respect of his services such fees or other remuneration as it thinks fit.

For the purpose of enabling the Committee to commence to exercise its functions without delay the Minister of Finance may, without further appropriation than this section and upon such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, advance to the Committee any moneys required for the payment of any preliminary or general expenses (including salaries) payable by the Committee before it has sufficient revenue for the payment thereof.

The Committee shall not borrow any money or mortgage or charge any of its property except with the precedent consent in writing of the Minister of Finance.

The accounts of the Committee shall be subject to audit in the same manner in all respects as if the moneys of the Committee were public moneys within the meaning of the Public Revenues Act, 1926.

Every person commits an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty pounds who refuses or fails, without lawful justification or excuse, to furnish any return or statement required for the purposes of this Act or who furnishes any return or statement that is false in any material particular.

Failure to furnish any return or statement as aforesaid shall be an offence continuing from day to day so long as the default continues.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as may, in his opinion, be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the purposes of this Act.