This Act may be cited as the Statutes Amendment Act, 1942.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Acts Interpretation Act, 1924.

It is hereby declared that in any Act or regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to any regulations cited by their title include references to all subsequent regulations made in amendment thereof or in substitution therefor and for the time being in force.

Section sixteen of the Coroners Act, 1908, is hereby amended by adding to subsection three the words “unless the Coroner certifies that exceptional circumstances render the payment of such remuneration desirable”.

Section ninety-four of the Defence Act, 1909, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “three months”, and substituting the words “six months”.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Destitute Persons Act, 1910 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

The Governor-General, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, may by Order in Council provide that the provisions of section forty-four of the principal Act shall bind the Crown to such extent and subject to such conditions as the Governor-General thinks fit and as may be set out in the Order in Council.

Any Order in Council under this section may prescribe the manner in which, the person or persons on whom, and the time within which any charging-order shall be served and may provide that any specified portion or portions of the said section forty-four shall not bind the Crown.

Any Order in Council made under this section may from time to time on the like recommendation and in the like manner be varied or revoked.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Fire Brigades Act, 1926 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

Except as otherwise provided in the principal Act, the next election and appointment of members of every Fire Board shall take place in the month of June, nineteen hundred and forty-four, and subsequent elections and appointments shall take place in the same month in every third year thereafter.

This section is in substitution for section eleven of the Fire Brigades Amendment Act, 1932, and that section is hereby accordingly repealed.

The principal Act is hereby consequentially amended as follows:—

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Friendly Societies Act, 1909 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the principal Act, where the rules of a registered society or branch provide that a member who elects to cease contributing for a sum payable at death or on survival to a specified date shall be entitled on such election to receive a cash payment, the society or branch may (if its rules so provide) make a loan to any member entitled to cease contributing as aforesaid of an amount not exceeding ninety per centum of the cash payment to which the member would be entitled if he elected on the day the loan is granted so to cease contributing.

The amount of the loan, or such part thereof as has not been repaid, together with any interest thereon which may then be owing, shall be a first charge on the sum payable at death or on survival to the specified date or if the member subsequently elects to cease contributing.

Section nine of the Harbours Amendment Act, 1925, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection three the word “casual”.

This section and the next four succeeding sections shall be read together with and deemed part of the Industrial Efficiency Act, 1936 (in those sections referred to as the principal Act).

For the purposes of the principal Act the Governor-General may from time to time appoint any person to be the Industrial Efficiency Appeal Authority (in this section and the next three succeeding sections referred to as the Appeal Authority).

The Appeal Authority shall be appointed for a term not exceeding three years, but he may be reappointed or may be at any time removed from office by the Governor-General for disability, neglect of duty, or misconduct, or may at any time resign his office by writing addressed to the Minister.

No person shall be capable of acting as the Appeal Authority in relation to any appeal if he is financially interested, directly or indirectly (otherwise than as a member of an incorporated company in which there are more than twenty members), in the industry to which the appeal relates:

Provided that no act or proceeding of the Appeal Authority shall be invalidated in consequence of the subsequent discovery that the Appeal Authority was incapacitated under this subsection.

The Governor-General may appoint such person as he thinks fit as the deputy of the Appeal Authority to act in any case of temporary absence of the Appeal Authority or in any matter in respect of which the Appeal Authority is incapacitated under the last preceding section.

While so acting any person appointed under this section may exercise all the powers of the Appeal Authority.

The appointment of any person under this section may be for such term, not exceeding the unexpired balance of the term of appointment of the Appeal Authority, as the Governor-General thinks fit, or may be for any specified period or periods of absence of the Appeal Authority, or may be in relation to any specified matter or matters or class of matters.

The provisions of the last preceding section and any other provisions of the principal Act relating to the Appeal Authority shall, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to every person appointed under this section.

The fact that any person purporting to act as deputy of the Appeal Authority exercises any power, duty, or function of the Appeal Authority shall be sufficient evidence of his authority so to do; and no person shall be concerned to inquire whether any occasion has arisen or continues requiring or authorizing him so to do, or be affected by notice that no such occasion has arisen.

For the purposes of any appeal to the Appeal Authority the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, shall, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply as if the Appeal Authority were a Commission of Inquiry appointed under that Act.

Except as provided in the principal Act or as may be provided by any regulations under the principal Act in relation to appeals from decisions of the Bureau, the Appeal Authority may regulate his own procedure in such manner as he thinks fit.

All appeals under section twenty-one of the principal Act shall after the passing of this Act be determined by the Appeal Authority, and all references to the Minister in the said section twenty-one shall hereafter be deemed to be references to the Industrial Efficiency Appeal Authority.

All appeals duly lodged under the said section twenty-one, but not determined before the passing of this Act, shall be determined by the Appeal Authority.

The said section twenty-one is hereby amended by repealing subsection three.

This section and the next three succeeding sections shall be read together with the Infants Act, 1908 (in those sections referred to as the principal Act), and shall be deemed to form part of Part III of that Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section eighteen of the principal Act, if the Judge making an order of adoption of any child over the age of twelve years is satisfied that it would not be desirable to require the consent of the child to the adoption, he may, if he thinks fit, dispense with the consent of the child.

No order of adoption made after the passing of this Act shall state whether or not the child therein referred to is an illegitimate child.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the principal Act or in any rules made thereunder, no order of adoption shall be deemed to be or to have been invalid by reason only that it failed to state whether the child therein referred to was legitimate or illegitimate.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (d) of section sixteen or paragraph (d) of section seventeen of the principal Act an order of adoption may be made in any case to which either of those paragraphs relates where the applicant is less than forty years older than the child sought to be adopted if the Judge hearing the application considers that such an order should be made.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Iron and Steel Industry Act, 1937 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section four of the principal Act, it shall be lawful for any person to mine for iron-ore to be used otherwise than in the manufacture of iron or steel for commercial purposes in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

Where any such iron-ore is situated in or on any lands that are for the time being subject to the Mining Act, 1926, mining operations in respect of such ore may be carried on pursuant to a mining privilege granted subject to the special conditions imposed by section thirty-seven of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1941, and not otherwise.

In any case to which the last preceding subsection does not apply, a permit to mine for iron-ore as aforesaid may be granted by the Minister, subject to such terms and conditions (if any) as he thinks necessary to ensure that no iron-ore produced under the authority of the permit will be used in the manufacture of iron or steel for commercial purposes. Any permit issued by the Minister under this section may be at any time revoked if the Minister is satisfied that any iron-ore produced thereunder has been or is intended to be used in contravention of the terms or conditions of the permit.

No permit issued by the Minister under the authority of this section shall be deemed to confer on the holder any rights of property in or over any land to which the permit relates.

Section one hundred and eighty-eight of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1927, is hereby amended by inserting, after paragraph (e), the following paragraph:—

This section and the next two succeeding sections shall be read together with and deemed part of the Land Act, 1924 (in those sections referred to as the principal Act).

Section thirty-nine of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1941, is hereby amended by adding to subsection two thereof the following paragraphs:—

The said section thirty-nine is hereby further amended by omitting from subsection four the word “three”, and substituting the word “four”.

The powers of the Land Settlement Board shall not be affected by any vacancy in the membership thereof.

The person appointed under paragraph (h) of subsection one of the said section thirty-nine, as amended by this section, shall be a member of the Board for all purposes connected with the settlement of discharged servicemen under the Small Farms Act, 1932–33, but for no other purpose whatsoever.

Except as provided in the next succeeding subsection the person appointed under paragraph (h) aforesaid shall be appointed for a term of five years, but may from time to time be reappointed, or may be at any time removed from office by the Governor-General for disability, insolvency, neglect of duty, or misconduct, or may at any time resign his office by writing addressed to the Minister.

If the member appointed under paragraph (h) aforesaid dies, is removed from office, or resigns, the vacancy so created shall be filled in the manner in which the appointment to the vacant office was originally made. The person so appointed shall be appointed for the residue of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.

Unless he sooner vacates his office as provided in the last preceding subsection, every member appointed under paragraph (h) aforesaid shall continue in office until his successor comes into office, notwithstanding that the term for which he was appointed may have expired.

Section one hundred and five of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsections one and two thereof, and substituting the following subsections:—

Section ten of the Land Drainage Act, 1908, is hereby amended by repealing subsection five thereof.

This section and the next three succeeding sections shall be read together with and deemed part of the Law Practitioners Act, 1931 (in those sections referred to as the principal Act).

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section four of the principal Act no person shall be qualified to be admitted and enrolled as a barrister of the Court upon the ground that he is a person of the description specified in paragraph (e) of subsection two of that section (as enacted by section forty-five of the Law Practitioners Amendment Act, 1935):

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply with respect to any person who on or before the last day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-three, is enrolled as a solicitor of the Court, or is qualified to be admitted and enrolled as such, or would be so qualified if he were of the age of twenty-one years.

Subsection two of section four of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section five of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Subsection two of section twelve of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section thirteen of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Any moneys in a fund established, whether before or after the passing of this Act, pursuant to section forty-three of the Law Practitioners Amendment Act, 1935, may be used for the purpose of affording pecuniary or other assistance to any person in need of such assistance who has at any time been a member of the Society which has established the fund or who is the wife or the widow or a child of a person who has at any time been a member of that Society.

The provisions of section three of the Local Authorities (Members’ Contracts) Act, 1934, as to the disqualification of persons from being elected or appointed to be or from being a member of a local authority, shall not apply with respect to any interest in any payment that has been or may hereafter be received by way of compensation under the Public Works Act, 1928, for any loss, damage, or injury suffered by reason of the exercise of any power under that Act.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Meat-export Control Act, 1921–22 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

In addition to the members of the New Zealand Meat-producers Board appointed pursuant to section two of the principal Act the Governor-General may from time to time, on the recommendation of the New Zealand Dairy Board, established under the Dairy-produce Act, 1923, appoint a member as the representative of the dairy-producers of New Zealand. Every such member shall be appointed for a term of two years, but may at any time be removed from office by the Governor-General for inefficiency, disability, insolvency, neglect of duty, or misconduct, or may at any time resign his office by writing addressed to the Governor-General, or may from time to time be reappointed on the expiry of any term of his appointment.

The Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum established under section four of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Act, 1930, may in any financial year out of its funds expend for purposes not authorized by the said Act or by the rules of the Board any sum or sums not amounting in the aggregate to more than twenty pounds.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Opticians Act, 1928.

Every person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty pounds who, not being a registered medical practitioner or a registered optician, sells or offers to sell spectacles to any other person in respect of whom he has employed any methods for the estimation of errors of refraction of the human eye.

Section seven of the River Boards Amendment Act, 1913, is hereby repealed.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Small Farms Act, 1932–33 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

Section two of the Small Farms Amendment Act, 1940, is hereby amended by omitting the word “soldier”, and substituting the word “serviceman”.

All references to discharged soldiers in the principal Act and in any amendment thereof shall hereafter be read as references to discharged servicemen.

Section three of the Thomas Cawthron Trust Act, 1924, is hereby amended by inserting, after paragraph (c), the following paragraph:—

Section four of the said Act is hereby amended by omitting from the proviso to subsection one the word “three”, and substituting the word “two”.

This section shall be read together with and deemed part of the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1922 (in this section referred to as the principal Act).

For the purposes of section eight of the principal Act and the Second Schedule thereto the permanent loss of the use of one eye by a worker who is already permanently without the use of the other eye shall be deemed to be the permanent loss of the use of both eyes:

Provided that any sum previously received by the worker by way of compensation in respect of that other eye shall be taken into account in estimating the compensation.