For the purpose of prescribing standards of fitness with which any house, whether erected before or after the passing of this Act, must comply, the Governor-General, on the recommendation of the Minister of Works and the Minister of Health, may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for or with respect to—

If a local authority is of opinion that any house does not comply with any regulations applicable thereto made under the last preceding section, it may cause to be served on the owner of the house a notice setting out particulars in respect of which the house is deficient and requiring the owner within a specified time (being not less than one month after the service of the notice)—

The notice shall also set out an address at which notice of any appeal may be served on the local authority.

In determining for the purposes of this section whether it is practicable to make any house comply with the regulations, regard shall be had to the estimated cost of the repairs, alterations, or works necessary to make it so comply and the value which it is estimated that the house would have if those repairs, alterations, or works were completed.

A copy of every notice under this section shall be served on all persons having any registered estate or interest in the land whereon the house to which it refers is situate and on the occupier of the house.

Every owner who without lawful excuse fails to comply with the requirements of any notice under this section within the time specified therein commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and to a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence continues.

In any case where the owner of a house is required by a notice under the last preceding section to pull down the house, or in any case where the local authority is of opinion that any repairs, alterations, or works which the owner is required to carry out cannot be carried out while the house is occupied, the local authority may cause to be served on the occupier of the house a notice in writing requiring the occupier to vacate the house within a specified time, being not less than fourteen days after the service of the notice.

Every person who after the expiration of the time specified in any notice under this section inhabits or occupies the house to which the notice relates or permits or suffers any person to inhabit or occupy the house, unless the local authority has first certified in writing that the house has been made to comply with the regulations under section four of this Act, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and to a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence continues:

Provided that no offence shall be deemed to be committed under this section unless suitable alternative accommodation has been offered to the occupier at or after the time of the service of the notice and he has failed or refused to accept it.

In any case where after the expiration of the time specified in any notice under this section any person continues to inhabit or occupy the house to which the notice relates after suitable alternative accommodation has been offered to him the local authority shall have, and may exercise in its own name, the like remedies for obtaining possession of the house as are by law given to a landlord against a lessee or tenant whose term is expired or rent is in arrear:

Provided that nothing in the Fair Rents Act, 1936, shall apply in respect of any proceedings under this section:

Provided also that, notwithstanding that the value of the house and the land appurtenant thereto, or the rental therefor, is above the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court, the remedies may be exercised by proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court.

Any expenses incurred by a local authority in obtaining possession of any house which are not paid by the occupier within one month after he has vacated the house shall be payable by the owner thereof to the local authority.

Within fourteen days after any notice under section five of this Act is served on the owner of any house, the owner or any other person having an estate or interest in the land whereon the house is situate may give to the local authority notice of appeal.

Pending the determination of the appeal the notice shall be suspended.

Every such appeal shall be heard and determined in the Magistrate’s Court nearest to the public office of the local authority before a Magistrate alone, and the Court, for the purposes of hearing and determining the appeal, shall have all the powers vested in it in its ordinary civil jurisdiction.

The procedure for the institution, hearing, and determination of the appeal shall be in accordance with regulations to be made under this Act, and, subject to those regulations or so far as they do not extend, shall be in accordance with the ordinary procedure of the Court.

On any such appeal the Court may award such costs as it deems just either in favour of or against the appellant.

On any such appeal the Court may cancel or vary the notice, or may confirm it, either absolutely or partially or subject to such conditions and modifications as the Court deems just, and the decision of the Court shall be final.

If any owner on whom a notice is served under section five of this Act fails or refuses to comply with the requirements of the notice within the time specified therein, the local authority may carry out such repairs, alterations, or works (including the demolition of the house) as may be necessary to comply with those requirements.

All moneys expended by the local authority under this section and a sum equal to five per centum of the moneys so expended to cover the cost of supervision by the servants of the local authority, together with interest on those amounts calculated up to the date of payment thereof at the authorized rate, shall be payable by the owner to the local authority and shall be recoverable accordingly, except in the case of the demolition of a house which has been required by reason only of non-compliance with the provisions of the regulations relating to the space about houses or the drainage, sanitation, ventilation, lighting, or cleanliness of the land on which the house is situate.

The local authority may destroy or sell or otherwise dispose of any materials taken from the house, and in the case of the sale of any materials shall apply the proceeds thereof towards the expenses incurred under this section and pay the surplus (if any) to the owner.

The exercise by the local authority of the powers conferred by this section shall not relieve any person from liability to any penalty for failure to comply with the requirements of any notice under this Act.

The local authority may make advances to any owner on whom a notice is served under section five of this Act for the purpose of enabling him to comply in all respects with the requirements of the notice, or the local authority may, by agreement with the owner, itself comply with those requirements, and all moneys expended by the local authority pursuant to any such agreement, together with a sum equal to five per centum of the moneys so expended to cover the cost of supervision by the servants of the local authority, shall be deemed to be an advance for the purposes of this section.

The local authority and the owner may agree that the amount of any advance under this section, or of any moneys payable under the last preceding section, shall be payable to the local authority in one amount at a fixed time with interest at a rate not exceeding the authorized rate or by instalments extending over a period with interest as aforesaid. Such agreement may contain any incidental provisions and may provide for the earlier payment of instalments, or any of them, on terms to be mentioned in the agreement:

Provided that where the agreement makes no provision as aforesaid for early payment of instalments the local authority shall accept the whole of the unpaid instalments at any time with interest up to and including the date of payment.

Any such agreement may, where the moneys are payable in one amount, contain provisions for securing the payment thereof; and, where the moneys are payable by instalments, each such instalment shall for all purposes be deemed to be a rate, subject, nevertheless, to the following conditions:—

If any local authority fails or neglects to take such steps or do such acts under this Part of this Act as in the opinion of the Minister are necessary or desirable for the improvement of housing conditions in its district (either in respect of any particular houses or locality or generally), the Minister, after giving the local authority not less than one month’s notice of his intention so to do and considering any representations which the local authority may within the period of the notice make to him in relation to the matter, may take those steps or do those acts, and the cost thereof shall be determined by the Minister and, subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section, the amount of the cost and interest thereon calculated up to the date of payment at the rate at which the Corporation is for the time being lending under section twenty-nine of this Act shall be recoverable from the local authority in any Court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Crown or may be deducted from any moneys payable out of public moneys to that local authority:

Provided that, except with the consent of the local authority, the Minister shall not take any steps or do any acts pursuant to the provisions of this subsection in relation to any house which is situate on Native land within the meaning of the Native Land Act, 1931.

Any local authority may enter into an agreement with the Minister, containing such provisions as the parties thereto think fit, whereby the local authority authorizes the Minister to carry out its powers under the foregoing provisions of this Act for the purpose of improving housing conditions in the district of the local authority.

For the purposes of this section the Minister shall have all the powers and rights of the local authority under this Part of this Act, and shall, in the exercise of those powers and rights, be subject to the obligations to which a local authority is subject.

Any moneys expended by the Minister in doing or performing pursuant to the last preceding section any act or thing required of an owner under section five of this Act shall be paid out of the Housing Account. The amount thereof and a sum equal to five per centum of that amount to cover the cost of the supervision of the work, together with interest at the authorized rate, shall be paid by the owner to the local authority in whose district the land is situated either in one amount at a fixed time or by instalments extending over a number of years, as may be determined by the Minister.

Each local authority shall pay to the Corporation the amount of any moneys paid out of the Housing Account under the last preceding subsection in respect of owners whose lands are within the district of that local authority, together with interest calculated at the rate at which the Corporation is for the time being lending under section twenty-nine of this Act, either in one amount at a fixed time or by instalments over a number of years as may be determined by the Minister.

Particulars of all moneys payable by an owner under this section to any local authority shall be supplied by the Corporation to the local authority.

The provisions of subsections two and three of section nine of this Act shall apply in respect of the moneys payable to a local authority by an owner under this section as if those moneys were moneys recoverable by the local authority under section eight of this Act and the determination of the Minister under subsection one of this section as to the payment thereof were an agreement between the local authority and the owner.

Unless the total liability of the local authority under subsection two of this section has been previously satisfied, all moneys received by the local authority under this section shall, immediately on their receipt, be paid by the local authority into a separate account to be kept at the bank where the local fund is kept and shall be applied in or towards payment of the liability of the local authority under the said subsection two.

Any charge registered under the Statutory Land Charges Registration Act, 1928, in respect of any moneys payable by an owner under this section shall be in favour of the local authority and registration of the charge may be effected either by the Minister or by the local authority.

All moneys payable to the local authority by the owner of any house in respect of repairs, alterations, or works done on or to the house under this Part of this Act, or in respect of the costs of obtaining possession of the house, or in respect of advances made under this Part of this Act for the purpose of enabling the owner to comply with any requirements made thereunder as to the house, shall be a charge on the land whereon the house is or was erected.

Nothing in the Statutory Land Charges Registration Act, 1928, shall apply in respect of the charge hereby created in any case where the land is held under a business-site license or a residence-site license granted under the Mining Act, 1926, or under a lease granted pursuant to section forty-five or section forty-seven of that Act.

Every charge on land created by this Act shall, save as hereinafter provided, have priority over all existing or subsequent mortgages, charges, or encumbrances howsoever created, including mortgages, charges, and encumbrances in favour of the Crown. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other enactment, if any land subject to a charge created by this Act is also subject to a charge created by that other enactment, the charges shall rank equally with each other unless by virtue of that other enactment the charge created thereby would be deferred to the charge created by this Act.

Where any owner who is a trustee is served with a notice under section five of this Act he may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the instrument (if any) creating the trust,—

Where by or under this Part of this Act the owner of any house is required to do any act or thing and the owner fails or refuses to do that act or thing, any registered mortgagee of the land on which the house is situate, or, with the prior approval in writing of the local authority, the occupier of the house, may do the act or thing.

Notwithstanding any covenant or agreement whatsoever to the contrary, any expenses incurred by any mortgagee pursuant to this section shall be recoverable by the mortgagee from the owner as a debt due to the mortgagee by the owner or, on notice in writing to the mortgagor by the mortgagee, shall be deemed to be added to the principal sum owing under the mortgage and to be secured thereby, and if the mortgagor is not the owner, the amount so deemed to be added shall be recoverable by the mortgagor from the owner as a debt due to the mortgagor by the owner.

Notwithstanding any covenant or agreement whatsoever to the contrary, any expenses thereby incurred by the occupier shall be recoverable by the occupier from the owner as a debt due to the occupier by the owner, or may be deducted by the occupier from, or set off against, any rent then due or thereafter to become due by the occupier in respect of the house.

The exercise by a mortgagee or the occupier of the powers conferred by this section shall not relieve any person from liability to any penalty for failure to comply with the requirements of any notice under this Act.

The Governor-General may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Works and the Minister of Health, from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for the purpose of preventing overcrowding in houses.

Without limiting the general power hereinbefore conferred, it is hereby declared that regulations may be made under this section for all or any of the following purposes:—

It shall be the duty of each local authority to enforce such of the regulations made under this section as are in force in its district or in any parts of its district, and those regulations shall be enforceable in all respects as if they were by-laws made by the local authority, and all fines recovered for the breach thereof in proceedings conducted by or on behalf of the local authority shall be applied as if they were recovered in respect of the breach of by-laws.

Any regulations under the last preceding section may require or authorize local authorities to prepare and maintain a register of houses of any class or classes referred to or defined in the regulations, may contain provision for objections to and alterations of any such register, and may provide that any such register may be prima facie evidence of the contents thereof.

Every register prepared pursuant to any such regulations shall set out in respect of each house included in the register the particulars prescribed by the regulations.

A local authority may take under the Public Works Act, 1928, or purchase or otherwise acquire as for a public work duly authorized by that Act any land—

In any case where land is taken, purchased, or otherwise acquired by a local authority in pursuance of the provisions of the last preceding subsection, the local authority may take under the Public Works Act, 1928, or purchase or otherwise acquire as for a public work duly authorized under that Act any adjoining land which in the opinion of the local authority it is desirable to acquire in order to improve the locality by providing an allotment or allotments of a suitable size.

A local authority which has acquired any land in pursuance of this section may remove or demolish any buildings or other erections thereon and sell the erections so removed or the materials from the erections so demolished, and may sell any land so acquired upon or subject to such terms and conditions as the local authority thinks fit, and nothing in the provisions of section thirty-five of the Public Works Act, 1928, shall apply in respect of any such sale.

Where in the opinion of a local authority any area in the district of the local authority—

and the local authority is of opinion that it is desirable that the area be dealt with under this Part of this Act, the local authority may cause the area to be defined on a map and may present a petition to the Governor-General praying that the area so defined be constituted a reclamation area under this Part of this Act.

Before presenting any such petition the local authority shall be satisfied that, in so far as suitable accommodation for the persons who will be displaced by the clearance of the area does not already exist, arrangements can be made for the provision of such accommodation in advance of the displacements which will from time to time be necessary as the demolition of buildings in the area, or in different parts thereof, proceeds.

Not less than twenty-eight days before presenting any petition under this section the local authority shall cause notice to be given in each of two newspapers circulating in the locality describing the boundaries of the area and naming a convenient place where a copy of the petition and a plan of the area may be inspected at all reasonable times, and setting out that the petition will be presented to the Governor-General.

Not less than twenty-eight days before presenting any petition under this section, the local authority shall serve written notice of its intention so to do, together with a plan of the area, on the Town-planning Board.

Before presenting the petition the local authority shall take into consideration any objections made to it by or on behalf of any owner or mortgagee of any land situated in the area within twenty-one days after the last publication of the notice aforesaid.

The Governor-General may, if he thinks fit, on the receipt of a petition under the last preceding section proclaim the area defined by the local authority pursuant to subsection one of that section to be a reclamation area under this Part of this Act.

The Governor-General may at any time by Proclamation revoke a Proclamation under the provisions of subsection one of this section, and thereupon the area shall cease to be a reclamation area under this Part of this Act.

The local authority may take under the Public Works Act, 1928, or purchase or otherwise acquire as for a public work duly authorized by that Act any land, or any estate or interest in land, situated in the reclamation area or, if its acquisition is in the opinion of the local authority reasonably necessary for the satisfactory development or use of the reclamation area, any land, or any estate or interest in land, situated adjacent to or near the reclamation area.

The local authority may resubdivide and improve the reclamation area or any part thereof or any land adjacent to or near the reclamation area which has been acquired by the local authority pursuant to the last preceding section:

Provided that before the local authority carries out any resubdivision or improvement as aforesaid it shall obtain the approval of the Town-planning Board to its proposals as to the future use of the land.

In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the last preceding subsection, the local authority may in respect of any land taken, purchased, or otherwise acquired or vested pursuant to section twenty or section twenty-four hereof do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

For the purposes of this section any roads or streets may be closed under section twelve of the Land Act, 1924.

For the purpose of assisting a local authority to carry out any scheme for the resubdivision and improvement of any reclamation area under this Part of this Act, the Minister of Works may, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, enter into and carry out an agreement under section thirty-one of the Finance Act (No. 3), 1944, providing for the apportionment of the cost of carrying out the scheme and for any other matters referred to in the said section thirty-one.

The local authority may serve a notice in writing on the occupier of any building situate on any land which has been taken, purchased, or otherwise acquired pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act requiring him to vacate the building within a specified period not less than one month after the service of the notice.

Every person who after the expiration of the period specified in the notice as aforesaid inhabits or occupies the building, or permits or suffers any person to inhabit or occupy the building, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and to a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence continues:

Provided that no offence shall be deemed to be committed under this section unless alternative accommodation which in the opinion of an Inspector of Factories is suitable has been offered to the occupier after the service of the notice and he has failed or refused to accept it.

In any case where after the expiration of the time specified in any notice under this section any person continues to inhabit or occupy the house to which the notice relates after alternative accommodation which in the opinion of an Inspector of Factories is suitable has been offered to him the local authority shall have, and may exercise in its own name, the like remedies for obtaining possession of the house as are by law given to a landlord against a lessee or tenant whose term is expired or rent is in arrear:

Provided that nothing in the Fair Rents Act, 1936, shall apply in respect of any proceedings under this section:

Provided also that, notwithstanding that the value of the house and the land appurtenant thereto, or the rental therefor, is above the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court, the remedies may be exercised by proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section twelve of the Land Act, 1924, or in any other enactment, in any case where a road or street or part of a road or street in a reclamation area is closed the land comprised therein shall vest in the local authority for an estate in fee-simple.

Where any land is taken under the Public Works Act, 1928, pursuant to this Act, or where any land is taken under the Public Works Act, 1928, for housing purposes pursuant to section thirty-two of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1936, in determining the amount of compensation payable in respect of the land, the provisions of the Public Works Act, 1928, shall be read subject to the following provisions, namely:—

If it is proposed to tender any evidence that any house or other building is in a state of defective sanitation or is not in reasonably good repair, the respondent shall furnish to the Court and to the claimant a statement in writing of the respects in which the house or other building is alleged to be defective.

Where pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Act an owner has been required to demolish any house by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the regulations under this Act relating to the space about houses or the drainage, sanitation, ventilation, lighting, or cleanliness of the land on which the house is situate and the house has been demolished, whether by the owner, the local authority, or the Minister, the owner and every other person having any right, title, estate, or interest in the house or in the land whereon the house was erected shall be entitled to the full value of the house so demolished.

Where any claim for compensation arises under this section, the local authority of the district in which the house was situate shall be liable for the compensation (if any), and shall be deemed to be the respondent for the purposes of the Public Works Act, 1928.

In default of agreement between the parties, claims for compensation under this section shall be made and determined within the time and in the manner provided by the Public Works Act, 1928, and the provisions of that Act shall, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to claims under this section:

Provided that in determining the amount of compensation payable the provisions of the Public Works Act, 1928, shall be read subject to the provisions set out in paragraphs (b) to (e) of subsection one of the last preceding section.

Section three hundred and thirty-two of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, is hereby amended by repealing subsection ten, as amended by section fifty-nine of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1936, and substituting the following new subsection:—

Except as provided in the said subsection ten, as enacted by the last preceding subsection, the provisions of the said section three hundred and thirty-two shall apply to the disposal, as one allotment, of, or to the issue of a certificate of title in respect of, any part of any land in a borough notwithstanding that that part was, before the commencement of that section, separately fenced and had erected thereon a dwelling or other substantial building, or was separately occupied.

Section fifty-nine of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1936, is hereby consequentially amended by repealing subsection three.

Any local authority may from time to time by special order and without taking the steps prescribed by sections nine to thirteen of the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926, raise a special loan for the purposes of this Act.

Interest-moneys received by a local authority in respect of any advances made under section nine of this Act out of moneys raised by it by way of special loan for the purposes of this Act shall be applied in or towards payment of the interest or other annual charges in respect of that loan.

The Corporation may from time to time, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, make loans out of the Housing Account to any local authority to enable it to make advances under Part I of this Act.

The amount of any such loan may be paid to the local authority by such instalments and at such times as may be agreed upon between the Corporation and the local authority, and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1926, the local authority may issue a debenture or debentures for the whole amount of the loan at the time when the first instalment thereof is paid to the local authority.

The Corporation may from time to time, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, pay out of the Housing Account any expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act and in the exercise of any of the powers of the Minister under this Act.

The Minister may from time to time, either generally or particularly, delegate to any person any of the powers conferred on him by this Act, including the power of delegation conferred by this section.

Subject to any general or special directions given by the Minister or other person by whom the powers are delegated as aforesaid, the person to whom any powers are so delegated may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been directly conferred on him by this Act and not by delegation.

Every person purporting to act pursuant to any delegation under this section shall be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation unless and until the contrary is proved.

Any delegation under this section may be made to a specified person or to persons of a specified class, or may be made to the holder for the time being of a specified office or to the holders of offices of a specified class.

The delegation by the Minister or by any other person of any powers conferred on him by or by virtue of this Act shall not prevent the personal exercise of those powers by the Minister or by any such other person.

For the purposes of this Act any persons authorized in writing in that behalf by a local authority or by the Minister may at all reasonable times enter any house or land and inspect the same, and, with the assistance of such workmen as are necessary, may take such measures and carry out therein or thereon such repairs, alterations, or works as may be authorized under or pursuant to this Act:

Provided that the power of entry conferred hereby shall not be exercised except by arrangement with the occupier or after forty-eight hours’ previous notice of a desire to enter the premises has been given.

Every person authorized in writing as aforesaid shall produce his authority in writing when so required by any person on whose premises he enters in the course of his duty.

Every person who falsely represents himself to be a person authorized in writing as aforesaid commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifty pounds.

Every person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds who obstructs, hinders, impedes, resists, or opposes any person who is exercising or attempting to exercise any powers conferred on him by or pursuant to this Act.

If in performing or attempting to perform any duty imposed on him by or pursuant to this Act the owner of any house is in any way obstructed or hindered by the occupier or by any other person, the occupier or other person shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day on which he obstructs or hinders the owner.

If the occupier or the agent of the owner of any house on being requested by or on behalf of the local authority or the Minister to state the name and address of the owner of the house refuses or wilfully omits to disclose or wilfully misstates the same or, if he pays the rent to some person other than the owner, refuses or wilfully omits to disclose or wilfully misstates the name and address of that other person, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

Any notice, authority, or other document given by the Minister shall be sufficiently authenticated if it is signed by the Minister or by any person on behalf of and by direction of the Minister.

Every notice, authority, or other document purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Minister shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to have been duly signed by or on behalf of and by direction of the Minister.

Any notice required to be served on any person for the purposes of this Act may be served by delivering it to that person or by posting it by registered letter addressed to that person at his last known place of abode or business in New Zealand. A notice so posted shall be deemed to have been served at the time when the registered letter would in the ordinary course of post be delivered.

If any notice is required to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises and that owner or occupier or his place of abode or business is unknown, or if the owner or occupier is absent from New Zealand, or is deceased, the notice, addressed to the owner or occupier of the premises, as the case may require, may be served on the occupier thereof or left with some inmate of his abode, or, if there is no occupier, may be put up on some conspicuous part of the premises. It shall not be necessary in any such notice to name the owner or occupier of the premises.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as may in his opinion be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act and for the due administration thereof.

All regulations made under this Act shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days of the making thereof if Parliament is then in session, and, if not, then within fourteen days of the commencement of the next ensuing session.

Any regulations under this Act may apply generally throughout New Zealand or within any specified part or parts thereof (whether including the whole of the district of any local authority or not) or within the whole of New Zealand, except such part or parts as may be specified in the regulations.

Any regulations under this Act may apply generally in respect of all houses or all houses of any class or classes therein referred to or defined, or may apply in respect of all houses except those of any class therein referred to or defined.

Any regulations under this Act may leave any matter or thing to be approved, determined, applied, dispensed with, prohibited, or regulated by the Minister or by a local authority or any officer thereof or any other person.

In so far as the by-laws of any local authority are inconsistent with or repugnant to any regulations under this Act in force in the district of that local authority, the by-laws shall be deemed to be subject to the regulations.

Section three hundred and five of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, is hereby repealed:

Provided that all matters and proceedings commenced under that section, and pending or in progress at the commencement of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under the provisions of that section as if this Act had not been passed.

Except so far as may be specifically provided in this Act, nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to annul or derogate from the provisions of any other Act or of any regulations, rules, or by-laws made thereunder.