This Act may be cited as the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Amendment Act, 1946, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act, 1943 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

In any proceedings before a Magistratefor an offence against the principal Act the Magistrate may require any person to be examined as a witness.

A person so required to be examined shall not be excused from being so examined, or from answering any question put to him in relation to any offence against the principal Act, on the ground that his evidence will tend to incriminate him.

If any such person refuses to be examined, or to answer any such question as aforesaid, he shall be deemed to be a witness appearing under subpœna and refusing without lawful cause or excuse to be sworn or to give evidence.

Every person required to be examined asaforesaid in any proceedings in relation to any offence against the principal Act who on the examination makes to the best of his knowledge true and faithful discovery of all matters whereon he is so examined in relation to that offence and thereby givesevidence tending to incriminate himself, shall, on application, receive from the Magistrate before whomhe is so examined a certificate in writing that he has made that true and faithful discovery as aforesaid.

If that person receives such a certificate (but not otherwise) he shall be freed from all criminal prosecutions and penal actions, and from all penalties, forfeitures, and punishments, to which he was liable for anything done before the time of the examination in respect of the matters in relation to which he is so examined:

Provided that no person who has received any excess consideration as mentioned in the nextsucceeding section shall, by reason of his receipt of any such certificate, be freed from prosecution or from the fine provided for by the next succeeding section unless he has paid in the same manner as a fine the amount of that excess consideration or the value thereof as assessed by a Magistrate, or has secured such payment to the satisfaction of a Magistrate. All moneys so paid shall be deemed to be paid as a fine and shall be dealt with accordingly.

Where, upon the conviction of any person before a Magistrate of an offence against the principal Act in relation to any transaction to which Part III of that Act applies, the Magistrate is satisfied that any consideration (hereinafter referredto as the excess consideration) has been received by that person in contravention of the principal Act(whether before or after the passing of this Act, but not before the twelfth day of June, nineteen hundred and forty-six, being the date of the making ofthe Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Emergency Regulations 1946), the Magistrate, in addition toor instead of imposing any other punishment, shall fine that person an amount equal to the amount or value of the excess consideration so received by him.

Where in any such case the Magistrate is satisfied that the whole or any part of the excess consideration so received by the convicted person has been given paid, or transferred by any other person who has ’received a certificate under the last preceding section that he has made true and faithful discovery in relation to the offence as mentioned in that section, the Magistrate, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case he deems it just and equitable so to do, may make an order authorizing the payment to that other person of such amount as the Magistrate thinks fit, not exceeding the amount or value of the excess consideration so given, paid, or transferred by that other person.

All amounts so authorized to be paid shall without further appropriation than this section, be paid accordingly out of the Consolidated Fund:

Provided that in no case shall the total amount so paid exceed the amount recovered in respect of the fine imposed on the convicted person under this section.

Without limiting the grounds specified in section twenty-seven of the Land Agents Act, 1921–22, it is hereby declared that a license under that Act may be cancelled under that section if the licensee or any partner, servant, or agent of the licensee is convicted of an offence against the principal Act.

Section fifty-four of the principal Actis hereby amended by repealing paragraph (b) of subsection two, andsubstituting the following paragraph:—

The foregoing provisions of this Act are in substitution for the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Emergency Regulations 1946, and those regulations are hereby accordingly revoked.

No proceedings for the recovery of any moneys under Regulation three of the regulations hereby revoked shall be commenced after the passing of this Act, and no such proceedings that are pending or in progress shall be continued after the passing of this Act.

Where, as part of any transaction to which Part III of the principal Act applies, the parties to the transaction enter into a contract or agreement (whether in writing or otherwise)—

Part III of the principal Act shall apply with respect to that contract or agreement as well as to the rest of the transaction of which it forms part, whether that contract or agreement is entered into before or after the rest of the transaction.

No application for the consent of the Court to any contract or agreement to which this section applies shall be granted if the purchase-money, rent, contract price, or other consideration exceeds such amount as the Committee deems fair and reasonable, having regard to the prices and costs ruling at the date of the contract or agreement.

For the purposes of this section the term “personal property” means any property of any kind other than a freehold or leasehold estate or interest in land, and includes any debt, any thing in action, and any other right or interest.

For the purposes of this section, where two contracts or agreements entered into by the same parties are not expressly or impliedly entered into as parts of the same transaction they shall nevertheless be deemed to be entered into as parts of the same transaction—

For the purpose of ascertaining whether any contract or agreement is entered into by the parties to any transaction within the meaning of this section,—

Where the Land Sales Committee that is considering any application for the consent of the Court to any transaction is satisfied that any moneys have at any time within two years before the date of the transaction been paid or agreed to be paidby the purchaser or lessee to the vendor or lessorin respect of the land to which the transaction relates, whether as rent, or as consideration for the granting of any lease, or as consideration for the granting of any option, or otherwise, and the Committee is not satisfied that there was adequate consideration for any such payment, the Committee, if it makes an order consenting to the transaction, may make the order subject to the condition that so muchof the moneys so paid or agreed to be paid as the Committee specifies in the order shall be deemed to have been paid or agreed to be paid as part of the consideration for the transaction.

For the purpose of ascertaining whether any payment has been made or agreed to be made by any party to a transaction to any other party to the transaction within the meaning of this section,—

If any Magistrate is satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground to believe that an offence against Part III of the principal Act has been committed by any person, the Magistrate may, in his discretion, grant a warrant under his hand by virtue whereof it shall be lawful for any constable, for the purpose of obtaining any information or evidence in relation to the commission of any such offence by that person, to do from time to time all or any of the following things:—

Any person who is exercising or attempting to exercise any power or function under this section may be accompanied by such other person or persons as may be specified in that behalf in the warrant.

Every person commits an offence against the principal Act who—

Every person who aids, abets, counsels, or procures or is in any way knowingly concerned with the commission of an offence under this section shall be deemed to have committed an offence against this Act.

Where any transaction is, as to part ofthe land affected thereby, a transaction to which Part III of the principal Act applies and is also, as to any other part of the land affected thereby, a transaction which is exempted from Part III underparagraph (i) of subsection two of section forty-three of the principal Act as being a transaction for which the approval, consent, or permission of the Minister of Lands or of a Land Board, or of both that Minister and a Land Board, is required under any Act or regulations, the Land Sales Committee may, if it thinks fit, deal with any application for the consent of the Court to the transaction as if Part III of the principal Act applied to the whole of the transaction, but as if the Committee were bound by the provisions of any Act or regulations by which the Minister of Lands or a Land Board would have been bound in considering any part of the transaction.

Where the Land Sales Committee makes an order consenting to the whole of any such transaction it shall not be necessary to obtain the approval, consent, or permission of the Minister of Lands or of a Land Board to any part of the transaction.

Section forty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended, as from the commencement of that Act, as follows:—

Section forty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “within one month after the date of the transaction”, the words “or, in the case of a transaction relating to land situated in the Chatham Islands, within three months after the date of the transaction”.

Where any trustee is about to enter as vendor or lessor into any transaction to which Part III of the principal Act applies and which the trustee has power to enter into, application for the consent of the Court to the proposed transaction may be made in accordance with section forty-eight of the principal Act, notwithstanding that the name of the proposed purchaser or lessee is not known.

In any such case the Land Sales Committee, if it thinks fit, may make a provisional order consenting to the proposed transaction subject to the approval by the Committee of the purchaser or lessee, and after the transaction has been entered into, if the Committee approves the purchaser or lessee, may make a final order consenting to the transaction.

A transaction to which section eighty ofthe Rating Act, 1925, or section eighty of the Property Law Act, 1908, or section one hundred and twelveof the Land Transfer Act, 1915, or any other enactment providing for a minimum or fixed consideration, relates may be completed in accordance with the consent of the Court under Part III of the principal Act, notwithstanding that the consideration consented to by the Court for the transaction may be less than the minimum or fixed consideration provided for by that section or other enactment.

Where by virtue of this section any land is transferred or conveyed under section eighty of the Rating Act, 1925, for a consideration that is less than the sum required to pay the arrears of rates and the costs incurred, the balance shall cease to be charged on the land but may be recovered as a debt due by every person who was liable therefor immediately before the transfer or conveyance of the land.

Section ten of the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Amendment Act, 1945, is hereby amended by inserting, before the word “widow”, the words “wife or”.

Any Land Sales Committee may, of its ownmotion or on application by the Crown Representativeor by any party to the proceedings, refer any matte arising in any proceedings to the Court for its directions.

In any such case the Court, in its discretion, may give such directions or make such order as it thinks fit, and may before doing so receive such evidence and representations from such persons as it thinks fit (whether they are parties to the proceedings or not):

Provided that the parties and the Crown representative shall be given an opportunity of being present when the Court receives any such evidence or representations, and of being heard thereon.