Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say): commencemeat. 1. This Act may be cited as the Debenture Conversion Act 1904 Short title and and shall be deemed and taken to have come into operation on the first day of January One thousand nine hundred and four. 2. In this Act the word "Debentures" or "Debenture" unless in- Debentures. consistent with the context means Debentures or Debenture issued under this Act. 3. The Governor in Council may at any time cause Debentures to Issue of be made out by the Treasurer of Victoria for any amounts of money not Debentures. exceeding in the whole the sum of Four hundred and fifty-seven thousand pounds in the manner and subject to the provisions hereinafter specified and contained. Debentures. 4. All Debentures and the coupons relating thereto shall be made Form of out in the Treasury in such method and form as the Governor in Council Comp. No. 1800, may direct and may contain one common sum or different sums as the s. 3. principal moneys. numbered. 5. (1) All Debentures shall be signed by the Treasurer of Victoria How to be signed or by some other person in that behalf appointed by the Governor in registered and Council who shall sign on behalf of the said Treasurer; and such Debentures shall be registered in the office of the Auditor-General and shall be numbered consecutively beginning with number one and progressing arithmetically by units. (2) Until such Debentures are sold out as hereinafter provided they shall be deposited with the Trustees of the Trust Fund in substitution of the Debentures issued under The Stock Conversion Act 1878 which having matured due shall be forthwith cancelled and destroyed by the Auditor-General as provided by the Cancelled Debentures Act 1902. No 1801. interest charge 6. (1) The principal sums raised in pursuance of this Act and also Principal and the interest thereon shall be chargeable upon and paid out of the con- able on consolidsolidated revenue of Victoria which is hereby specially appropriated for ated revenue. the purpose. (2) The principal sum of each Debenture shall if not previously paid be paid at such place as may be specified in any such Debenture at any time after thirty years from the date of the Debenture upon six months' previous notice being given in the Government Gazette, but all Debentures issued under this Act shall be paid on a date not later than the first day of January One thousand nine hundred and fifty-four. (3) Any Debenture may with the consent of the holder thereof be paid off at the par face value thereof with interest thereon to date of payment at any time previous to the due date thereof. (4) Every Debenture shall be payable to the bearer thereof and shall pass by delivery only and without any assessment or indorsement and the bearer of every Debenture shall have the same rights and remedies as if he were expressly named therein. Date of Debentures and 7. Every Debenture shall bear date the first day of January One rate of interest. thousand nine hundred and four or such subsequent date as the Governor in Council may direct and shall bear interest payable at such times and at such places as may be specified in such Debentures at the rate of Three pounds per centum per annum in respect of the principal moneys mentioned therein. Sale of Defaced Debentures may be exchanged. Provision for &c. Cancelling of discharged Debentures. Counterfeiting Debentures to be forgery. How moneys raised dealt with. 8. The Treasurer of Victoria with the consent of the said Trustees may under such regulations, at such times and places, in such sums, on such conditions, at such prices, and in such manner as the Governor in Council may direct, offer or cause to be offered for sale all or any Debentures. 9. Where any Debenture is defaced by accident the said Treasurer may cancel the same and cause a new Debenture to be made in the Treasury in lieu thereof and such cancelled Debenture shall be filed in the Treasury; and such new Debenture shall have the like currency and be in all respects subject to the same rules methods and continuance and bear the same number date and principal sum and rate of interest as such cancelled Debenture. 10. Upon proof being made before a Judge of the Supreme Court by affidavit of any credible person that any Debenture held by him the number and sum whereof shall be specified by him has been lost or accidentally burnt or otherwise destroyed before the same shall have been paid off, and upon such Judge certifying that he is satisfied with such proof, the Treasurer may cause a new Debenture to be made in the Treasury bearing the same number date principal sum and rate of interest as the Debenture so lost or destroyed and to be delivered to such person upon his giving sufficient security to the Treasurer to indemnify the Treasury against any double payment if the missing Debenture at any time thereafter be presented for payment. 11. All Debentures which are paid off and discharged and all defaced Debentures as aforesaid shall be cancelled, and after being so cancelled shall be transmitted by the Treasurer to the Auditor-General, who after having audited and allowed the accounts thereof shall cause all such Debentures to be burnt or otherwise destroyed. 12. Every person who forges fabricates or counterfeits wholly or in part any paper writing or instrument purporting to be a Debenture or a coupon, or who forges counterfeits alters adds to or obliterates or wilfully mutilates or defaces any word letter or figure in or upon any such Debenture or coupon, or who without proper authority fills up with any word letter or figure any blank space in or upon any such Debenture or coupon whether issued or not and whether wholly or partly made under this Act, or who utters passes or negotiates or attempts to utter pass or negotiate any such forged fabricated counterfeited altered added to obliterated wilfully mutilated or defaced or filled up Debenture or coupon as aforesaid knowing the same to be so shall be guilty of felony, and shall be liable to the extreme punishment applicable by law to the crime of forgery. 13. All such sums of money as are raised by the sale of Debentures shall and may be applied only for or towards paying off the indebtedness of the Treasurer on account of the Trust Funds, and the certificate or certificates issued for such indebtedness shall to that extent be reduced accordingly. STAMPS ACT 1904. 4 Edw. VII. No. 1902. An Act to amend the Stamps Acts. BE [6th September, 1904.] E it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say): construction. 1. This Act may be cited as the Stamps Act 1904 and shall be short title and read and construed as one with Part II. and Part III. of the Stamps Nos. 1140 and Act 1890 which Act and the Stamps Act 1892 and this Act may be 1274. cited together as the Stamps Acts. s. 37 No. 1140. 2. For section thirty-seven of the Stamps Act 1890 there shall be Amendment of substituted the following section, namely: sellers of duty 37. (1) The Minister may appoint any person in the Public Appointment of Service of Victoria to sell and distribute stamps and forms impressed stamps. with stamps at any place named in the appointment. Any such appointment may at any time be revoked by the Minister. (2) The Comptroller of Stamps may authorize any person or class of persons in the Public Service of Victoria to sell and distribute stamps and forms impressed with stamps at any specified place subject to the consent of the Minister administering the department in which the person so authorized is employed. Any such authorization may at any time be revoked by the Comptroller of Stamps. (3) The Minister may, pursuant to any arrangement made between the Government of the Commonwealth and the Government of Victoria, authorize any person or class of persons in the service of the Commonwealth to sell and distribute stamps and forms impressed with stamps. Any such authorization may at any time be revoked by the Minister. (4) Any manager of a bank or branch bank and any barrister and solicitor or any other person may sell and distribute stamps and forms impressed with stamps if so authorized by the Minister in writing. (5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Stamps Acts it shall be lawful for the persons so appointed or authorized to sell and distribute without a licence stamps and forms impressed with stamps. (6) In this section " Public Service" includes the Railway Service the Police Force and Officers of the Parliament. Repeal of s. 48 of No. 1140. Amendment of section 66 of No. 1140. Stamping of instruments Ch. 39 s. 15. 3. Section forty-eight of the Stamps Act 1890 is hereby repealed. 4. For section sixty-six of the Stamps Act 1890 there shall be substituted the following section namely: 66. (1) Save where other express provision is made in the Stamps after execution. Acts, any unstamped or insufficiently stamped instrument may be See 54 & 55 Vict. stamped after the execution thereof on payment of the unpaid duty and a penalty of Five pounds and also by way of further penalty where the unpaid duty exceeds Ten pounds, of interest on such duty at the rate of Eight pounds per centum per annum from the day upon which the instrument was first executed up to the time when the amount of interest is equal to the unpaid duty. See 58 & 59 Vict. How payment of duty certified or denoted. Evidence. See No. 1140 Vict. s. 117. (2) In the case of such instruments as are chargeable with ad valorem duty the following provision shall have effect: (a) The instrument unless it is written upon duly stamped material shall be duly stamped with the proper ad valorem duty before the expiration of one month after it is first executed or after it has been first received in Victoria in case it is first executed at any place out of Victoria, unless the opinion of the Comptroller of Stamps or the Collector of Imposts with respect to the amount of duty with which the instrument is chargeable has before such expiration been required under the provisions of the Stamps Acts: (b) Where the opinion of the Comptroller of Stamps or the Collector of Imposts with respect to any such instrument has been required, the instrument shall be stamped in accordance with the assessment of the Comptroller of Stamps or the Collector of Imposts within fourteen days after notice of the assessment. (3) The Minister may if he think fit at any time after the first execution of any instrument mitigate or remit any penalty payable on stamping. (4) The payment of any penalty payable on stamping is to be denoted on the instrument by a particular stamp. 5. Notwithstanding the provisions in sections thirty-five and one hundred and fifteen of the Stamps Act 1890 and in section thirty-five of the Stamps Act 1892 that the Collector of Imposts shall give receipts for money or cash paid to him for duties payable on any instruments, the payment of duties shall be certified or denoted on the instruments by impressed stamps only, and it shall not be necessary for such Collector to give receipts for any such payment. 6. Any document or instrument to which the order of the Governor in Council authorized by section thirty-five of the Stamps Act 1890 applies and in respect of which duty is payable by law, may be used in evidence if it is duly stamped with an impressed stamp or stamps. s. 91 of No. 1140. 7. In section ninety-one of the Stamps Act 1890 the words "and Amendment of shall not in any other case be stamped with an impressed stamp shall not apply to receipts implied or expressed in instruments to be registered in the Office of the Registrar-General or the Office of Titles, which instruments may be stamped after execution as provided in section sixty-six of the Stamps Act 1890 as re-enacted in this Act. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1904. 4 Edw. VII. No. 1903. An Act to amend the Local Government Act 1903. [6th September, 1904.] E it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say): 1. This Act may be cited as the Local Government Act 1904. Short title. section 377 of 2. In paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of section three hundred Amendment of and seventy-seven of the Local Government Act 1903 after the word No. 1893. 66 par there shall be added the words for all stock for which the Treasurer was paid par by the council but no other." SURPLUS REVENUE ACT 1904. 4 Edw. VII. No. 1904. An Act relating to the Surplus Revenue of the Financial Year ended on the thirtieth day of June One thousand nine hundred and four. [6th September, 1904.] STATISTICS ACT 1904. 4 Edw. VII. No. 1905. An Act to provide for the Collection and Furnishing of Statistical Returns and Information. [6th September, 1904.] WHARFAGE AND HARBORS RATES ACT 1904. 4 Edw. VII. No. 1906. An Act to amend Sections One hundred and ten and One hundred and eleven of the |