Adjustment of rights on alterations being made in boards, etc.

Returns to be furnished by board.

Holdings rateable.

if the board so appointed had been originally appointed the board of the district.

51. (1.) The Governor may, on the exercise of any power conferred by sections forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, and fifty of this Act, or on the constitution of a board for a district or on a district being divided or re-divided into wards, or the wards or any of them being abolished, or a change being made in the number of members of a board for any district or ward, by order in council

(a) transfer, vest, or apportion any property, assets, or liabilities affected in such way as he may deem just;

(b) declare and direct whether and when a new election of members shall be held for any district or ward, and whether any and which existing members shall go out of office, and at what time;

(c) order, settle, adjust, and finally determine any rights, liabilities, questions, and matters which may arise

in consequence of any such power being exercised or change made as aforesaid.

(2.) Every such order in council shall have effect as if it were part of this Act.

52. The board shall, within a month after the expiration of every financial year, forward to the Minister a statement in writing, in the prescribed form, of

(a) the rates levied by the board;

(b) the rates collected;

(c) the rates not collected;

(d) the manner in which the rates and other moneys received by the board have been expended.

PART V.-FUNDS OF BOARDS.

(1.)-Rates.

53. Every holding within a district shall, except as herein provided, be rateable:

Provided that public reserves and holdings within any municipal district or townsite shall not be rateable.

54. (1.) The board shall cause a book to be kept to be Rate book. called the "rate book," according to the prescribed form, and

shall enter therein

(a) all rateable holdings within the district, and in the
appropriate column: in the case of a pastoral hold-

ing the area, and in other cases the unimproved
capital value;

(b) the name of the owner and other particulars indicated
in the form.

(2.) The rate book shall be completed and signed by the chairman by the prescribed time in each year, and shall at all times be open to the inspection of any ratepayer.

55. Any person authorised by the chairman of a board, or by the Minister, in writing, may, as of right, at all reasonable times inspect, free of charge, all valuations, lists, and rate books of any local authority relating to any land situate in the district, and may take copies of or extracts from them.

Board may inspect authorities.

rate books of local

56. All persons having the custody of such valuations, Access to be given. lists, or rate books shall, at all reasonable times and without

any fee or charge, afford to the board, or the Minister, and all persons authorised by the chairman, or the Minister, free access to the same.

Penalty: Five pounds.

amended.

57. (1.) The board may from time to time amend the rate Rate book may be book by inserting the particulars of any rateable property omitted therefrom, or by substituting for the name of any person erroneously inserted as the owner of any land the name of the true owner, and by correcting any error that may need rectification.

(2.) Notice of the amendment shall be given to any ratepayer affected thereby, and he or any other person affected shall have the same right of appeal against the amendment as he had against the original entries in the rate book, and for the purposes of such appeal the notice given hereunder shall be deemed a notice of assessment.

previous rate book.

58. The board may, instead of causing a new rate book to Board may use be made up in any year or for any rate, use the rate book of the last or any previous year, or the rate book prepared for any previous rate, with such alterations and additions as may appear necessary.

Power to levy rates.

Amended by No. 39 of 1919, s. 5.

Amended by No. 29

of 1925, s. 6.

Manner of making rate.

Adoption of rating appeal provisions of the Roads Act, 1911.

59. (1.) For the purpose of creating a fund for carrying out the provisions of this Act the board of each district shall in every year (subject as hereinafter provided) make and levy a vermin rate on every rateable holding within the district.

(2.) Such rate shall not exceed for a pastoral holding one shilling for every one hundred acres of the holding, and for any other holding the maximum amount of half the rate which might be levied on the unimproved capital value of the holding by the board of the road district in which it is situated, but a minimum rate of two shillings and sixpence may be levied on any rateable holding the annual rate in respect of which (whether on the area or on the unimproved capital value) would not amount to two shillings and sixpence:

Provided that whenever and so long as a holding is and remains enclosed with a rabbit-proof fence, and such fence is maintained in good repair, the holding shall not be liable to be rated under this part of this Act.

(3.) If the board in any year levies on holdings of either of such classes less than the maximum rate, then the rate which the board shall levy on holdings of the other class for that year shall be less in the same proportion than the maximum which might be levied thereon.

(4.) Every rate shall be made and levied for the current financial year; but the board may make and levy a second rate during and for the balance of any such year: Provided that the amount of a second rate so made and levied within one such year shall not, together with the first, exceed the rating limits of the board as hereinbefore defined.

60. (1.) Whenever any rate has been imposed by the board, the chairman shall, on a vacant page of the rate book, to be left blank for the purpose, enter a memorandum thereof, and shall sign the same, and the rate shall thereupon be deemed to have been duly made.

(2.) Notice of assessment in the prescribed form setting forth the making of rate and the amount thereof and any other prescribed particulars shall be served on either the owner, the occupier, or the manager of every holding on which the rate is made.

61. The provisions of sections two hundred and twentyfour to two hundred and twenty-nine (both inclusive) of the Roads Act, 1911, and section thirty-three of the Roads Act

Amendment Act, 1912, are hereby adopted as portion of this Act and shall be deemed to be here repeated, and construed as part of this Act: Provided that no appeal shall lie against any entry in the rate book on the ground that any holding is valued above its full and fair rateable value in any case in which the value complained of is not in excess of the amount at which the holding stands valued for the time being (on the capital unimproved system of valuation) in the books of the Commissioner of Taxation, or the rate book of the road board in whose district the land is situated: Provided also that where the assessment is on the area an appeal shall lie on the ground that the area set out in the rate book is in excess of the actual area of the holding.

62. (1.) Rates heretofore or hereafter made in a Vermin Recovery of rates. District shall be a first charge on the holding rated (after rates and taxes due to the Crown or any public or local authority), and be recoverable by the board from

(a) the owner at the time when the rates were imposed;
(b) any person who, whilst the rates are unpaid, becomes
the owner of the holding rated or any part thereof,

by all or any of the following means, that is to say--
(i) by distress in like manner as rent under a lease is
recoverable;

(ii) by summary proceedings before two or more justices
of the peace;

(iii) by action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(2.) When any such rate is levied by distress, a warrant under the hand of the chairman of the board shall be a sufficient warrant and authority.

(3.) The chairman may include in any warrant any number of persons liable to pay rates.

(4.) The fees prescribed in the fourth schedule shall be Fourth Schedule. payable on every distress.

(5.) No unsatisfied judgment or order against any person for the recovery of rates shall be a bar to the recovery thereof from any other person liable under the provisions of this Act for the payment thereof.

(6.) In any proceeding to recover, or consequent on anything done for the recovery of the amount due in respect of any rate claimed by the board, the rate book, and all entries.

Apportionment of

rates.

Rates to carry interest.

Inserted by No. 29 of 1925, s. 7.

Paymen of rates by mortgagee.

made or purporting to be made therein, or copies thereof or extracts therefrom, purporting to be certified under the hand of the chairman, acting chairman, or clerk of the board, shall be prima facie evidence of the contents of such book and of the due striking of the rate.

(7.) In any proceeding by or on behalf of a board for the recovery of any amount due by any person in respect of any rate claimed by the board, or by any person against the board, in consequence of anything done for the recovery of any rate claimed to be due, such person shall not be permitted to raise as a defence or rely on any failure to comply in relation to such rate with any provision of this Act, if it shall appear that the board did, in fact, consent to the making or levying of such rate, and had power to make and levy the same.

63. Rates recoverable under this Act shall, for the purposes of this section, be apportionable between successive owners in respect of time as if they accrued due from day to day, and shall also be deemed to be apportionable between owners of several portions of the holding rated in ratio to the respective values or areas (according to the basis of assessment) of such portions, and every owner or late owner of any holding whose rates or the apportioned part of whose rates have or has directly or indirectly been wholly or partly paid by any other person in accordance with this Act (whether during or after the period for which the rates were imposed) shall be liable to reimburse such person the amount so paid.

63a. When any rates shall remain unpaid for a period of twelve months after the same have become due and payable, such rates shall thereafter bear interest at the rate of five pounds per centum per annum, calculated at simple interest, and such interest shall be recoverable in the same manner as rates are recoverable under the provisions of this Act; but discount not exceeding five pounds per centum for payment of current rates made within thirty days of receipt of assessment notice may be allowed by the board.

64. If a mortgagee of a rateable holding pays any rates accrued thereon under this Act, the amount so paid by the mortgagee shall be deemed to be part of, or added to the principal moneys advanced by him under the mortgage, and shall be recoverable as such with interest accordingly.