1891. Water Authorities. PART VII.WATER RATES AND PAYMENT FOR WATER. supply water 128. A Water Authority may refuse to supply water to any person Board may by whom any money is due to the Water Authority in respect of rates or refuse to for water supplied under this Act if such money is unpaid for thirty if payment days after it becomes due. in arrear. be seized for 129. When the rates due in respect of any unoccupied land are unpaid Timber may and in arrear, any timber lying thereon may be distrained and sold, and rates in arrear. for that purpose may be removed. 46 Vic. No. 13, 9. 19. 130. A Water Authority may from time to time appoint some person Board may appoint or persons to be its bailiff or bailiffs for the purpose of levying rates by bailiffs. distress and sale. A bailiff so appointed shall have power and authority to sell by Bailiffs may sell by auction public auction any goods and chattels seized under warrant of distress without without taking out a license as an auctioneer. license. warrant. 131. A warrant of distress issued under the provisions of this Act Form of shall be in the form or to the effect of, and shall contain the particulars [Schedule 3.] set forth in, the Third Schedule to this Act. 132. In any proceeding to levy and recover, or consequent on the Evidence of levying or recovering of, a rate under the provisions of this Act, the rates. valuation lists and rate-books of the Water Authority and all entries purporting to be made in them in manner by this Act directed, sealed with the seal of the Water Authority, or certified copies of or extracts from them, signed by the Chairman and sealed with such seal, shall, upon production alone, be primâ facie evidence of the contents of such lists or books, and of the due making of the rate, and of the obligation of the person charged with the rate to pay it, without any evidence that the notices required by this Act or the Valuation Acts have been given or complied with. on the quitting. 133. When an occupier or owner ceases to be the occupier or owner Rates to be of the land in respect of which a rate is made before the end of the apportioned period in respect of which the rate was made, such occupier or owner occupier, &c., shall, as between himself and the succeeding occupier or owner, be liable to pay a portion only of the rate payable for the whole of such period proportionate to the time during which he continued to be the occupier or owner, and the person who is the occupier or owner of the land during the remainder of the period shall be liable to pay a portion of the rate in proportion to the time during which he is such occupier or owner. But the rate made in respect of the land shall continue in force, and payment of it may be enforced against the occupier or owner for the time being as if no change had taken place in the occupation or ownership. resorted to in 134. An unsatisfied judgment or order of any Court for the recovery Persons liable of any rates or of money payable for water supplied under this Act may be from any person shall not be a bar to the recovery thereof from any succession. other person liable under the provisions of this Act to the payment thereof. refusing to 135. If, on the request of a Water Authority, or any collector of Occupier rates duly authorised by it, the occupier of any land refuses or wilfully give name of omits to disclose, or wilfully misstates, to the Water Authority or owner liable collector making the request, the name of the owner of the land, or of the person receiving or authorised to receive the rent of the land, or if to penalty. any such last-mentioned person on the like request wilfully omit disclose, or wilfully misstates, to the Water Authority or collector name of the owner, such occupier or other person shall be liable penalty not exceeding five pounds. 136. When rates in respect of any land are in arrear for the of four years, the Water Authority may cause to be published t times each in the Gazette, and in some newspaper generally circula in the Water Area, a notice in the form in the Fourth Schedule to Act, or to the like effect; and if, after six months from the last pub tion of the notice, any part of the rates due at the time of the publication is still unpaid, the Water Authority may, notwithstan any Act to the contrary, take possession of the land and let it year to year, or for any term not exceeding seven years, and receive the rents and apply them towards the payment of the and other costs and expenses, and shall hold any surplus for the ow of the land. Delegation of Power to Local Authority. 137. A Water Authority may empower a Local Authority w District or part of whose District is supplied with water from its work (1) To deliver water to consumers within the District; (2) To levy and collect all or any water rates and cha therein; and in every such case the Local Authority shall have and exer all the powers of the Water Authority in respect of the delivery water and the levy and collection of water rates and charges u the provisions of this Act. PART VIII.-THE WATER FUND. 138. All moneys received by a Water Authority from rates, char rents, or otherwise under this Act, shall be carried to the account d fund to be called the "Water Fund," and such fund shall be applied manner following, that is to say: (1) In defraying the expenses incurred in the construction, The unexpended balance of such moneys (if any) shall be appl as the Water Authority may think fit, either towards the extens and improvement of the works, or in reduction of any sums due un the provisions of this Act, which the Treasurer may be willing to acc 139. The Water Authority may pay out of the Water Fund any s due under an agreement lawfully made for the purposes of this and any sum recovered against the Water Authority by process of 1 and any sum which by any order made or purporting to be made un this Act the Water Authority is directed to pay by way of compensati damages, costs, fines, penalties, or otherwise. 140. Any moneys required by a Water Authority being a Lo Authority to defray the reasonable cost of the necessary surveys, pla sections, specifications, and book of reference for any waterworks p posed to be constructed in pursuance hereof, may be paid out of municipal or divisional fund. If the Water Authority is not a Local Authority the amount of such cost shall be advanced or contributed by the Local Authority or Local Authorities whose District or Districts, or part of whose District or Districts, is or are comprised in the Water Area, out of the municipal or divisional funds of such Local Authorities. PART VIII.- precept on Authorities. For the purpose of obtaining payment of the sum to be contributed Water Board by the Local Authorities, a Water Board may issue a precept, in the recen form of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and under the hand of the Local Chairman and the seal of the Water Board, to the Local Authority, or [Schedule 5.] each Local Authority if more than one, stating therein the sum required to be advanced or contributed by such Local Authority, and requiring such Local Authority, within a time limited by the precept, to pay the amount specified to the Chairman of the Water Board out of the municipal or divisional funds. amount of 141. When the Water Area comprises the Districts or parts of the Water Board Districts of two or more Local Authorities, the Water Board shall to apportion apportion the amount required among the Local Authorities in pro- precept among portion to the rateable value of the part of the Water Area comprised Local in the District of each such Local Authority. component Authorities. a debt due 142. Any sum mentioned in a precept addressed by a Water Board Amount to a Local Authority as aforesaid shall be a debt due from that Local recoverable as Authority, and may be recovered by action in any Court of competent from Local jurisdiction. 143. Every such contribution shall be deemed expenses to be defrayed out of the municipal or divisional fund, and shall be paid by the Local Authority accordingly, and the receipt of the Chairman of the Water Board shall be a good discharge for the amount so paid. 144. If a Local Authority has no moneys to the credit of the municipal or divisional fund, it shall, or, if it has advanced out of that fund the amount required by such precept, it may, for the purpose of reimbursing itself, notwithstanding any limit under any Act of Parliament or otherwise, increase to a sufficient extent to recoup the amount of the moneys so paid the amount of the next ensuing general rate levied and collected in the District. Authority. Contribution to be defrayed out of municipal or divisional fund. May add amount of precept to next general rate. Amount to be first loan repaid out of received. 145. Every sum so advanced or contributed shall be included in the cost of the works constructed in the Water Area, and shall be repaid from the first loan moneys thereafter received by the Water Authority moneys for the construction of the works; and in default of such repayment, the sum advanced, or the amount apportioned as aforesaid, together with interest thereon at the rate of five per centum per annum, may be recovered by the Local Authority as a debt due to it from the Water Authority. 146. When the Water Authority is a Local Authority, separate accounts shall be kept of the Water Fund and of the municipal or divisional fund. PART IX.-ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT. 147. Every Water Board shall cause bocks to be provided, and true and regular accounts to be entered therein of all sums of money received and paid on account of the business of the Water Area, and of the several purposes for which such sums of money are received and paid, and such books shall, at all reasonable times, be open to the inspection Separate accounts to be kept by PART IX.- Books of interested. PART IX.- Yearly balance and audit. Examination and settlement of accounts by Water Authority. Certified statement of receipts and expenditure to he published. Audit by Governor in of any member, and of any ratepayer of the Water Area, or creditor of the Water Authority, any of whom may, at all reasonable times during office hours, and without payment of any fee, make a copy thereof or take extracts therefrom. Every person having the custody of any such book who does not, on the reasonable demand of any such member, ratepayer, or creditor, permit him to inspect such book, or to make or take such copy or extract, shall be liable to a penalty of five pounds. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, prescribe the form or manner in which any such books shall be kept. 148. Every Water Authority shall in each year, not later than the thirty-first day of January, cause its accounts to be balanced as to the thirty-first day of December preceding, and shall cause such accounts to be audited by competent auditors as soon as conveniently may be. And the clerk shall produce and lay before the auditors the accounts so balanced, with all vouchers in support of the same, and all books, papers, and writings in the custody of the Water Authority relating thereto. If the auditors, after due inquiry, are satisfied that all moneys received have been duly accounted for, and that all payments charged have been duly authorised and made, they shall sign the accounts in token of their allowance thereof, but, if they disapprove of any part of the accounts, they may disallow any parts of the accounts so disapproved of. 149. The yearly accounts of the Water Authority, so balanced and audited, as aforesaid, and either allowed or disallowed by the auditors, together with any written objections made by ratepayers or creditors, shall be produced at the first ordinary meeting of the Water Authority after the month of January, or at some adjournment thereof, at which meeting any person who has made any such objection may be heard in support of it, and the accounts shall be then finally examined and settled by the Water Authority, and if the same are found just and true, they shall be allowed by the Water Authority and certified accordingly under the hand of the Chairman of such meeting. And after such accounts have been so allowed and signed by such Chairman, and also by the auditors as hereinbefore provided, the same shall (except in the case of an audit by a special auditor or special auditors appointed by the Governor in Council) be final as against all persons whomsoever. 150. As soon as possible after the. accounts are so allowed and certified, the Water Authority shall publish in the Gazette, and in one or more newspapers circulating in the Water Area, a true statement of the receipts and expenditure of the Water Authority under this Act for the year ending on the thirty-first day of December then last past, and such statement shall be signed by the Chairman and certified as correct by the auditors. Special Audit. 151. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, appoint a special auditor or special auditors to examine the accounts of a Water Authority for any period not exceeding two years before the date of the appointment. And the Chairman and clerk shall, on being requested so to do, produce and lay before the auditor or auditors so appointed all books and accounts of the Water Authority for such period, and all vouchers in support of the same, and all books, papers, and writings in the power of the Water Authority relating thereto. Seven days' notice in writing shall be given to the Chairman and clerk of any such intended examination. PART IX.- AND AUDIT. auditors. 152. The special auditor or special auditors shall forthwith, after Report of the examination of the accounts of the Water Authority, report to the special Minister the result thereof, and if it appears to the Minister that any money forming part of the Water Fund has been wilfully or corruptly misapplied to purposes to which it was not lawfully applicable, or that any member has wilfully, or by culpable negligence, misapplied or connived at or concurred in the misapplication of such money, he shall certify accordingly; and the Governor in Council may, by Order in Council to be published in the Gazette within three months from the date of such certificate, wholly or in part confirm or disallow the same. hear 153. The special auditor or special auditors, before certifying as afore- Special said, shall, by public notice or otherwise, as may seem to him or them auditors to reasonable, appoint a time and place for hearing such explanations as explanation. Lay be offered by or on behalf of the Water Authority or any member thereof. certificate. 154. Every such Order of confirmation of a certificate shall be con- Proceedings on clusive evidence in all Courts, and for all purposes whatsoever, of the confirmation of fact of the misapplication of the moneys therein mentioned, of the amount so misapplied, and of the liability of the member or members hamed in such Order as having so misapplied the same or connived at the misapplication thereof to pay the same. Any sum of money mentioned in any such Order of confirmation as having been so misapplied may be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction, together with full costs of suit, from any one or more of the members mentioned in such Order as liable to pay the same, at the suit of the Water Authority, or at the suit of any ratepayer, or at the suit of any of the creditors of the Water Authority; and any sum or sums so recovered shall be paid into the Water Fund. 155. The Governor in Council may direct that the costs and expenses Costs of of and connected with any such examination shall be paid, either wholly special audit. or partly, out of the Water Fund, and may direct that the amount thereof shall be deducted from and retained out of any moneys payable to the Water Authority by the Treasurer. Powers of Special Auditors. special 156. For the purpose of any such examination the special auditor or General special auditors may take evidence upon oath (which oath every special powers of auditor is hereby empowered to administer), and may by summons, auditors. under his or their or either of their hands, require all such persons as he or they may think fit to appear personally before him or them, at a time and place to be fixed in and by the summons, and to produce to him or them all such books and papers as may appear necessary for the examination. And any person so required who, without just excuse, neglects or refuses to comply with the tenor of the summons, or who, having appeared before the special auditor or special auditors, refuses without just excuse to be examined on oath or affirmation concerning the premises, or to take such oath or affirmation, or, having taken such oath or affirmation, to answer such questions concerning the premises as are put to him, shall and may be dealt with by the special auditor or special auditors in the same manner in all respects in which by any Act in |