A.—6b.

Section 111 (Roads on boundaries of counties) has been transferred to the Counties Act (section 157, (4)) —its proper place. All authorised railways are brought under the Consolidation Act (section 186), and a description of them is given in the Eighth Schedule. A full list of the various authorising Acts is given in Part II of the First Schedule, so as to permit of their repeal. Such of their provisions as may still be operative are set out in the Ninth Schedule and continued in force. Section 287 (Deposit of tailings) has been transferred to the Mining Act (section 121). Rabbit Nuisance. Section 3 of the Act of 1886 gives the Inspector power to enter an abandoned run for the purpose of destroying rabbits only where he has entered under " The Sheep Act, 1878," for the purpose of cleaning sheep, and finds the run abandoned. To give effect to what we take to be the true intention we have dropped the reference to sheep, and substituted entry under the powers conferred by "The Stock Act, 1908" (section 22 of the Consolidation Act). Section 12 of the Act of 1886 (Stockowners entitled to vote) : To meet the case of companies and firms, we have applied the provisions of the Rating Act (section 42 of the Consolidation Act). The omission was a defect. Section 12 of the Act of 1890 speaks of the Chief Inspector of the district. Chief Inspectors of districts existed under the Sheep Acts of 1878 and 1890, but under " The Stock Act, 1893," they all became Inspectors simply. We have altered accordingly in this (section 48) and other sections. The last paragraph of section 17 of the Act of 1886 (Validation of proceedings of meetings of the Board) has been altered by adding that the notice must specify the business to be transacted. This is reasonable and conforms to similar provisions in other Acts (subsection (6) of section 49 of the Consolidation Act). Section 28 of the Act of 1886 (Audit of Board's accounts) refers to an Auditor, but does not appoint one. Under the Public Revenues Act the Audit Office is Auditor, and we have provided accordingly (section «64 of the Consolidation Act.) Section 37 of the Act of 1886 (Notice of election to be gazetted): We have included cases of appointment by the Governor as provided in the same section (section 76 of the Consolidation Act). The omission was a defect. Speaking generally, these Rabbit Acts have necessitated much rearranging and recasting. Railways Construction and Land Act. Section 118 of the Act of 1881, in providing for the percentage to be added to compensation, fixes 5 per cent, if the power of purchase is exercised between seven and fourteen years after the railway is open for traffic. We have substituted ten years for seven years to accord with section 114 of the Act of 1881, and also with section 3 of " The East and West Coast (Middle Island) and Nelson Railway and Railways Construction Act, 1884." (See section 112 of the Consolidation Act). Section 24 of " The District Railways Purchasing Act, 1885," provides that certain rating sections of " The District Railways Act, 1877," shall not apply to any railway authorised under the District Railways Acts or the Railways Construction and Land Acts. So far as the last-mentioned Acts are concerned, the sections in question never did apply. There are corresponding sections in " The Railways Construction and Land Act, 1881," and presumably this section 24 referred to them. In our opinion, however, the intention has not been expressed with sufficient aptness to justify the omission of these sections, and we have accordingly retained them. The matter is, of course, one for the Legislature, if it thinks fit. Several verbal alterations are made in the forms in the schedule for uniformity. Moreover, in the Sixth Schedule the rate of interest was stated to be 7 per cent. This conflicted with section 55 of the Act, which fixed 6 per cent. We have altered accordingly.

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