PROVINCIAL COUNCILS POWERS ACT.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1215, 31 August 1869, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCILS POWERS ACT.

Title. —A bill entituled an Act to' enable Superintendents and Provincial Councils of Provinces to make Laws providing for and regulating Appeals in matters relating to Rating and for other purposes. Preamble. —Whereas, by the nineteenth section of the " Constitution Act," it is enacted that it shall not be lawful for the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any Province to make or ordain any law or Ordinance for the establishment or abolition of any Court of Judicature of civil or criminal jurisdiction, except Courts for trying and punishing such offences as by the law of Now Zealaud are or may be made punishable in a summary way, or altering the constitution, jurisdiction, or practice of any such Court except as aforesaid : And whereas by the said Act it ia also enacted that any law or Ordinance made or ordained by any Provincial Council shall, so far as the same is repugnant to or inconsistent with any Act passed by the General Assembly, be null and void : and whereas it is expedient to enable' Superintendents and Provincial Councils of Provinces to make laws constituting Courts, aud alteriug the constitution, jurisdiction, and practice of existing Courts, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned : And whereas doubts have arisen as to whether certain Acts and Ordinances of Provincial Councils, validated by Acts of the General Assembly, can be repealed, altered, or amended by any Act of a Provincial Council, and it is expedient that such doubts should be set at rest :

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows : —

1. Short Title.—The Short Title of this Act shall be, " The Provincial Councils Powers Act, 1869."

2. Provincial Legislature empowered in matters relating to Rating to malce Laws providing for an Appeal, Sfc. —Notwithstanding anything in the nineteenth section of the Constitution Act to the contrary, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent and Provincial Council of every Province from time to time to make laws for giving to persons thinking themselves aggrieved on the ground of unfairness or incorrectness in the valuation of any rateable property included in any rate imposed under the provisions of any Act or Ordinance of such Province, or in the amount of any rate assessed upon or payable by them, or in any other matter incident to or connected with such rate, an appeal either to a Court constituted for such purpose by an Act or Ordinance of such Province, or to a Resident Magistrate's Court, a Court of Petty Sessions, or two Justices of the Peace within the Province, and'for such purpose to alter the jurisdiction and practice of the Court to •which such appeal shall be given, and, if they shall think fit, to make the decision of the Court to which such, appeal shall be had final. Provided always, that except for the purpose of making such decision final and for taking away the power of removing cases into the Supreme Court by ceriiorari, no Act or Ordinance passed or made under the authority of this Act shall alter or affect or purport to alter or affect in any manner whatsoever the constitution jurisdiction or practice of the Supreme Court or of any District Court; but that every Act or Ordinance which shall contain anything repugnant to this proviso shall, so far as such repugnancy shall extend and no further, bo null and void.

3. Provincial Legislatures empoioered to maleLaws constituting Courts for hearing and deter mining Applications for Licenses for Sale of Spirits, Sfc. —It shall also be lawful for the Superintendent and Provincial Council of every Province from time to time to make laws for regulating proceedings upon fcho application of persons seeking tbo issue to them of licenses permitting the sale of fermented and spirituous liquors and the keeping of places of public entertainment, or of licenses' for any other purpose whatever; and to constitute and establish within tho Province Courts for the purpose of hearing and determining such applications and objections thcroto, and also for such purposo to alter within tho Province tho jurisdiction and practice of Resident Magistrates' Courts, Courts of Potty Sessions, and of Courts holden by Justices of the Peace, so far as may bo necessary or expedient.

4. Provincial Legislatures empoioered to repeal or amend these Acts or Ordinances, though validated by or incorporated with Acts of Assembly.- -It shall be lawful for tho Superintendent and Provincial Council of every Provinco from timo to timo to repeal, amend, and alter any Act or Ordinance of such Province, notwithstanding that tho said Act or Ordinance may have been validatod or ro-onactod by an Act of the General Assembly horotoforo passed or herouftor to be passed: Provided always, that nothing in this Act shall extend to onablo the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any Provinco to repeal, amoncl, or alter any Act or Ordinance of such Provinco mado for raising any Provincial loan, and validated or ro-enacted by Act of tho General Assembly.