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1915, No. 30. The Hutt Road Act, 1915. —This Act makes provision for the allocation of the cost of the construction and maintenance of the Hutt Road between the several local authorities mentioned in the schedules ill the proportions Bpeoified in those schedules. 1915, .No. 31. The Local Railways Amendment Act, 1915. —This Act amends the Act of 1914 by providing that an authorizing order under ihe last-mentioned Act may authorize the construction of a railway outside the limits of a railway district. 1915, No. 32. The Sale of Food and Drugs Amendment Act, 1915. This Act enables Ihe Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing thai any specified articles of food or the packages containing any articles of food imported into New Zealand shall be stamped, so as to indicate the fact of importation and the country of origin. 1915, No. 33. The National Registration Act. 1915. —This Act provides for the compilation of a register of men between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five years. In the case of men between the ages of seventeen and forty-five years, every man is to be required to express his willingness or otherwise to become a. member of an Expeditionary Force for military service beyond New Zealand, or to render any other service in connection with the war. Any person who fails to register when required so to do is liable to a fine of not less than £5 and not exceeding £100, or to imprisonment for not more than six months. 1915, No. 31. The Swamp Drainage Act, 1915. -This Act provides for tin.' establishment of drainage areas within which the Minister of Lands is authorized to construct and carry on drainage, reclamation, ami loading works. For ihe purposes of the Act the Minister of Finance is empowered to borrow up to £75.(t00 per annum, and the Minister of Lands is authorized to make and levy rates to be charged on the unimproved value of lands within the drainage area. 1915, No. 35. The Land Transfer Acls Compilation Act. 1915. This Act is a compilation of the Land Transfer Act. 1908. and the Land Transfer Amendment Act. 1913. prepared pursuant to a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament under the Statutes Compilation Act, 1908. 1915, No. 36. The Census and Statistics .Act. 1915. The main purpose of this Act is to allow of the collection of statistics as to industrial, social, commercial, and other prescribed matters, whenever such statistics may be required. Under the principal Act the statistics referred to are to be collected annually. This Act is complementary to ihe National Registration Act. and Ihe two Acts will together enable a compulation to be made of the resources of the Dominion both in men ami in material wealth. L 916, No. 37. The Factories Amendment Act, 1915. This Act repeals section 20 of the Factories Act, L9OB (relating to extended hours of employment of women and boys in woollen-factories). 1915, No. 38. The State Advances Amendment Act, 1915. This Act provides for a report to parliament as to temporary transfers of funds from one branch to another of the State Advances Office. 1915. No. 39. The Finance Act, 1915.—This Act includes all the provisions for increased taxation rendered necessary by the war. It is divided into Parts, as follows: — Part I : This Part includes the rates for the taxation of land and income for Ihe current year, and also amends in various particulars the permanent provisions of the Land ami income Assessment Act, 1908. Pari II : This Part increases the Customs duties on imports. Inter aha, il makes provision for a surtax of 50 per cent, ad valorem on goods that may hereafter be imported into New Zealand from any country now at war with His Majesty. Pail 111 : This Part repeals the Beer Duty Act, 1908, and substitutes other provisions therefor, with a view (I) to the increase of the excise duty, and (2) to the alteration of the mode of collecting the duty. Under the repealed Acl duty was paid on the finished product, by means of adhesive stamps attached to the casks or other vessels; the new Act provides for the assessment of the duty on the worts, or beer before fermentation. Pari IV : This Part increases the rates of stamp duties payable on documents. It also imposes a duly on stakes won in horse-racing and on totalizator dividends. Part V: This Pari increases the rates of succession and estate duties; it also exempts wholly or in pari from the payment of duty the estates of deceased soldiers. Part VI : This Part enables the Minister of Finance to raise a loan of £2.000,000 for the construction of railways and other public works. Part VII : This Part permits of the variation of certain contracts of carriage where the railway charges have been increased, 1815, No. 40. The' Cook Islands Act, 1915. -This Act repeals the Cook Islands Acl. 1908, and other enactments of the New Zealand Legislature with reference to the Cook Islands, and also repeals (so fat- as the New Zealand Parliament has authority so to do) all the Acts, Ordinances, regulations, and other laws (including Native usages and customs so far as they have the effect of law) now in force in the Cook Islands. In lieu of Ihe repealed provisions the new Act (containing 660 sections) provides a code of law for the government of the islands. The Act is divided into Parts, as follows: Part I : Executive Government of the Cook Islands. Part II : Island Councils. Pari 111 : The High Court of the Cook Islands. Part IV: The Supreme Court of New Zealand, Part V : Criminal Offences. Part VI : Criminal Procedure. Part VII : Law of Evidence. Part VIII : Extradition. Part IX : Crown Suits. Part X : Crown Lands.

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