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THE NEW ZEALAND WAREHOUSE ACT. 1. This Act shall be known by the short title of "New Zealand Warehouse Act." 2. The term " warehouse " as used in this Act shall be deemed to mean every building, structure, or other protected enclosure in which any agricultural product is or may be stored for New Zealand or overseas commerce, or, if located within any place under the exclusive jurisdiction of New Zealand, in which any agricultural product is or may be stored. As used in this Act, " person " includes a corporation or partnership, or two or more persons having a joint or common interest ; " warehouseman " means a person lawfully engaged in the business of storing agricultural products ; and " receipt " means a warehouse receipt. 3. The Minister of Agriculture is authorized to investigate the storage, warehousing, classifying according to grade and otherwise, weighing, and certification of agricultural products; upon application to him by any person applying for license to conduct a warehouse under this Act, to inspect such warehouse or cause it to be inspected ; at any time, with or without application to him, to inspect or cause to be inspected all warehouses licensed under this Act; to determine whether warehouses for which licenses are applied for or have been issued under this Act are suitable for the proper storage of any agricultural product or products ; to classify warehouses licensed or applying for a license in accordance with their ownership, location, surroundings, capacity, conditions, and other qualities, and as to the kinds of licenses issued or that may be issued for them pursuant to this Act; and to prescribe, within the limitations of this Act, the duties of the warehousemen conducting warehouses licensed under this Act with respect to their care of and responsibility for agricultural products stored therein. 4. The Minister of Agriculture is authorized, upon application to him, to issue to any warehouseman a license for the conduct of a warehouse or warehouses in accordance with this Act and such rules and regulations as may be made hereunder : Provided that each such warehouse be found suitable for the proper storage of the particular agricultural product or products for which a license is applied for, and that such warehouseman agree, as a condition to the granting of the license, to comply with and abide by all the terms of this Act and the rides and regulations prescribed hereunder. 5. Each license issued under section four of this Act shall terminate as therein provided, or in accordance with the terms of this Act and the regulations thereunder, and may from time to time be modified or extended by a written instrument. 6. Each warehouseman applying for a license to conduct a warehouse in accordance with this Act shall, as a condition to the granting thereof, execute and file with the Minister of Agriculture a good and sufficient bond, to the Government of New Zealand to secure the faithful performance of his obligations as a warehouseman under the terms of this Act and the rules and regulations prescribed hereunder, and of such additional obligations as a warehouseman as may be assumed by him under contracts with the respective depositors of agricultural products in such warehouse. Such bond shall be in such form and amount, shall have such surety or sureties, and shall contain such terms and conditions as the Minister of Agriculture may prescribe to carry out the purposes of this Act, and may, in the discretion of the Minister of Agriculture, include the requirements of fire insurance. Whenever the Minister of Agriculture shall determine that a bond approved by him is, or for any cause has become, insufficient, he may require an additional bond or bonds to be given by the warehouseman concerned, conforming with the requirements of this section, and unless the same be given within the time fixed by a written demand therefor the license of such warehouseman may be suspended or revoked. 7. Any person injured by the breach of any obligation to secure which a bond is given under the provisions of sections four or six, shall be entitled to sue on the bond in his own name in any Court of competent jurisdiction to recover the damages he may have sustained by such breach. 8. Upon the filing with and approval by the Minister of Agriculture of a bond, in compliance with this Act, for the conduct of a warehouse, such warehouse shall be designated as bonded hereunder ; .but no warehouse shall be designated as bonded under this Act, and no name or description conveying the impression that it is so bonded, shall be used, until a bond, such as provided for in section six, has been filed with and approved by the Minister of Agriculture, nor unless the license issued under this Act for the conduct of such warehouse remains unsuspended and unrevoked. 9. The Minister of Agriculture shall charge, assess, and cause to be collected a reasonable fee for every examination or inspection of a warehouse under this Act when such examination or inspection is made upon application of a warehouseman, and a fee not exceeding 10s. per annum for each license or renewal thereof issued to a warehouseman under this Act. All such fees shall be deposited and paid into the Public Account. 10. The Minister of Agriculture may, upon presentation of satisfactory proof of competency, issue to any person a license to inspect, sample, or classify any agricultural product or products stored or to be stored in a warehouse licensed under this Act, according to condition, grade, or otherwise, and to certificate the condition, grade, or other class thereof, or to weigh the same and certificate the weight thereof, or both to inspect, sample or classify, and weigh the same and to certificate the condition, grade, or other class and the weight thereof, upon condition that such person agree to comply with and abide by the terms of this Act and of the rules and regulations prescribed hereunder so far as the same relate to him. 11. Any license issued to any person to inspect, sample, or classify, or to weigh any agricultural product or products under this Act may be suspended or revoked by the Minister of Agriculture whenever he is satisfied, after opportunity afforded to the licensee concerned for a hearing, that such licensee has failed to inspect, sample, or classify, or to weigh any agricultural product or products correctly, or has violated any of the provisions of this Act or of the rules and regulations prescribed hereunder, so far as the same may relate to him, or that he has used his license or allowed it to be