FT.—28

And whereas a requisition under section twenty-two of the Health Act, 1920, was issued by the Board of Health on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-six, requiring the Otaki Borough Council to provide within its district certain sanitary works therein particularized, and the terms of the said requisition have not yet been complied with, and it has been represented to the Government that compliance with the said requisition would produce hardship, and it is expedient that inquiry should be made into the working of the existing laws relating to such requisitions so far as they affect the Borough of Otaki: And whereas legislation has been proposed to make special provision in respect of the several foregoing matters for the Borough of Otaki: Now, therefore, T, General Sir Charles Fergusson, Baronet, Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the powers and authorities vested in me by the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, and of all other powers and authorities enabling me in this behalf, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, and for the purposes herein set forth, do hereby appoint you, the said Robert Mackenzie Watson, William Thomas Strand, and Walter Nash, to be a Commission to inquire into and report upon the following matters • — (1) Whether the area now comprising the Borough of Otaki is suitable for municipal control, or whether it is desirable that the borough be abolished. (2) Tf it desirable that the borough be abolished, what provision should be made for the future control of the area now comprising the borough. (3) If it is not desirable that the borough be abolished, whether any alteration of boundaries thereof ought to be made either by the exclusion of lands from, or the inclusion of lands in, the borough. (4) Whether either in respect of any alteration of the boundaries of the said borough heretofore made or in respect of any steps recommended by the Commission under the foregoing paragraphs hereof it is desirable that the financial adjustments provided, for by section 145 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1920, should be made, or whether in view thereof it is desirable that other adjustments of a special nature should by reason of the circumstances of the case be made, and, if so, what adjustments should be made. (5) Whether it is desirable that the borough be divided into wards. (6) Whether the aforesaid requisition of the Board of Health should be given effect to, and, if so, what steps should be taken in order that such requisition may be given effect to. (7) Whether, and to what extent, having regard to the purpose or purposes for which any lands in the borough are used, it is desirable that for the purpose of the levying of rates by the Borough Council, either for its own purposes or as a contributory local authority under any Act, such lands be valued on a special basis other than the basis of valuation thereof under the Valuation of Land Act, 1925. (8) If it is considered advisable that any lands in the borough be valued for rating purposes on a special basis as aforesaid, then to what extent, if any, it is desirable that such lands be excluded from the rating-area in respect of any future loans secured by a special rate over rateable property within the borough. (9) To what extent, if any, it is desirable that lands that will not, or are not likely to, receive any benefit from the expenditure of loan-moneys should be excluded from the rating-area in respect of any future loans secured by a special rate over rateable property within the borough.

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