AN ACT to provide for the Drainage of B [Assented to, 5th December, 1900.] E it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by andwith the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. THIS Act may be cited as the Land Drainage Act, 1900. 2. IN this Act, unless the context "Board" means a Drainage B under this Act; Short title. 64 Vict., No. 22.-Repealed by No. 43 of 1925 "District" or "Drainage District" means a District con- "Drain" includes every passage or channel on, above, or under "Main Page 468. Act not to affect powers of Crown or of certain officers. See Land Drainage Act, N.Z., 57 Vict., 46, s Land Drainage. "Main drain means such drain as the Minister shall from time to time so designate. 66 Drainage works" means drainage works of any sort, including the making of drains for receiving water in its natural flow on or from any hills or sloping lands, and diverting the same to prevent its overflow on to any other lands on a lower level, as well as drains for carrying off water from any lands; "Minister" means the responsible Minister of the Crown charged with the administration of this Act; "Owner" (except as concerns rating and voting) means any "Ratable property" shall mean all buildings, lands, tenements. In section 2 the definition of "Roads Acts," "ratable "Roads Acts" means the Roads Act, 1888, and all amendments thereof. "Ratable property" means all property within a drainage district which would be ratable if situated within a road district. "Ratable value" means ratable value of all ratable property, ascertained in the same manner as if the property were within a road district. "Watercourse" includes all rivers, streams, and passages 3. NOTHING in this Act shall prejudice or affect any power or authority vested in Her Majesty, or in the Governor, or in the Director of Public Works or Commissioner of Railways, and no action shall be brought against the Crown for anything done on the Page 468. 64 VICT., No 22.-Section 3 amended by 1 & 2 Edwd. VII., No. 8: In section 3, after the word "Railways," in the third line, add the words "or the Minister." Page 469. 64 VICT., No. 22.-Section 4 amended by 1 & 2 Edwd. VII., In section 4 the words "in any part of the Colony declare "Within any area proposed to be formed into a In section 4 the words "any such district may com- i ap 6. UPON the constitution of any district under this Act, the Governor may Governor may, by Proclamation in the Government Gazette, appoint point first members six persons to be the first members of the Board for such district, of Drainage Board. any three of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of See S. A. Act, 104 of business, and such members may appoint one of their number to be 1878, s. 8. chairman thereof; and the members so appointed shall hold office until the first annual election after the constitution of the district, when they shall retire; and such Board shall have and exercise all the powers, duties, and functions of a Drainage Board elected as hereinafter provided. Election of Board. 7. (1.) A DRAINAGE Board shall be elected for every district, consisting of six members, any three of whom shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. Elections shall be held See Roads Act, 1888, on the third Thursday in December in every year at such place within the district as the Returning Officer shall appoint. (2.) At the first election for a new district the Returning Officer shall be nominated by the Governor. (3.) At every election other than the first the chairman of the Board, and in his absence, or if there shall be no such chairman, any member of the Board elected by the members present for that purpose, shall be the Returning Officer. 8. 32. (4.) Land Drainage. (4.) In case in any district the electors fail to duly elect a Board, or any members to fill up the vacancies in a Board, the Governor, by notice in the Government Gazette, may appoint a Board or members to fill any vacancies. 8. (1.) THE Board shall enter upon their office on the day office and retirement following their election. Entry of Board on of members. Ibid., s. 43. Electors, electoral list, and qualification. Electors, (2.) On the third Thursday in every December two members shall go out of office by rotation, and an election shall be held to supply their places, and the persons elected shall assume office on their predecessors going out of office. (3.) The members of each Board shall go out of office in the following order, that is to say:-The two members who had the least number of votes at the first election under this Act shall be the first two to go out of office; the two members who had the next smallest number of votes at the first election under this Act shall be the next two to go out of office; and afterwards the members to go out of office shall always be the two who have been longest in office without re-election, and in cases where two or more members are elected on the same day, as between themselves, those having the smallest number of votes at such election shall be deemed the longest in office for the purpose of retiring by rotation. (4.) In case at any election of members two or more are elected by an equality of votes, or the election is had without a ballot, it shall be determined by lot in what rotation, as between themselves, such members having an equality of votes shall retire by twos as aforesaid, as the case may be; and in such case the members shall retire according to the rotation so determined. 9. EVERY person being a ratepayer in respect of property situate within a drainage district of the age of twenty-one years, and a natural born or naturalised subject of her Majesty, and not subject to any legal incapacity, shall be entitled to have his name placed upon the electoral list and to vote at the election of members of the Drainage Board for such district, and shall be qualified to be a member of such Board. 10. THE enactments of the Roads Acts concerning the electors. electoral and the electoral list, and concerning the qualifications of members of members to be as of Road Boards, shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to Drainage Boards. list, and qualification under Roads Acts. 11. SECTIONS thirty-three to forty-two inclusive, and sections. Certain sections of forty-four to fifty-one inclusive, of the Roads Act, 1888, shall apply, apply to elections mutatis mutandis, to elections under this Act. Roads Act, 1888, to under this Act. 12. Land Drainage. Avoidance of an elec 12. WHEN the election of any member or members has been held, and is or has afterwards become void, the electors shall not tion to be treated as thereby be disabled from electing such member or members for the a bye-vacancy. future; but the election shall be had as in the case of a bye-vacancy, Sec ibid., part s. 42. and every act necessary or convenient to be done in order to and for completing such election shall and may be done, and shall be as valid for all purposes as if the election had been upon the day or within the time appointed for that purpose. " with Board incorporated. 13. EVERY Drainage Board shall be a body corporate under the name of "The Drainage Board of the District of perpetual succession and a common seal, having a capacity to hold N.Z., 57 Vict., 46, lands and to do and suffer all things which a body corporate may do and suffer. s. 14. Appointment of 14. THE Board shall appoint a clerk and a treasurer, and may from time to time appoint and employ all such other officers, to officers, etc. assist in the execution of this Act, as they shall think proper and necessary, and from time to time may remove any of such officers and appoint others in the place of such as shall be so removed, or as may die, resign, or discontinue their offices, and, with the approval the Minister, may pay such salaries and allowances to the said officers respectively as the Board shall think reasonable; and may, before Ibid., s. 44. appointment, require security for the due execution of the respective Security. offices. of 15. NO member shall be capable of being or continuing a paid clerk or treasurer or any other such officer of the Board, as in the last preceding section mentioned. Construction of Drains. Member of Board 16. THE Colonial Treasurer may, with the approval of the Governor, from time to time expend for the purposes of this Act in the construction of main drains within any drainage district, or in See 60 Vict., No. 26., Page 471. Colonial Treasurer may expend £30,000. 64 VICT., No. 22.-Section 16 amended by 1 & 2 Edwd. VII., In section 16, the words "main drains within," in line In section 16, between the words "recommendation of " and the words "a Board," in the fifth line, insert the words "the Minister or." redeemable not later than twenty-five years after the date thereof. 17. |