NEW LEGISLATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 780, 1 April 1910, Page 3

NEW LEGISLATION.

ACTS IN FORCE FROM TO-DAY. PONY AND GALLOWAY RACES. Among the Acts passed last session which come into operation to-day is the Raco Meetings Act, the object of which is to abolish pony and galloway races. It is provided that nothing in the Act shall, apply to horse racing conducted under the authority and -control of a racing club authorised to use the totalisator. Provision is made that any racing hunt or polo club may apply to the Minister for Internal Affairs for a license to conduct horse-races, and the Minister may, in his discretion, grant or refuse such license. Penalties are imposed upon illegal racing. PUBLIC SERVICE CLASSIFICATION. Under the Public Service Classification and Superannuation Act, which also conies into operation to-day, all persons who aro retired compulsorily (otherwise than for misconduct) after twenty years' service are given the right to receive, in addition to a refund of their contributions, a further sum by way of interest on those contributions. Those members of the publio service who have failed to take advantage of their right to join the fund shall cease to be entitled to become contributors thereto unless they so elect before March 31, 1910. Clause 7 enables the Minister in charge of any Department to extend the benefits of the Act to a male contributor who retires at fifty-five years of-age, if his service is not less than thirty years. Clause-9 is intended to avoid certain difficulties which have been experienced in computing the proper deduction to be made : from ■ retiring-allowances when the contributor returns- temporarily to the Government service. Provision is made for an extension of the time limit for the making of payments on account of broken service. Clauses 11, 12, and 13 make the same amendments ■. to the scheme of Teachers' Superannuation as are made by Clauses 7 and 9 of the Act in the case of the public service.

MAGISTRATES' COURTS AMENDMENT ACT.

The Magistrates' Courts Amendment Act, which will be in operation from today, provides that, if the defendant in an action in a Magistrate's Court desires to defend the action, he must file in the Court a notice of his intention within five-days after the service of the summons upon him. If he fails to do so, he will not bo Allowed to defend without the special leave of the Court, and the action: will be disposed of as undefeuded. Except in the special cases referred to in Clause 5 (which substantially re-enacts, the existing law), it is not necessary in any such notice to state the. nature of the intended defence. To give time for • the filing of the notice, Clause G provides for the service of the summons. in all cases seven days before the day of hearing. The requirement of a notice of intention to. defend already exists in the case of actions for penalties under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1908.. The provisions, of that Act which deal with the matter are therefore repealed as being superseded by the general provisions of this Bill. The Act also provides a.short form of statement of claim in aotions for goods sold and delivered. The present practice requires a full statement of all dates and particulars, even though accounts havo already been duly rendered by the plain.tiff to the defendant. In- the case of. current accounts, this involves a con-, siderable amount of unnecessary trouble. The procedure of the Act is in accordance with English law. •

[HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE'AID. . Another Act which comes into forco to-day-is'Hhe'Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, which repeals the Hospitals and Charitable'lnstitutions Act, 1908, and makes substituted provisions. The..chief alterations aro.the following:— The distinction' between. hospital boards and charitable aid boards is' abolished, and. every board possesses the double function of maintaining hospitals . and administering charitable .. relief. A hospital and charitable aid board .consists ,of representatives of the various contributory districts within the hospital district. The representation is proportionate to the population and the value of 'tho ratable property .in. the contributory district. . The representatives, are elected by the electors of the local authority of. the contributory district; casual vacancies are filled by nomination of the local authority; itself. Small contributory districts may be combined together by the Governor and return a representative in common. The representatives of each contributory district will retire at every general election of the local authority of that district, and their places will be filled by an election held at the same time as that general election. This arrangement preserves the continuity of the boards by securing the retirement of groups of members at different times, and also prevents the necessity of any separate and special election by using the existing machinery of local elections. Infectious diseases, hospitals are made subject in all respects to the same law as ordinary hospitals. All existing separate institutions (except a few which are specifically exempted on the ground that they are self-supporting so 1 far as the local authorities are concerned) are vested in the hospital and charitable aid boards of the district in which they are situated, and they cease accordingly. to exist as separate institutions. Provisions aro included which, it is stated, will allow friendly and other societies to make special contracts with boards. No new separato institutions can be established. Thirty-two hospital districts are constituted.

NATIVE LAND ACT.

The Native Land Act, which came into operation yesterday, classifies all land as being either Crown laud, European land, or Native land, and includes in the term "Native land" both customary land and Nativo freehold land. Persons who are intermediate in blood between a hali'-caste and a European are classed for all purposes as Europeans. No material alteration is made in the process of transforming customary into freehold land! On the application of tho Native Minister, or of any. Native owner, the 'Native Land Court investigates the title and makes a freehold order which has the same effect as a Crown grant in vesting a legal estate in fee-simple in tho Native owners as tenants in common and so extinguishes the Native title. Under the Act, the alienation of Native land may be effected in four different ways: (1) private alienation by the owners themselves; (2) alienation by a Maori Land Board as the statutory trustee or agent of the owners; (3) alienation. by the committee of management of the incorporated owners; and (4) alienated in pursuance of a resolution of a majority of the owners assembled in a meeting called for that 'purpose by a board. Quite a number of uew provisions are inserted with respect to succession to deceased. Natives. All marriages between Natives 'are required to be celebrated either (1) in the same manner as a marriage between Europeans, or (2) in tho presence of an officiating minister under the Marriage Act, but without the other conditions and, formalities required by that Act. Adoption of Native custom is abolished, and adoption by order of tho Nativo Land Court is substituted. + Any such order of adoptiou has the same effect as adoption by a European under tho Infants' Act, 1908. The justification of magistrates over Native adoptions is taken away, and the adoption of a European child by a Native is prohibited. The Act does not affect the administration of tho following classes of Nativo land:—(1) Native reserves vested in tho Public Trustee under the Native Reserves Act, 1892, the West Coast Settlement "Reserves Act, 1892, or the Westland and Nelson Native Reserves Act, 18S7. (2) Land subject to the East Coast Nativo Trust Lands Act, 1902. (3) Land subject to the Thermal Spring Districts Act, 1908. (4) Nativo townships under tho Native Townships Act, 1895, or the Native and Maori Lnads laws Amendment Act, 1902. (5) Land vested in trustees for Natives under any Act. Provision is also made under the Act to borrow half a million annually for the purchnso q£ Xatu"* lands.