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4. Whenever in any house or kainga any person is found to be sick of leprosy or any infectious or contagious disease, or of any sickness the symptoms of which raise a reasonable suspicion that it may be leprosy or infectious or contagious disease, the occupier or head of such house or kainga shall immediately give notice thereof in writing to the Government Medical Officer or to the Resident Agent at the island at which such house or kainga is situate. Any occupier or head of such house or kainga who fails or neglects to give such notice shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, or, in default, six months' hard labour. 5. Where the Government Medical Officer or the Resident Agent at any island has reason, to suspect that leprosy or any infectious or contagious disease exists in any house or kainga, and no notice thereof has been given in accordance with section four hereof, such Government Medical Officer or Resident Agent may visit and inspect the suspected premises and all persons therein. Any person obstructing the Government Medical Officer or the Resident Agent during such visit and inspection shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds or, in default, three months' hard labour. 6. Any complaint for an offence under this Ordinance may be heard before a Judge of the High Court of the Cook Islands or before the European Resident Agent at the island where such offence was committed. Passed by the Federal Council, this seventeenth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and four. S. Savage, Clerk to Council. W. E. Gudgeon, President, Federal Council. . [Assented to by the Governor on the sth September, 1905.]

Federal Ordinance No. 16.—An Obdinance to extend the Jurisdiction of the High Coubt of the Cook Islands. Be it enacted by the Federal Council of the Cook and Northern Islands as follows : — 1. The Short Title of this Ordinance shall be " The High Court Ordinance, 1904." 2. The High Court of the Cook Islands shall have jurisdiction in bankruptcy within the Cook and Northern Islands, and the said High Court and the European Judges and Registrar thereof shall as far as practicable have such powers and authorities as are conferred on a Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, or the Judge or Registrar thereof, by " The Bankruptcy Act, 1892," of New Zealand. 3. The High Court of the Cook Islands shall be a Court of Probate, and as such shall, as far as circumstances admit, have for and within its jurisdiction, with respect to the property, real or personal, of deceased persons, other than Natives of the said islands, subject to the jurisdiction of the Court, all such jurisdiction as for the time being belongs to any Court exercising probate jurisdiction in New Zealand. 4. The jurisdiction conferred by sections two and three hereof .shall be deemed to have been vested in the said High Court as from the eleventh day of June, one thousand nine hundred and two. 5. The High Court of the Cook Islands shall have jurisdiction in all matters in which jurisdiction was conferred on the Supreme Court or the Federal Court by any Act of the Federal Parliament of the Cook Islands now in force. Passed by the Federal Council, this seventeenth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and four. S. Savage, Clerk to Council. W. G. Gudgeon, President, Federal Council. [Assented to by the Governor on the sth September, 1905.]

Federal Ordinance No. 17. —Unimproved-land Tax Ordinance, 1906. Whereas there is much valuable land in the hands of the Native owners thereof which is unimproved and unplanted, and consequently of no benefit to the said owners or to the community generally : And whereas it is expedient that the Native owners should improve and plant their said lands : Be it therefore enacted by the Federal Council of the Cook and Northern Islands as follows : — 1. The Short Title of this Ordinance shall be " The Unimproved-land Tax Ordinance, 1906." 2. An Island Council may at any time hold an inspection of lands in any district of an island over which such Island Council has jurisdiction, and may by resolution in writing under the hand of the President of such Island Council recommend to the Resident Commissioner that the lands mentioned in such resolution be taxed as unimproved and unplanted lands. Thereupon it may be lawful for the Resident Commissioner to impose a tax on such lands not exceeding one shilling per acre per annum ; and such tax shall continue to be a charge on the said land until payment, and shall be paid up to the thirty-first day of March in each year by the Native owner or occupier of the same respectively until the Resident Commissioner or some officer appointed by him for that purpose is satisfied that the land has.been sufficiently improved and planted. 3. Notice of any tax imposed as aforesaid shall be duly given in the Cook Islands Gazette, and shall also be served on the owner or occupier of the land so taxed. Such notice shall name a reasonable time within which such tax shall be paid.

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