A.—6b.

Prisons. In paragraph (2)of section sof "The Prisons Act, 1882 " (section 4of the Consolidation Act) "unauthorised" is inserted before "person''for clearness. In "paragraph ; (3) of the'same section, and ; generally/ throughout the Act the reference to penal servitude is dropped, and the equivalent from the Crimes Act substituted. The same course is adopted with the word " misdemeanour." Section 61 (Prosecution for offences) is altered to meet the Crimes Act (section 50 of the Consolidation Act). Promissory Oaths. Section 5 (Executive Councillor's oath) has been extended to include the Deputy of the Governor (section 5 of the Consolidation Act). Section 10 (Aliens' oath) is omitted, as it properly belongs to the Aliens Act, where it appears. Section 12 (Change of name of sovereign) is given effect to in the forms of the oaths. " Governor in Council " is inserted at the end of section 17 for completeness (section 13, (c), of the Consolidation Act). " The Judge of the Court of Arbitration" is inserted in the Second Schedule. Property Law. The form of conveyance in the First Schedule to the Act of 1905 (Second Schedule to the Consolidation Act) is altered by referring to a plan. This is the established conveyancing practice. Public Bodies' Leasing Powers. Section 2 of " The Public Bodies' Powers Act, 1887," is dropped as spent. Sections 14 to 16 of the same Act are transferred to the Harbours Act, their proper place. Public Contracts and Local Bodies' Contractors. The definition of " local body " in the Act of 1885 is extended to include Water-supply Board. These Boards were not in existence when that Act was passed. In our opinion the omission to include them when the Water-supply Act was passed was a mistake, which we are entitled to correct. Ihis we have done (section 2 of the Consolidation Act). Public Health. In section 2 of "The Public Health Act, 1900," "this Act" is defined to include regulations by the Governor. We have extended it to the Governor in Council. The omission was plainly an oversight, as the Governor in Council makes some regulations. (Section 2of the Consolidation Act.) Subsection (3) of section 7 of the same Act is omitted as unnecessary. Section 86 of the same Act (Power to inspect food, &c), stands unrepealed, though the next section (Power to seize food which on inspection appears to be unsound) has been repealed by the Sale of Food and Drugs Act. We have accordingly retained section 86 (section 89 of the Consolidation Act), though it does not seem to serve any useful purpose. Section 6 of "The Public Health Amendment Act, 1902," has been transferred to the Coroners Act (section 18), its proper place. Similarly, section 10 of " The Public Health Amendment Act, 1904," has been made a proviso to section 23 of the Coroners Act. Public Reserves and Domains. The delegation provisions of " The Public Domains Act, 1881," are repealed by section 12 of " The Domain Boards Act, 1904," with a saving of any existing delegation. This section 12 is defective in not defining the position of these delegates. As the repealing Act introduces the new system of Domain Boards, we have by section 54 of the Consolidation Act provided that the existing delegates of any domain shall be deemed to be the Domain Board of that domain, with tenure of office as stated in the section.

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