Gold Bounty Act 1931 (Cth)

GOLD BOUNTY.

 

No. 15 of 1931.

An Act to amend the Gold Bounty Act 1930.

[Assented to 6th August, 1931.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title and citation.

1.—(1.) This Act may be cited as the Gold Bounty Act 1931.

(2.) The Gold Bounty Act 1930 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.

(3.) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Gold Bounty Act 1930-1931.

Commencement.

2. This Act shall be deemed to have commenced on the date of the commencement of the Principal Act.

Definitions.

3. Section three of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by adding at the end of the definition of “licensed gold-buyer” the words “and includes any branch in Australia of His Majesty’s Royal Mint, and any authority of a State specified by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette and any person so specified”;

(b)by adding at the end of sub-section (1.) the following definition:—

“‘tributer’ means a person who works a mine or portion of a mine under an agreement with the lessee or owner of the mine to pay to, or receive from, the lessee or owner, a portion or percentage of the product taken from the mine, or of the proceeds of the sale of that product.”; and

(c) by adding at the end of paragraph (c)of sub-section (3.) the words “or, where a shipper has not, in the year in which shipment is effected, furnished evidence to the satisfaction of the Minister as to the quantity of the gold commercially recoverable from such matte, concentrates or other material, as the case may be, the gold shall, if the Minister so directs, be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have been shipped in the year in which such evidence is produced”.

 

Payment and distribution of bounty.

4.Section seven of the Principal Act is amended by omitting the words “and value of the gold content” and inserting in their stead the words “of the gold content and has furnished evidence to the satisfaction of the Minister as to the quantity of the gold commercially recoverable”.

Distribution of bounty.

5. Section eight of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by omitting from paragraph (b) the word “and”;

(b) by inserting in paragraph (b), after the word “registration”, the words “and have made, in the prescribed manner, claims for bounty”; and

(c) by omitting from paragraph (b) the words “contained in” and inserting in their stead the words “commercially recoverable from”.

6. After section nine of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:—

Bounty in respect of gold from ore produced by a tributer.

“9a. Where a gold mine or portion of a gold mine is worked by a tributer, the owner of the treatment plant at which gold from the gold ore produced by the tributer is recovered (whether the owner of that plant is the lessee or owner of the mine under tribute or not) shall account for, and pay to, the tributer fifty per centum of any bounty under this Act received by the owner of that plant on account of the gold obtained from the ore so treated.”.

Claimant to keep accounts.

7.Section eleven of the Principal Act is amended by inserting in paragraph (a), after the word ‘‘him”, the words “or by tributers under contract with him”.

Conditions of employment and rates of wages.

8. Section eighteen of the Principal Act is amended—

(a)by adding at the end of sub-section (4.) the words “or by any tributers under contract with him”;

(b) by omitting from sub-section (5.) the words “by any gold producer”;

(c) by omitting from sub-section (5.) the words “that gold producer” and inserting in their stead the words “the claimant”; and

(d) by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:—

“(7.) An authority appointed by the Minister under the last preceding sub-section shall consist of a representative of gold producers, a representative of employees engaged in the production of gold, and a person who shall act as Chairman, and who shall be appointed by the Minister on the joint nomination of the representatives of gold producers and of employees:

Provided that, it the representatives of gold producers and of employees fail to make a joint nomination of a Chairman within twenty days after being called upon by the Minister so to do, the Governor-General may appoint a person to act as Chairman.”.

 

Amendment of the Schedule.

9. The Schedule to the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting, after the word “that” (first occurring), the words “,subject to the conditions hereinafter specified,”;

(b) by inserting, after the word “extract”, the words “,or cause to be extracted by tribute or otherwise,”; and

(c) by inserting, after paragraph (e), the following words:—

“This application is made upon the following conditions:—

(1) I/We shall be entitled at any time, on giving three months’ notice in writing to the Minister, to revoke the above undertaking; and

(2) On the expiration of the term of the said notice my/our registration as a gold producer shall cease and determine and thereupon I/We shall not unless and until I am/We are again registered as a gold producer be entitled to any of the benefits provided by the said Act or be subject in any way to the provisions of the said Act.”.