LOAN
(DROUGHT RELIEF).
No. 71 of 1940.
An Act to authorize the Raising of Moneys
to be loaned to, and the Payment of Moneys to, certain States for the Purposes
of Drought Relief.
[Assented
to 16th December, 1940.]
[Date
of commencement, 13th January, 1941.]
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.
1. This Act may be cited as the Loan (Drought Relief) Act 1940.
Authority
to borrow £2,800,000.
2.The Treasurer may, from time to time, under the
provisions of the Commonwealth Inscribed
Stock Act 1911-1940, or under the provisions of any Act authorizing the
issue of Treasury Bills, borrow moneys not exceeding in the whole the sum of
Two million eight hundred thousand pounds.
Application
of moneys.
3.—(1.) Moneys borrowed under this Act shall be issued
and applied only for the expenses of borrowing, and for making loans to the
States mentioned in the next succeeding sub-section for the purpose of the
alleviation, in accordance with agreements made or to be made between the
Commonwealth and the States, of hardship suffered by primary producers in
consequence of drought.
(2.) The moneys
so loaned to each State shall not exceed the amount set forth opposite the name
of that State in the following table:—
£ |
New
South Wales............................. | 750,000 |
Victoria........................................... | 600,000 |
Queensland...................................... | 250,000 |
South
Australia................................ | 600,000 |
Western
Australia............................. | 570,000 |
Conditions
of loans to States.
4.—(1.) The principal of moneys loaned to any State in
accordance with this Act shall be repaid by that State to the Commonwealth by
four equal annual payments, the first to be made not later than four years
after the making of the loan and the last to be made not later than seven years
after the making of the loan.
(2.) A State to
which moneys are loaned in accordance with this Act shall pay interest thereon
to the Commonwealth at a rate equal to that payable by the Commonwealth on
moneys borrowed by the Commonwealth for the purposes of this Act.
Payment
to States of portion of interest.
5.—(1.) During the first year after the making to any
State of a loan in accordance with this Act, the Treasurer may pay to that
State a sum not exceeding the interest on the loan payable by that State to the
Commonwealth in respect of that year, and during each of the next following six
years the Treasurer may pay to that State a sum not exceeding one-half of the
interest on the loan payable by that State to the Commonwealth in respect of
that year.
(2.) Payments
under this section shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which
is hereby appropriated for the purpose.