Vermin Act Amendment Act 1954 (WA)

1954.] Vermin. [No. 44.

VERMIN.

3° Elizabeth II., No. XLIV.

No. 44 of 1954.

AN ACT to amend the Vermin Act, 1918-1953.

[Assented to 8th December, 1954.]

BE it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Vermin Act

Short title.

Amendment Act, 1954. and citation.

(2) In this Act the Vermin Act, 1918-1953,

Act No. 2 of 1919 as reprinted with amendments

Approved

up to and including Act No. 5 of 1953 incorpor-

for reprint

let Sept.,

ated pursuant to the provisions of the Amend-

1954. Govt.

ments Incorporation Act, 1938,

Printer's

ref.

77709/7/54.

is referred to as the principal Act.

(3) The principal Act as amended by this Act

may be cited as the Vermin Act, 1918-1954.

No. 441 Vermin. [1954.

S. 4

Section four of the principal Act is amended by adding after the word, "Officer" in the last line of the interpretation "Inspector" the words "and a vermin control officer".

amended. 2.

S. 54	3.	Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
amended.

fifty-four of the principal Act is amended by

(a)	deleting the words, ": in the case of a pastoral holding, the area, and in other cases" in the last three lines;
(b)	adding after the word, "value" in the last line the words, "of each holding".

S. 59

amended. 4. Section fifty-nine of the principal Act is

amended by adding subsections as follows:

(6) For the purposes of this section, the

unimproved capital value of land

(a) held under a Crown lease or of which any profit may lawfully be taken by virtue of a Crown lease, including a pastoral lease issued under the Land Act, 1933-1954, is a sum equal to twenty times the amount of the annual rent reserved by the lease, notwithstanding that the rent in the case of a pastoral lease has been wholly or partially reduced in any year under the provi- sions of section one hundred and one A of that Act, but if the Crown lease including a pastoral lease issued under the Land Act, 1933-1954, is sublet at a higher rent than that reserved by the Crown lease, the unimproved capital value of the land is a sum equal to twenty times the amount of the annual rent reserved by the sublease if the sub- lease so reserves or a sum equal to twenty times the aggregate amount of rent payable under the sublease for the current financial year;

1954.] Vermin. [No. 44.

(b) held or used under lease, license or concession from the Crown for cutting and removing timber or with the right of taking any other profit from the land, excluding a pastoral lease issued under the Land Act, 1933-1954, or a mining lease issued under the Mining Act, 1904-1952, is a sum equal to five shillings for every acre of the land.

(7) Nothing in this Act shall make the holder of any permit issued pursuant to section thirty- two of the Forests Act, 1918, liable to be rated for any land comprised in any such permit in excess of the area of the defined coupe current at the date of the assessment.

5. 67

5. Section sixty-seven of the principal Act is amended.

amended by substituting for the word, "he" in the

last line the word, "it".

6. Section eighty-seven of the principal Act is amended.

amended by substituting for the word, "proclama-

tion"—

in line two of subsection (2);

in line three of subsection (5); and

in line four of subsection (6),

the word, "declaration".

7.    Subsection (1) of section ninety-eight of the amended.

principal Act is amended by

(a)	adding after the word "specify" in line four the words, "all or any of the following";
(b)
the following:— substituting for paragraphs (a) and (b)

(a) the steps to be taken and the means to be adopted by' the owners or occupiers of all or any of the holdings to suppress or to destroy vermin or

No. 441 Vermin. [1954.

to destroy eggs on the holdings and upon the roads bounding or inter- secting the same;

(b)	the date or dates on or before which the owners or occupiers shall respec- tively commence the work of sup- pressing and destroying the vermin or eggs;
(c)	that the owners or occupiers having commenced the work shall continue the work until the vermin or eggs are suppressed or destroyed;
(d)	the period or periods during which the work shall be continued and systematically carried out by the owners or occupiers.

S. 99

amended. 8. Section ninety-nine of the principal Act is

amended by

(a)	substituting a comma for the semi-colon in line fourteen;
(b)	substituting for the words, "fine of one pound" in line seventeen the words, "further fine of not less than nor more than one pound".

S. 103

amended. 9. Subsection (1) of section one hundred and three of the principal Act is amended by substituting for all words and figures after the word, "of" in line five of the last proviso to the subsection the fol- lowing:—

the following lands and classes of lands

(a)	land owned by or on behalf of Her Majesty;
(b)	public roads and thoroughfares; public reserves for health, recreation or enjoy- ment, public parks, university endow- ments, cemeteries and commons;

1954.] Vermin. [No. 44.

(c)

land owned by a person or society, and occupied or used exclusively for or in connection with any public hospital, whether supported wholly or partly by grants from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or not, benevolent institution, public charitable purpose, church, chapel for public worship or the site of a resi- dence of a minister of religion minister- ing at some place of public worship, or the site of, or occupied for the purposes of, a school attached to or connected with any place of public worship, or as a mechanics' institute or school of art; all land the property of and belonging to any religious body, and occupied or held only for the purposes of that body; land on which is erected any municipal or State market, town hall, or municipal council chamber; and all land owned by or vested in any municipal corporation, road board, or other statutory public body: but the exemption from rates does not apply in respect of land which, not being the site of, or intended site of, or occupied for the purposes of a school or hall used or to be used for educational purposes the property of and belonging to a religious body, is a source of profit or gain to the users or owners thereof;

(d)

land held as a mining tenement, within the meaning of the Mining Act, 1904-

1952;

(e) land dedicated to, or vested in trustees and used for, zoological, agricultural, pastoral, or horticultural show purposes, or other public or scientific purposes;

(f) land held by

a person, who is in receipt of an age, invalid or widow's pension under Part III. or IV. of the Social Services Con- solidation Act, 1947-1953, of the Parlia- ment of the Commonwealth; or

No. 44.] Vermin. [1954.

a member of the Forces within the meaning of the Repatriation Act, 1920- 1953, of the Parliament of the Common- wealth, who is in receipt of a service pension under the provisions of Division 5 of Part LE of that Act.