Notice to be given.

48. Such notice as aforesaid may be served by any owner or occupier of land or by any person appointed by the Highway Trustees for that purpose by delivering the same to or at the residence of the person whose duty it is to eradicate remove or clear as aforesaid and any person giving such notice may sue for the assessed penalty and costs of eradication or clearing.

Cost of eradication enforceable against absent proprietors.

49. If the owner of any unoccupied land cannot be discovered or shall be absent from the Province without having left a known agent responsible for his duty under this Act it shall be lawful for the Highway Trustees of the District in which such land is situate or if there be no Highway Trustees for any person authorised in writing by the Superintendent after giving a notice as near as may be in the form of the Schedule annexed by advertisement in a public newspaper in the Province once each week for four successive weeks to proceed to eradicate all noxious thistles and briars Bathurst burrand the cost of such eradication and advertisements shall be a liability on the aforesaid unoccupied land and may be enforced under the provisions of "The Sale for Nonpayment of Rates Act 1862."

Penalty after certain notice for allowing Thistles &c. to grow.

50. Any person who shall fail to eradicate or destroy any noxious Thistles and Bathurst burr growing on land belonging to him or in his occupation situate within any District created under this Act shall be liable to be fined any sum not less than one shilling or more than twenty shillings for every day that such thistles or Bathurst burr shall be permitted to grow from and after the expiry of such notice aforesaid.

Persons who may serve notice.

51. It shall be lawful for the owner or occupier of any Land within any such district or for any person to be appointed by the Highway Trustees of the respective Districts for that purpose to serve a notice in the form or to the effect in the Schedule to this Act annexed by delivering the same personally to or leaving the same at the last known residence of the person owning or occupying the land within any such district whereon any such Thistles shall be growing.

In case no occupier notice to be published.

52. In case any such Thistles shall be growing upon any unoccupied land or upon land the ownership of which cannot be ascertained then it shall be lawful for the owner or occupier of any land within any such district or for any person who shall be appointed by the said Superintendent for that purpose to cause a notice to be published in two consecutive numbers of at least two newspapers published within the Province of Auckland in the form or to the effect in the Schedule to this Act annexed.

If Thistles not destroyed Justices may make order.

53. If the noxious Thistles or Bathurst burr upon any such land as last mentioned shall not be eradicated within ten days from the date of the last publication of such notice it shall be lawful for any Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace having jurisdiction within the district to make an order authorising any person or persons to be therein named to enter into or upon such land and eradicate or destroy all noxious Thistles and Bathurst Burr growing thereon and in case it shall be proved on oath to the satisfaction of any such Resident Magistrate or any two such Justices that any costs have been incurred in eradicating or destroying such Thistles and Bathurst Burr it shall be lawful for the said Resident Magistrate or Justices to make an order under his or their hands for the repayment of such costs to the person or persons who shall have incurred the same which order shall be filed with the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate’s Court sitting nearest to such District.

Costs ordered to be a charge on the land.

54. Any person who shall enter upon the occupation of any land in respect of which any such order shall have been made as aforesaid and continue in occupation thereof for one week after the amount so ordered to be paid shall have been demanded shall be liable to pay the same to the person or persons named in such order or to any one of them.

For the purposes of this Act Superintendent may direct an expenditure.

55. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to direct any sum or sums of money out of any appropriation made for such purpose by the Provincial Council to be laid out and expended in eradicating or destroying any noxious thistles or Bathurst burr growing upon any waste lands of the Crown or upon any lands belonging to the Aboriginal Natives or on any Public Road or Reserve or on any unoccupied Land or upon any Land the ownership whereof cannot be ascertained.

Power to appoint persons to enter upon lands for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of Thistles.

56. It shall be lawful for the Chairmen of the Highway Districts in the respective District by order of the Trustees to authorise any person or persons to enter upon any land situated within any such district for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of such noxious Thistles or Bathurst burr therein and eradicating or destroying the same and no person when acting under such authority shall be deemed a trespasser.