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Electric Telegraph Ordinance 1862

3. The Electric Telegraph Ordinance 1862.

Whereas an Electric Telegraph has been erected between the city of Christchurch and the town of Lyttelton, in the Province of Canterbury, and it is expedient to provide for the maintenance, protection, management and working of the same, and other lines of communication by electric telegraph which may be erected in the said Province:

Be it therefore enacted by the Superintendent of the said Province, with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:

1. Telegraphic Officers to be appointed.

It shall be lawful for the Superintendent, with the advice of the Executive Council, to appoint a proper person for superintending the maintenance, protection, management, and working the electric telegraph, and also to appointt such other Officers as may be deemed necessary for carrying this Ordinance into execution.

2. Fees and dues to be fixed, an rules for management to be made and published in the Provincial “Government Gazette.”

It shall be lawful for the Superintendent, with the advice aforesaid, to fix the fees and dues to be received for the transmission and delivery of every dispatch, message, or other communication by the said electric telegraph, and to make all necessary Rules respecting the same and the general management thereof; and all such fees and dues, and all such Rules shall respectively be published in the Provincial Government Gazette.

3. Fees and dues to be paid over to the Provincial Treasurer.

All fees and dues received under this Ordinance shall be paid over to the Provincial Ttreasurer, and ne by him carried to the ordinary revenue of the Province.

4. Order in which messages to be transmitted. Officers liable to a penalty for offence against this Section.

All messages shall be transmitted and delivered in the order in which they are received by the Manager or other Officer in charge of the station at which they shall be received. Except that messages relating to the arrest of criminals, the discovery or prevention of crime, or other matter connected with the administration of justice, and all Government Dispatches, when so required, shall have prioritty over all other messages; and any Officer offending against this Section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Twenty Pounds.

5. Penalty for divulging matter transmittted.

Every Officer, Clerk, or other person employed in working said lines, who shall divulge the contents or subsance of any dispatch, message, or other communication transmitted by the said line, except to the person or persons to whom the same shall be addressed, shall, on conviction, be liable for every such offence to a fine not exceeding One Hundred Pounds, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any periodd not exceeding six months.

6. Penalty for severing telegraph wire.

Every person who shall wilfully cut or otherwise sever any wire or cord, or so damage any part of the works connected with the saidd Electric Telegraph, or prevent the passing of the electric current, shall, on conviction, be liable for every such offence to a fine not exceeding One Hundred Pounds, or to be imprisoned with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding six months.

7. Penalty for injuring telegraph works.

Every person who shall wilfully obstruct ort injure the works, or interrupt or impede the use of the said Electric Telegraph, or the transmission of any message along the same, shall, on conviction, be liable for every such offence to a fine not less than Five Pounds nor more than One Hundred Pounds, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding six months.

8. The amount of damage: how to be determined and recovered. Every person causing damage to any line of communication, or any works connected therewith, although he may have been fined or been sentenced to imprisonment under this Ordinance, shall also be liable to make good such damage, the amount whereof shall be determined by the Justices imposing the penalty or sentencing to the imprisonment; and such amount of damages, if not paid on demand, may be recovered in a summary way.

9. The Superintendent may, by Proclamation, bring any future lines of telegraph under operation of this Ordinance.

It shall be lawful for the Superintendent, by Proclamation in the Provincial Government Gazette, to bring under the full operation of this Ordinance any lines of communication by electric telegraph hereafter made in the said Province.

10. Maximum penalty.

No penalty to be imposed on any one conviction under the provisions of this

Ordinance shall exceed the sum of One Hundred Pounds.

11. Penalties an fees: how to be recovered.

All fines, penalties, fees and dues imposed under the authority of this Ordinance, shall be recoverable in a summary way.

12. Interpretation Clause.

In the interpretation of this Orddinance, the word “works” shall be taken to mean any station, post, insulators, wires, cords, galvanic apparatus, excavations, or other works in any way connected with the said electric telegraph, or line of communication thereby.

13. Title.

This Ordinance shall be entituled and may be cited as “The Electric Telegraph

Ordinance, 1862.”

Notes.

This Ordinance was passed by the Canterbury Provincial Council on the 19th of

November 1862, and assented to be the Superintendent on 3rd December.