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Short title.
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1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Rubber Research Ordinance.
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2. There shall be established in Ceylon a board, hereinafter called “the board “, for the purpose of furthering and developing the rubber industry, and of establishing and maintaining a rubber research institution and otherwise managing, conducting, encouraging and promoting scientific research in respect of rubber and all problems connected with the rubber industry, and in particular the growth and cultivation of rubber plants, the prevention and cure of diseases, blights and pests, the processes for the treatment of rubber latex and the conversion of such latex into marketable rubber, and the utilization, marketing, and disposal of rubber and in general of all products derived from rubber plants.
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Constitution and proceedings of the board.
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3.
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(1) The board shall consist of the following persons:-
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the Director of Agriculture;
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the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury;
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the Rubber Controller; and
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the Director of the Rubber Research Institute, who shall be the vice-chairman of the board.
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one member of Parliament nominated by the Minister;
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two members of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon nominated by that association;
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two members of the Low-country Products Association nominated by that association; and
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one person nominated by the Minister to represent the small holders.
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(2) The chairman of the board shall be elected by the members of the board from among themselves.
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(3) Members of the board who are nominated under subsection (1) (b) from among Members of[1] the Planters’ Association of Ceylon, and the Low-country Products Association shall hold office for a period of three years, or for such period as they continue to be members of those bodies, whichever period may be the shorter:
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Provided that if at any time Parliament[1] is dissolved those Members of Parliament[1] who have been nominated as members of the board shall continue in office as members of the board until the election of members of Parliament at the next succeeding general election, notwithstanding that by so doing they shall have remained in office as members of the board for a period exceeding three years.
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Any other nominated member shall hold office for a period of three years, and all nominated members may be renominated from time to time.
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(4) No proceedings held or taken, and no act, matter, or thing done by the board shall be invalidated by reason only of any vacancy in the membership of the board.
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(5) The proceedings of the board shall be conducted and the method of filling such vacancies as may occur in its membership shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule.
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(6) The Minister[1] may by regulation revoke, amend, or add to the Schedule.
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Incorporation and powers and duties of the board.
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4.
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(1) The members of the board for the time being shall be a body corporate and shall have the name of “The Rubber Research Board “, and in that name shall have perpetual succession and shall and may sue and be sued in all courts in Ceylon, and may have and use a common seal.
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(2) The seal of the board shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman and one member of the board, and, in the absence of the chairman, by three members of the board, and when so authenticated shall be judicially noticed.
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(3) The board may acquire and hold and receive by way of gift, donation, transfer, or otherwise moneys, funds, and property, movable and immovable, and may sell, transfer, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of the same, or any produce thereof, and may direct and do all things necessary for or incidental to the purposes of its constitution.
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(4) The board may, in such manner as it thinks fit, borrow money and secure the repayment of any money borrowed.
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(5) The board may apply for, purchase or otherwise acquire any patents, brevets d’invention, concessions and the like conferring an exclusive or non-exclusive or limited right to use, or any information as to, any invention which may seem capable of being used for any of the objects and purposes of the board, or the acquisition of which may seem calculated directly or indirectly to assist the accomplishment of such objects and purposes; and may use, exercise, develop, grant licenses in respect of, or otherwise turn to account, the property, rights and information so acquired.
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(6) The board may establish experimental stations for the purposes of this Ordinance, and may equip the same with buildings, houses, laboratories, factories, and all other appurtenances or accessories as it may think fit.
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(7) The board shall, by the provision and publication of information, as well as by advice and demonstration and the inspection of plantations, give practical assistance to persons engaged in the rubber industry.
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(8) The board shall also provide such facilities for the education of students in rubber research as the Minister may from time to time direct.
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(9) The board shall have full power and authority generally to govern, direct, and decide all matters connected with the appointment of its officers and servants, the administration of its affairs, and the accomplishment of its objects and purposes:
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Provided that any such officers or servants when appointed shall, for the purposes of discipline and otherwise, be subject to the control and supervision of the chairman of the board.
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(10) The board may establish and maintain a provident fund for the benefit of all or any of its officers and servants, make contributions out of the moneys at its disposal to that fund, regulate the management and investment thereof, prescribe the contributions to be made thereto by and the payments to be made therefrom to such officers and servants, provide that no sum standing to the credit of a member in the provident fund shall be assignable or transferable or liable to be attached, sequestered or levied upon for or in respect of any claim whatsoever other than a debt due to the Government or to the board, and lay down the conditions under which any such sum may be repaid or declared forfeit or otherwise applied for the purposes of the fund.
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(11) The board shall have power to fix the rates of salary, remuneration, bonus, royalties, allowances and all other moneys paid to its servants from time to time, and to apportion moneys derived from patents, brevets d’invention and other similar rights and privileges between itself and its servants in such manner as it may deem equitable.
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(12) Such power and authority shall include a power to make rules subject to the approval of the Minister[1] for any such matters, affairs, objects, or purposes.
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Approval of regulations and rules
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5. All regulations made under section 3 (6) and all rules made under section 4(12) shall be laid, as soon as conveniently may be, on the table of the Senate and the House of Representatives[1] at two successive meetings, and shall be brought before the Senate and the House of Representatives[1] at the next subsequent meeting held thereafter by a motion that the said regulations or rules shall not be disapproved, and if upon the introduction of any such motion, or upon any adjournment thereof, the said regulations or rules are disapproved by Parliament, such regulations or rules shall be deemed to be rescinded as from the date of such disapproval, but without prejudice to anything already done thereunder; and such regulations or rules, if not so disapproved, shall continue to be of full force and effect. Every such disapproval shall be published in the Gazette.
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Annual income of the board
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6.
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(1)
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(a) In order to provide an annual income for the Board there shall be charged, levied and paid on all rubber exported from Ceylon an export duty of eight cents on every kilogramme of rubber exported from Ceylon, and the proceeds thereof shall be paid over monthly to the Board by the Principal Collector of Customs, no part thereof being credited to the Consolidated Fund:
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Provided that, during the period commencing on the 1st day of January, 1949, and ending on the 31st day of December, 1958, there shall be charged, levied and paid, for the purpose aforesaid, an export duty of eleven-twentieths of a cent on every pound of rubber exported from Ceylon, in lieu of the export duty specified in the preceding provisions of this subsection ;
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Provided that no duty shall be charged or levied at the time of export on any rubber which is proved to the satisfaction of the Principal Collector of Customs to have been imported or brought into Ceylon for the purpose of re-export.
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(b) Such duty shall be in addition to the duties charged or chargeable under the Customs Ordinance, or any enactment amending the same, or under any resolution of Parliament duly made under the said Ordinance or any of the said enactments.
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(2) Subsection (1) (a) shall have effect as though it formed a part of the Customs Ordinance, and that Ordinance shall apply accordingly.
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(3) For the purposes of this section ” rubber ” shall include marketable rubber prepared from the latex of the rubber plant, as defined in the Rubber Thefts Prevention Ordinance, 1908,*[* Repealed by Act No. 11 of 1956.] and the latex of any such plant after coagulation and in any stage of the treatment to which it is subjected during the process of conversion into marketable rubber, and also fluid rubber latex, but shall not include rubber imported into Ceylon for purpose of treatment and export or any manufactured article wholly or partly made of rubber.
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(4) For the purpose of calculating the duty under subsection (1) one gallon of fluid latex shall be taken to be equivalent to three and a half pounds of dry rubber and one and a half pounds of coagulated latex shall be taken to be equivalent to one pound of dry rubber.
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Application of income and other moneys.
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7. All moneys paid to the board under this Ordinance and all moneys otherwise lawfully acquired by the board or which may be transferred to the board by an order of the Governor made under section 3 (2) of the Rubber Restriction Repeal Ordinance, 1928,[ Omitted from this Edition.] shall be vested in the board and shall form a fund to be administered and applied by the board in its discretion for the carrying out of this Ordinance.
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Estimates and balance sheet.
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8.
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(1) (1) The board shall, on or before the thirtieth day of November in each year, cause to be laid on the table of the Senate and the House of Representatives[1] estimates of income and expenditure for the next ensuing year.
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Balance sheet and annual report.
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(2) Within three months after each thirty-first day of December the board shall cause to be prepared a balance sheet, showing the property and liabilities of the board, which shall be audited by the Auditor-General or an auditor nominated by the Minister,[1] and a report of the work of the board, with the said balance sheet, shall be laid on the table of the Senate and the House of Representatives.[1]
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Protection for members and officers of the board.
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9. No matter or thing done or omitted to be done under the direction of the board by any member or officer of the board shall, if such matter or thing was bona fide done or omitted to be done in pursuance of this Ordinance or in furtherance of the objects and purposes of the board or the administration of its affairs, subject any such member or officer personally in any civil court to any action, liability, claim or demand whatsoever.
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Saving of rights of the Crown and of certain other rights.
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10. Nothing in this Ordinance shall be deemed to affect the rights of Her Majesty the Queen, Her Heirs and Successors, or of any body politic or corporate, or of any other person, except such as are mentioned in this Ordinance, and those claiming by, from, or under them.
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Schedules
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