Whole Act
41 provisions in continuous reading order
Loading the complete Act…
This Act may be cited as the Bulk Handling Act 1967 1.
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by proclamation 1.
[3. Deleted: No. 10 of 1998 s. 76.]
[4. Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(f).]
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
bin means any building, shed, silo or receptacle for the storage of grain, in bulk, pending transport or delivery, and includes any plant or equipment used in connection with the reception of grain in bulk;
Company means Co‑operative Bulk Handling Limited, a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act 1893 2, and deemed to be registered under the Companies (Co‑operative) Act 1943 3, and having its registered office at Wellington Street, Perth 4;
grade, in relation to grain tendered to or received by the Company, means the grade as determined by the application of the standard or standards in accordance with which the Company is obliged by section 6A to make that determination or cause it to be made;
grain means the seeds of the cereal grasses wheat and barley;
grain received in bulk means grain in respect of which the Company renders a service;
grower includes the legal personal representative of a deceased person, a trustee, the liquidator of a company, a person entitled to a share of a crop, under a share farming agreement, and a corporation, organization or body delivering grain to the Company;
marketing authority means the Australian Wheat Board or any other marketing authority constituted by or under any law of the Commonwealth or of the State for the marketing of any type of grain;
miller means a person whose business includes the milling, other processing or use of grain;
representative, in relation to a grower, means a person acting under the express or implied authority of the grower and includes a person tendering grain to the Company on behalf of the grower;
season, in relation to grain, means the period extending from 1 November in any year, or, if grain is received prior to 1 November, then from the date of receival of the grain, to 31 October in the following year;
section means a section of this Act;
terminal elevator means a silo or container maintained at a port for the handling of grain and includes machinery and buildings ancillary to such a silo or container.
[Section 5 amended: No. 3 of 1981 s. 3; No. 29 of 2002 s. 4; No. 30 of 2002 s. 47.]
The Company shall, in relation to grain tendered to or received by it, determine or cause to be determined the grade of that grain in accordance with the standard or standards for the time being adopted by the Company in respect of grain of the type concerned.
Before adopting a standard or standards, the Company shall consult such persons as the Company considers appropriate.
[Section 6A inserted: No. 29 of 2002 s. 6.]
Nothing in this Act relieves the Company from liability for conversion or other action in respect to grain delivered to the Company in the course of its operations, but the Company may create an assurance or indemnity fund to protect it against liability in that regard.
Where the Company has, in good faith and without notice of the conversion, received grain in bulk from a person who has wrongfully converted it to his own use or in derogation of the right, title, claim or interest of another person, the Company may recover from the person wrongfully converting the grain any sum or sums and costs for which it may be liable in consequence of the receival of the grain.
[8‑10. Deleted: No. 29 of 2002 s. 5.]
The Company shall, at its own expense, insure all grain from time to time in its custody or under its control to its full insurable value with a public insurance company that has, or underwriters who have, complied with the provisions of the Insurance Act 1932 5 of the Commonwealth, as from time to time amended, against loss or damage by fire, explosion, storm, tempest or flooding and against such other insurable risks as may from time to time be prescribed.
The Company is authorised to receive and give a good discharge for all moneys payable under, and in respect of, and to settle, adjust and compromise all claims under, a policy of insurance.
Where any loss or damage occurs to any grain in the custody, or under the control, of the Company that is covered by insurance, the Company may apply the insurance moneys recovered in or towards the purchase of grain to replace that destroyed or damaged, or, at its discretion, may pay those moneys to a reserve fund to meet any liability for shortages under the provisions of section 16.
The Company shall in every year, not later than the prescribed date, take out a balance sheet, showing its assets and liabilities and making due allowance for depreciation and for such other reserves as are usual for undertakings similar to that carried on by the Company, together with a revenue account for the preceding 12 months, and shall, on or before the date prescribed for that purpose, forward the balance sheet and revenue account to the Minister who shall cause a copy of both to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, as soon as may be practicable after their receipt.
Any officer of the Auditor General nominated by him shall, at all times, have free access to the books and records of the Company and be at liberty to make such copies of, or extracts from, them as he thinks fit.
The Company shall keep all such other records of its transactions as may, from time to time, be prescribed; and such records shall at all times be open for inspection as provided by subsection (2).
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 174 of the Companies (Co‑operative) Act 1943 3, or any provision contained in the memorandum or articles of association of the Company, the Company may, and shall be deemed always to have been empowered to, purchase, out of its reserve funds, any shares of a member of the Company, but to the extent only that the shares so purchased and not sold or disposed of do not, at any one time, exceed 40% of the paid up capital of the Company; and the shares so purchased are not deemed to be cancelled or to be purchased in reduction of capital, but may be sold or disposed of by the Company, in accordance with its articles of association.
[Section 13 amended: No. 58 of 1982 s. 2.]
All moneys arising from any excess of outturn in respect of each class of grain received by the Company, in any particular season, shall be paid to, and retained by, the Company in a special reserve account, as a fund to meet, from time to time, any shortages resulting in its operations or in the outturn of grain of any particular season or seasons; but where the reserve at any time exceeds the sum of $200 000, the excess may be transferred to, and applied as part of, the general funds of the Company.
The Company is not liable to any person in respect of loss sustained by him by reason of failure or delay in delivery of grain received in bulk in the course of its operations, where the failure or delay arises out of a riot, industrial dispute, civil commotion, war or act of God, or is occasioned by any unforeseen cause not attributable to the negligence of the Company.
In the event of any loss or damage arising to grain the Company shall apportion the loss of, or damage to, the grain rateably, as nearly as practicable, among those entitled to obtain delivery of grain at the time the loss or damage occurs and, to that extent, the Company shall be discharged from its obligation to deliver grain to the persons entitled to obtain delivery of it.
Where the Company is unable to give delivery of grain on account of loss or shortages in stocks of grain, other than losses or shortages arising from any cause for which it is relieved of liability under section 15, the Company shall pay to every person entitled to, and unable to obtain, delivery of grain the value of that quantity which it is unable to deliver at the time the request for delivery is made, or, where no request is made prior to 30 September next following the date of receival of the grain, the Company shall pay the value of an equal quantity of grain on that day.
For the purposes of subsection (1), the value of the grain undelivered is deemed to be the value of an equal quantity of grain at —
the average buying price paid by merchants, published in The West Australian newspaper at the material time or published at 30 September, as the case may be; or
where the price is not ascertainable under paragraph (a), the price quoted on the Liverpool Corn Exchange or such other exchange as may be operating, with due allowance for costs of transport and insurance; or
at the election of the Company, the price determined by the Minister,
but nothing in this subsection precludes the recovery by a person entitled to delivery of grain of any further damages to which he may be lawfully entitled by reason of the Company not delivering the grain.
A person entitled to receive grain that is lost or damaged is, notwithstanding that he has not received it, obliged to pay such charges as would have been payable, under the provisions of this Act, had he received the grain on the day on which the loss or damage occurred.
[Section 16 amended: No. 29 of 2002 s. 7.]
Where, for any purpose under, or relating to, the provisions of this Act or the regulations, a poll of growers is taken, then, notwithstanding any provision of the memorandum or articles of association of the Company to the contrary, the poll shall be taken by secret ballot.
The person conducting a poll of growers may take such action and give such directions as he considers necessary to ensure that the poll is taken by secret ballot and that no irregularity occurs in, or in connection with, the ballot.
Every person who —
refuses or fails to comply with a direction given pursuant to subsection (2); or
obstructs or hinders —
the person conducting, or a person carrying out the directions of the person conducting, the ballot; or
the taking of any action pursuant to subsection (2),
commits an offence.
Penalty: $1 000.
The Company shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that ballot papers, envelopes, counterfoils, lists and other documents used in connection with, or relating to, a ballot under this section are prepared and kept at such place, and for such period after the completion of the ballot, as the Minister may direct.
[Section 17 amended: No. 20 of 1989 s. 3.]