357Penalties for damage to roads

1. Every person commits an offence who, not being authorised by the council or by or under any Act,—

2. encroaches on a road by making or erecting any building, fence, ditch, or other obstacle or work of any kind upon, over, or under the road, or by planting any tree or shrub thereon; or
3. places or leaves on a road, any timber, earth, stones, or other thing; or
4. digs up, removes, or alters in any way the soil or surface or scarp of a road; or
5. damages or, except with the consent of the council, removes or alters any gate or cattle stop lawfully erected across any road; or
6. allows any water, tailings, or sludge, or any filthy or noisome matter, to flow from any building or land in his occupation on to a road; or
7. wilfully or negligently causes or allows any oil, or any liquid harmful to sealed or paved road surfaces or likely to create a danger to vehicles on such surfaces, to escape on to any road having a sealed or paved surface; or
8. causes or permits any timber or other heavy material, not being wholly raised above the ground on wheels, to be dragged on a road; or
9. causes or negligently allows any retaining wall, foundation wall, or fence erected on any land, or any batter or slope of earth, or any building, erection, material, or thing, to give way or fall so as to damage or obstruct a road; or
10. digs up or removes any stone, gravel, sand, or other material from a river bed within 50 metres of a bridge or ford on any road or any dam on which a road is constructed; or
11. does or causes or permits to be done any act whatsoever by which any damage is caused to a road or any work or thing in, on, or under the same,—
and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and, where the offence is a continuing one, to a further fine not exceeding $50 for every day on which the offence has continued and may be ordered to pay the cost incurred by the council in removing any such encroachment, obstruction, or matter, or in repairing any damage caused as aforesaid.

12. Proceedings for an offence against subsection (1) must be commenced on the authority of the council, or by an officer of the council.

13. The Council shall not authorise or suffer any encroachment on a road if the encroachment would or might interfere with or in any way obstruct the right of the Crown, or of any person so authorised by any Act, to construct, place, maintain, alter, remove, or otherwise deal with any electric wires, telephone wires, telegraph wires, pneumatic tubes, or gas pipes on, over, or under the road, except with the prior written consent of the Minister of the Crown, the person, or principal administrative officer of the body, who or which is responsible for any such services or utilities.