The Short Title of this Act shall be The Lyttelton and Heathcote Recreation-ground Act 1877.

The lands described in the Schedule to this Act shall be and the same are hereby absolutely transferred to and vested in the Trust hereinafter created, for the purposes of a public recreation-ground for the inhabitants of Lyttelton and Heathcote and the surrounding districts.

The Honorable George Buckley, John Ollivier, Robert Martindale, and Mayor of the Borough of Lyttelton, and the Chairman of the Heathcote Road Board, for the time being severally in office, and their successors in such offices, shall be and they are hereby created a body corporate, by the name of “The Lyttelton and Heathcote Recreation Trust,” and shall have a common seal, and may do and suffer all things that bodies corporate may do and suffer.

The said Trust shall manage the said lands in all respects as to it may seem expedient, but so that the lands shall be exclusively used for the purposes for which they have by this Act been set apart:

Provided that the Trust may let the said land, or any part thereof, for any period not exceeding one year: Provided also that the Trust may for seven days in each year, and either at one time or at different times, close the said lands to the public, and charge for admission thereto on such days; and all rents and revenues then received for or in respect of the said lands shall be expended in, upon, and about the same, and for no other purpose.

The Governor may, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, at any time and from time to time resume possession of any part of the lands vested in the Trust upon giving to the Trust one month's notice of his intention to do so, and without paying or giving any compensation for the same. Such notice shall be deemed to be sufficient if signed by the Minister for Public Works for the time being, on behalf of the Governor, and published in the New Zealand Gazette.

The land shall only be so resumed for the purposes of the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway, or for some purpose connected therewith; and upon the expiration of any such notice the land mentioned therein shall be deemed to revest in Her Majesty, wholly discharged from the trusts created by this Act.

If any of the said Trustees, other than those serving ex officio, shall resign, or shall be absent for twelve months from the Provincial District of Canterbury, or shall be adjudicated a bankrupt or insolvent, or take the benefit of any Act for the relief of debtors, or shall be convicted of any felony, he shall cease to be a member of the said Trust, and the Governor may, in case of such vacancy, or in case of the death of any member, excepting as aforesaid, appoint another in his place.