This Act may be cited as the Wellington Methodist Charitable and Educational Trusts Act 1916.

In the construction of this Act, unless the context shall otherwise require,—

The present trustees of the said lands (now incorporated under the Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act 1908, under the name of “The Wellington Methodist Educational Trust Board”), and all new members appointed to the Board, whether by way of succession or addition, shall be and are hereby constituted a body corporate under the name of “The Board of the Wellington Methodist Charitable and Educational Endowments,” having a perpetual succession and a common seal, and capable in law for the purposes of the trusts to be administered by them and of this Act of doing and suffering all such things as corporate bodies may do and suffer, and with power to take and hold lands subject to the provisions of this Act.

The present trustees hereby constituted members of the Board are the persons following—that is to say, William James Harland, accountant; John Kershaw, foreman gasfitter; William Clement Hemery, accountant; Robert Hosie, watchmaker; George Tiller, settler; Ernest William Abraham Kellow, accountant; William Wallace Moxham, factory manager; William Edwin Redstone, insurance agent; James Kellow, accountant; James Gates Chapman, Methodist minister: all of Wellington.

The Conference may annually appoint some person (whether a member of the Board or not) as Chairman of the Board, who, if not already a member, shall be ex officio a member of the Board. Anyone so appointed shall be eligible for reappointment, but if not otherwise a member of the Board shall cease to be a member upon ceasing to be Chairman. In the event of the Conference not appointing a Chairman, the Board shall appoint one from their number.

The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Board at which he or she is present. If and while by reason of death or other reason there is no Chairman, the members of the Board may appoint 1 of their number to be acting chairman, who shall preside at all meetings at which he or she is present, and shall have the same powers as if he or she were Chairman of the Board. If at any such meeting such Chairman or acting-chairman be not present at the time appointed for holding the same, the members present may choose one of their number to be chairman of such meeting, and the member so chosen shall have the same powers at that meeting as if he or she were Chairman of the Board.

The Board may from time to time consist of any number of members, not exceeding 15 and not less than 8, including the Chairman.

All members of the Board hereafter appointed (whether by way of succession or addition) shall be appointed by resolution of the Conference on the nomination of the trustees.

If the number of existing members is reduced below 8, and the Board shall fail to nominate a person or persons eligible to be a member or members, the Conference shall have power to appoint a member or members without the nomination of the Board. No person shall be eligible to become or act as a member of the Board who is not an adherent of the Methodist Church of New Zealand.

Upon the appointment of a new member or members the President of the Conference shall make a declaration in or to the effect of the form in Schedule 2, countersigned by the Secretary of the Conference, stating the name or names of the person or persons so appointed; and every such declaration shall be exempt from stamp duty, and, without payment of any fee, shall be filed on record in the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, at Wellington, within 60 days after such declaration shall have been made, and when so filed shall be conclusive evidence of the matters and things therein stated without proof of any signature thereto.

A copy of any such declaration, certified under the hand and seal of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, at Wellington, shall be evidence in all Courts and for all other purposes of the matters and things stated therein, without any proof of the seal or signature of such Registrar.

The office of a member of the Board shall become or be vacant in each or any of the following cases, in addition to death, that is to say—

and if in each or any such case a resolution is passed by the Board at a meeting thereof declaring the office of such member vacant.

Every vacancy occurring in the membership of the Board shall be forthwith reported to the Secretary of the Conference.

The Board shall have an office at such place as they shall from time to time fix, and any notice to or legal process against the Board shall be deemed to be duly served if left at such office. Notice of the situation of such office and of any change in its situation shall be published in the Gazette.

The members of the Board may meet together for the despatch of business, adjourn, or otherwise regulate their meetings and proceedings as they may think fit. The quorum of a meeting shall be 6.

Questions arising at any meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of votes, and in case of equality of votes the Chairman presiding shall have a second or casting vote.

A meeting of the members of the Board for the time being at which a quorum is present shall be competent to exercise all or any of the powers, authorities, and discretions for the time being vested in the Board.

The Chairman or acting chairman may at any time, and the Secretary of the Board shall upon the requisition in writing of any 3 members, summon a meeting of the Board. 5 clear days’ notice of every meeting shall be sent by post to each member who is for the time being in New Zealand. The day of posting the notice shall not be reckoned in the 5 days.

The members of the Board may delegate any of their powers to committees consisting of such member or members of their body as they shall think fit. Any committee so appointed shall in the exercise of its powers conform to any directions given from time to time by the Board.

The Board shall have power from time to time to make bylaws for the governance of the committees, or with respect to the general management of any home, school, college, or institution established and controlled by the Board, or with respect to any other matter under the control of the Board.

The Board shall keep, or cause to be kept, exact minutes of all their proceedings, and also full and accurate accounts of all their receipts and disbursements, liabilities, and engagements, and shall within 3 months after the last day of June in each year cause the said accounts to be made up to the last day of June in each year to be audited by 1 or more competent auditors. A statement of such accounts, signed by the auditor or auditors, together with a report of the year’s working and operations of the Board in respect of the trust estate, shall be produced at a meeting of the Board to be held within 3 months after the last day of June in each year. Such statement and report, if and when adopted at such meeting, shall be signed by the Chairman, and a copy of each, certified by the Chairman, shall be forwarded by the Secretary of the Conference to be laid before the Conference at its next session.

The common seal of the Board shall be in the custody of the Board’s Secretary, and all deeds and instruments executed under the common seal of the Board shall be executed at a meeting of the Board, and be authenticated by the signatures of the Chairman or acting chairman and 2 of the members.

All the said lands described in Schedule 1, and also all moneys now under the control of or invested by the trustees of the said lands, are hereby vested in, and shall be held by, the Board, and shall continue to be used and administered by the Board under the general control and superintendence of the Conference upon the trusts hereinafter mentioned.

The trusts and purposes upon and for which the said lands and moneys are and shall henceforth be held, and upon and for which any lands or moneys hereafter acquired by the Board for the purposes of this Act, and so as to be subject thereto, shall be held, are and shall be for the benefit, maintenance, or education of—

and the support and upkeep of any home, school, college, or institution which the Board may, with the sanction and approval of the Conference, acquire or establish for the purposes aforesaid or either of them; and the trusts and purposes expressed in the said Crown grants are hereby modified and assimilated accordingly; and the revenues derived or to be derived from the said lands, and from the said moneys or investment of moneys as aforesaid, shall be applied in aid of the said purposes and in the administration of the said trusts, and for no other trusts and purposes.

The selection of any children or youth being descendants of the Native race or Maori race of New Zealand, or orphan or needy children and youth of any other race being British subjects, to receive the benefits of the trusts and purposes on which the said lands and moneys are to be held as hereinbefore provided, or to be admitted to any home, school, college, or institution acquired or established by the Board for the purposes aforesaid, and the term for which they or either of them may enjoy the benefits, shall be at the discretion of the Board; and the Board may charge moderate and reasonable fees for maintenance and tuition in such home, school, college, or institution in cases where there is ability on the part of the parents or guardians (if any) to pay the same; the amount of such fees to be determined in each case by the Board.

The course of instruction, if undertaken by the Board in any home, school, college, or institution acquired or established by the Board, may include—

and shall provide for such religious education as is approved and directed by the Conference.

All instructors, overseers, and general employees necessary for the working of any home, school, college, or institution shall be appointed by the Board.

The President of the Conference for the time being (or his or her duly appointed deputy) shall be the visitor of any home, school, college, or institution established by the Board, and shall have full power and authority to do all those things that pertain to visitors as often as to him or her shall seem meet.

In order to render the lands described in Schedule 1, and any other lands the Board may hereafter acquire, productive of revenue in aid of the purposes and trusts herein provided, the Board shall have and may exercise in regard thereto all such powers of leasing as are set forth in the Public Bodies’ Leases Act 1908, and for that purpose the Board shall be deemed a leasing authority duly constituted under the said Act.

Subject to the approval of the Conference being obtained in every case, the Board shall have and may exercise these further powers, namely:—

For the more beneficial exercise of the powers hereby conferred the Board shall have power from time to time to subdivide all or any of the lands vested in them into portions or allotments, and to lay off, make, form, and dedicate roads and streets thereon, and to make and carry out arrangements with local authorities with regard to the construction of and other matters connected with such roads and streets.

The Board shall be competent to take and receive in its corporate name, either by way of gift inter vivos or by way of devise or bequest, any land, money, or other property either generally or for any specific purpose connected with the trusts of the said lands; and shall be competent and entitled to hold and administer such land, money, or other property upon the trusts of and for the purposes upon and for which the same was given, devised, or bequeathed, and upon and for no other trust or purpose; but the Conference may at any time by resolution require that such land, money, or other property (so far as the same is undisposed of) shall be vested in trustees appointed by the Conference, to be nevertheless held by such trustees upon and for the same trusts and purposes; and the Board shall, upon such requisition, convey, transfer, and make over such land, money, or other property (so far as the same is undisposed-of) accordingly.

All money held by the Board may be invested in the name of the Board in accordance with the Trusts Act 2019.

Before making any investment in the financial products of any company that is a listed issuer, the Board shall first obtain and consider proper advice in writing as to the suitability of the proposed investment from a person—

The Board shall have power to exercise all of the options and other rights to which the Board may become entitled as the holder of any ordinary or preference shares, stock, debentures, or notes and to seek, exchange, vary, or transpose any investments from time to time held by the Board.

Nothing contained or implied in this section shall authorise the investment of any part of the said money in the shares or other financial products of any company whose business and objects, in the judgment of the Board, conflict with the general rules and usage of the Methodist Church of New Zealand and which are likely to bring reproach upon the Church.

In this section, financial products and listed issuer have the same meanings as in section 6(1) of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

The income from investments authorised under section 31 shall be available and be used in aid of any home, school, college or institution established or supported with the sanction and approval of the Conference by the Board and in aid of the purposes declared in the principal Act and otherwise in the administration of the trusts and purposes aforesaid but upon and for no other trust or purpose.

If at any time it shall appear that the interests of any home, school, college, or institution established by the Board would be promoted by the acquisition of land under lease with or without the right of purchasing the reversionary freehold, the Board shall, with the sanction of the Conference, have power to acquire land upon and subject to such covenants and conditions as shall be thought fit, and to provide for and pay the rent, and carry out all the other obligations of the lease:

Any sanction, approval, or consent required or authorized by this Act to be given by the Conference may be given either by the Conference itself or by any person, body, or committee authorized by the Conference, either generally or expressly in that behalf.

It shall not be incumbent upon any purchaser, vendor, mortgagee, or lessee, or other person to whom any such sale, exchange, purchase, mortgage, or lease as aforesaid shall be made under this Act, to inquire as to the authority or power in any respect of the Board to make such sale, exchange, purchase, mortgage, or lease; and, in particular, it shall not be incumbent upon any such person to inquire whether the proposed dealing is consistent with the trusts on which the lands or other hereditaments proposed to be dealt with are held, or whether the authority of the Conference or any person, body, or committee authorized by it has been given where required by this Act, or to inquire otherwise as to the propriety or regularity of the transaction, or as to the application of any money received by the Board on any such sale, exchange, lease, or mortgage.