• Preamble

  WHEREAS, by Crown grant dated the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, town section number one hundred and twelve, Napier, in the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay, was, inter alia, granted to the Superintendent of the said Province of Hawke's Bay and his successors in trust for purposes, of public utility: And whereas, by an ordinance of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the said province, session eighteen, number four, entitled “The Odd Fellows' Hall Act”, it was enacted that it should be lawful for the said Superintendent to sell the said town section number one hundred and twelve, Napier, by private contract to the trustees of the said Napier Lodge as a site for the hall of the said lodge, and execute a proper deed of conveyance of the said land to the said trustees: And whereas, by deed of conveyance bearing date the fifth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, made between the Superintendent of the said province and the trustees of the said lodge, for the consideration of the sum of money paid as therein mentioned the said land was conveyed to the trustees of the said lodge and their successors, trustees for the time being of the said lodge, upon trust, to be used as a site for the hall of the said lodge, and not for any other purpose whatsoever, and the said deed provided that if the trustees for the time being of the said lodge should at any time dispose of the said land or any part thereof, or if the rent of the said land, or of any buildings erected thereon, or proceeds therefrom, should be appropriated for any other purposes than those of the said lodge, then the land and hereditaments should thereupon become charged with the payment to the Government for the time being of the said Province of Hawke's Bay of such a sum or price of the said land as might be determined by arbitration, as therein mentioned: And whereas, some time subsequently to the vesting of the said land in the said trustees, the trustees of the said land erected a hall on a portion of the said land, and a portion of the said land on which the hall was erected was, on the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, leased for a period of thirty-five years at an annual rental of two hundred dollars, the said trustees reserving to themselves the right to occupy the said building for two days annually for Oddfellowship purposes, and the said hall has now been converted into a theatre: And whereas a lodge-room has been erected on a portion of the said land, which is now inadequate for the purposes of the said lodge: And whereas the trustees of the said lodge have purchased a piece of land in a more convenient part of the said Town of Napier, and the lodge are desirous to erect a lodge-room thereon for holding their meetings, and to let the remaining portion of the said town section number one hundred and twelve, the whole of the rents and profits to be paid to the Sick and Funeral Fund of the said lodge: And whereas doubts have arisen as to the power of the said lodge to vacate the said land without invalidating or prejudicing their title to the said land, and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed:

  The reference to “two hundred dollars” was substituted, as from 10 July 1967, for a reference to “one hundred pounds” pursuant to section 7(1) of the Decimal Currency Act 1964 (1964 No 27).

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—