The Short Title of this Act is “The Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property Act, 1906.”

This Act is for the purpose of consolidating the various Acts and Ordinances specified in Schedule F hereto, which Acts and Ordinances are hereby repealed.

This Act shall apply to the corporations, committees, persons, things, and circumstances appointed or created by and existing or continuing under the Acts and Ordinances hereby repealed as if the same had been appointed or created or were existing under this Act.

For the purpose of preserving implied repeals and statutory modifications, every provision of this Act shall be construed subject to any enactment to which at the passing hereof such provision was subject in the Act from which it has been taken.

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

The Trustees for the time being acting under “The Presbyterian Church of Otago Lands Act, 1866,” and their successors in office, shall be and continue to be for ever hereafter one body politic and corporate in deed and in law, by the name or style of “The Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property” (hereinafter referred to as “the said Board”), and by this name and style they and their successors in office may sue, prosecute, and shall be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any Court of judicature in New Zealand or elsewhere, in the same manner and form and as fully and effectually as any person in New Zealand may or can do.

The said Board may have and use a common seal for the affairs and business thereof; and it shall be lawful for the said Board the same common seal from time to time to break, change, alter, or make new, as to the said Board shall seem expedient.

By the name aforesaid the said Board shall have perpetual succession, and at all times hereafter shall be able and capable in law to purchase, acquire, have, take, hold, receive, and enjoy all or any property, real or personal, whatsoever in the most full and ample manner that may be allowed by law.

At all meetings of the said Board such Trustee as the Trustees present shall choose to be chairman shall preside, and such presiding chairman in all cases of equality shall have a casting-vote only.

Unless three members are present no meeting of the said Board shall be constituted for the transaction of business. All acts to be done and all questions to be decided at a meeting of the Board shall be done and decided by a majority of Trustees present.

Minutes of the proceedings of such meetings shall be drawn up and fairly transcribed in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall be signed by the chairman of the meeting at which such proceedings took place.

Any three of the Trustees, by requisition signed by them for that purpose, may call upon the factor to convene a meeting of the said Board, and in all cases where the factor shall refuse or neglect so to do the said three Trustees may call a meeting, by public notice to be signed by them, stating therein the time and place of meeting.

Previous to any meeting of the Board (excepting cases of emergency, when it may be convened within less time), notice to attend such meeting, signed by the factor, shall be sent through the Post Office or delivered to each Trustee not less than three days before the time appointed for such meeting.

The Board may appoint any one of its own number, or any other fit person, to be its factor or agent, and may order payment to him of such salary, allowance, or commission as to the said Board shall seem reasonable; and such factor or agent shall hold his office during the pleasure of the Board, and give such security for the due execution of his office as it shall think fit.

The Board, by resolution passed at any meeting thereof, shall have the power to remove from office every such factor or agent, who shall immediately upon any and every such removal deliver up an account to the Board for all moneys, goods, account-books, papers, deeds, and muniments of title belonging to or concerning the Board which shall be in his possession or under his control.

Contracts on behalf of the said Board may be made, varied, or discharged as follows, that is to say:—

If any present Trustees or Trustee, or any future Trustees or Trustee to be appointed in the place or stead of any of them as hereinafter mentioned, shall die, desire to be discharged from their trust, or go to reside out of the Provincial District of Otago, or cease to be members or a member of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, or be removed or suspended from membership thereof, or refuse or become incapable to act, or if the said Trustees or any or either of them shall become bankrupt or insolvent, or be convicted of any treason or crime punishable with three years’ imprisonment or upwards, then and in any of such cases, when and as often as the same shall happen, such Trustee or Trustees as aforesaid shall ipso facto cease to be members or a member of the said Board; and when and so often as a vacancy or vacancies in the office of Trustee shall so occur, the said Board shall thereupon, or as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, at a meeting to be called for that purpose, nominate and appoint a fit and proper person or fit and proper persons to be a Trustee or Trustees in the place or places of the Trustee or Trustees so ceasing to be a Trustee or Trustees as aforesaid.

In appointing new Trustees it shall be sufficient for all purposes to enter in a book of the said Board a minute in the form of or to the effect set forth in Schedule G hereto; and such minute, if attested by at least one witness, shall be conclusive evidence of such appointment, and shall be prima facie evidence of any other statement therein contained. And it shall not be necessary to prove in any proceeding or matter that any Trustee has been appointed hereunder or under any Act or Ordinance hereby repealed, and all acts done by any such Trustee shall be valid notwithstanding any defect that may afterwards be discovered in his appointment.

The lands mentioned in Schedules A and B hereto shall be and continue to be vested in the said Board; and the said lands, and all lands and hereditaments which have been or may hereafter be purchased with funds belonging to the Ecclesiastical or the Educational Funds hereinafter referred to, or either of them, or which shall otherwise be acquired by the Board for the purposes of the said funds (hereinafter called “the trust lands”), shall be held by the said Board upon the trusts, intents, and purposes hereinafter declared concerning the same.

The said Board shall receive and take the annual rents, issues, and profits, and all other sums becoming payable in respect of the said trust lands.

In the month of January in each year the said Board shall furnish to the Synod a statement in writing of all the sums received by the said Board in respect of the said rents, issues, and profits, and other sums received by it in respect of the said trust lands, and also of all sums lawfully paid by it in respect of the said trust lands, during the year ended on the thirty-first day of December immediately preceding.

Two-thirds of the clear proceeds of the said rents, issues, and profits shall each year be applied by the said Board, in accordance with such regulations to be made in manner hereinafter mentioned as the said Synod shall from time to time prescribe, solely for the purpose of building or repairing manses and churches in the Provincial District of Otago, and for endowing or aiding in the endowment in the said Provincial District of Otago of any theological chair or chairs in connection with the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand in any college or university which has been erected or may hereafter be erected in the said Provincial District of Otago, or any or either of such purposes, according to the said regulations, and shall be called “the Ecclesiastical Fund.”

The said Board shall set apart the remaining one-third of the said clear proceeds for the purpose of forming a fund for educational purposes, and shall from time to time invest the same, in the name of the Board, in any of the. modes of investment or securities hereinafter authorised, and shall receive the dividends, interest, and annual produce of the said securities and reinvest the same in or upon like securities, so that the proceeds, securities, dividends, interest, and annual produce may accumulate, and the said fund so formed shall be called “the Educational Fund,”

The said Board shall from time to time apply the said Educational Fund, in accordance with regulations to be made by the said Synod in manner hereinafter mentioned, in the erection or endowment of a literary chair or chairs in any college or university erected or to be erected or in existence in the Provincial District of Otago, or for either or both of those purposes.

The regulations of the said Synod to be made from time to time for the guidance of the said Board shall be made in the following manner—that is to say, they shall be passed as an interim Act of the said Synod, and a printed copy of such Act, together with a notice of the day on which the said Synod intend to finally adopt such regulations, shall be sent to each minister who shall for the time being be a member of such Synod, and to the session clerk of each congregation under the jurisdiction of the said Synod, to be submitted to the session of the congregation of which he is session clerk; and each said session shall be entitled to appear before the said Synod and to be heard on the subject of such regulations before any such regulations as aforesaid shall be adopted by the said Synod, and before any alteration shall be made in any regulations which shall be already in force; and it shall be lawful for the said Synod from time to time, after hearing the said several congregations, to pass and adopt such regulations, either with or without alterations or amendments, as to them shall seem expedient.

Every professor of any theological chair that shall be endowed or aided in endowment as aforesaid shall be appointed and removable by the said Synod.

Every professor of any literary chair as aforesaid endowed in the whole or to the extent of two-thirds of such endowment from the said Educational Fund shall be appointed and removable by the said Board with the concurrence of the said Synod.

It shall be lawful for the said Board, by the direction of the said Synod, to convey and assure to any Deacons’ Court incorporated as hereinafter mentioned, or to any person or persons as a Trustee or Trustees for or on behalf of any congregation of the said Presbyterian Church of New Zealand in the Provincial District of Otago aforesaid, any part or parts of the said lands mentioned in the said Schedule B, and of all such other lands as shall or may be hereafter purchased or acquired by the said Board for the purposes of the said trusts in respect whereof the lands in Schedule B are held, not exceeding fifty acres in all for any one Deacons’ Court, for the purpose of a site for a church, or for a manse and glebe, or for all or any of those purposes; and such land when so conveyed and assured shall cease to be subject to the trusts of this Act.

The lands described in Schedule C hereto shall be vested in the said Board upon the trusts, intents, and purposes hereinafter declared concerning the same.

The lands described in the first part of Schedule C hereto, and on which a church and manse have been erected, shall be and continue to be held by the said Board upon trust as a site for the first or principal church in connection with that part of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand which is situated in the Provincial District of Otago.

All the rents, issues, profits, and proceeds arising from the pieces or parcels of land described in said Schedule C, and from the mortgage or other disposition thereof, shall be paid to the treasurer for the time being of the said Synod; and the clear proceeds after deduction of the costs of collection and other necessary expenses shall and may from time to time be applied by the said Synod towards the erection and repair of any church or manse in the Provincial District of Otago in connection with the said Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

The treasurer of the aforesaid Synod shall annually, on the thirtieth day of September, account to the Synod for all sums received and paid by him for the preceding year out of the proceeds of the aforesaid properties described in Schedule C; and such account shall be published in the Gazette.

The lands described in Schedules D and E hereto shall be and continue to be vested in the said Board on the trusts, intents, and purposes hereinafter declared concerning the same.

The land described in the Schedule D hereto shall, subject to any lease existing of any part thereof, be held as a site for a college or other educational institution.

All rents, profits, and proceeds now held or which may arise from the land described in the Schedule E hereto may be held in trust for or applied towards the erection and maintenance of a college or other educational institution on the land described in the Schedule D.

The said Board may, until the erection of any college or other educational institution on the said land described in Schedule D, lease all or any part of the said land described in such Schedule D, and, after the erection of any such college or other educational institution, may lease any part of the said land described in the Schedule D which in the opinion of the Board shall not be required for the actual site of any building, upon any terms, provisions, powers, and authorities upon which the Board is empowered to lease the lands vested in it; and the Board may accept the surrender of any lease of all or any part of the said land described in Schedule D hereto.

The whole of the rents, issues, profits, and proceeds arising from the said land described in Schedule D hereto shall be held in trust for or applied towards the erection or maintenance of a college or other educational institution on the said land described in Schedule D hereto.

The said Board may at any time, until any of the said rents, issues, and profits from the lands described in Schedules D and E are applied as aforesaid, invest the said rents, issues, and profits in any of the modes of investment hereinafter authorised.

It shall be lawful for the said Board from time to time to sell, partition, exchange to or with any other body corporate, or any person or persons, all or any of the lands which now are or which may hereafter be vested in the said Board; and for the purposes aforesaid the said Board may execute all necessary deeds or other instruments, and upon the execution thereof all trusts and provisions affecting the lands purporting to be assured shall cease and determine:

Provided that no sale, partition, or exchange shall be made as aforesaid except with the consent of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland, evidenced by a writing under the hand of the moderator or the clerk for the time being of such Synod:

Provided also that the powers given by this section shall not apply to the lands described in Schedules A, C, D, or E respectively, unless such powers are exercised in pursuance of section forty-six hereof.

It shall be lawful for the said Board, with a view to any sales or leases of lands now or hereafter vested in the said Board, whether for buildings or otherwise, to lay out, make, and construct any streets, roads, drains, or other convenience in, over, upon, or under any part of such lands.

It shall be lawful for the said Board in its discretion to invest the moneys arising from any sales as aforesaid in the purchase of any lands in the Provincial District of Otago, which lands shall be held upon and subject to trusts similar to those upon which the lands from which such moneys shall have arisen were held.

It shall be lawful for the said Board to demise or lease all or any part or parts of the lands held by it to any person or persons for any term of years absolute not exceeding twenty-one years, to take effect in possession and not in reversion, so as there shall be reserved on any such demise the best or most approved yearly rent or rents to be incident to the immediate reversion of the said land so to be demised that can reasonably be gotten for the same without taking any fine, premium, or foregift, and so as there be contained in every such demise a clause in the nature of a condition of re-entry for non-payment of the rent or rents thereby to be respectively reserved, or for non-observance or non-performance of all or any of the lessee’s covenants therein respectively contained, so as the lessee or lessees do execute a counterpart thereof respectively and be not made dispunishable for waste:

Provided that any lease by the said Board of any part of the lands described in Schedule C hereto shall be upon a request in writing addressed to the said Board by a person duly authorised in that behalf by the Synod.

It shall be lawful for the said Board, in granting leases of lands or hereditaments now or hereafter vested in it, to enter into agreements with the lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, for re-leasing the same, and for payment by the incoming tenant of any such lands or hereditaments to the outgoing tenant thereof, or to the said Board on his behalf, of the value of the buildings or other improvements on the land demised, or for the redemising of such land to such lessee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, of the demised premises in the event of no other person becoming entitled to a lease thereof; and for the purposes aforesaid the said Board may make or enter into all incidental covenants or agreements which it may deem necessary or desirable, and the payment of the value of such buildings or other improvements to the said Board shall not be deemed to be a tine, premium, or foregift.

It shall be lawful for the said Board to accept the surrender of any lease granted or that may hereafter be granted of any lands, and to determine any tenancy of any land, upon such terms as the said Board shall think fit, and to compromise with and make allowance to any tenant or tenants for any rent due or that shall become due in respect of any lands.

It shall be lawful for the said Board, upon a requisition in writing addressed to it by any person duly authorised in that behalf by the said Synod, to mortgage the said lands described in Schedule C, or such part thereof as the said Synod shall request, for any sum not exceeding the amount of seven years’ annual rental at which the said lands so mortgaged shall then be let, and that either by conveyance, by way of mortgage, lease, or assignment of any term or terms of lease granted:

Provided that in no such mortgage shall there be contained or implied on behalf of the mortgagee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, any power of sale of the freehold estate of or in the said lands, but only that on default in payment of the principal sum or interest secured by such mortgage the mortgagee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, may enter into possession and draw the rents, issues, and profits of the lands mortgaged until the moneys secured to him or them shall be fully satisfied and paid.

It shall be lawful for the said Board, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, to convey and assure by way of sale, exchange, or otherwise, for the purposes of roads, streets, railway-lines, or other similar public purposes, any part of the lands now vested or hereafter to be vested in the said Board, and for such purpose to execute all necessary deeds, and upon the execution thereof all trusts and provisions affecting the land purporting to be conveyed shall cease and determine. All lands obtained in exchange for land so conveyed by the said Board shall be held upon trusts similar to those on which the land so conveyed was held, and all moneys received as compensation for lands so conveyed shall be invested and the income applied in the same manner as the income from the land so conveyed would have been applied.

It shall be lawful for the said Board from time to time to invest all or any moneys belonging to or under the legal control of such Board not required for immediate use in or upon the stocks, debentures, or other securities of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand, or in or upon the mortgage of freehold hereditaments or other real securities in the said colony, or in or upon the debentures or bonds of any Municipal Council, Harbour Board, Road Board, or other public body in New Zealand, or to deposit such moneys in any bank carrying on business in New Zealand, and from time to time to vary all or any of the said investments; and the income which shall arise from such investments and deposits shall be applied respectively in the same manner as the income from the property, real or personal, from which such moneys were derived would have been applied.

It shall be lawful for the said Board from time to time to agree to refer any questions, differences, or disputes between such Board and any other body corporate or any person or persons to arbitration in the same manner in all respects as any person may now do.

It shall be lawful for the said Board from time to time, subject to such regulations as the Synod may make as aforesaid, to purchase or otherwise acquire lands in the Provincial District of Otago for church or for manse sites, or for glebes, or for all or any such objects, and for such purposes to apply part of the income from the said Ecclesiastical Fund:

Provided that no third person shall be concerned to inquire as to or be affected by such regulations.

Any error or omission in the several Schedules hereto shall not affect the validity of the title of the said Board to the lands therein mentioned, or in any way control or supersede the titles thereto as appearing in the title-deeds therefor.

It shall be lawful for the members of the Deacons’ Court of any congregation under the jurisdiction or control of the said Synod to apply to the Registrar at Dunedin, in the Provincial District of Otago, of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, by written application in the form or to the effect set forth in Schedule H hereto, signed by the chairman and clerk of such Court, to be made a corporate body; and upon receipt of such application such Registrar shall issue a certificate, in the form or to the effect set forth in Schedule I hereto, incorporating the members of the Deacons’ Court making such application, and by the name mentioned in such certificate such members and their successors in office shall for ever thereafter be and be called one body politic and corporate in deed and law by such name and style, and shall have and may exercise all or similar powers, rights, and privileges to those mentioned or referred to in sections six, seven, and eight of this Act; and the issue of such certificate or a certified copy thereof shall be conclusive evidence that all conditions precedent have been complied with, and of the congregation named therein being under such jurisdiction or control aforesaid, and all Courts and persons shall take judicial notice of the signature and seal to such certificate and certified copy respectively.

Upon the issue of the certificate of incorporation of the members of any such Deacons’ Court, all property, whether real or personal, held by such members or any of them, or by any other person or persons on behalf of the congregation the members of the Deacons’ Court of which shall have been so incorporated, shall thereupon vest, without any conveyance or other assurance, in such members and their successors in office by the name or style mentioned in such certificate, upon and subject to such trusts, and with and under the same powers of administration, as may exist as regards such property respectively.

All rights, remedies, and powers existing at the date of incorporation, or which may afterwards exist or arise under, upon, or in respect of any deed, contract, instrument, matter, or thing made, entered into, or done by all or any of the former, existing, or future members of the Deacons’ Court so incorporated, shall be exercised and enforced only by and against, as the case may be, the Deacons’ Court so incorporated by the name and style thereof, and not otherwise.

Contracts made on behalf of the members of any Deacons’ Court incorporated as aforesaid may be made, varied, or discharged as aforesaid, that is to say:—

Upon production to any District Land Registrar in the Land Districts of Otago and Southland, appointed under “The Land Transfer Act, 1885,” or any amendment thereof, of a Crown grant, certificate of title, or other instrument, and a statutory declaration or transfer by at least three of the persons therein named, or by any three of the persons acting as deacons of any Court incorporated as aforesaid, to the effect that the land mentioned or referred to in any such instrument is held on behalf of such Court, such Registrar shall cause such land to be transferred to or vested in the said Court in the name and style mentioned in the certificate of incorporation.

All acts done by persons purporting to act as members of any Deacons’ Court incorporated as aforesaid shall be valid notwithstanding any defect that may exist or be afterwards discovered in their appointment or qualifications.

In the event of—