This Act may be cited as the Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property Amendment Act, 1939, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property Act, 1906 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), and of the Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property Amendment Act, 1930 (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment Act).

Section five of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to the definition of “Deacons’ Court” the following: “and shall be deemed to include the Board of Managers of a congregation within the meaning of that term as used in the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand”.

That in any case or cases under the provisions of sections twenty-seven, twenty-eight, and thirty-nine of the principal Act when any act, matter, or thing to be done by the said Board requires the concurrence, direction, or consent of the Synod, then the Synod may either generally or in any particular case or cases, by resolution, delegate, either absolutely or subject to any such conditions as the Synod by resolution may impose, and subject always to the powers of variation and revocation hereinafter reserved to any presbytery or to a special commission appointed in accordance with the usages of the Synod or to a special committee of the Synod, its powers and authority to give the necessary concurrence, direction, or consent, with full power and authority in all or any of the said matters, and any concurrence, direction, or consent given by such presbytery, special commission, or special committee in accordance with the terms and conditions (if any) of such resolutions shall be deemed to be an exercise by the Synod of such powers so delegated as fully and effectually as if such delegation had not been made, and the concurrence, direction, or consent had been given by the Synod itself, and any such delegation by the Synod may at any time be varied or revoked by resolution of the Synod, but until notice of any variation or revocation shall have been given to such presbytery, special commission, or special committee all or any acts, matters, and things done, executed, or performed under and by virtue of the powers and authority so delegated shall be binding on the Synod in like manner as if such delegation had not been made. Any such delegation and the terms thereof, as well as any variation or revocation of such delegation (if any), shall be evidenced by a certificate under the hand of the Moderator or Clerk for the time being of the Synod.

Section twenty-two of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu therefor there shall be substituted the following:—

Section three of the Amendment Act is hereby amended by deleting therefrom the words “within a period of ten years from the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty”, and substituting therefor the words “within a period of twenty-five years from the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and forty”.

This Act is hereby declared to be a private Act.