This Act may be cited as the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Act 1943 and shall come into force on 1 October 1943.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

There is hereby established for the purposes of this Act a Board, to be called the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board.

The Board shall be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable of holding real and personal property and of doing and suffering all that bodies corporate may do and suffer.

All references to the Porirua College Trust Board in any Act, or in any agreement, deed, instrument, will, or other document (whether dated before or after the commencement of this Act), shall, unless inconsistent with the context or with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to be references to the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board.

The Board shall consist of 10 members to be appointed by the Governor-General, of whom—

The members of the Board shall come into office on the date on which their appointments take effect, and, unless their offices are sooner vacated, shall continue in office until their successors come into office. Retiring members of the Board shall be eligible for reappointment.

The office of any member of the Board shall be vacated if the member—

On the occurrence from any cause of a vacancy in the office of a member of the Board another person shall be appointed in the same manner as the vacating member to be a member of the Board in his place. Every such appointment shall be made for the unexpired portion of the term for which the vacating member was appointed.

The powers of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy in the membership of the Board.

Meetings of the Board shall be held at such times and places as the Board or the Chairman from time to time determines.

Any 3 members of the Board may at any time by notice given in writing to the Chairman of the Board require the Chairman to call a special meeting of the Board, and thereupon the Chairman shall call a special meeting of the Board to be held not later than 1 month after the day on which he received the notice.

At any meeting of the Board 6 members shall form a quorum.

All questions before the Board shall be decided by a majority of the valid votes recorded thereon.

The Board shall from time to time appoint from among such of its members as have been appointed on the recommendation of the Diocesan Trusts Board a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman of the Board. During any vacancy in the office of Chairman or whenever the Chairman is unable to act, whether by reason of absence or otherwise, the Deputy Chairman may exercise and perform all the powers and duties of the Chairman.

The Chairman shall preside at every meeting of the Board at which he is present. In the absence of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman from any meeting of the Board the members present shall select one of their number to be the Chairman for the purposes of that meeting, and the person so selected may exercise and perform all the powers and duties of the Chairman accordingly.

At any meeting of the Board the Chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and in the case of an equality of votes shall also have a casting vote.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may regulate its procedure in such manner as it thinks fit.

Any contract which if made between private persons must be by deed shall, if made by the Board, be in writing under the seal of the Board.

Any contract which if made between private persons must be in writing signed by the parties to be charged therewith shall, if made by the Board, be either in writing under the seal of the Board or in writing signed by 2 members of the Board on behalf of and by direction of the Board.

Any contract which if made between private persons may be made orally may be similarly made by or on behalf of the Board by any member acting by direction of the Board, but no oral contract shall be made involving the payment by the Board of a sum exceeding $20.

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, no contract made by or on behalf of the Board shall be invalid by reason only that it is not made in the manner prescribed by this section if it is made pursuant to a resolution of the Board or to give effect to a resolution of the Board.

On the commencement of this Act all property, whether real or personal, then belonging to the Porirua College Trust Board shall be deemed to be vested in the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board subject to all encumbrances, contracts, and equities then affecting the same.

All contracts made by the Porirua College Trust Board before the commencement of this Act shall from the commencement of this Act be deemed to have been made by the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board.

All debts and liabilities incurred by the Porirua College Trust Board before the commencement of this Act shall on the commencement of this Act become the debts and liabilities of the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board.

All proceedings by or against the Porirua College Trust Board that are pending on the commencement of this Act may be continued, completed, and enforced by or against the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board.

Where any estate or interest in any land subject to the Land Transfer Act 1915 is vested in the Board by virtue of this Act the District Land Registrar for the land registration district in which the land is situated shall, on receiving a written application under the seal of the Board, register the Board as proprietor of that estate or interest.

The Porirua College Trust Board is hereby dissolved.

After the Board has set aside, out of the accumulations of income as shown by the books of the Porirua College Trust Board as at the commencement of this Act, such reserves as the Board may consider necessary to provide for the depreciation of its real and personal property, and for the stabilisation of its future income, the Board may apply the whole or any part of the remainder of those accumulations of income to augmenting the annual income available in any financial year or years for division under subsection (3).

For the purposes of this section the net income of the Board for any financial year shall be deemed to be the income of the Board for that year after allowing for all expenses for that year and for the setting aside of such reasonable reserves as the Board may consider necessary, and shall be deemed to include any amount by which the income for that year is augmented under subsection (1).

The Board shall appropriate two-thirds of its net income for each financial year to a fund to be called the Church of England Schools Scholarship Fund, which fund shall be available only for the purposes specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (4). The remaining one-third of the net income of the Board for each financial year shall be available for all the purposes specified in the said subsection (4).

Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, the Board may from time to time apply its net income towards all or any of the following purposes:

The Minister shall not consent to the making of any grant under paragraph (e) of subsection (4) unless the Raukawa Marae Trustees have first consented thereto. The fact that the Minister grants any consent as aforesaid shall be conclusive evidence that the provisions of this subsection have been duly complied with.

With the consent of the Minister, the Board may from time to time apply any moneys belonging to it in or towards the establishment, furnishing, maintenance, and management of a school or schools at or near Otaki for such children as aforesaid, including provision for residential accommodation, so that in the admission of pupils preference is given as provided in paragraph (a) of subsection (4).

The conditions of tenure of every scholarship shall be determined by the Board, which shall select the recipient of every scholarship and the school at which it may be held.

Every scholarship shall be of such value as the Board in its discretion determines, and may in such discretion be renewed from year to year, with or without modification in value or conditions of tenure.

Scholarships awarded out of the Church of England Schools Scholarship Fund shall be held only at schools conducted by the Church of England; and, unless there is in any case reason to the contrary, preference shall be given in the case of other scholarships to schools conducted by the Church of England.

In selecting the school at which any scholarship may be held in accordance with the last preceding subsection the Board shall give consideration to the wishes of the parents or guardians of the recipient.

Where any parent or guardian of a selected recipient of a scholarship requests the Board to select a particular school and the Board refuses or fails to select that school, the parent or guardian may apply to the Maori Land Court for an order determining the school at which the scholarship may be held, and (subject to subsection (3)) the court may make an order accordingly. Every such order shall be final, without any right of appeal or review. The costs of all parties of and incidental to any such application and order (as between solicitor and client) shall be paid by the Board out of its income.

The Board may from time to time—

The Minister shall not consent to the sale by the Board of any land that was originally acquired from any Maori tribe or hapu unless the Raukawa Marae Trustees have first consented thereto. The fact that the Minister grants any consent as aforesaid shall be conclusive evidence that the provisions of this subsection have been duly complied with.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the Board may, without the consent of the Minister, sell any land in accordance with any consents granted by the General Synod and the Governor-General in Council under section 6 of the Otaki and Porirua Empowering Act 1907 and subsisting on the commencement of this Act.

The Board may in its discretion carry on upon any of the Otaki lands described in the Schedule, and upon any other lands acquired by the Board, the business of farming in all or any of its branches, and may improve and develop the said lands for that purpose.

For the purposes of this section, the Board may—

For the purpose of the efficient carrying out of farming operations on the lands to which this section applies, the Board may if it thinks fit accept leases or subleases of other lands to be used by it in conjunction with all or any of the lands to which this section applies, and may thereupon exercise in respect of such other lands as aforesaid the powers conferred by this section.

For the purposes of this section, the Board may—

Nothing in this section shall limit the powers of the Board under this Act or the Trusts Act 2019 or any other enactment.

Any moneys belonging to the Board and available for investment may be invested in any investments for the time being authorised by law for the investment of trust funds, or, with the consent of the Minister, in the purchase of lands. Subject to the last preceding section, any such investments may be varied from time to time.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the Board may, without the consent of the Minister, exercise the right reserved by Memorandum of Lease Number 20542, from the Porirua College Trust Board to Arthur Emmett, of Titahi Bay, farmer, to repurchase from the said Arthur Emmett, his executors, administrators, or assigns part of Lot 65 on Deposited Plan Number 7627.

The members of the Board shall be entitled to receive from the funds of the Board a refund of all moneys reasonably expended by them in respect of their attendance at meetings of the Board or otherwise in transacting the business of the Board.

The Board shall cause proper books of account to be kept for all matters relating to the trust estate.

At the end of each financial year the Board shall cause to be prepared a report of the operations of the Board for the year.

The report shall contain a statement of the total assets and liabilities as at the end of the year, together with an account of receipts and payments and of income and expenditure showing the financial transactions for the year.

Copies of the report shall be furnished to the Minister, to the Synod of the Diocese of Wellington, and to the General Synod of the Church of England.

No member of the Board shall be personally liable for any act done or omitted by the Board or by any member thereof in good faith in the course of the operations of the Board.

The Otaki and Porirua Empowering Act 1907 and section 24 of the Finance Act (No 2) 1940 are hereby repealed.

All scholarships awarded and retiring allowances granted by the Porirua College Trust Board, and generally all acts of authority that originated under the enactments hereby repealed, that are subsisting or in force on the commencement of this Act, shall enure for the purposes of this Act as fully and effectually as if they had duly originated under this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.

All matters and proceedings commenced under that Act, and pending or in progress on the commencement of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under this Act.

This Act is hereby declared to be a private Act.