This Act may be cited as the Church of England (Missionary Dioceses) Act 1955.

For the purposes of this Act:

• (a) the expression the Church shall be deemed to extend to, mean, and include the Church of the Province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of England, which in the constitution of such Church is described as “the (or this, or a) Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland in New Zealand” and as “this branch of the Church of England”:

• (b) the expression the General Synod shall, except where inconsistent with the context thereof, mean the representative governing body of the Church, including the Bishops and clerical and lay representatives of the missionary dioceses from time to time declared by canon or statute of the General Synod to be associated with the General Synod:

• (c) the expression missionary diocese shall mean the Bishop, clergy, and laity in a missionary diocese constituted or to be constituted, or recognized or to be recognized, or the boundaries of which may have been or may from time to time be defined or varied, by a canon or statute, or with the concurrence, of the General Synod, among the islands of the Pacific Ocean other than New Zealand, and shall be deemed and taken to include the mission field among those islands of any Missionary Bishop in communion with the Church, whether such mission field shall be formally defined by territorial limits or not.

It shall be lawful for the General Synod, by statute or canon thereof, from time to time to declare what shall be the extent, nature, and conditions of the association of the missionary dioceses with itself, both as to dioceses already so associated and as to dioceses which may in future be so associated. It shall not be necessary that the extent, nature, and conditions of association of all such dioceses be identical or that they shall remain unchanged in respect of any such diocese.

In defining the extent, nature, and conditions of such association the General Synod shall not be bound to adhere to the interpretations placed upon the said clause 18 by the said Standing Commission. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the power hereby conferred upon it, the General Synod may declare—

• (a) that any particular missionary diocese, or missionary dioceses in general, while so associated with the General Synod, shall or shall not be an integral part of the Ecclesiastical Province of New Zealand;

• (b) that any particular statute, canon, resolution, or decision of the General Synod or of any person or persons or body lawfully acting under its authority, or such statutes, canons, resolutions, or decisions in general, shall or shall not wholly or in part apply to any missionary diocese or dioceses, or to real or personal property held upon trust for the benefit of the work of such missionary diocese or dioceses, whether or not locally situated therein;

• (c) that on any matter or matters the Bishops and the clerical and lay representatives or any of them of any particular missionary diocese or dioceses, or of missionary dioceses in general, shall have or shall not have the right to vote or the right to speak in the General Synod or in any body established by it or under its authority;

• (d) in what manner the association of any particular missionary diocese or dioceses, or of missionary dioceses in general, with the General Synod may be terminated.

Nothing in this Act shall derogate from the power conferred by clause 27 of the constitution upon the General Synod or some tribunal to be established by it in that behalf to give final decisions upon doubts arising in the interpretation of the constitution, or any power which the General Synod may have conferred, or may in future confer, upon any tribunal or may have exercised, or may in future exercise, to interpret any of its canons or statutes, or any trust deeds of property held on its behalf, but any determination of such tribunal relating to the extent, nature, and conditions of the association of any missionary diocese or missionary dioceses shall be liable at any time or times to be subject to subsequent legislation by canon or statute of the General Synod pursuant to this Act, and such legislation shall not be regarded as an alteration of any fundamental or non-fundamental clause of the constitution.

(1) No statute, canon, or resolution or other act of the General Synod, or of any person or persons or body acting under its authority, enacted, passed, or done before the passing of this Act, nor the title to any property to which the same may relate, shall be liable to be called in question on the ground that the Bishops and the clerical and lay representatives or any of them of any missionary dioceses did or did not vote upon, or otherwise participate in the same; nor shall any such statute, canon, or resolution or other act after the passing of this Act, or any such title, be for any of those reasons liable to be called in question unless so voting or not voting, or so participating or not participating, shall be contrary to any canon or statute hereafter passed by the General Synod in exercise of the power conferred upon it by this Act.

(2) The Missionary Diocese of Melanesia since the year 1862 and the Diocese of Polynesia since the year 1925 shall for all purposes be deemed to have been and now to be validly associated with the General Synod in accordance with the said clause 18 of the said constitution.

(3) The continuous identity of the Church shall not be deemed to have been or to be affected by any past or future association of any missionary diocese or dioceses with the General Synod.

Any statute or canon passed by the General Synod in anticipation of the passing of this Act and in accordance with its provisions shall be deemed to have been as valid as if this Act had been passed immediately before and been in operation at the time of the passing of such statute or canon.

This Act is hereby declared to be a private Act.