This Act may be cited as the Methodist Church Withells Road Cemetery Empowering Act 1981.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Burial and Cremation Act 1964 or in any other enactment or in any rule of law, but subject to the provisions of this section and of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, the Trustees are hereby empowered to remove the remains of those deceased persons who have been buried in the burial ground, and any monuments, headstones, or other memorials, and reinter the remains in a respectful and fitting manner in another cemetery or burial ground within the meaning of the Burial and Cremation Act 1964, subject to the provisions of that Act and to such directions as may be notified to the Trustees by the Minister of Health.

(2) The Trustees shall cause to be erected in the cemetery or burial ground in which the said remains are reinterred at least 1 monument, headstone, or other memorial inscribed with the names of the persons known to have been reinterred.

(3) In arranging for the removal and reinterment of the said remains and for the erection of any monument, headstone, or other memorial, the Trustees shall have regard to such wishes as may have been made known to them by any surviving relative or legal representative of any deceased person buried in the burial ground.

(4) The Trustees shall cause to be compiled as complete a record as is practicable of the names of all persons whose remains are so removed, and cause that record to be kept and to be available for inspection at the office of the Methodist Church in Christchurch.

When the remains of the bodies buried in the burial ground have been removed and reinterred in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall be lawful for the Trustees to sell and dispose of the burial ground by public auction or private contract at such time and upon such terms and conditions as they may think fit, and to transfer the same to a purchaser or purchasers freed and discharged of and from the said Trust, and to apply the proceeds of such sale first in payment of all costs and expenses of and incidental to the promotion of this Act and of all expenses of and incidental to the removal of and reinterment of the remains and the erection of such monuments, headstones, and other memorials as the Trustees consider fitting, and then in promoting further any such 1 or more of the purposes and activities of the Methodist Church as shall be determined by a resolution of the Conference of the Methodist Church.

The receipt in writing of the Trustees shall effectually discharge the purchaser or other person paying any money in respect of such sale thereupon and from being bound to see or inquire as to the application thereof or being responsible for any loss, misapplication or non-application thereof.

This Act is hereby declared to be a private Act.