“3A Deputy of chief executive of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

• “(1) The chief executive of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry may from time to time in writing—

  • “(a) appoint an employee of the chief executive to act as the chief executive's deputy for the purposes of this Act; or

  • “(b) cancel the appointment.

  “(2) The deputy is entitled to act under this Act on behalf of the chief executive.

  “(3) The deputy is not entitled to appoint any other deputy.

  “(4) The fact that an employee of the chief executive exercises or performs any of the chief executive's powers or functions under this Act is conclusive evidence of the employee's appointment under subsection (1) as the chief executive's deputy; and no act done by the employee as the chief executive's deputy, and no act done by the Trust Board while the employee is acting as the chief executive's deputy, may in any proceedings be questioned on the ground that the occasion for the employee's so acting had not arisen or had ceased.

  “(5) This section does not prevent the chief executive from exercising any power or performing any function conferred on the chief executive by this Act.”