• Preamble

  WHEREAS the Constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of England, and hereinafter called the Church, contains certain fundamental provisions relating to the doctrine, Formularies, and government of the Church, which fundamental provisions are set forth in Schedule 1 to this Act: And whereas the framers of the said Constitution drafted the same upon certain assumptions concerning the legal relationship of the Church with the United Church of England and Ireland, the correctness of which assumptions was subsequently questioned: And whereas the Union of the Churches of England and Ireland was dissolved and the Church of Ireland was disestablished by the Act of the Imperial Parliament intituled the Irish Church Act 1869: And whereas by reason of the matters mentioned in the two last preceding recitals doubts have arisen as to the powers of the Church to make alterations in the Formularies and in the Authorized Version of the Bible, as both are hereinafter defined, and it is expedient, for the removal of such doubts, to declare and define the powers of the Church in that behalf:

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—