• Preamble

  WHEREAS by deed of trust executed in the year eighteen hundred and ninety, a copy of which incomplete as to signatures and date is set out in Schedule 1 to this Act (hereinafter called the said deed), John Tiffen Stewart, of Wanganui, engineer, and William Hodgson Barnicoat, of Wanganui, solicitor (hereinafter called the said trustees), declared that they held a certain freehold property more particularly described in the schedule to the said deed together with certain chattels contained in buildings on the said property and the rents and profits of such property and chattels upon trust so long as the said trustees, or other the trustees for the time being (who shall hereinafter be deemed to be included in the expression the said trustees), of the said property and chattels should in their absolute discretion consider it advisable to permit the said property and chattels and all property for the time being held by the said trustees subject to the trusts of the said deed (all hereinafter referred to as the Trust property) to be appropriated and used as and for an asylum or home for the maintenance of destitute children and the education or bringing up of such children in the Protestant faith and upon the further trusts and subject to the powers more particularly set out in the said deed: And whereas, pursuant to the terms of the said deed, the said trustees for many years operated an institution in the City of Wanganui known as the Wanganui Orphanage (hereinafter called the said orphanage): And whereas the said trustees since the dates respectively hereinafter mentioned have been the following persons, namely, William Charles Fairhall Treadwell, of Wanganui, solicitor, since the twenty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, and Ernest Harry Poynter, of Wanganui, bookseller, since the fourth day of November, nineteen hundred and forty-one: And whereas the original of the said deed has been lost and by declaration of trust bearing date the twenty-ninth day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-five (a copy of which is set out in Schedule 2 to this Act), the said trustees declared that they held the trust property for and on behalf of the said orphanage and upon and subject to the trusts set forth in the incomplete copy of the said deed: And whereas in December, nineteen hundred and fifty-four, the committee controlling the said orphanage, pursuant to the rules contained in the said deed, decided to close the said orphanage by reason of the fact that an insufficiency of destitute children and orphans rendered it uneconomic and impracticable to carry on the said orphanage: And whereas, by reason of such insufficiency of destitute children and orphans, the said trustees in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-six applied to the Supreme Court of New Zealand for authority to permit the Wanganui branch of the Handicapped Children's Parents Association Incorporated (hereinafter called the said association) to use and occupy certain land and buildings which formed part of the trust property and which were previously used as the said orphanage, and for further authority to apply in their discretion the whole or any part of the annual income of the trust property to further the activities of the said association: And whereas, by order bearing date the thirteenth day of September, nineteen hundred and fifty-six, the Supreme Court of New Zealand duly granted such authority to the said trustees and by subsequent orders extended such authority to the first day of September, nineteen hundred and sixty: And whereas, pursuant to such authority, the said trustees have since the thirteenth day of September, nineteen hundred and fifty-six, permitted the said association to use and occupy the said land and buildings for the purpose of conducting therein a school for intellectually handicapped children and have applied most of the income from the trust property to assist the said association in conducting such school: And whereas the said trustees are desirous of continuing to assist the said association in the manner hereinbefore described or in some similar manner for so long as such assistance is warranted and circumstances continue to render it impracticable to carry out the original terms of the said deed but without abrogating such original terms: And whereas the High Court of New Zealand has no jurisdiction to vary the terms of the said deed to enable the trustees to assist the said association as hereinbefore mentioned for an indefinite time while still retaining the power to carry out the original terms of the said deed should future circumstances render it practicable to do so: And whereas, owing to an insufficiency of destitute children in the City of Wanganui and surrounding district, it continues at present to be uneconomic and impracticable for the said trustees to carry out the original terms of the said deed: And whereas for the purpose of making the best practicable use of the trust property and in particular the land and buildings previously used as the said orphanage for furtherance of the charitable intentions of the persons who have from time to time donated or bequeathed property which now comprises the trust property it is expedient to extend and vary as hereinafter appearing the trusts created by the said deed: And whereas the objects of this Act are not attainable otherwise than by legislation:

  The Preamble was amended, as from 1 January 2004, by section 48(1) Supreme Court Act 2003 (2003 No 53) by substituting the word “High” for the word “Supreme” where it thirdly occurs. See sections 50 to 55 of that Act for the transitional and savings provisions.

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