• Preamble

  WHEREAS the St John's College Trust Board, incorporated under the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 (hereinafter called the Trustees) had vested in it the land and investments described in Schedule 1 to this Act (hereinafter referred to as the college funds), the land and investments described in Schedule 2 to this Act (hereinafter referred to as the scholarship funds), and the land and investments described in Schedule 3 to this Act (hereinafter referred to as the widows and orphans endowment): And whereas some of the said land has been sold and the net proceeds thereof invested in other assets in the name of the Trustees: And whereas in the preamble to the St John's College, Auckland, Removal Act 1883 the trusts upon which the College Funds are held were therein recited which said trusts had pursuant to the provisions of the Bishop of New Zealand Trusts Act 1858 been declared in a deed dated the 18th of August 1859 and made between the Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand of the one part, the Reverend John Frederick Lloyd, the Reverend John Coleridge Patterson, the Honourable Henry John Tancred, the Honourable William Kenny, and Theodore Minet Haultain, Esquire, of the second part: And whereas in the said deed it was declared that the College Funds were held upon trust, inter alia, for the education of candidates for holy orders, and for the instruction and training of the youth of both races in useful learning, and in moral and industrious habits, and for the education of all students therein in the principles of the Christian religion according to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England: And whereas for many years past the St John's College has been and still is a theological college for the education of candidates for holy orders in the Church of the Province of New Zealand commonly called the Anglican Church: And whereas in view of the growing co-operation between the churches, the General Synod of the said Anglican Church is desirous that the said College should not be restricted to the education of candidates for ordination in the said Anglican Church but should become a general theological college for the education of candidates for ordination in the principles of the Christian faith: And whereas by the provisions of section 3 of the St John's College Trust Act 1923 the Trustees were authorised and empowered at their discretion from time to time to apply the whole or such portion or portions as they thought fit of the income from the Scholarship Funds referred to in Schedule 1 to that Act for the general purposes of St John's College for a period of 20 years from the passing of that Act or for such longer period as might be directed from time to time by the said General Synod: And whereas the said period of 20 years expired on the 22nd day of August 1943: And whereas the said General Synod did on the 11th day of November 1943 direct that the period during which the said funds might be so used be extended until the session of the Synod in 1952: And whereas the said General Synod did on the 12th day of March 1952 direct that the said period be extended until the conclusion of the second ordinary session of the General Synod after 1952 which period expired at the conclusion of the session of the General Synod held in 1958, namely, the 27th of November 1958: And whereas the said General Synod has not further directed that the said period be extended: And whereas by virtue of Section 2 of the St John's College Trust Amendment Act 1957 the Trustees were empowered at their discretion to apply the whole or such part of the income of the scholarship funds as they thought fit in or towards the maintenance and support of candidates for holy orders of the Church of the Province of New Zealand while taking a course for a degree or diploma at any University or University College within New Zealand: And whereas since the said 27th day of November 1958 the Trustees have applied part of the income of the scholarship funds towards the general purposes of the St John's College and the said General Synod desires that such past applications of income should be validated: And whereas the said General Synod desires that the ambit of the trusts of the college funds and the scholarship funds be extended having regard to modern social and religious conditions and that the trusts of the college funds and the scholarship funds be consolidated and varied in this Act: And whereas the trusts of the widows and orphans endowment created by the said Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn have been administered by the Trustees: And whereas the said General Synod is desirous that the St John's College Trust Board shall hereafter hold the funds of the widows and orphans endowment upon the trusts hereinafter declared in section 10 of this Act: And whereas the said General Synod is desirous that the powers of investment in respect of all the aforesaid trusts be extended: And whereas having regard to the changing social and religious conditions in New Zealand the Trustees have from time to time considered it necessary or desirable that there be a variation or extension of the powers conferred upon them and that the method of administration of the aforesaid trusts be varied and it has been found necessary to promote legislation to that end: And whereas it would be more convenient to provide that any variations or extensions of those powers or the method of administration of the aforesaid trusts, including the widows and orphans endowment, which from time to time may be required should be submitted to the High Court of New Zealand for approval in the form of a scheme prepared pursuant to Part 3 of the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 rather than that the Trustees should be required to promote from time to time Acts of Parliament for such purposes as aforesaid: And whereas the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 provides adequate safeguards in that it provides for a report from the Attorney-General on any such scheme and the said Court has power to approve with or without modification or reject any such scheme:

  The reference to the High Court in the preamble was substituted, as from 1 April 1980, for a reference to the Supreme Court pursuant to section 12 Judicature Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 124).

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