The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Waikouaiti Athenaeum Land Act, 1877.”

The Governor may grant to the body corporate hereinafter mentioned the land described in the Schedule hereto, to be held by them for the purposes of this Act.

The following persons shall be the first Trustees of the said Athenaeum:—John Wallace Murdoch, Robert Oxley, Donald Malloch, and Henry Orbell, and they and their successors in office shall be a corporate body, by the name of “The Trustees of the Waikouaiti Athenaeum” (hereinafter called “the Trustees”), with perpetual succession and a common seal, and with full power and authority by that name to sue and be sued in all Courts whatsoever, and shall be capable in law for the purposes and subject to this Act to do and suffer all such acts and things as bodies corporate may do and suffer.

All lands, tenements, or hereditaments that may be in any manner vested in the Trustees, and all real and personal estate of or belonging to the said Athenaeum, shall be vested in the Trustees for the purposes thereof.

It shall be lawful for the Trustees from time to time to borrow money by way of mortgage, without power of sale, on the land described in the Schedule hereto, and any other real or personal estate now or hereafter to be acquired by gift, purchase, or otherwise, and to execute all necessary mortgages, deeds, or instruments, The moneys so borrowed shall be applied in the erection of buildings and tenements on the land vested in the Trustees, or in the payment of any moneys for the erection or alteration of buildings for the use of the said Athenaeum.

The Trustees are hereby empowered to lease by public auction or tender the said piece of land or any part thereof, or any buildings thereon, and also any other real or personal property which such Trustees may from time to time hereafter acquire, either by gift, purchase, or otherwise, and for any term not exceeding twenty-one years, or any less period than a year, to take effect in possession and not in reversion, at such rents and under and subject to such powers, provisoes, covenants, and conditions as such Trustees may determine.

No mortgagee, lessee, or other person dealing with the Trustees shall be concerned to inquire into the necessity or propriety of any such mortgage or lease, or whether any resolution has been passed, or notice or advertisement given, or be concerned to see to the application of the mortgage moneys or rents, or be answerable for the misapplication or non-application thereof.

The Trustees shall apply the rents, profits, and annual income, after paying the interest upon money borrowed and the expenses of management, in or towards the object and purposes of the Athenæum.

If any of the said Trustees shall resign, or shall be absent for twelve months from the Provincial District of Otago, or shall be adjudicated a bankrupt or insolvent, or take the benefit of any Act for the relief of debtors, or shall be convicted of any felony, he shall cease to be a member of the said Trust, and the Governor may, in case of such vacancy, or in case of the death of any member, appoint another or others in his place.