This Act may be cited as the Social Service Council of the Diocese of Christchurch Act 1952.

The Diocese means the Diocese of the Church of the Province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of England, of which the City of Christchurch is the Bishop's see

Sections 1 to 3 and 8 shall come into force on the passing of this Act. The other sections of this Act shall come into force on the day after the date of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Diocese at which subsections (1) and (2) of the said section 8 are complied with. A certificate by the Bishop of the Diocese that the said meeting has been held shall be conclusive evidence that such meeting has been held and of the date thereof.

(1) There is hereby established a body corporate to be called the Social Service Council of the Diocese of Christchurch (hereinafter referred to as the Council), which shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be deemed to have been duly incorporated under and to be a trust Board for the purposes of the Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act 1908.

(2) The objects of the Council shall be to perform the work hitherto performed by the Boards dissolved by this Act and in addition any such other charitable work as may come within the scope of the objects of the Council as set out in the rules of the Council.

(3) The Council shall consist of the persons who are for the time being members thereof pursuant to the rules of the Council.

St. Saviour's Guild, incorporated on 7 October 1892 under the Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trust Boards Incorporation Act 1884, St. Anne's Guild Society, incorporated on 14 June 1922 under the Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act 1908, and the Anglican Society of the Friends of the Aged Trust Board, incorporated on 9 July 1947 under the Religious, Charitable, and Educational Trusts Act 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the former Boards) are hereby dissolved.

(1) All real and personal property whatsoever held by the former Boards or any of them is hereby vested without conveyance, transfer, or assignment in the Council, subject to all debts, liabilities, encumbrances, charges, liens, and interests (if any) affecting the same; and the Council shall take over and satisfy all debts and liabilities of the former Boards existing immediately before the commencement of this section and shall hold the said real and personal property for the same estate or interest and upon the same trusts and with the same functions, rights, powers, duties, and obligations as the former Boards held such property immediately before the commencement of this section; and all documents executed, all engagements entered into, or liabilities assumed or payments made or other acts of authority which have been made, performed, or done, by any of the former Boards shall be deemed to be made, performed, or done by the Council, and shall be binding upon the Council.

(2) The Council is hereby empowered to accept, at the request of the Standing Committee of the Diocese, and to administer any charitable trust for social work in the Diocese, other than those imposed upon it by virtue of subsection (1).

(3) Any real or personal property which would hereafter, but for the passing of this Act, become vested in any of the former Boards shall become vested in the Council, and any will, deed, conveyance, transfer, assignment, or other instrument whereby any real or personal property is transferred, given, devised, bequeathed, or otherwise disposed of to or for the benefit of any of the former Boards shall be read and construed as if the name of the Council were substituted therein for the name of the Board; but the Council shall hold the said property on the same trusts, with the same functions, rights, powers, duties, and obligations, as those upon which that Board would have held the same.

(4) Any real or personal property which becomes vested in the Council otherwise than by virtue of subsections (1) and (3) shall, in the absence of any effective stipulation to the contrary in any will, deed, conveyance, transfer, assignment, or other instrument, be held by the Council upon trust for the objects of the Council and in accordance with the rules of the Council.

Every District Land Registrar, and every other person having charge of the register showing the ownership of any property, shall, on written application under the seal of the Council, and upon payment of such fee as may be prescribed in that behalf by any enactment relating to the register, register the Council as proprietor of all estates or interests in land registered under the Land Transfer Act 1915, or, as the case may require, of any other property, vested in the Society by virtue of this Act.

(1) Upon the passing of this Act the Standing Committee of the Diocese shall as soon as practicable appoint not less than 12 persons (of whom one shall be designated Chairman by the said Standing Committee) to administer provisionally the affairs of the Council as its Provisional Executive (hereinafter referred to as the Provisional Executive). Of such persons not less than 6 shall be members of the Council of St. Saviour's Guild, not less than 5 shall be members of the Committee of the Anglican Society of the Friends of the Aged Trust Board, and not less than 1 shall be a member of the Council of St. Anne's Guild Society.

(2) The said Standing Committee shall prescribe rules for the Council providing for qualifications for membership, the method of appointment, and terms of office of members of the Committee of the Council, the regulation of the proceedings of the Council and of the Committee, the acquisition and alienation of property, the winding up of the Council, and such other matters as may be necessary for the administration of its affairs and for giving effect to this Act.

(3) The said rules shall remain the rules of the Council until duly altered in such manner as may be therein provided.

(4) The Provisional Executive shall be bound by the said rules.

(5) The said Standing Committee shall instruct the Provisional Executive to call a general meeting of persons qualifying for membership of the Council under the said rules within 3 months after the whole of this Act shall come into force for the purpose of electing officers in accordance with the said rules and considering such other business as the Provisional Executive shall consider necessary. If the Provisional Executive fails to call such a general meeting, the said Standing Committee shall have power to do so at any time after the expiration of the said period of 3 months.

The receipt in writing of any Secretary, Treasurer, or Agent of the Council duly authorized in that behalf by the Provisional Executive of the Committee of the Council shall be a good and effectual discharge for all moneys paid to him on behalf of the Council and shall exonerate the person or persons paying such money from seeing to the application thereof.

It shall not be necessary for any purchaser or any person to or with whom any sale, exchange, or lease shall be made or other transaction entered into under the powers conferred by this Act to inquire into the necessity therefor or the propriety thereof.

All costs, charges, disbursements, and expenses of and incidental to the preparing for, obtaining, and passing of this Act or otherwise in relation thereto shall be defrayed out of and shall be a charge upon the property vested in the Council by virtue of subsection (1) of section 6 in the following proportions:

Upon property formerly held by St. Saviour's Guild, one-half:

Upon property formerly held by St. Anne's Guild Society, one-twelfth:

Upon property formerly held by the Anglican Society of the Friends of the Aged Trust Board, five-twelfths.

This Act is hereby declared to be a private Act.