The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Education Boards Act, 1876.” It shall come into operation on the day next after the last day of the present Session of Parliament.

Save where there is something in the context repugnant thereto or inconsistent therewith, the following words and expressions shall mean or include the matters following:—

All Acts and Ordinances of any Provincial Legislature relating to educational matters shall, so far as the same are not expressly or impliedly repealed or altered by this Act, remain in force within the provincial district to which they relate, and shall be read with and incorporated with this Act.

The several Provincial Districts of Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Westland, Canterbury, and Otago, the New Plymouth Educational District as constituted by “The Taranaki Educational Ordinance, 1874,” and the Patea Educational District as constituted by the said “Taranaki Educational Ordinance, 1874,” are each hereby constituted an education district for the purposes of this Act.

There shall be for every district a Board constituted as herein provided, and every such Board shall hold office until the first day of December, 1877:—

The Board of each of the Districts of Wellington, Nelson, Westland, and Otago shall consist of the persons who immediately before the coming into operation of this Act, and in the case of the District of Auckland of the persons who immediately prior to the first day of May last, were the members of the Education Board (by whatever name designated) of the province within which such district is comprised.

The Board of each of the Districts of New Plymouth and Patea shall consist of the persons who immediately before the coming into operation of this Act were the members of the New Plymouth Educational Board and the Patea Educational Board respectively.

The Board of the District of Hawke’s Bay shall consist of John Davies Ormond, Esquire; Joseph Rhodes, Esquire; John Chambers, Esquire; Thomas Kennedy Newton, Esquire; and George Edmund Dee, Esquire.

The Board of the District of Marlborough shall consist of William Douglas Hall Baillie, Esquire; William Evans Dive, Esquire; Cyrus Goulter, Esquire; James Edmund Hodson, Esquire; Henry Anthony Ingles, Esquire; Edmund Paul, Esquire; John Tucker Robinson, Esquire; Arthur Penrose Seymour, Esquire; and Joseph Ward; Esquire.

The Board of the District of Canterbury shall consist of William Montgomery, Esquire; John Inglis, Esquire; Andrew Duncan, Esquire; John Norris Tosswill, Esquire; Henry Richard Webb, Esquire; Arthur Charles Knight, Esquire; William Rolleston, Esquire; Henry John Tancred, Esquire; the Honorable Edward William Stafford; and Thomas Williamson Hall, Esquire.

If any member of a Board shall, by writing addressed to the Chairman or Secretary of the Board, resign his office of member of the Board, or die, or become of unsound mind, or accept any office of profit under the Board, or become interested either solely or jointly with any other person in any contract with the Board otherwise than as a member of any incorporated or registered company, or of any body corporate, or be adjudicated a bankrupt or insolvent, or take the benefit of or be brought under the operation of any Act relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors, or be absent without leave of the Board from four consecutive meetings thereof, or be convicted of treason, felony, perjury, or any infamous crime, he shall immediately cease to be a member of the Board: But no act of the Board shall be questioned on the ground that the seat of any member of the Board is vacant, or that any supposed member thereof is incapable of being a member.

If any or the whole of the members of the Board of any district shall refuse or neglect or be unwilling to act as a member or members of such Board, or in the event of any vacancy occurring from any of the reasons aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the Governor to nominate and appoint such number of persons to be members of such Board as may be required to complete the full number of members for such Board.

Each Board shall be a body corporate under the name of “The Board of the Education District of [naming it],” and by that name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and may take and hold land for the purposes of this Act, and may do and suffer all such acts and things as bodies corporate may do and suffer, and may appear in all legal proceedings by their chairman or secretary.

All moneys and property of every kind, which by virtue of any Ordinance or Act of any Provincial Legislature are vested in the Education Board (by whatever name designated) of any province, or the Superintendent, or the Superintendent and the Executive Council of such province, for general educational purposes within the province, and all the powers, duties, functions, and liabilities which by virtue of any such Act or Ordinance are imposed upon the Education Board of any province, or the persons last-mentioned for such purposes, shall, on the coming into operation of this Act, but subject nevertheless thereto, and in the case of any trust property subject to the trusts affecting the same, be vested in and conferred and imposed upon the Board constituted hereunder of the district comprised within such province.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, and as near as circumstances will admit, all rules and regulations for the conduct of business and for any purpose relating to the administration of educational matters, which by virtue of any Provincial Ordinance or Act have been made by the Education Board (by whatever name designated), or by the Superintendent or the Superintendent and Executive Council of any province as the case may be, and which immediately before the coming into operation of this Act are in force within such province, shall on the coming into operation of this Act remain in force, and shall continue to be the rules and regulations of the Board constituted hereunder of the district comprised within such province.

It shall be lawful for every Board from time to time to revoke and alter such rules and regulations aforesaid, and to make and to revoke and alter such other rules and regulations as to them may seem fit: Provided that all such other rules and regulations, and every such revocation and alteration, shall be subject to the approval of the Governor, and shall be published as the Governor may direct.

The first meeting of the Board of every district shall be held at such time and place as the Governor may appoint, and all subsequent meetings shall be held at such times and places as the Board may determine: Provided that at least one meeting shall be held in every month after such first meeting.

At every meeting of the Board three members shall be a quorum, and a quorum of the Board having duly met may from time to time adjourn to meet at such other time and place as they may appoint.

It shall be competent for the Secretary, whenever he be requested by the Chairman or any two members of the Board, to call a special meeting of the Board; and every such meeting of the Board shall be convened by seven days’ previous notice, to be given and published as the Board shall direct.

Every Board shall at their first meeting, or as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, elect one of their number to be chairman thereof, who shall preside at the meetings of the Board, and shall have an original, and, where the number of votes are equal, also a casting vote thereat.

If the chairman shall be absent from any meeting, the members present shall elect one of their number to preside in his stead at such meeting, and such presiding member shall have the same power at such meeting as the chairman.

If the chairman shall from any cause cease to be a member of the Board or resign the office of chairman, the Board shall, as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, elect another member of the Board to be chairman in his stead.

Minutes of the proceedings of every Board shall be regularly entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, and at every meeting of the Board the minutes of the preceding meeting be read over and signed by the chairman of the meeting at which the same shall be read, and the minutes when so signed shall for all purposes be held to be a true statement and record of the proceedings of the Board.

No resolution or decision come to at any meeting of a Board shall be revoked or altered at any subsequent meeting of such Board unless notice of the intention to propose such revocation or alteration shall have been given at a previous meeting of the Board; and in any notice convening the meeting, notice shall be given of such intention.

Every Board shall exercise a general supervision over all the public schools which have been already established within the district, and over all schools which shall be therein established by the Board under the provisions of this Act; and the Board shall promote the formation of school districts, and the establishment of schools within such district, as near as circumstances will admit in accordance with such Ordinances or Acts as immediately before the coming into operation of this Act are in force within the province within which such district is comprised.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, and as near as circumstances will admit, all the powers duties functions authorities and liabilities which by virtue of any Ordinance or Act of a Provincial Legislature are vested in or conferred or imposed upon any Local School Committee (by whatever name designated) shall, on the coming into operation of this Act, continue to he vested in and conferred and imposed upon the Local School Committee in office for the time being.

Every such Local School Committee shall bear the same relations towards the Board of the district within whose limits it may be as immediately before the coming into operation of this Act, such Local School Committee, by or under any Provincial Ordinance or Act, bore towards the Education Board, the Superintendent, the Superintendent and the Executive Council, or other educational authority (by whatever name designated) of the province comprising such district.

Every Board shall cause an inspection to be made of all the schools within the district, and shall, on such inspection being made, forward to the Minister a report of such inspection.

All moneys received by any Board, and applicable to the purposes of this Act, shall be paid immediately after the receipt thereof into the Bank at which the Public Account of the colony is for the time being kept, and shall, with all moneys standing to any other account that may lawfully be transferred to such general account, there be kept as a separate account, to be called “The Education Fund of the District of [naming it].”

Subject to the provisions of this Act and any regulations under the same, every Board may, by and out of moneys at its disposal, make such provision from time to time as to them shall seem fit for the following purposes, namely,—

For the payment of salaries and other expenses connected with the administration of the affairs of such Board.

For the expense of purchasing or renting school sites playgrounds and buildings, or for erecting fitting up repairing and improving school buildings, or improving playgrounds.

For the payment of teachers’ and pupil teachers’ salaries, and of bonuses and allowances for the education of pupil teachers.

For the establishment and maintenance of a normal or model school or schools.

For the establishment of scholarships.

For subsidizing school libraries.

And generally for the payment of all expenses necessarily incurred by such Board or any Local School Committee under its control in the carrying out of any of the provisions of this Act.

Provided that no Board shall incur any liability by reason of the acts of any Local School Committee or school teacher, unless such acts shall have been sanctioned by such Board: Provided also that when moneys have been intrusted to any Board for specific purposes they shall not be applied to any other purposes.

Prom and after the coming into operation of this Act, every rate, except capitation rates for children, authorized to be levied for educational purposes by any Ordinance or Act of a Provincial Legislature shall be abolished, whether such rate is in respect of annual or other valuation of property, or is a household rate, or is a capitation rate for adults, or is leviable in any other way or in any other name.

Nothing herein contained shall interfere with the recovery of any such rates levied by or payable to the Education Board (by whatever name designated), or by or to the Superintendent of any province, or any other person or persons, before the coming into operation of this Act, and then remaining unpaid, and any portion of which rates have been collected; but such rates shall nevertheless be payable to and recoverable by the Board of the district within which such province is comprised, as if the Board constituted by this Act had been the original Board of the district, or the person or persons originally appointed to receive such rates.

All capitation rates on account of or for the children of any householder, and all school fees or rates in respect of or for any scholar attending a public school authorized to be levied or collected for educational purposes by any Provincial Ordinance or Act shall continue to be levied or collected in the manner provided by such Ordinance or Act.

All lands heretofore reserved as sites for schools, or as endowments for educational purposes, in and for any province, and granted under “The Public Reserves Act, 1854,” or any Act amending the same, and vested in the Superintendent of such province, or any Board or other body, and subject to the provisions of any provincial Ordinance or Act, shall vest in the Board of the district immediately upon the first constitution thereof under this Act, subject to any contracts or engagements theretofore lawfully entered into relating to such lands:

Any other lands which have been heretofore reserved as sites for schools or as endowments for educational purposes in and for any province, but which have not been granted to or vested in the Superintendent of such province or any Board or other body, may be granted to or placed under the management of the Board by the Governor if he think fit.

Nothing herein contained shall affect lands granted to or vested in any body corporate or trustees by any Act of the General Assembly, or by any Provincial Ordinance or Act now in force, for any special educational purpose, or for or on behalf of any particular school or schools, or reserved or set apart in a similar way for any of the purposes aforesaid.

Every Board may let for any period not exceeding twenty-one years any lands vested in them under this Act, subject nevertheless to the trusts and conditions contained in any instrument by which such lands have been vested in such Board, at such rents and on such terms and conditions as they may think fit: Provided that every such letting shall be by public auction or public tender, of which at least one month’s public notice shall be given.

Every Board may, with the consent of the Governor, and subject to such conditions as the Governor in Council may prescribe, raise moneys by mortgage, without a power of sale of any portion or portions of the land vested in them, or by means of debentures, and may expend such moneys in the purchase of school sites, or in the erection enlargement or improvement of school buildings, or other works of permanent utility.

All revenues derived from reserves shall be applicable and disposed of as by this Act provided; and if any balance shall remain out of such revenues after meeting any charges lawfully imposed thereon, such balance shall pass in reduction of the contribution payable out of land revenue in or towards the support of educational purposes in the district.

Every Board shall keep accurate accounts of all costs charges expenses and disbursements in connection with the management and administration of all lands vested in them, and also of all sums of money received as rents issues profits or proceeds of or from the said lands, and shall cause such accounts to be made up as the Governor in Council may order, and shall prepare a balance sheet of the said accounts; and such accounts and balance sheet, audited in such manner as the Governor in Council may order, shall be forwarded to the Minister along with the report of the Board hereinafter mentioned.

Every Board shall, before the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, forward to the Minister a report of their proceedings up to the thirty-first day of March in the same year.

Every such report shall contain a full account of the income and expenditure of the said Board, and also a list of the schools under the control of the said Board, and such information relative to the same and to educational matters generally within their district as the Minister may direct; and the Board shall furnish such information within their power relating to educational matters within their district as from time to time may be required by the Minister.

Every Local School Committee shall, whenever called upon to do so by the Board, furnish to the Board requiring it, such information relating to the school or schools under their control as may be asked for by the Board.

It shall be lawful for the Governor, if he shall think fit, to place temporarily under the charge and control of any Board or any Local School Committee any public library, mechanics’ institute, museum, or educational institution of a like character, for the administration of which no adequate provision has been made.