The Short Title of this Ordinance shall be the Arrowtown Athenaeum Ordinance 1875.

The members of the Institution for maintaining a lending and reference library and reading room and the providing rational amusement and recreation and for the carrying out of objects connected with the purposes of an Athenaeum and Mining Institution Arrowtown known as the “Arrowtown Athenaeum” shall be a body politic and corporate by the name of the “Arrowtown Athenaeum” and by that name shall have perpetual succession and shall adopt and have a common seal and shall by the same name sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered in all Courts of the Dominion of New Zealand and shall be capable in law to take, purchase, and hold all goods, chattels, and personal property whatsoever and shall be able and capable in law to receive, take, purchase, and hold for ever not only such lands, buildings, hereditaments, and possessions as may from time to time be required for the purposes of the said institution but also any other lands, buildings, hereditaments, and possessions whatsoever and shall be able and capable in law, to grant, convey, demise, mortgage, charge, alienate or otherwise dispose of all or any of the property real or personal belonging to the said Institution and also to do all other matters or things incidental or appertaining to a body politic and corporate:

Provided always that it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to grant, convey, demise, mortgage, charge, alienate, or dispose of except by way of lease for a period not exceeding 21 years any lands, tenements, or hereditaments of which it shall have become seised or to which it may become entitled by grant, purchase, or otherwise unless with the approval of two-thirds of the members of the said corporation present personally or by proxy at a special general meeting duly convened and any money received from such alienation, mortgage, demise, or otherwise shall be paid and applied solely, for the purposes of the said Institution.

The purposes for which the said Institution has been established and shall in future be maintained are to form or provide and carry on—

• 1. A lending and reference library:

• 2. A reading room with a supply of newspapers and periodicals:

• 3. Meetings for social and intellectual improvement:

• 4. Educational classes and lectures:

• 5. The collection of scientific apparatus, geological and other specimens, or other things illustrative in and of mining and scientific knowledge:

• 6. The providing of rational amusement and recreation:

• 7. The carrying out of objects connected with the purposes of an Athenaeum:—

under such regulations as may be made from time to time by the members.

The management of the said Institution shall be vested in a committee of the members thereof to be appointed annually at a general meeting to be held in the month of November in each year or so soon to thereafter as may be found convenient.

The rules already adopted by the members of the said Institution as certified under the hands of the president, secretary and treasurer shall be the rules for the government and management of the said Institution until altered, amended, varied, or rescinded by two-thirds of the members present at the annual general meeting or at any special meeting called by advertisement on 8 days' notice, the object of the meeting being fully set forth in the advertisement and a copy of the said rules and amendments certified as aforesaid, and of all future advertisements thereof duly certified by the president, secretary, and treasurer for the time being shall be deposited and remain on the premises for the time being used by the said Institution and be accessible to the members thereof for inspection at all reasonable hours.

No member or subscriber shall have any personal individual joint or transmissible right or interest in or to the whole or any part of the real or personal estate which may belong to or be vested in the corporation.

The corporation may be dissolved on the approval of five-sixths of the members thereof present personally or by proxy at any general meeting assembled after one calendar month's special notice by advertisement or de facto when the number of members shall fall below 9.

In the event of the said corporation being dissolved the whole of the property real and personal belonging to the said corporation shall be vested in the Mayor and Municipal Council of the Town of Arrowtown for the time being.

The Committee shall have power from time to time to sell or dispose of by public auction or otherwise any unused or duplicate copies of books, reviews, magazines, newspapers, or other periodicals and the proceeds of such sales shall be applied only towards the purchase of other books, reviews, magazines, or other periodicals:

Provided always that no book of books which have been obtained or which may hereafter be obtained by a grant from the Otago Education Board shall be so sold or disposed of without the consent of the said Board previously obtained.