Salvation Army (Tasmania) Property Trust Act 1930 (Tas)

Salvation Army (Tasmania) Property Trust Act 1930

An Act to provide for the temporal affairs of the Salvation Army in the State of Tasmania [Royal Assent 23 December 1930]

Whereas by a Deed Poll (hereinafter called "the Deed of Constitution") dated the seventh day of August 1878, and under the hand and seal of William Booth, and afterwards enrolled in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, England, on the thirteenth day of August 1878, the origin and doctrines of the Christian Mission therein referred to were recited and stated; and it was by the said Deed Poll amongst other things, provided that the said Christian Mission was, and should always be thereafter, under the oversight, direction, and control of some one person who should be the General Superintendent thereof, whose duty it should be to determine and enforce the discipline and laws and superintend the operations of the said Christian Mission, and to conserve the same to and for the objects and purposes for which it was first originated, and that the said General Superintendent should have the powers therein mentioned, that the said William Booth should continue to be for the term of his natural life the General Superintendent of the said Christian Mission, unless he should resign such office, that the said William Booth and other General Superintendent who should succeed him should have power to appoint his successor to the office of General Superintendent, and all the rights, powers, and authorities should vest in the person so appointed upon the decease of the said William Booth or other General Superintendent appointing him, or at such other period as might be named in the document appointing him, and that it should be the duty of every General Superintendent to make, in writing, as soon as conveniently might be after his appointment, a statement as to his successor, and as to the means which were to be taken for the appointment of the successor on the decease of the General Superintendent or upon his ceasing to perform the duties of the office, such statement to be signed by the General Superintendent and delivered under seal to the solicitor for the time being of the said Christian Mission; but such statement might be altered at will by the General Superintendent at any time during his continuance in office pending a new statement being signed by him and delivered as before mentioned to such solicitor as aforesaid: And whereas by the said recited Deed Poll it was provided that the General Superintendent should have power to expend on behalf of the Christian Mission all moneys contributed for the general purposes of the said Christian Mission, or for any of the special objects of its operations, but he should annually publish a balance-sheet duly audited, of all such receipts and expenditure; and that the General Superintendent should have power to acquire, by gift, purchase, or otherwise, any hall or meeting-house, school-room, vestry, land, building, and appurtenances, and any seats, fittings, furniture, or other property whatsoever which might in his judgment be required for the purposes of the said Christian Mission, and to build upon such land, or alter, or pull down any such buildings, and to hire on lease or otherwise any land or buildings, and to lend, give away, and sell, or otherwise dispose of, any such properties, lands, or buildings as he might deem necessary in the interests of the said Christian Mission, wherein all trustees should render him every assistance; and that he might, in all such cases as he should deem it expedient so to do, nominate trustees, or a trustee, of any part or parts thereof respectively of any such property, and direct the conveyance and transfer thereof to such trustees or trustee, with power for the General Superintendent to declare the trusts thereof, and from time to time, if it should seem expedient to him so to do, to revoke any such trusts or the appointment of any such trustees or trustee, and pending such revocation the same property should be conveyed or transferred to such persons or person upon such trusts as he might direct, but only for the benefit of the said Christian Mission: And whereas by a further Deed Poll under the hand of the said William Booth, bearing date the twenty-sixth day of July 1904, and enrolled in the Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on the twenty-seventh day of July 1904, it was recited that, on or about the first day of January 1879, the name of the said religious society or organization was changed from "The Christian Mission" to "The Salvation Army", as appears by memorandum under the hand of the said William Booth, dated the twenty-fourth day of June 1880, and endorsed on the said recited Deed Poll of the seventh day of August 1878, and that the said society or organization had since been, and was then, known, as it now is, as the Salvation Army, and that the title of the "General Superintendent" thereof had been altered and shortened into that of "General", and that the said William Booth was then known and designated, and it was expected that every successor of his would be thereafter known and designated, as the "General" of the Salvation Army: And whereas it was also recited by the lastly herein recited Deed Poll of the twenty-sixth day of July 1904 that, in order to minimise the possibility of doubt, dispute, or litigation, it was considered desirable to provide more fully and specifically than was done by the Deed of Constitution for the events in which the General for the time being should cease to perform the duties of his office, and also for the nomination and appointment of a successor to the General for the time being on his dying or ceasing to perform the duties of office, and that the said William Booth had accordingly determined to execute the said recited Deed Poll of the twenty-sixth day of July 1904: And whereas the said Deed Poll now in recital sets forth more fully and effectually such events, and makes provision, inter alia, that every General for the time being of the Salvation Army should be deemed to cease to perform the duties of his office within the meaning of clause six of the said Deed of Constitution, and to vacate such office upon the happening of any of the events therein referred to; that is to say, inter alia, the Commissioners of the Salvation Army, or a majority of such Commissioners amounting to at least four in five, should declare, in writing, under their hands that they are satisfied that the General is, inter alia, permanently incapacitated by mental or physical infirmity from the adequate performance of the duties of his office, or if a resolution adjudicating the General unfit for office, and removing him therefrom, should be passed by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the members present and voting at a meeting of the High Council of the Salvation Army as thereinafter provided for: And whereas by a Deed Poll under the hand and seal of William Bramwell Booth bearing date the first day of June 1920, it was decided that the said William Booth had died on the twentieth day of August 1912, having by Deed Poll under his hand and seal, dated the twenty-first day of August 1890, in exercise of the power in that behalf vested in him by the said Deed of Constitution as aforesaid, appointed the said William Bramwell Booth to be his successor in the office of General of the Salvation Army, and that the said William Bramwell Booth had by Deed Poll under his hand and seal, dated the twenty-third day of August 1912, duly accepted the said office: And whereas it was recited by the said recited Deed Poll of the first day of June 1920 that in connection with, and as the outcome of, the work, teaching, and experience of the Salvation Army in the United Kingdom, and in Australia, and other countries of the world, the said William Booth and the said William Bramwell Booth had evolved and promulgated various operations for the social, temporal, and moral welfare of the poorer and more needy classes of society, and all persons who were destitute, feeble-minded, or vicious, or suffering from injuries or sickness or ill-health, or orphans, or for children needing care in orphanages or reformatories, and for other charitable purposes, which operations are generally known and described as the social work of the Salvation Army, and which in relation to the Commonwealth of Australia (thereinafter called "the said Commonwealth") are sometimes referred to as the social work; and that in connection with the carrying out of the social work in the said Commonwealth the said William Booth, and the said William Bramwell Booth, as his successor in office, had acquired certain real and personal property, particularized in the schedule thereto, and other real and personal property would thereafter be acquired for the purposes of the social work, and that it was thought desirable that the same respectively should be kept distinct from the other, or proper, real and personal property of the Salvation Army, and be used and devoted exclusively in and to the social work in and connected with the said Commonwealth, and that the social work should be defined and regulated, and the trusts of the said real and personal property already acquired, and thereafter to be acquired, for or in connection therewith declared as thereinafter appearing: And whereas by the said recited Deed Poll of the first day of June 1920, the said William Bramwell Booth declared that the real and personal property particularized in the said schedule, and all property, real and personal, which might thereafter be acquired by gift, grant, purchase, or in any manner whatsoever for the purposes of the social work in or in connection with the said Commonwealth, and all real and personal property for the time being representing the same or any part thereof respectively, and all which are sometimes thereafter collectively referred to as "the trust property", should at all times thereafter be held upon trust, to use and apply the same, and the income thereof, for the social, temporal, and moral welfare and the improvement of the poorer and more needy classes of society, and all persons who were destitute or vicious or feeble-minded, or suffering from injuries or sickness or ill-health, or orphans, or for children needing care in orphanages or reformatories in the said Commonwealth, and for other charitable purposes in connection with the said Commonwealth, in such ways and by such means as the said William Bramwell Booth, or other the Director as thereinafter defined for the time being of the social work, should at any time, or from time to time, think fit, subject, nevertheless, to the provisoes therein contained: And whereas by the said Deed Poll now in recital it was provided that the said social work should at all times thereafter be under the oversight, direction, and control of the person who should for the time being be General of the Salvation Army, and he should be called in relation to the social work the Director of the Social Work (thereinafter referred to as "the said Director"), and that it should be his duty to determine and enforce the laws and to superintend the operations of the social work, and to conserve the same and the trust property for the purpose of the trusts thereby declared: And whereas it was provided that, for the purpose of identifying or earmarking the trust property and the income thereof, and of keeping the same distinct from all property of the Salvation Army, full accounts of all moneys contributed, collected, or received for the social work, and of the application thereof, should be kept in such manner as to keep the same always distinct and separate from the property of the Salvation Army, and that all conveyances, leases, transfers, assignments, and assurances made to the Director for the time being for the purposes of the social work should be expressed to be made to him as such Director, and should thereupon become subject to the trusts of the Deed Poll now in recital, and that whenever any property, real or personal, required for the purposes of the social work should be conveyed, leased, assigned, transferred, or assured to any trustees or trustee other than the Director for the time being, such trustees or trustee should in each case execute a sufficient declaration of trust, so as in every case to enable the property so conveyed, leased, assigned, transferred, or assured to be sufficiently identified or earmarked as being property devoted to the purposes of the social work: And whereas the said recited Deed Poll of the first day of June 1920, set forth the powers which the Director should have over, and on, and concerning the said trust property: And whereas at a duly convened meeting of the High Council of the Salvation Army, held at Sunbury, in the United Kingdom, on the eighth day of January and on the thirteenth day of February 1929, the High Council of the Salvation Army referred to in the said recited Deed Poll of the twenty-sixth day of July 1904, duly and in accordance with the said Deed Poll, by resolution, a copy of which (inter alia) was enrolled in the Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on the twentieth day of February 1929, adjudicated the said William Bramwell Booth unfit for office as General of the Salvation Army, and removed him therefrom, and by way of record declared that the said adjudication was based upon the state of health of the said William Bramwell Booth, and the said High Council, in pursuance of the power vested in it by the said Deed Poll of the twenty-sixth day of July 1904, elected and appointed Edward John Higgins, of number one hundred and one Queen Victoria Street, London, to be the General of the Salvation Army: And whereas by Deed Poll under his hand and seal, dated the thirteenth day of February 1929, and enrolled in the Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on the twentieth day of February 1929, the said Edward John Higgins duly accepted the said office upon and subject to the terms of the said recited Deed Poll dated the seventh day of August 1878, and the twenty-sixth day of July 1904, respectively: And whereas the said William Bramwell Booth died on the sixteenth day of June 1929: And whereas it is expedient to provide that the whole of the property, real and personal, of the Salvation Army in Tasmania which was at the time of his death held by, and now stands in the name of, the said William Bramwell Booth upon the trusts of the hereinbefore recited Deeds Poll of the seventh day of August 1878, and the twenty-sixth day of July 1904, and the first day of June 1920, respectively, and also that all other property, real and personal, of or to which the Salvation Army in Tasmania is entitled, whether held by, and standing in the name of, the said William Bramwell Booth at the time of his death, or now standing in the name or names of any other person or persons, and which the General for the time being of the Salvation Army, as such General and as Director of the said social work of the Salvation Army respectively, is entitled to have vested in him upon the trusts of the said recited Deeds Poll, according to the nature of the same, and all choses in action and other property subject to the hereinbefore recited trusts, or any of them, or any interest in respect thereof, shall, with the exception of property held by, and shares in, the Salvation Army Auxiliary Company of Australia Proprietary Limited, vest in a body of trustees, and the said trustees shall be a body corporate, with the powers and authorities hereinafter set forth: