New Zealand Institute Act, 1908. 1908, No. 130.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 55, 1924, Page 779

An Act to consolidate certain Enactments of the General Assembly relating to the New Zealand Institute. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— 1. (1.) The Short Title of this Act is the New Zealand Institute Act, 1908. (2.) This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:— (a.) The Institute and Board respectively constituted under those enactments, and subsisting on the coming into operation of this Act, shall be deemed to be the same Institute and Board respectively constituted under this Act without any change of constitution or corporate entity or otherwise; and the members thereof in office on the coming into operation of this Act shall continue in office until their successors under this Act come into office. (b.) All Orders in Council, regulations, appointments, societies incorporated with the Institute, and generally all acts of authority which originated under the said enactments or any enactment thereby repealed, and are subsisting or in force on the coming into operation of this Act, shall enure for the purposes of this Act as fully and effectually as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated. (c) All property vested in the Board constituted as aforesaid shall be deemed to be vested in the Board established and recognized by this Act. (d.) All matters and proceedings commenced under the said enactments, and pending or in progress on the coming into operation of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under this Act. 2. (1.) The body now known as the New Zealand Institute (hereinafter referred to as “the Institute”) shall consist of the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, the Otago Institute, the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, the Nelson Institute, the Westland Institute, the Southland Institute, and such others as heretofore have been or may hereafter be incorporated therewith in accordance with regulations heretofore made or hereafter to be made by the Board of Governors. (2.) Members of the above-named incorporated societies shall be ipso facto members of the Institute. 3. The control and management of the Institute shall be vested in a Board of Governors (hereinafter referred to as “the Board”), constituted as follows:— The Governor: The Minister of Internal Affairs:

Four members to be appointed by the Governor in Council, of whom two shall be appointed during the month of December in every year: Two members to be appointed by each of the incorporated societies at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin during the month of December in each alternate year; and the next year in which such an appointment shall be made is the year one thousand nine hundred and nine: One member to be appointed by each of the other incorporated societies during the month of December in each alternate year; and the next year in which such an appointment shall be made is the year one thousand nine hundred and nine. 4. (1.) Of the members appointed by the Governor in Council, the two members longest in office without reappointment shall retire annually on the appointment of their successors. (2.) Subject to the last preceding subsection, the appointed members of the Board shall hold office until the appointment of their successors. 5. The Board shall be a body corporate by the name of the “New Zealand Institute,” and by that name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and may sue and be sued, and shall have power and authority to take, purchase, and hold lands for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. 6. (1.) The Board shall have power to appoint a fit person, to be known as the “President,” to superintend and carry out all necessary work in connection with the affairs of the Institute, and to provide him with such further assistance as may be required. (2.) The Board shall also appoint the President or some other fit person to be editor of the Transactions of the Institute, and may appoint a committee to assist him in the work of editing the same. (3.) The Board shall have power from time to time to make regulations under which societies may become incorporated with the Institute, and to declare that any incorporated society shall cease to be incorporated if such regulations are not complied with; and such regulations on being published in the Gazette shall have the force of law. (4.) The Board may receive any grants, bequests, or gifts of books or specimens of any kind whatsoever for the use of the Institute, and dispose of them as it thinks fit. (5.) The Board shall have control of the property from time to time vested in it or acquired by it; and shall make regulations for the management of the same, and for the encouragement of research by the members of the Institute; and in all matters, specified or unspecified, shall have power to act for and on behalf of the Institute. 7. (1.) Any casual vacancy in the Board, howsoever caused, shall be filled within three months by the society or authority that appointed the member whose place has become vacant, and if not filled within that time the vacancy shall be filled by the Board. (2.) Any person appointed to fill a casual vacancy shall only hold office for such period as his predecessor would have held office under this Act. 8. (1.) Annual meetings of the Board shall be held in the month of January in each year, the date and place of such annual meeting to be fixed at the previous annual meeting. (2.) The Board may meet during the year at such other times and places as it deems necessary.

(3.) At each annual meeting the President shall present to the meeting a report of the work of the Institute for the year preceding, and a balance-sheet, duly audited, of all sums received and paid on behalf of the Institute. 9. The Board may from time to time, as it sees fit, make arrangements for the holding of general meetings of members of the Institute, at times and places to be arranged, for the reading of scientific papers, the delivery of lectures, and for the general promotion of science in New Zealand by any means that may appear desirable. 10. The Minister of Finance shall from time to time, without further appropriation than this Act, pay to the Board the sum of five hundred pounds in each financial year, to be applied in or towards payment of the general current expenses of the Institute. 11. Forth with upon the making of any regulations or the publication of any Transactions, the Board shall transmit a copy thereof to the Minister of Internal Affairs, who shall lay the same before Parliament if sitting, or if not, then within twenty days after the commencement of the next ensuing session thereof. Schedule. Enactments consolidated. 1903, No. 48.—The New Zealand Institute Act, 1903.