1962-HKRS29-8-29_Part01 — Page 12

(Cap. 318).

Incorpora tion.

Vesting of property.

Powers of Corporation.

"Corporation" means "The Trustees of the Union Church in Hong

Kong" incorporated under section 3:

“deacon” means a member of the Deacons' Court;

"Deacons” Court" means the Deacons' Court established in accordance

with the provisions of section 14;

"general meeting" means a general meeting of the members of the

Church;

"member" means any person who has been enrolled as a full member or as an associate member in accordance with the provisions of section and who is still so enrolled;

"Minister" means the minister of Union Church or, if at any time there shall be more than one minister, the senior minister in Hong Kong. appointed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of section 16 or an acting minister appointed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of that section: "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under section 18; "repealed Ordinance" means the Union Church Incorporation Ordinance; "secretary" and "treasurer" mean respectively the honorary secretary and the honorary treasurer elected in accordance with the provi- sions of section 13:

"voting member" means a member who, in accordance with the provi- sions of subsection (2) of section 11, is entitled to vote at a general meeting of the Church.

3. The Trustees for the time being of the Union Church in Hong Kong shall be a body corporate and shall have the corporate game, "The Trustees of the Union Church in Hong Kong", and in that name shall have perpetual succession and shall and may sue and be sued in all courts in the Colony and shall and may have and use a commoo seal, and may from time to time, break, change, alter and make anew the said seal as to the Corporation may seem fit.

4. All property of whatsoever kind and description, which immediately before the commencement of this Ordinance was vested in the "The Trustees of the Union Church in Hong Kong" in accordance with the provisions of the repealed Ordinance, is hereby vested in the Corporation,

5. (1) The Corporation shall have power to acquire, accept and grant leases of, purchase, take, hold and enjoy any lands, buildings. messuages or tenements of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever situate, and also to build, rebuild, alter, vary, renew, maintain and repair any building, messuage or tenements, and also to invest monies upon mortgages of any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements, or in deben- tures, stocks, funds, shares or securities of any government, municipality. corporation, or company, and also to purchase, acquire and possess

goods and chattels of what mature and kind soever and to sue, carry on and defend all legal arbitration and other proceedings.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the Corpora- tion shall be subject to the provisions of the Charities (Land Acquisi- (23 of 1658). tion] Ordinance. 1958,

(3) The Corporation shall further have power by deed under its seal to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender, exchange, partition, yield up, mortgage, pledge, demise, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any lands, buildings, messuages, tenements, mortgages, debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities or goods and chattels whatsoever, which are for the time being vested in or belonging to the Corporation, upon such terms as to the Corporation may seem fit.

6. (1) All deeds, documents and other instruments requiring the Execution seal of the Corporation shall be sealed in the presence of two or more of deeds. of the trustees, and shall also be signed by the Chairman or, if be shall be absent from the Colony or otherwise for any good reason unable to act, by the Vice-Chairman, and by such trustees so present, and such signing shall be and be taken as sufficient evidence of the due sealing thereof.

(2) The scal shall be kept in the custody of the Chairman of Trustees elected in accordance with the provisions of subsection (6) of section 15 or, if no Chairman of Trustees shall have been elected or if he shall be absent from the Colony or otherwise for any good reason be unable to act, in the custody of the person who has been trustee for the longest period.

7.

The Corporation shall hold the property vested in it in accord- Trusts. ance with the provisions of section 4 and all property subsequently acquired by it and any other premises which may be substituted therefor and all the other property of the Church upon trust for the purpose of a church for the public worship of God and for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the principles and usages of Protes- tant Christians, and for the sole object of spreading the knowledge of Christ, as shall seem most agreeable to the Word of God and not for the purpose of introducing or supporting presbyterianism, independency, episcopacy or any other form of church order and government about which there may be difference of opinion, but under such form of church government as the members shall direct, and also, subject to such direction, for the instruction of children and adults, and for religious and philanthropic purposes and for the providing of a residence for the Minister, provided that the Church shall always accept as its primary standards the Word of God as witnessed to by the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the Trinitarian Doctrine of the Christian Faith and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.