UNION CHURCH INCORPORATION ORDINANCE

UNION CHURCH INCORPORATION ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 318.

UNION CHURCH For the incortoration of the trustees o the Union Church
at Victoria.
[1st December, 1911.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Union Church
Incorporation Ordinance.

2. The trustees of the Union Church in Hong Kon-
shall be a body corporate, hereinafter called the sald corpora-
tion, and shall have the name 'The Trustees of the Union
Church in 1Iong Kong', and by that name shall have
perpetual succession, and shall and may sue and be Sued
in all courts in this Colony, and shall and may have and
use a common seal, and the said seal may break, change,
alter and make anew as to the said corporation may seem
fit; and the said corporation shall have full power to acquire,
accept leases of, purchase, take, hold and enjoy any lands,
buildings, messuages or tenements of what nature or kind
soever and wheresoever situate in this Colony, and also to
invest moneys on mortgage of any lands, buildings,
messuages or tenements in this Colony, or on the mortgages,
or debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities of any
corporation or company carrying on business or having an
office in this Colony, and also to purchase and acquire all
manner of goods and chattels whatsoever ; and the said
corporation is hereby further empowered, by deed under
its seal, to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender and yield
up, mortgage, demise, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose
of any lands, buildings, messuages and tenements,
mortgages, debentures, stocks, funds and securities, goods
and chattels, vested in the said corporation on such terms
as to the said corporation may seem fit.

3. In the event of any of the trustees dying or
remaining out of the Colony continuously, for more than
twenty-four months, or desiring to be discharged from the
trust, or refusing or becoming unfit to act therein or
incapable of acting therein, a successor to such trustee shall
be appointed at a meeting of the seat-holders (being





subscribers) of the said Church to be convened and held
in accordance with the provisions of section 11, and the
appointinent shall be notified by the remaining trustees or
trustee to the Colonial Secretary in writing, and such notice
shaH be published in the Gazette. [4

4. The said corporation shall permit the said Union
Church and the buildings connected therewith now standing
upon Inland Lots Nos. 1219, 1803 and 1567, and any other
premises which may be substituted therefor, to be used,
occupied and enjoyed as a church for the public worship of
God and for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
as well in Chinese as in English and other European
languages according to the principles and usages of
Protestant Evangelical Christians, and for the sole object of
spreading the knowledge of Christ, as shall seem most
greeable 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 govern-
ment about which there may be difference of opinion, but
under such form of church government as the seat-holders
(being subscribers) of the Union Church 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 or
ministers. [5

5. All deeds, documents and otherinstruments
requiring the seal of the said corporation shall be sealed in
the presence of two or more of the trustees, and shall also
be signed by the secretary and by two or more of the trustees
so present, and such signing shall be and be taken as
sufficient evidence of the due sealing thereof. [6

6. All books, deeds, papers and other documents
hitherto kept at the Union Church or belonging or apper-
taining thereto, and all moneys belonging or due or owing
to the Church, and all other property of the said Church,
shall be the property of the said corporation, and all monu-
ments, tablets and memorials shall be under the care and
custody of the said corporation. [7





7.A committee of management, hereinafter called the
committee, including a secretary and treasurer, shall be
elected annually at a meeting of the seat-holders (being
subscribers) of the said Union Church, to be held as herein
provided, and those elected shall appoint one of their
number to be chairman and shall have power to add to their
number. [8

8.The seat-holders (being subscribers) may appoint
one or more minister or ministers to perform and carry on
diviine worship and the services usual in a Protestant
Evangelical Christian Church. [9

9.All matters connected with the religious services of
the said Church shall be under the immediate direction of
the minister or senior minister, subject nevertheless to the
control of the committee. [10

10. All meetings shall be convened by the minister or
senior minister or by the committee or by the said corpora-
tion or by one-fifth in number of the seat-holders (being
subscribers) of the said Church entitled to vote at such
meeting, by notice announcing the place, day and hour of
the meeting and the business or matter to be transacted or
considered, and such notice shall be given at each service
held on the premises on the two Lord's days immediately
preceding stich meeting at the usual time for giving notices
during divine service.

The meeting shall be held not earlier than the Wednes-
day next following the second of such two Lord's clays.

The only persons who shall be entitled to attend and
vote at such meeting shall be those who, whether male or
fernalc, have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have
been seat-holders and subscribers of the said Church during
at least the six months preceding the meeting, and have
held one or more sittings in the said Church and subscribed
and paid for or in respect of the same to the maintenance
of divine worship in the said Church.

Each such seat-holder shall be entitled to one vote, and
the vote of two-thirds in number of the said seat-holders so
attending and voting shall be deemed to be the vote of and





shall bind all the seat-holders (being subscribers) of the said
Church.

The chairman of such meeting shall be the person
appointed by a majority of the persons present at such
meeting and entitled to vote.

No votes shall be given by proxy, but votes may be
given by ballot or otherwise at any such meeting as such
meeting shall direct.

In case of equality of votes the chairman shall have the
casting vote but shall not otherwise vote on any question
before the meeting. [11

11. The temporal affairs of the said Church shall be
managed, directed and governed by the committee: Pro-
vided however that the members of the committee shall not
be deemed personally liable for any payments of money in
excess of that provided or available for the purposes of the
said Church. [12

12. It shall be lawful for the committee to make regula-
tions relating to the following matters-
(a)the qualification, election and tenure of office of the
members of the committee;
(b)the holding of meetings of the committee and the
conduct of the business thereat;
(c)the temporary appointment of a minister or assistant
minister during the absence from any cause of the
incumbent of the post;
(d)the election and tenure of office of an auditor, and
the filling up of casual vacancies among the committee;
(e) the appointment, tenure of office, salary and duties
of any orgamst, Verger or other officer or servant
as the committee may think necessary or expedient;
the keeping of registers of communicants, seat-
holders and Subscribers, and of baptisms, marriages
and burials;
(g)the holding of meetings of the scat-holders and
subscribers, the right of voting and the taking and
recording of the votes at such meetings (where the
same is not specially provided for by this





Ordinance), and the conduct of business specially
thereat ;
(h)the appropriation, allotment, arrangement and use
of the sittings in the said Church ;
(i)the rents and subscriptions, if any, to be paid for
the sittings in the said Church and the mode
of collection thereof, the fees to be taken for
baptisms, marriages and burials, or other services,
and the collection and disposition of money, offer-
ings, offertories and donations;
the keeping of accounts of moneys received and
expended by the committee;
(k)the erection and maintenance of monuments, tablets
or other memorials in the said Church or in the
precincts thereof, and the fees to be taken therefor
and
(l)all other matters relating to the affairs of the said
Church or of the committee otherwise than where
specially provided for by this Ordinance. [13

13. All regulations made by the committee shall be valid
unless they have been disapproved at an annual or special
meeting of the seat-holders and subscribers. [14

14. The said corporation shall permit the person
appointed for that purpose by the committee to receive all
moneys and subscriptions given or paid for the use of pews
and sittings in the said Church or otherwise contributed or
subscribed for the purposes aforesaid, and also the net rents
arising from any lease of the premises or any part thereof
and any other money in the nature of incorne, and after
payment thereout of the expenses of repairing and insuring
the premises and the interest of any debt secured on the
premises or incurred in the erection, completion, repair,
alteration, enlargement or improvement of the said premises,
to pay such sum for the support of the minister and the
assistant minister (if any) of the said Church as the com-
mittee shall have determined, and to apply the remainder
in payment of the incidental and other expenses attending
the maintenance of divine worship, or to invest the same,
and for the other purposes of these presents as the said
committee shall direct: Provided nevertheless that moneys





contributed or subscribed for any specified purpose shall be
applied to such purpose. [15

15. The said corporation shall have power to sue for
all rents, Subscriptions, fees and moneys due or owing to
the said Church. [16

16. It shall be lawful for the said corporation to order
the removal of any monument, tablet or other memorial in
the said Church or in the precincts thereof which has become
ruinous, dilapidated or unsightly, if the owner thereof cannot
be found or refuses to repair the same properly and maintain
it to the satisfaction of the said corporation : Provided
always that three months' notice of such intended removal
shall be given in writing to the owner if he can be found,
and if he cannot be found a notice signifying such intended
removal shall be posted for three months upon the notice
board of the said Church. [17

17. In the event of the said corporation failing to use,
occupy and enjoy the present Union Churcli and the build-
ings connected therewith, or any other premises which may
be substituted therefor, for the purposes mentioned in section
5, for a period of more than two years at any one time, then
the sald corporation shall hold the said premises with the
erections and buildings thereon, and all moneys, goods and
chattels then belonging to the said corporation, in trust for
the London Missionary Society incorporated under the
London Missionary Society Incorporation Ordinance,
absolutely. [18

18. Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed
to affect the rights of His Majesty the King, His Heirs or
Successors, or the rights of any body politic or corporate
or of any other persons except such as are mentioned in this
Ordinance and those claiming by, from or under them. [19
Originally 57 of 1911. Fraser 57 of 1911. 37 of 1950. Short title. Incorporation of trustees. Appointment of new trustees. Union Church to be used as a church. Seal. Vesting of movable property and monuments in corporation. Committee of management. Appointment of ministers. Direction of religious services. Meetings of seat-holders. Votes Management of temporal affairs. Powers of committee. [s. 12 cont.] Regulations to be valid until disapproved. Receipt of moneys, etc. Power to sue. Power to remove monuments, etc. Property to be held in trust for London Missionary Society in certain events. (Cap. 296.) Saving. 37 of 1950, Schedule.

Originally 57 of 1911. Fraser 57 of 1911. 37 of 1950. Short title. Incorporation of trustees. Appointment of new trustees. Union Church to be used as a church. Seal. Vesting of movable property and monuments in corporation. Committee of management. Appointment of ministers. Direction of religious services. Meetings of seat-holders. Votes Management of temporal affairs. Powers of committee. [s. 12 cont.] Regulations to be valid until disapproved. Receipt of moneys, etc. Power to sue. Power to remove monuments, etc. Property to be held in trust for London Missionary Society in certain events. (Cap. 296.) Saving. 37 of 1950, Schedule.

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