UNION CHURCH INCORPORATION ORDINANCE, 1911

UNION CHURCH INCORPORATION ORDINANCE, 1911

No. 57 of 1911.
For the Incorporation of the Trustees of the Union Church. at
Victoria. [1st December, 1911.1
1. The Union Church Incorporation Ordinance, 1911.

2. The Trustees of the Union Church in Hongkong shall be a
body corporate (hereinafter called the---said corporation -) and shall
have the name---The Trustees of the Union Church in Hongkong -,
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 seat 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 inort-
gages, or debentures, stocks, funds, shares, or securities of any
corporation or company carrying on business or having an office in

As amended by No. 50 of 1911.
As arnended by No. 50 of 1.911 and No. 16 of 1912.





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 tene-
ments, 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. .
Is. 3, rep. No. 16 of 19121.]

4. In the event of any of the trustees dying or remaining out of
the Colony continuously for more than 24 months, or desiring to be
discharged from the trust, or refusing or becoming tinfit to act
therein or incapable of acting therein, a successor to such trustee
shall be appointed at a meeting of the scatholders (being subscribers)
of the said Church to be convened and held in accordance with the
provisions of section 11, and shall be notified by the rejuaining
trustees or trustee to the Colonial Secretary in writing, and such
notice shall be published in the Gazette.

5. 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 Euro-
pean 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 agreeable to the word of
God, and not for the purpose of introducing or supporting Presby-
terianism, 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 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 the promoting of religious and philanthropic purposes
and for the providing of a residence for the minister or ministers.

6. All deeds, documents and other instruments requiring the seal
of the said corporation shall be sealed in the presence of two or more

As ametided by. No. 16 of 1912 and No. 17 of 1912.
As amended b~ '-,\o. 50 of 1911 and No. 16 of 1912.





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 bd and be
taken as sufficient evidence of the due gealing thereof.

7. All books, deeds, papers, and other documents hitherto kept at
the Union Church or belonging or appertaining thereto, and all
moneys belonging or due or owing to the Church, and all other the
property of the said Church, shall be the property of the said cor-
poration, and all monuments, tablets and memorials shall be under
the care and. custody of the said corporation.

8. A committee of management (hereinafter called the com-
mittee) including a. secretary and treasurer, shall be elected
annually at a meeting of the seatholders (,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.

9. The seatholders being subscribers may appoint one or more
minister or ministers to perform and carry on divine worship and
the services usual in a Protestant Evangelical Christian Church.

10. All matters contiected 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 coin-
wittee.

11. All ineetings shall be convened b3, the minister or senior
minister or by the committee or by the said corporation or by one-
fifth in number of the seatholders (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 such meeting at the usual time for diving notices during
divine service.
The meeting shall be held not earlier than the Wednesday next
following the second of such two Lord's days.
The only persons who shall be entitled to attend and vote at such
meeting shall be those who, whether male or female, have attained
the age of 21 years, and have been seatholders and subscribers of the

As amended by No. 16 of 1M.
t As atnended by No. 16 of 1912 anI No. 17 of I91~.





said Church during at least the 6 months preceding the meeting,
and have held one & more sittings in the said Church and sub-
setibed and paid for or in respect of the same to the maintenance
of divine worship in the said Church.

Each such soatholddi shall be entitled to one vote, and the vote
of two-thirds in number of the said seatholders 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 ippointed by
a majority of the persons present at such meeting and entitled to
yote.

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

In case of equality of votes the chairinan shall have, the casting
vote, but shall not otherwise vote on any question before the meet-
ing.

12. The temporal affairs of the said Church shall be managed,
directed, and governed by the committee, provided, 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.

13. The committee may make reulations relating to the follow-
ing matters:-

(1) the qualification, election, and tenure of office of the members
of the committee;

(2). the holding of meetings of the committee and the conduct of
the business thereat;
(3) the temporary appointment of a minister or assistant minister
during the absence from any cause of the incumbent of the post;

(4) the election and tenure of office of an auditor, and the filling
up of casual Vacancies among the committee;
(5) the appointment, tenure of office, salary, and duties of any
organist, verger, or other officer or servant as the committee may
think necessary or expedient;

As amended by No. 17 of 1912 and No. 43 of 1912 Supp. Sched.
As anielided by No. 50 of 1911, No. 16 of 1912 and No. 17 of
1912.





(6) the keeping of registers of communicants, seatholders, and
subscribers, and of baptisms, marriages, and burials;
(7) the holding Of meetings of the seatholders 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 Ordi-
nance), and the conduct of business specially thereat:
(8) the appropriation, allotment, arrangement, and use of the
sittings in the said Church;
(9) 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, offerings, offertories, and
donations ;
(10) the keeping of accounts of moneys received and expended
by the committee;
(11) 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
(12) all other matters relating to the affairs of the said Church or
of the committee otherwise than where specially provided for by
this Ordinance.

14. All regulations mah by the committee shall be valid unless
they have been disapproved at an annual or special meeting of the
seatholders and subscribers.

15. The said corporation shall perinit the person. appointed for
that purpose by the committee to recei ve all moneys and subscrip-
tions 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
income, 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, altera-
tion, 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 committee shall have determined,

As ainended by No. 16 of 1912 and No. 17 of 1912.
As atnended by No. 50 of 1911 and No. 17 of 1912.
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 money con-
tributed or subscribed for any specified purpose shall be applied to
such purpose.

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

17. 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 tbereof cannot be found or
refuses to properly repair and maintain It to the satisfaction of the
said corporation : Provided al-ways that 3 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 3 months upon thenotice board
of the said Church.

18. In the event of the corporation failing to use, occupy, and
enjoy the present Union Church and the buildings connected there-
with, or any other premises which may be substituted therefor, for
the purposes rnentioDed in section 5 for a period of i-nore than 2
years at any one time, then the 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 Or-
dinance No. 6 of 1891, absolutely.

19. Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect
the rights of His Majesty the King.

Short title . Incorporation of trustees. appointment of new trustees. Union church to be used as a church . Seal . vesting of moveable property and monuments in corporation . Committee fo management. Appointment of ministers. Direction of religious services. Meetings of the seat-holders being subscribers. votes management of temporal affairs. Powers of committee. regulations to be valid until disappoved . Receipt of moneys etc. power to sue . Power to remove monuments , etc. proeprty to be held in trust for lodon missonary society in certain events . Saving of rights of the crown .

Short title . Incorporation of trustees. appointment of new trustees. Union church to be used as a church . Seal . vesting of moveable property and monuments in corporation . Committee fo management. Appointment of ministers. Direction of religious services. Meetings of the seat-holders being subscribers. votes management of temporal affairs. Powers of committee. regulations to be valid until disappoved . Receipt of moneys etc. power to sue . Power to remove monuments , etc. proeprty to be held in trust for lodon missonary society in certain events . Saving of rights of the crown .

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