{"id":"geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938","name":"Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers' Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938","slug":"geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30585,"registerId":"wa-geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers' Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nGeraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938\n\nWestern Australia\n\nGeraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 2\n\n2. Interpretation 2\n\n3. Proceeds from sale of land may be used to discharge liability to the Bank 2\n\n4. Power to sell investments or to borrow on security of investments to discharge liability to the Bank 3\n\n5. Surplus proceeds of sale of investments to be held by Trustees in trust for certain purposes 3\n\nSchedule — Trust land\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 6\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nGeraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938\n\nAn Act to authorise the Trustees of The Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute to sell and dispose of certain trust property and to apply the proceeds of such sale for the discharge of a certain liability.\n\nPreamble\n\nWhereas by virtue of section 5 of the *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute Act 1929*, certain land, chattels and money are vested in the Trustees of the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute as constituted by the said Act in trust for the purposes declared by the said section: And whereas the said Trustees are indebted to the National Bank of Australasia Limited in the sum of Three Thousand Three Hundred and Ninety Pounds (£3,390) 2 or thereabouts for advances made to them by the said Bank by way of an overdraft on a current account: And whereas the said Trustees desire to discharge the said indebtedness by selling the said land and chattels and the investments for the time being representing the said moneys and using the proceeds of such sale for such purpose: And whereas legislative authority is necessary and it is deemed expedient to grant the Trustees such authority to enable them to discharge the said indebtedness in the manner aforesaid:\n\nBe it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938*, and shall be read with the *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute Act 1929* (No. 38 of 1929), hereinafter referred to as the principal Act 1.\n\n##### 2. Interpretation\n\nIn this Act —\n\n  The Bank means the National Bank of Australasia Limited.\n\n  The said land means the land vested in the Trustees by section 5 of the principal Act, and more particularly described in the Schedule to this Act.\n\n  The said chattels and money means the chattels and the sum of money and all the interest and income thereon and therefrom vested in the Trustees by section 5 of the principal Act.\n\n  The Trustees means The Trustees of the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute as constituted by section 4 of the principal Act.\n\n##### 3. Proceeds from sale of land may be used to discharge liability to the Bank\n\nIf and when, pursuant to the power conferred by section 6 of the principal Act, the Trustees sell their estate and interest in the said land, the Trustees may pay, use and apply the net proceeds of such sale in or towards the repayment to the Bank of advances made by the Bank to the Trustees by way of an overdraft on a current account and owing by the Trustees at the date of the commencement of this Act, together with the interest payable in respect of such advances and owing up to the date of such repayment.\n\n##### 4. Power to sell investments or to borrow on security of investments to discharge liability to the Bank\n\nIf the net proceeds realised by the sale of the said land are not sufficient to repay in full to the Bank the advances and interest owing and payable by the Trustees as aforesaid the Trustees shall be and are hereby authorised to do all or any of the following things, namely: —\n\n(a) to sell the said chattels, and the investments for the time being representing the said money or so many of the said chattels or of the said investments as may be necessary; and\n\n(b) to pay, use and apply the net proceeds of any such sale in or towards the repayment to the Bank of any balance of the said advances and interest thereon still owing and unpaid after the payment to the Bank of the net proceeds of the sale of the said land in reduction of the said indebtedness of the Trustees to the Bank;\n\n(c) in lieu of selling the investments for the time being representing the said money, to borrow on the security of the said investments a sum of money sufficient for the repayment to the Bank of any balance of the said advances and interest thereon still owing and unpaid to the Bank after the payment to the Bank of the net proceeds of the sale of the said land in reduction of the said indebtedness of the Trustees to the Bank and to pay, use and apply the sum of money so borrowed for the repayment to the Bank of the said balance of advances and interest.\n\n##### 5. Surplus proceeds of sale of investments to be held by Trustees in trust for certain purposes\n\nIf the Trustees shall sell the investments for the time being representing the said money under the power conferred by section 4 of this Act and the net proceeds of such sale are more than the amount required to repay to the Bank any balance of advances and interest thereon still owing and unpaid after payment of the net proceeds of the sale of the said land in reduction of the said indebtedness of the Trustees to the Bank any surplus of the proceeds of the sale of the said investments remaining after the repayment out of such net proceeds of the balance of advances and interest owing and unpaid by the Trustees to the Bank as aforesaid shall be held by the Trustees in trust for the same purposes as those declared in relation to the said money by section 5(b) of the principal Act or in trust for such other purposes as the Governor may upon the application of the Trustees by Order in Council approve.\n\nSchedule — Trust land\n\n[s. 2]\n\n[Heading amended: No. 19 of 2010 s. 4.]\n\nAll those pieces of land being —\n\nFirstly — Portion of Geraldton Town Lot 54 and being part of Lot 1 on Diagram 3065 now the subject of Diagram 5349; and\n\nSecondly — Portion of Geraldton Town Lot 54 and being Lot 2 on Plan 3065,\n\nand being the whole of the land comprised in Certificate of Title Volume 768, folio 48.\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938* 3 and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | | **Number and year** | | **Assent** | | **Commencement** | |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938* | | 3 of 1938 | | 25 Oct 1938 | | 25 Oct 1938 | |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute (Trust Property Disposition) Act 1938* as at 9 May 2003** | | | | | | | |\n| *Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010* s. 4 | 19 of 2010 | | 28 Jun 2010 | | 11 Sep 2010 (see s. 2(b) and *Gazette* 10 Sep 2010 p. 4341) | |\n\n\n2 The reference to the old currency is of historical interest only and so has not been amended under the *Decimal Currency Act 1965.*\n\n3 This Act to be read with:\n\n *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute Act 1929.*\n\nRelated Acts:\n\n *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute Lands Vesting Act 1933*.\n\n *Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute Enabling Act 1934*.\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nThe Bank 2\n\nThe said chattels and money 2\n\nThe said land 2\n\nThe Trustees 2\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This legislation has remained tightly focused on its original purpose since 1938. The only amendment (Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010) was purely cosmetic — updating the heading format in the Schedule. The Act still only authorises the specific 1938 transaction: selling the described land and investments to discharge the specific bank debt of £3,390. It has not expanded to cover other trusts, other debts, or other purposes."},"complexity_factors":["Only 5 operative sections plus a Schedule","4 defined terms in a straightforward interpretation section","Single purpose legislation with linear logic (sell land → pay bank → if shortfall, sell investments → if surplus, hold in trust)","Minimal cross-referencing (only refers back to the principal 1929 Act for context)","No nested exceptions or conditional sub-clauses beyond simple 'if/then' structures","Historical currency reference (£3,390) preserved for historical accuracy but noted as obsolete"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a very specific, one-off law from 1938 that lets a particular group of trustees in Geraldton, Western Australia sell some land and other assets to pay off a bank debt.\n\n**What it does:**\n- The **Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers' Memorial Institute** (a trust set up to benefit returned servicemen) owed about £3,390 to the National Bank of Australasia (roughly $6,780 in today's money, though the historical value would be higher).\n- Normally, trust property can't just be sold off to pay debts — the law usually protects trust assets for their intended purpose (in this case, supporting veterans and their families).\n- This Act gives the Trustees special permission to:\n  - Sell specific land in Geraldton (described in the Schedule)\n  - Sell furniture/equipment (\"chattels\") and investments if the land sale doesn't cover the debt\n  - Or borrow money against those investments instead of selling them\n  - Use the money to pay off the bank overdraft\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The Trustees of the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers' Memorial Institute\n- The National Bank of Australasia (now part of NAB)\n- Potentially the veterans and community who benefited from the Institute, if any surplus wasn't properly managed\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is an example of \"private legislation\" — a law passed to solve a specific problem for a specific organisation, rather than a general rule for everyone. It shows how trusts can get into financial trouble and need parliamentary permission to break their usual rules. The Act also protects the trust's original purpose by requiring any leftover money to be held for the same veteran-support purposes (or similar ones approved by the Governor).\n\n**Key safeguard:** If selling investments raises more money than needed to pay the bank, the surplus must still be held in trust for veterans' welfare purposes — it doesn't just become free money for the Trustees to spend."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be meaningfully assessed as the legislative text is unavailable. Based on the title, the Act appears to have been narrowly drafted for a single specific purpose — authorising the disposition of trust property belonging to the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers' Memorial Institute — which is typical of this class of legislation from the 1930s. No evidence of scope change can be identified."},"complexity_factors":["Insufficient legislative text available to assess true complexity — the webpage content is an error/unavailability notice only","Based on title alone, Acts of this type (single-purpose trust property disposition) are historically narrow and specific in scope, suggesting low complexity","Likely a short, single-purpose Act typical of the era, dealing with a discrete administrative or property matter","No regulations, schedules, or cross-references can be identified without the actual text"],"plain_english_summary":"Likely a 1938 Western Australian law authorising how trust-held property of the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute could be sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of. It would primarily affect trustees, any successor bodies and local community groups tied to the Institute, resolving legal obstacles to dealing with memorial trust assets and enabling practical use or redistribution of those resources."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act implements the Trustees’ stated goal of discharging a specific overdraft by permitting sale of designated trust assets or borrowing on investments, and directing surplus proceeds back into the trust (or to other approved purposes). It does not broaden the trust’s objects except to allow the Governor to approve alternative uses of any surplus (s.5)."},"complexity_factors":["Narrow, single-purpose statute authorising disposal/borrowing to repay a specific debt (ss 3–4)","Direct cross-reference to the principal Act for trustee powers and trust objects (requires reading with principal Act s.5 and s.6)","Simple financial mechanics: net proceeds calculation, repayment of principal and interest","Governor’s discretion to approve alternative surplus uses via Order in Council (s.5) adds a small administrative step","Defined terms and a land Schedule limit application to particular assets","Historical currency and archival context increase interpretive but not operational complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"This law lets the Trustees of the Geraldton Sailors and Soldiers’ Memorial Institute sell specified trust land, chattels or investments — or borrow against investments — to repay an overdraft owed to the National Bank. It authorises application of net sale proceeds to cover principal and interest.  \n\nIf proceeds exceed the debt, the surplus must be held for the original trust purposes or for other purposes only with the Governor’s approval. It therefore shifts the repayment responsibility onto trust assets and gives Trustees and the Governor defined choices about asset disposal."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938","history":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938/history","analysis":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/geraldton-sailors-and-soldiers-memorial-institute-trust-property-disposition-act-1938/documents"}}