{"id":"presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919","name":"Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919","slug":"presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":106212,"registerId":"wa-presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nPresbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919\n\nWestern Australia\n\nPresbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n4. Consolidation of mortgages 1\n\n5. Sinking fund 2\n\n6. Contributions to sinking fund 3\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 5\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nPresbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919\n\nAn Act to amend the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908*.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919,* and shall be read as one with the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908*, hereinafter referred to as the principal Act.\n\n[**2, 3.** Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(e).]\n\n##### 4. Consolidation of mortgages\n\n(1) The Commissioners may effect a consolidation of the mortgages secured on the property of any congregation or several congregations, or on any other property held in trust by the Commissioners.\n\n(2) Where the land, buildings, or other property of any congregation, mission, or institution (except a mission or institution that has been separately incorporated as provided in section 21 of the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908*) are free from encumbrances, or where the amount raised by any mortgage thereof together with all other mortgages thereon, if any is less than 50% of the realisable value of the security, the Commissioners may, with the approval in writing of the majority of the members and adherents of the congregation, mission, or institution and subject to obtaining all other consents and approvals that are required to be obtained under any Act, borrow money on the security of such land, building, or other property, for the benefit of any other congregation, mission, or institution other than a mission or institution separately incorporated as provided in section 21 of the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908*: Provided that the money so borrowed shall be used for the purchase or erection of permanent building required for the extension of the work of the Church in Western Australia, or for the reduction of any existing mortgage, or other liability of the other congregation, mission or institution for whose benefit the money has been borrowed.\n\n[Section 4 amended: No. 19 of 1964 s. 9.]\n\n##### 5. Sinking fund\n\n(1) A sinking fund shall be established by the Commissioners with the approval of the General Assembly, for the following purposes: —\n\n(a) To pay off any mortgage or other liability existing on any land, building, or other property belonging to any congregation, which is held in trust by the Commissioners.\n\n(b) To pay off any mortgage or other liability existing on a college, building, institution (except on the property of a separately incorporated mission or institution) or any other property held in trust by the Commissioners.\n\n(c) For the creation of a fund for the purchase or erection of any church, manse, school, or other building required for the work of the Church in Western Australia.\n\n(2) The contributions to the sinking fund shall be in accordance with the scheme and regulations approved by the General Assembly. Such scheme and regulations shall be administered by the Commissioners or a special committee appointed by the General Assembly, and such scheme and regulations shall be binding on all congregations, school councils, boards of management, and other committees of the Church excluding any mission and institution that has been separately incorporated as provided in section 21 of the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908.*\n\n[Section 5 amended: No. 19 of 1964 s. 10.]\n\n##### 6. Contributions to sinking fund\n\n(1) Every congregation, mission, or institution shall make an annual contribution to the sinking fund, in accordance with subsections (1A) to (1D).\n\n(1A) Where the amount of a mortgage or other liability exceeds 25%, and is not more than 50% of the realisable value of the land, buildings, or other property secured by such mortgage or other liability, an annual contribution of 1½% on half the realisable value of such property, or 1½% on the amount of such mortgage or other liability, whichever is the greater, shall be made to the sinking fund.\n\n(1B) Where the amount of a mortgage or other liability secured on the land, buildings, or other property is 25% or less than 25% of the realisable value of such property, an annual contribution of 1½% on the amount of such mortgage or other liability, plus 1% of 25% or more of the realisable value of the property, subject to mortgage or other liability, shall be made to the sinking fund.\n\n(1C) Where the lands, buildings, or other property of a congregation, mission, or institution (excluding any mission or institution that has been separately incorporated as provided in section 21 of the *Presbyterian Church Act 1908*) are free from encumbrances, an annual contribution of 1% of half the realisable value of such property shall be made to the sinking fund.\n\n(1D) Where a congregation, mission, or institution is paying off to the satisfaction of the Commissioners a liability, the amount of which exceeds 50% of the realisable value of the property secured or otherwise subject to such liability, such congregation, mission, or institution shall not be required to make an annual contribution to the sinking fund until the amount of the liability has been reduced to 50% of the realisable value of the property subject to or secured by such liability.\n\n(2) All sinking fund contributions assessed on the amount of a mortgage or other liability of a congregation, mission, or institution, shall be applied by the Commissioners in reduction of the mortgage or liability of the said congregation, mission, or institution, or may be invested by the Commissioner at compound interest with a view to accumulating a fund to pay off such liability at maturity, or to discharge such liability when the sinking fund, plus interest, is sufficient for such purpose; but no contribution to the sinking fund, assessed on the realisable value of the property of any congregation, mission, or institution shall be used for paying off the liability on the property of any other congregation, mission, or institution without the sanction of the General Assembly having been first obtained.\n\n(3) Voluntary contributions made by the members and adherents or friends of the Church to the sinking fund shall be applied, as may be directed by the contributors, or as the Commissioners may direct.\n\n(4) Realisable value means such value as may be agreed upon between the Commissioners and board of management, council or committee of any church, mission, or institution, or, in the event of any dispute as to such value, then the realisable value shall be fixed by an arbitrator appointed by the General Assembly.\n\n[Section 6 amended: No. 19 of 1964 s. 11; No. 19 of 2010 s. 51.]\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919* and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table 2. This table also contains information about any previous reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** | |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919* | 50 of 1919 | 17 Dec 1919 | 17 Dec 1919 | |\n| *Presbyterian Church Acts Amendment Act 1964*   s. 9-11 | 19 of 1964 | 8 Oct 1964 | 8 Oct 1964 | |\n| **Reprint of the *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919* as at 25 Oct 2002**   (includes amendments listed above) | | | | |\n| *Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010* s. 51 | 19 of 2010 | 28 Jun 2010 | 11 Sep 2010 (see s. 2(b) and *Gazette* 10 Sep 2010 p. 4341) |\n\n\n2 Other relevant Acts:\n\n *Presbyterian Church of Australia Act 1901*\n\n *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1924*\n\n *Presbyterian Church of Australia Act 1970.*\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains focused on its original purpose of amending the Presbyterian Church Act 1908 to provide financial management mechanisms (mortgage consolidation, inter-congregational borrowing, and sinking fund establishment). The 1964 amendments refined the contribution calculations but did not expand beyond church property finance."},"complexity_factors":["Tiered contribution calculations in section 6 with four distinct formulas (1A-1D) based on debt-to-value ratios","Multiple cross-references to section 21 of the Presbyterian Church Act 1908 regarding separately incorporated institutions","Nested conditional logic: borrowing powers depend on debt thresholds (50%), approval requirements, and exclusion of separately incorporated entities","19th-century legislative drafting style with dense provisos and subordinate clauses","Amendment history showing modifications in 1964 and 2010, indicating evolving financial management practices"],"plain_english_summary":"This law gives the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia new financial powers to manage church property and debt.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Lets the Church pool mortgages**: The Church Commissioners can combine multiple mortgages from different congregations into one loan, making debt easier to manage.\n- **Allows borrowing between congregations**: If one church property has little or no debt (less than 50% of its value), the Commissioners can borrow money against it to help another congregation buy buildings or pay off its own debts—but only with approval from the local congregation members.\n- **Creates a sinking fund**: This is a savings account that congregations must pay into annually to build up money for paying off future debts or buying new church buildings.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Presbyterian congregations, missions, and church institutions in Western Australia\n- The Church Commissioners (trustees who manage church property)\n- The General Assembly (the church's governing body)\n\n**Key rules:**\n- Congregations with high debt (over 50% of property value) don't have to contribute to the sinking fund until they reduce their debt\n- Contributions are calculated as a percentage of property value or debt amount, depending on how indebted the congregation is\n- Money in the sinking fund generally stays with the congregation that contributed it, unless the General Assembly approves otherwise\n- Separately incorporated missions and institutions are excluded from these rules\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law helps the Presbyterian Church manage its finances collectively—stronger congregations can support struggling ones, and the sinking fund ensures churches save for future needs rather than relying entirely on debt."},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as the legislative text was not available in the provided source. The URL returned a 'page not found' error from the Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office website."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative text was provided — only a website error page","Cannot assess complexity without substantive content","Title suggests narrow, single-church religious institution legislation which is typically low in complexity, but this is speculative"],"plain_english_summary":"## Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919 (WA)\n\n**The content of this legislation is not available for analysis.**\n\nThe source provided does not contain the actual text of the *Presbyterian Church Act Amendment Act 1919* (Western Australia). The page returned is an error notice from the Western Australian Parliament's website indicating the page is no longer available due to system upgrades.\n\nBased on the title alone, this would likely be a **Western Australian state law that amended an earlier Act governing the Presbyterian Church** — dealing with matters such as church property, governance, or incorporation rights. However, no substantive analysis can be responsibly provided without the actual legislative text."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act's scope was altered by later amendments. The compilation notes record amendments in 1964 (No. 19 of 1964, ss.9–11) that expressly amended sections 4–6, adding the detailed percentage-based contribution formulas, administration rules for the sinking fund, and clarifying exceptions for separately incorporated missions and institutions. A 2010 amendment (s.51) was formatting standardisation. These statutory changes expanded and specified the financial duties, valuation procedures and approval pathways compared with the original 1919 text (see compilation table and the amendment notes for s.4, s.5 and s.6)."},"complexity_factors":["Detailed, formulaic contribution rules with multiple percentage thresholds and alternative bases to compute annual payments (see s.6(1), s.6(1A)–(1D)).","Approval and consent layers: Commissioners require majority written approval of congregation members for some borrowings and General Assembly approval for the sinking fund and its scheme (see s.4(2); s.5(1)).","Commissioners' and General Assembly's administrative discretion to operate the scheme or appoint a special committee (see s.5(2)); this creates implementation choices and operational discretion.","Limits and conditions on cross-use of contributions: contributions assessed on property value cannot be used to pay another congregation’s liabilities without General Assembly sanction (see s.6(2)).","Valuation and dispute mechanism: 'realisable value' is subject to agreement or arbitration appointed by the General Assembly, creating transaction and dispute-resolution costs (see s.6(4)).","Exceptions for separately incorporated missions and institutions carve out scope and create compliance segmentation (see s.4(2), s.5(2), s.6(1C) exclusion).","Potential administrative and compliance burden from required calculations, record-keeping and enforcing staged reductions when liabilities exceed specified ratios (see s.6(1D) and s.6 generally).","Historical amendments recorded (1964 amendments altered s.4–s.6; 2010 made standard formatting changes), which affects interpretation and application (see compilation notes and amendment notes)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act lets the Presbyterian Church Commissioners consolidate mortgages and borrow against certain church properties to buy or build permanent church-related buildings or to reduce debts. It also creates a sinking fund administered under General Assembly-approved rules and requires congregations, missions and institutions to make annual contributions calculated by formulas tied to mortgage ratios."},"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"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919","history":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919/history","analysis":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/presbyterian-church-act-amendment-act-1919/documents"}}