What it does
This Act incorporates the Council of Newington College as a body corporate and sets out how the council holds, disposes of, invests, and manages the college’s real and personal property. Section 1 creates the corporate entity, gives it perpetual succession and a common seal, and expressly confers on the council the capacity to take and hold land and personal property by grant, will or otherwise, and to enter contracts, sue and be sued. The Act authorises the council, subject to other provisions of the Act, to grant, demise, mortgage, charge, alien or otherwise dispose of property vested in it and to issue debentures (s 1).
The Act places an approval constraint on the disposal, mortgage, charging, lease or other dealing in land or hereditaments vested in the council: no such dealing may be undertaken without the prior approval of the Synod of The Uniting Church in Australia in New South Wales or a committee empowered by the Synod (s 1A). Third parties dealing with the council are, however, protected: purchasers, mortgagees, lessees and the Registrar-General are not required to inquire into the necessity or propriety of sales or mortgages made under the Act and are not affected by notice that an exercise of power was unauthorised or irregular (s 2). Receipts given by persons purportedly authorised by council resolution discharge payment obligations (s 3). Resolutions certified by the Moderator of the Synod and two councillors are prima facie evidence of the resolution (s 5), and a certificate by the Moderator is conclusive evidence as to regulations, consents and the identity of elected councillors (s 17A).
The Act vests specific parcels of land described in the First and Second Schedules and other property previously held for the collegiate school in the incorporated council (s 6). It directs how proceeds from sales, mortgages or debentures are to be applied or invested by listing permitted uses and reserving to the Synod the power to direct otherwise (s 8). The Act prescribes council constitution and election mechanics, quorum and chairing rules, powers to appoint and dismiss the headmaster and officers, powers to make regulations (subject to Synod review and a prohibition on contravening Uniting Church teachings), and reporting obligations to the Synod (ss 9, 12, 14, 15, 17). It preserves existing private rights in contract and tort against the new corporation (s 18) and provides a short title (s 19). The First and Second Schedules describe land parcels vested in the council.