# New Zealand Institute Act 1903

3 Edw. VII., 48
ANALYSIS.
Title. Preamble.
* Short Title.
* Repeal.
* Constitution of New Zealand Institute.
* Board of Governors of Institute.
* Two members appointed by the Governor in Council to retire annually.
* Board of Governors to be a body corporate.
* Powers of the Governors.
* Vacancies in Board of Governors.
* Meetings of Board of Governors.
* General meetings of Institute.
* Endowment of Institute.
* Existing Board abolished.
* Transactions to be laid before Parliament.
1903, No. 48.
Title.An Act to reconstitute the New Zealand Institute.
[18th November, 1903.
Preamble.WHEREAS it is desirable to reconstitute the New Zealand Institute with a view to connecting it more closely with the affiliated institutions:
Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Short Title.1. The Short Title of this Act is "The New Zealand Institute Act, 1903."
Repeal.2. "The New Zealand Institute Act, 1867," is hereby repealed.
Constitution of New Zealand Institute.3. (1.) The body hitherto known as the New Zealand Institute (hereinafter referred to as "the Institute") shall consist of the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, the Otago Institute, the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, the Nelson Institute, the Westland Institute, the Southland Institute, and such others as may hereafter be incorporated in accordance with regulations to be made by the Board of Governors as hereinafter mentioned.
(2.) Members of the above-named incorporated societies shall be ipso facto members of the Institute.
Board of Governors of Institute.4. The control and management of the Institute shall be in the hands of a Board of Governors, constituted as follows:—
The Governor;
The Colonial Secretary;
​Four members to be appointed by the Governor in Council during the month of December, one thousand nine hundred and three, and two members to be similarly appointed during the month of December in every succeeding year;
Two members to be appointed by each of the incorporated societies at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin during the month of December in each alternate year;
One member to be appointed by each of the other incorporated societies during the month of December in each alternate year.
Two members appointed by the Governor in Council to retire annually.5. (1.) Of the members appointed by the Governor in Council two shall retire annually on the appointment of their successors; the first two members to retire shall be decided by lot, and thereafter the two members longest in office without reappointment shall retire.
(2.) Subject to the provisions of the last preceding subsection, the appointed members of the Board shall hold office until the appointment of their successors.
Board of Governors to be a body corporate.6. The Board of Governors as above constituted shall be a body corporate, by the name of the "New Zealand Institute" and by that name they shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and may sue and be sued, and shall have power and authority to take, purchase, and hold lands for the purposes hereinafter mentioned.
Powers of the Governors.7. (1.) The Board of Governors shall have power to appoint a fit person, to be known as the "President," to superintend and carry out all necessary work in connection with the affairs of the Institute, and to provide him with such further assistance as may be required.
(2.) It shall also appoint the President or some other fit person to be editor of the Transactions of the Institute, and may appoint a committee to assist him in the work of editing the same.
(3.) It shall have power to make regulations under which societies may become incorporated to the Institute, and to declare that any incorporated society shall cease to be incorporated if such regulations are not complied with, and such regulations on being published in the Gazette shall have the force of law.
(4.) The Board may receive any grants, bequests, or gifts of books or specimens of any kind whatsoever for the use of the Institute, and dispose of them as it thinks fit.
(5.) The Board shall have control of the property hereinafter vested in it, and of any additions hereafter made thereto, and shall make regulations for the management of the same, for the encouragement of research by the members of the Institute, and in all matters, specified or unspecified, shall have power to act for and on behalf of the Institute.
Vacancies in Board of Governors.8. Any casual vacancy on the Board of Governors, howsoever caused, shall be filled within three months by the society or authority that appointed the member whose place has become vacant, and if not filled within that time the vacancy shall be filled by the Board of Governors.
​Meetings of Board of Governors.9. (1.) The first annual meeting of the Board of Governors hereinbefore constituted shall be held at Wellington on some day in the month of January, one thousand nine hundred and four, to be fixed by the Governor, and annual meetings of the Board shall be regularly held thereafter during the month of January in each year, the date and place of such aimual meeting to be fixed at the previous annual meeting.
(2.) The Board of Governors may meet during the year at such other times and places as it deems necessary.
(3.) At each annual meeting the President shall present to the meeting a report of the work of the Institute for the year preceding, and a balance-sheet, duly audited, of all sums received and paid on behalf of the Institute.
General meetings of Institute.10. The Board of Governors may from time to time, as it sees fit, make arrangements for the holding of general meetings of members of the Institute, at times and places to be arranged, for the reading of scientific papers, the delivery of lectures, and for the general promotion of science in the colony by any means that may appear desirable.
Endowment of Institute.11. The Colonial Treasurer shall, without further appropriation than this Act, pay to the Board of Governors the annual sum of five hundred pounds, to be applied in or towards payment of the general current expenses of the Institute.
Existing Board abolished.12. (1.) On the appointment of the first Board of Governors under this Act the Board of Governors constituted under the Act hereby repealed shall cease to exist, and the property then vested in, or belonging to, or under the control of that Board shall be vested in His Majesty for the use and benefit of the public.
(2.) On the recommendation of the President of the Institute the Governor may at any time hereinafter, by Order in Council, declare that any part of such property specified in the Order shall be vested in the Board constituted under this Act.
Transactions to be laid before Parliament.13. All regulations, together with a copy of the Transactions of the Institute, shall be laid upon the table of both Houses of Parliament within twenty days after the meeting thereof.
WELLINGTON: Printed under authority of the New Zealand Government, by John Mackay, Government Printer.—1908.