Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated ActsPreamble
Whereas by a Deed Poll (hereinafter called the “Deed of
Constitution”) dated 7 August 1878, and under the hand and seal of
William Booth, and afterwards enrolled in the Chancery Division of the High
Court of Justice, England, on 13 August 1878, the origin and doctrines of
the religious society or organisation therein referred to, then known as the
Christian Mission, were recited and stated and it was by the said Deed of
Constitution amongst other things provided that the said Christian Mission was
and should be always thereafter under the oversight, direction, and control of
some one person, who should be the General Superintendent thereof, whose duty
it should be to determine and enforce the discipline and laws and superintend
the operations of the said Christian Mission, and to conserve the same to and
for the objects and purposes for which it was first originated, and that the
General Superintendent should have the powers therein mentioned, that the said
William Booth should continue to be for the term of his natural life the
General Superintendent of the said Christian Mission, unless he should resign
such office, that the said William Booth and every General Superintendent who
should succeed him should have power to appoint his successor to the office of
General Superintendent, and all the rights, powers, and authorities of the
office should vest in the person so appointed upon the decease of the said
William Booth or other General Superintendent appointing him, or at such other
period as might be named in the document appointing him, and that it should be
the duty of every General Superintendent to make in writing, as soon as
conveniently might be after his appointment, a statement as to his successor,
or as to the means which were to be taken for the appointment of a successor
at the decease of the General Superintendent, or upon his ceasing to perform
the duties of the office such statement, to be signed by the General
Superintendent and delivered in a sealed envelope to the solicitor for the
time being of the said Christian Mission, but such statement might be altered
at will by the General Superintendent at any time during his continuance in
office upon a new statement being signed by him and delivered as
before-mentioned to such solicitor as aforesaid: and whereas by the said Deed
of Constitution it was provided that the General Superintendent should have
power to expend on behalf of the Christian Mission all moneys contributed for
the general purposes of the said Christian Mission, or for any of the special
objects or operations thereof, but he should annually publish a balance-sheet
(duly audited) of all such receipts and expenditure, and that the General
Superintendent should have power to acquire by gift, purchase, or otherwise
any hall or meeting-house, school-room, vestry, land, building, and
appurtenances and any seats, fittings, furniture, or other property whatsoever
which might in his judgment be required for the purposes of the said Christian
Mission, and to build upon such land, or alter or pull down any such
buildings, and to hire on lease or otherwise any land or buildings, and to
lend, give away, let, sell, or otherwise dispose of any such property, land,
or buildings as he might deem necessary in the interests of the said Christian
Mission, wherein all trustees should render him every assistance, and that he
might in all such cases as he should deem it expedient so to do nominate and
appoint trustees or a trustee of any part or parts respectively of such
property, and direct the conveyance or transfer thereof to such trustees or
trustee, with power for the General Superintendent to declare the trusts
thereof, and from time to time, if it should seem expedient to him so to do,
to revoke any such trusts or the appointment of such trustees or trustee, and
upon such revocation the same property should be conveyed or transferred to
such persons or person, and upon such trusts as he might direct, but only for
the benefit of the said Christian Mission: and whereas on or about
1 January 1879, the name of the said religious society or organisation
was changed from “The Christian Mission” to “The Salvation
Army,” as appears by a Memorandum under the hand of the said William
Booth dated 24 June 1880, and enrolled in the Supreme Court of
Judicature, England, on 20 April 1906: and whereas by a further Deed Poll
under the hand and seal of the said William Booth bearing date 26 July
1904, and enrolled in the Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on
27 July 1904, after reciting the change of name as aforesaid, and that
the said society or organisation had since been and was then known and
designated as The Salvation Army, and that the title of the “General
Superintendent” thereof had been altered into that of
“General,” and that the said William Booth was then known and
designated, and it was intended that every successor of his should thereafter
be known and designated as the “General” of The Salvation Army,
and it was also recited that in order to minimise the possibility of doubt,
dispute, or litigation it was considered desirable to provide more fully and
specifically than was done by the Deed of Constitution for the events in which
the General for the time being should cease to perform the duties of his
office, and also for the nomination and appointment of a successor to the
General for the time being on his dying or ceasing to perform the duties of
the office, and that the said William Booth had accordingly determined to
execute the said Deed Poll: and whereas by the last-mentioned Deed Poll, after
setting forth more fully such events, it was declared ( inter alia ) that
every General for the time being of The Salvation Army should be deemed to
cease to perform the duties of his office within the meaning of clause 6
of the Deed of Constitution, and to vacate such office upon the happening of
any of the events therein referred to, that is to say ( inter alia ), if the
Commissioners of The Salvation Army, or a majority of such Commissioners
amounting to at least 4 in 5, should declare by writing under their hands that
they are satisfied that the General is ( inter alia ) permanently
incapacitated by mental or physical infirmity from the adequate performance of
the duties of his office, or if a resolution adjudicating the General unfit
for office and removing him therefrom should be passed by a majority of not
less than three-fourths of the members present and voting at a meeting of the
High Council of The Salvation Army thereinafter referred to: and whereas the
said William Booth died on 20 August 1912, having by Deed Poll under his
hand and seal dated 21 August 1890, in exercise of the power in that
behalf vested in him by the Deed of Constitution as aforesaid, appointed
William Bramwell Booth to be his successor, and to succeed him as from the
time of his decease in the office of General Superintendent and Commanding
Officer of The Salvation Army: and whereas the said William Bramwell Booth by
Deed Poll under his hand and seal dated 23 August 1912, duly accepted the
said office: and whereas by Deed Poll under the hand and seal of the said
William Bramwell Booth bearing date 1 June 1920, it was ( inter alia )
recited that in connection with and as the outcome of the work, teaching, and
experience of The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom and in Australia and in
other countries of the world, the said William Booth and the said William
Bramwell Booth had evolved and promulgated various operations for the social,
moral, and temporal welfare and improvement of the poorer and more needy
classes of society, and of persons who were destitute, vicious, or
feeble-minded, or suffering from injury or sickness, or ill-health, or
orphans, or other children needing care in orphanages or reformatories, and
for other charitable purposes which operations were then and are now generally
known and described as the Social Work of The Salvation Army, and which in
relation to the Commonwealth of Australia (thereinafter called “the said
Commonwealth”) were thereinafter sometimes referred to as the Social
Work, and that in connection with the carrying on of the Social Work in the
said Commonwealth the said William Booth and the said William Bramwell Booth
as his successor in office had acquired certain real and personal property,
particularised in the schedule thereto, and other real and personal property
would thereafter be acquired for the purposes of the Social Work, and that it
was right and desirable that the same respectively should be kept distinct
from the other or proper real and personal property of The Salvation Army, and
be used and devoted exclusively in and to the Social Work in or connected with
the said Commonwealth, and that the Social Work should be defined and
regulated, and the trusts of the said real and personal property already
acquired and thereafter to be acquired for or in connection therewith declared
as thereinafter appearing: and it was thereby witnessed that the said William
Bramwell Booth declared that the real and personal property particularised in
the said schedule, and all property real and personal which might thereafter
be acquired by gift, grant, purchase, or in any manner whatsoever for the
purposes of the Social Work in or in connection with the said Commonwealth,
and all real and personal property for the time being representing the same or
any part thereof respectively, and all which were sometimes thereinafter
collectively referred to “as the trust property,” should at all
times thereafter be held upon trust to use and apply the same and the income
thereof for the social, moral, and temporal welfare and improvement of the
poorer and more needy classes of society, and of persons who are destitute or
vicious or feeble-minded, or suffering from injury or sickness or ill-health,
or orphans or other children needing care in orphanages or reformatories in
the said Commonwealth, and for other charitable purposes in or in connection
with the said Commonwealth, in such ways and by such means as the said William
Bramwell Booth or other the Director (as thereinafter defined) for the time
being of the Social Work should at any time or from time to time think fit
subject nevertheless to the provisos therein contained: and that the Social
Work should at all times thereafter be under the oversight, direction, and
control of the person who should be for the time being General of The
Salvation Army, and he should be called in relation to the Social Work the
Director of the Social Work (thereinafter referred to as “the
Director”), and that it should be his duty to determine and enforce the
laws and to superintend the operations of the Social Work, and to conserve the
same, and the trust property for the purposes of the trusts thereby declared:
and it was provided that for the purpose of identifying and ear-marking the
trust property and the income thereof, and keeping the same distinct from all
property of The Salvation Army, full accounts of all moneys contributed,
collected, or received for the Social Work, and of the application thereof,
should be kept in such manner as to keep the same always distinct and separate
from the property of The Salvation Army, and that all conveyances, leases,
transfers, assignments, and assurances made to the Director for the time being
for the purposes of the Social Work should be expressed to be made to him as
such Director, and should thereupon become subject to the trusts of the Deed
Poll now in recital, and that whenever any property, real or personal,
acquired for the purposes of the Social Work should be conveyed, leased,
transferred, assigned, or assured, to any trustees or trustee other than the
Director for the time being, such trustees or trustee should in each case
execute a sufficient declaration of trust so as in every case to enable the
property conveyed, leased, transferred, assigned, or assured to be
sufficiently identified or ear-marked as being property devoted to the
purposes of the Social Work: and whereas the said recited Deed Poll of
1 June 1920, set forth the powers which the Director should have over and
on and concerning the said trust property: and whereas at a duly convened
meeting of the High Council of The Salvation Army held at Sunbury in England
on 8 January and on 13 February 1929, the High Council of The
Salvation Army referred to in the said recited Deed Poll of 26 July 1904,
duly and in accordance with such Deed Poll by resolution, a copy of which (
inter alia ) was enrolled in the Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on
20 February 1929, adjudicated the said William Bramwell Booth unfit for
office as General of The Salvation Army and removed him therefrom, and by way
of record declared that the said adjudication was based upon the state of
health of the said William Bramwell Booth, and the said High Council, in
pursuance of the power vested in it by the said Deed Poll of 26 July
1904, elected and appointed Edward John Higgins, of 101 Queen Victoria Street,
London, England, to be the General of The Salvation Army: and whereas by Deed
Poll under his hand and seal dated 13 February 1929, and enrolled in the
Supreme Court of Judicature, England, on 20 February 1929, the said
Edward John Higgins duly accepted the said office upon and subject to the
terms not only of the said recited Deed Poll of 7 August 1878, but also
of the said recited Deed Poll of 26 July 1904: and whereas the said
William Bramwell Booth died on 16 June 1929: and whereas it is expedient
to provide that the whole of the property, real and personal, of The Salvation
Army in Western Australia which was at the time of his death held by and
now stands in the name of the said William Bramwell Booth, upon the trusts of
the hereinbefore recited Deeds Poll of 7 August 1878, and 26 July
1904, and 1 June 1920, respectively and of or to which The Salvation Army
in Western Australia is otherwise entitled, whether held by and standing in
the name of the said William Bramwell Booth at the time of his death, or now
standing in the name or names of any other person or persons, and which the
General for the time being of The Salvation Army as such General and as
Director of the said Social Work of The Salvation Army respectively is
entitled to have vested in him upon the trusts of the said recited Deeds Poll,
according to the nature of the same, and all choses in action and other
property subject to the hereinbefore recited trusts or any of them, or any
interest in respect thereof, except property held by and shares in The
Salvation Army Auxiliary Company of Australia Proprietary, Limited, shall vest
in a body of trustees and the said body of trustees shall be a body corporate,
with the powers and authorities hereinafter set forth:
Be it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by
and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative
Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by
the authority of the same, as follows (that is to say): —