To make provision for the establishment of a trust fund to be known as the Hong Kong Tramways Educational Trust Fund, for the incorporation of the Chairman of the Management Committee to act as Trustee of the said fund, for the due administration thereof and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[10 August 1956]
(Format changes—E.R. 4 of 2022)
Hongkong Tramways Limited (hereinafter called the Founders) marked the fiftieth anniversary of the running of the first tramcar in Hong Kong by allocating funds for the establishment of a trust in 1954 and have made a further allocation of funds for the same purpose in 1955 which said funds are held in cash together with interest accrued thereon or have been used to purchase shares;
the Founders have dedicated the fund as hereinafter defined and accretions thereto in perpetuity for the promotion and encouragement of education of selected children of employees and ex-employees of the Founders;
it is desirable to incorporate the Chairman of the Committee set up under section 6 to act as Trustee of the trust fund as hereinafter defined:
This Ordinance may be cited as the Hong Kong Tramways Educational Trust Fund Ordinance.
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
Committee (委員會) means the Committee established under section 6; employee of the Founders (創辦人僱員) includes a former employee of the Founders; Founders (創辦人) means Hongkong Tramways Limited.There is hereby established a trust fund to be known as the Hong Kong Tramways Educational Trust Fund, hereinafter called the Fund.
The Fund shall consist of cash and shares together with any sums accumulated by way of dividends or interest thereon, bonus issues of shares and such other moneys and assets as may from time to time be given to the Fund, and such moneys or investments as shall from time to time represent the same.
The Chairman of the Committee shall be the Trustee of the Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Trustee, and shall be a body corporate and shall have the name “The Trustee of the Hong Kong Tramways Educational Trust Fund”, and in that name shall have perpetual succession, and shall and may sue and be sued in all courts in Hong Kong and shall and may have and use a common seal, and may from time to time break, change, alter and make anew the said seal. (Amended 55 of 2000 s. 3)
The Trustee shall be empowered to act as Trustee and whilst so acting shall have power to acquire, accept leases of, purchase, take, hold and enjoy, any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements of whatsoever nature or kind and wheresoever situate, and also to invest moneys upon mortgage of any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements or upon the mortgages, debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities of any government, municipality, corporation, or company and also to purchase, acquire and possess goods and chattels of whatsoever nature and kind.
The Trustee shall further have power to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender, exchange, partition, yield up, mortgage, demise, reassign, transfer, or otherwise dispose of any lands, buildings, messuages, tenements, mortgages, debentures, stocks, funds, shares or securities or other goods and chattels whatsoever which are for the time being vested in the Trustee upon such terms as to the Trustee may seem fit.
All deeds and other instruments requiring the seal of the Trustee shall be sealed in the presence of the occupant of the Trustee for the time being and shall also be signed by him and such deeds and instruments, and all other documents, instruments and writings requiring a signature on behalf of the Trustee shall be signed by such occupant.
The Trustee shall hold the Fund upon the trusts, and with and subject to the powers and provisions, hereinafter in this Ordinance contained.
There shall be a Committee who shall have the management of the Fund.
The Committee shall consist of—
the Chairman of the Founders who shall be Chairman of the Committee;
a Director of the Founders appointed by resolution of the Board of Directors of the Founders;
the Manager of the Founders;
such other members not exceeding three as may be appointed by resolution of the Board of Directors of the Founders.
The persons named in paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (2) shall whilst holding their respective offices be ex officio members of the Committee.
Every member appointed pursuant to paragraphs (b) and (d) of subsection (2) shall hold office for a fixed period of three years or until such time as his appointment is revoked and a new member appointed in his place by resolution of the Board of Directors of the Founders. Upon expiry of any such term of office a member may be re-appointed for a further similar term or a new member may be appointed in his place.
The Trustee shall apply the Fund including the capital and the income thereof in such manner as the Committee may direct for the promotion and encouragement of education and, in particular, for the education of such children of employees of the Founders as the Committee shall consider to be worthy of receiving the benefits of this trust, having regard to the intelligence, character and conduct of such children (as may appear to the Committee by observation, report or otherwise) and to the character and length and quality of service of their fathers and mothers as employees of the Founders.
Scholarships, maintenance grants and payments to cover text books and for such other purposes including the award of prizes directly or indirectly connected with the primary purposes of the trusts as set out in section 7 as the Committee shall deem appropriate shall be awarded at such intervals, and shall be held and enjoyed for such period, and subject to such terms and conditions, as shall from time to time be prescribed by regulations made by the Committee, and in default of such regulations then as the Committee shall determine, whether retrospectively or not; and the Committee may at any time alter or revoke regulations made under this section and make new regulations in place thereof.
The Trustee may invest the Fund and keep the same invested whether or not any such investment is permitted for the investment of trust funds, as the Committee may direct, and in like manner such investments may at any time be varied.
The Trustee shall cause proper accounts to be kept of all income and expenditure of the Fund and such accounts shall be audited at least once in every year by an auditor or auditors appointed from time to time by the Board of Directors of the Founders.
A copy of such accounts together with a copy of a report by the Committee upon the administration of the Fund during the previous academic year shall be submitted by the Committee to the Board of Directors of the Founders not later than the 31st day of December in every year.
The Committee may frame standing orders for the publication of such accounts and report in such manner as the Committee shall think fit and may alter, revoke or replace such standing orders from time to time.
The Committee may appoint upon such salary and upon such terms as it may think proper such servants as it may think necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance and may employ any professional persons to advise it on any matter arising out of or in connexion with such provisions.
All salaries and fees of any persons so appointed or employed shall be paid by the Trustee out of the Fund.
The costs of administering the Fund shall be paid out of the Fund.
In the event either of the Founders going into liquidation or of the Founders ceasing to be direct employers of employees in Hong Kong, the Fund shall form part of and shall be deemed to have been given to the Grantham Scholarships Fund established by the Grantham Scholarships Fund Ordinance (Cap. 1076), freed from all trusts subsisting in respect thereof at the time of such event, and thereafter the provisions of this Ordinance shall cease to be applicable to the Fund.
Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect the rights of the Central Authorities or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Basic Law and other laws, or the rights of any body politic or corporate or of any other persons except such as are mentioned in this Ordinance and those claiming by, from or under them.
(Amended 55 of 2000 s. 3)