Constitution

UNDER THE INCORPORATED SOCIETIES ACT 1908

THE RULES OF RANGATIRA ALPINE SPORTS CLUB INCORPORATED

(These Rules Rescind All Previous Rules)

1 TITLE

The name of the Club is RANGATIRA ALPINE SPORTS CLUB INCORPORATED.

2. OBJECTS

The objects for which the Club is established are:

   
1. To engage in, develop or encourage the sports of skiing, tramping and mountaineering in New Zealand.
   
2. To build, establish or maintain club houses, huts, shelters, and skiing grounds, ski tows or other transport related to the said sports and to provide other facilities for the above sports or to assist in doing so.
   
3. To affiliate, to become a member of or enter into any other relation (whether involving pecuniary obligation or not) with any association or body having the National or District control of any of the sports aforesaid.
   
4. To co-operate with Governmental agency, or other organisation, firm, body or person connected with the provision of accommodation equipment or facilities for persons taking part in the above sports or concerned with the promotion thereof.
   
5. To donate moneys to any Association, body or person any of whose activities may be beneficial to the Club or to any fund created for the promotion of any of the said sports or for any purpose of special interest to the Club.
   
6. To promote social activities and good fellowship amongst the members or between the members and others and to provide entertainment for members.
   
7. To acquire by purchase, lease, hire, gift or otherwise and to sell or otherwise dispose of, lease, let, lend, mortgage, charge or otherwise deal with any real or personal property for or in connection with any of the aforesaid objects.
   
8. To engage and employ such staff and other assistance and to vote moneys therefore and to purchase or hire such equipment as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying out these objects.
   
9. To raise money in any manner for any such objects.
   
10. To secure the payment of moneys owing or to become owing by the Club or the performance of any of its obligations by way of mortgage, instrument by way of security, debenture or pledge in any other manner whatsoever upon all or any of its property, present or future.
   
11. To protect native flora and fauna and the natural features of scenery of the country and the encouragement of either.
   
12. To form and maintain a library of literature connected with the objects of the Club and the publication and issue of a Club journal.

3. COLOURS

The Club colours shall be ming blue and black and white.

4. MEMBERSHIP

The Club membership shall consist of Life, Ordinary, Intermediate, Child, Honorary and Associate members.

1. Life Members
   
   On the recommendation of the Committee, any person who has rendered special service to the Club or to the furtherance of its objects may be elected a Life member at any General Meeting of the Club and shall thereafter be entitled to all the privileges of membership without payment of the annual subscription or entrance fee (if any) or any lodge or hut fees. A two-thirds majority of those present and voting shall be necessary for such election. There shall be no restriction on the number of Life members.
2. Ordinary Members
   
   Shall be persons aged eighteen (18) years or over on the 1st day of January of the year their status is in question.
 
3. Intermediate Members
   
   Shall be persons who have been Junior members and are aged over eighteen (18) years and under twenty-two (22) years on the 1st day of January of the year their status is in question. That such members be given full membership rights.
 
4. Child Members
   
   Shall be persons aged seventeen (17) years or under on the 1st day of January of the year their status is in question. Any Ordinary or Life member may elect to have any of that member’s children included as a Child member upon payment of whatever entrance fee and/or subscription the Committee shall decide upon from time to time to enable such person to be so included. Child members shall not be eligible to vote at meeting of the Club, or to nominate anyone for membership.
 
5. Honorary Members
   
   The Committee shall have the power by the unanimous vote of those present and voting to elect Honorary members of the Club for a term not exceeding two (2) years. Honorary members shall pay neither entrance fee nor subscriptions whilst they are Honorary members. They shall be entitled to all the privileges of membership except that they shall not vote upon any question affecting the finances of the Club and shall not qualify to serve upon the Committee.
 
6. Associate Members
   
   Any ordinary member may elect to become an Associate member. Associate members may receive newsletters and other notices of the Club, shall e entitled to use the Club’s facilities at non members rates; Associate members shall not be eligible to vote at meetings of the Club, to nominate anyone for membership or to serve on the Committee.

5. ELECTION OF ORDINARY MEMBERS

 
1. The power to elect members other than Life members shall be vested in the Committee.
 
2. The total number of Ordinary members hereof shall be limited to such total number of members as shall be determined from time to time by the Committee and approved by the Club at a General Meeting increased by such number of Child members electing to become Ordinary members in each year in excess of the vacancies for Ordinary members available.
 
3. Any person who is of known good character and interested in the objects of the Club shall be eligible for membership.
 
4. Every candidate for election as an Ordinary member shall be nominated in the manner and on the form prescribed by the Committee and shall be proposed by one and seconded by another Ordinary member of the Club both of whom shall have personal knowledge of the candidate. The candidate may be elected at any duly convened meeting of the Committee by the votes of two-thirds of those members of the Committee present and voting at such meeting and such election shall be valid notwithstanding any irregularity in the nomination.
5. Any Child member on attaining the age for eligibility as an Ordinary member shall on completion of the form prescribed by the Committee be entitled to be elected an Ordinary member on payment of the appropriate entrance fee and subscription.
 
6. The Secretary shall forthwith send to each candidate elected as an Ordinary member or Child member written notice of election.
 
7. The Secretary shall forthwith send to any candidate not elected written notice to that effect.
 
8. It shall be the responsibility of each and every member to ensure that for all purposes that members correct and an up-to-date address is properly advised to the Club Secretary.

6. SUBSCRIPTIONS

 
1. Every member shall within twenty-eight (28) days of the issuing of notices requiring payments of the same and forthwith upon his election to the Club in the case of a new member pay to the Club as annual subscription of such amount as shall from time to time be fixed by resolution of the Committee.
2. Every member shall in addition to all other moneys payable by him forthwith pay to the Club further subscriptions, dues, fees or levies as determined by the Committee from time to time and which the Committee shall consider necessary or expedient for the purpose of furthering the interests of the Club and its members.
3. Any member who is in arrears with any subscription, payment, due, fee or levy shall not be entitled to enjoy or use the Club’s privileges or property.

7. CESSATION OF MEMBERSHIP

 
1. Any member may resign by notice in writing to the Committee but shall be liable to pay all subscriptions and moneys falling due before such notice.
 
2. The Committee may strike off the membership roll any member whose subscriptions, levies, dues or other payments are in arrears for three (3) months from date of notice of amount due, but that member shall be liable to pay all subscriptions and moneys that have fallen due prior to his striking off.
3. The Committee may by a resolution passed by two-thirds of those present expel from membership or suspend from any privileges of membership any member wilfully disobeying any of these Rules or any by-law regulation or decision lawfully made by the Committee or the Club in General Meetings, or being guilty of any conduct rendering him in the Committee’s opinion unfit to be a member of the Club.

PROVIDED THAT before expelling such member the Committee shall call upon him for any explanation of his conduct and shall hear what he may wish to say in his defence. The decision of the Committee thereafter shall be final.

 

4. The Club Captain and/or any other person appointed by the Committee shall have the power to suspend any member not being a Life member or member of the Committee from the enjoyment of all or any of the privileges of membership until the next meeting of the Committee or for a period of not more than one month, whichever is the lesser period.

8. OFFICERS AND ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

1. The Club shall have the following officers:
   
     A President
     Two Vice- Presidents
     A Club Captain
   
   all of whom shall be members, a Secretary and a Treasurer who need not be members and such officers shall rank for seniority in that order. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be held by the same person. The Committee of the Club shall consist of the officers and not more than ten Committeemen, nine of whom shall be elected as hereinafter provided, and the immediate past President who shall be a Committee member ex-officio for a period not exceeding twenty-four (24) months from the date he ceased to be President and providing that he is a financial member and further provided that if the immediate past President is elected an officer then a total of ten Committeemen will be elected.
2. The officers and Committeemen shall remain in office from the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting at which they are elected to the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting, and shall be eligible for re-election.
3. Every candidate for election as an officer or to the Committee shall be nominated in writing by two members and such nomination, signed by the nominee, shall be in the hands of the Secretary not less than seven (7) clear days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting.
4. If the candidates so nominated and eligible to fill the respective offices equal the number required they shall be deemed to have been duly elected at the meeting. If there are more nominees than there are vacancies an election shall be conducted by ballot at the meeting unless ten of the members resolve by a show of hands that such ballot shall be a postal ballot taken from all members. If there are fewer nominees than there are vacancies, the nominees shall be deemed to have been elected at the meeting and the vacancies shall be filled either at the meeting or by ballot as aforesaid or by co-option by the Committee.
5. In the event of a vacancy occurring among the officers or Committeemen during any year the Committee may fill the vacancy provided always that the appointee shall retire at the next Annual General Meeting but shall be eligible for re-election.
6. Any member of the Committee except an ex-officio member and any member of any sub-committee failing to attend three consecutive meetings shall cease to be a member thereof unless such member shall have been granted leave of absence.
7. The Club shall at the Annual General Meeting appoint an Auditor.

9. POWERS OF COMMITTEE

 
1. The management and internal policy of the Club shall be vested in the Committee which may exercise all rights and powers of the Club not required by statute or these Rules to be exercised in General Meeting provided that if not less than one-third of the Committee may deem any matter or proposal to be of special importance or significance then such matter or proposal shall go before a General Meeting of the Club be convened for such purpose.
2. Subject to cl 9a) hereof the Committee may from time to time make such decisions, by-laws or regulations in relation to the Lodges or other matters as it shall from time to time think fit and may at any time rescind, vary, waive or suspend any such decisions by-law or regulation.
3. The Committee may set up sub-committees whose members need not be members of the Committee and may delegate to any such sub-committee such powers and authorities as it thinks fit.
4. The Committee shall have the control and management of all property of the Club and may invest its funds as it thinks fit and may borrow money on the Club’s behalf and mortgage or otherwise charge all or any of the Club’s assets to secure the same or any other moneys owing by the Club.
5. The Committee may appoint such Lodge Captains and/or Lodge Officers as may be required to carry out such supervision and administration as the Committee shall direct of any ski hut or lodge in which the Club may own or have any legal interest. The Lodge Captain shall be the Senior Lodge Officer and both Lodge Captains and Lodge Officers shall be responsible to the Committee. Lodge Officers shall also be responsible to any Lodge Captain appointed in respect of any lodge or ski hut for which he or she has been appointed an officer.

10. COMMITTEE MEETINGS

1. A meeting of the Committee may be convened at any time by the President, the Secretary or the Club Captain and shall be convened by any of such officers within seven (7) days after the receipt by him of a requisition signed by any four (4) members stating the purpose of the proposed meeting.
2. At any meeting of the Committee a quorum shall be five (5). The senior officer present at the meeting shall be the Chairman thereof and if he is not prepared to so act the meeting shall elect a Chairman. Except as otherwise herein provided all business of the Committee shall be decided by a majority vote and the Chairman shall have a casting vote in the event of there being a deadlock.
3. Written notice of every meeting of the Committee stating the nature of the business to be dealt with thereat shall be posted or delivered to each member of the Committee not less than seventy-two (72) hours before the time fixed for the meeting provided always that in the case of any urgent Committee business the President or the Secretary or any officer for the time being presiding over meetings may summon together such members of the Committee, not being less than four (4), as can be convened in the time available and such meetings shall be deemed duly convened Committee meetings for the purposes of such business and Rule 10b) as to the quorum required by a meeting of the Committee shall be read subject to this Rule.

11. GENERAL MEETING

1. A General Meeting of the members of the Club to be known as the Annual General Meeting shall be held every year at a date and place to be stated by the Committee but not later than the 1st day of April in any year.
2. The business of the Annual general Meeting shall be the consideration of the Report and Balance Sheet and the election of officers and Committeemen, the appointment of the Auditor and such other business as shall be specified in the notice of meeting.
3. A Special General Meeting may be called at any time by order of the Committee and shall be called by the Secretary on receipt of the requisition signed by at least fifteen (15) members giving particulars of the business to be transacted and shall be called not less than fourteen (14) days and not more than thirty (30) days from the receipt of the requisition. No business shall be dealt with at a Special General Meeting except that specified in the notice thereof.
4. Written notice of the date and place of every General Meeting shall be posted by the Secretary to all members not less than fourteen (14) days before the meeting but the accidental omission to notify any member or members shall not invalidate the meeting if this Rule has been substantially complied with.
5. Fifteen (15) members personally present shall be a quorum for any General Meeting. If within half-an-hour of the time appointed for any meeting a quorum is not present, the meeting shall stand adjourned to the same day in the next week at the same time and place and if at such adjourned meeting a quorum be not present, those members who are present at such adjourned meeting shall form a quorum and may transact the business for which the meeting was called.
6. The President shall preside at all General Meetings and in his absence such member shall preside as the meeting shall appoint.

12. VOTING

1. At all General Meetings every member present in person shall be entitled to one vote except as provided in cl.4 hereof. Absent members may vote by proxy which proxy shall be in writing and in a form satisfactory to the Chairman of the meeting. Such proxy form must be delivered to the Secretary at least forty-eight (48) hours before the meeting. Subject to Rule 8d) hereof voting shall be by show of hands unless a ballot is demanded by ten (10) members present. Such ballot shall be taken at the same meeting. A postal ballot shall be allowed only for those occasions specifically provided herein.
2. The Chairman at any General Meeting or at any Committee meeting shall have both a deliberative and casting vote.
3. The Committee may at any time take a postal ballot of the members upon any matter within the jurisdiction of the Committee and the result of such ballot hall bind the Committee.
4. The Committee shall determine in what manner any postal ballot authorised by this Rule shall be taken.

13. FINANCES

1. The Committee may if it thinks fit deal with all matters relating to the fixing of the subscription, payment of any entrance fee, the subscription to debenture and method of payment thereof, the imposing of all levies due and payments and all other matters relating to the raising of finance generally, provided that if not less than one-third of the Committee deem any such proposed imposition increase or alternation to be of special importance or significance then such matter or proposal shall go before a General Meeting of the Club convened for such purpose.
2. All moneys received by the Club unless otherwise specified by the donor in the case of donations, shall be under the control and direction of the Committee and shall be applied as it shall direct. The Committee may refuse to accept any donations,
3. The bank account or accounts of the Club shall be kept in the name of such Savings Bank and/or Trading Bank as the Committee shall from time to time direct, and shall be operated by such persons as it appoints.
4. The financial year of the Club shall end on the 31st day of December in each year and the accounts shall be made up to that date.
5. The Club books shall be audited immediately on the closing of the financial year and the Committee shall be empowered to arrange for a special audit at any time should it think fit.

14. PROPERTY, FUNDS AND MANAGEMENT

1. No land, buildings or vehicle owned by the Club shall be sold or shall be let or leased for more than fourteen (14) days at a time without the prior consent of the Club in General Meeting.
2. The Committee shall not in any financial year without the authority of a General Meeting make any single donation being an amount exceeding four (4) times the ordinary member subscription for the time being or aggregate donations being an amount exceeding eight (8) times the ordinary member subscription for the time being.
3. Upon the dissolution by the Registrar or winding up of the Club the property assets and funds shall after the discharge of all liabilities of the Club be disposed of as the majority of members shall decide at a Special General Meeting to be called for that purpose and failing a decision at such meeting, the net assets of the Club after the discharge of its liabilities shall be paid to the New Zealand Ski Association for such purpose as the said Association shall think fit.

15. SEAL

The seal of the club shall be inscribed with the words ‘The Common Seal of the Rangatira Alpine Sports Club Incorporated’. It shall remain in the custody of the Secretary and shall only be affixed to a document pursuant to a resolution of the Committee and in the presence of two (2) members of the Committee and either the President or Secretary who shall attest the sealing.

16. ALTERATION OF RULES

No Rule shall be altered, rescinded or added except pursuant to a resolution passed by a majority of two-thirds of the members in person or by proxy and voting at a General Meeting of the Club.

17. INTERPRETATION

All matters not otherwise specifically provided for in these Rules shall be decided by the Committee and in the case of any dispute as to the interpretation of these Rules the Committee shall be the sole authority and its decision shall be final.


Signed and sealed
04 April 2000