currency, divided into sixteen thousand shares of twelve pounds ten shillings currency each: which shares may be subscribed for either in or out of this Province, in such proportions or numbers, and at such times and places, and under such regulations as the Members of the Corporation of the said La Banque du Peuple shall deem meet; the shares subscribed for shall be paid in by such instalments and at such times and places, as the Members of the said Corporation shall appoint; but no share shall be held to be lawfully subscribed for, unless ten per centum thereof, at the least, be paid at the time of subscribing; and the provisions of the ninth Section of the Charter or Act of Incorporation of the said Bank passed in the seventh year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Act to in- 7 V. c. 66, corporate certain persons carrying on the business of Banking in cited. the City of Montreal, under the name of La Banque du Peuple, shall be applicable to all cases in which instalments on shares subscribed for under this Act shall be unpaid; and all other the provisions of the said Act of Incorporation and of a certain other Act passed in the eleventh year of Her Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act to amend the Act incorporating La Banque du 11 V. c. 62, Peuple, shall likewise be applicable to the sixteen thousand cited. shares hereby authorized to be added to the said Capital Stock; Provided always, that the said sixteen thousand shares be sub- Proviso. scribed for and wholly paid up within five years from and after the passing of this Act.

II. Provided always, that the said Bank shall not be com- Books of subpelled to open books of subscription for the whole number of scription need not be opened shares authorized by this Act, at one and the same time, but it at same time shall and may be lawful for the Members of the Corporation of for all the the said La Banque du Peuple, and they are hereby authorized, Shares. from time to time to limit the number of shares for which the books of subscription shall be opened as aforesaid at any one time, as they in their discretion may deem most advisable.

by By-law.

III. Provided also that the Members of the said Corporation Increase of may at any time by a By-law made for that purpose, either be- Capital may fore or after the opening of the books of subscription for the said be restricted augmentation of Capital or any portion thereof, restrict the said augmentation of Capital to any amount they may judge more advantageous to the said La Banque du Peuple.

change of own

transfer.

IV. If the interest in any share in the said Bank become Bank may retransmitted in consequence of the death or bankruptcy or in- quire proof of solvency of any shareholder, or in consequence of the marriage ership of Stock of a female shareholder, or by any other lawful means than by otherwise than a transfer according to the provisions of the Act of Incorporation by express of the said Bank, the Members of the said Corporation may require such transmission to be authenticated by a declaration in writing as hereinafter mentioned, or in such other manner as the Members of the said Corporation shall require ; and every such declaration or other instrument so signed, made and acknowledged,

10*

Proviso.

Proviso.

If the change of ownership be by marriage

of female Shareholder

or by will, &c.

Casewhere he Bank shall have reasonable doubts as

to the owner ship of Shares,

provided for.

acknowledged, shall be left at the Bank with the Cashier or other Officer or Agent of the Bank, who shall thereupon enter the name of the party entitled under such transmission, in the Register of Shareholders; and until such transmission shall have been so authenticated, no party or person claiming by virtue of any such transmission, shall be entitled to receive any share of the profits of the Bank in respect of any such share or shares as the holder thereof; Provided always, that every such declaration and instrument as by this and the following section of this Act is required to perfect the transmission of any share or shares of the Bank, and as shall be made in any other country than in this or some other of the British Colonies in North America or in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall be further authenticated by the British Consul or Vice-Consul or other the accredited representative of the British Government in the Country where the declaration shall be made, or shall be made directly before such British Consul or Vice-Consul or other accredited representative; And provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be held to debar the Directors, Cashier, or other Officer or Agent of the Bank, from requiring corroborating evidence of any fact or facts alleged in any such declaration.

V. If the transmission of any share of the Bank, be by virtue of the marriage of a female Shareholder, the declaration shall contain a copy of the register of such marriage or other particulars of the celebration thereof, and shall declare the identity of the wife with the holder of such share or shares, and if the transmission have taken place by virtue of any testamentary instrument or by intestacy, true copies duly certified of all the documents which would be necessary to establish in a Court of Justice such transmission, shall, together with such declaration, be produced and left with the Cashier or other Officer or Agent of the Bank, who shall then enter the name of the party entitled under such transmission, in the Register of Shareholders.

VI. Whenever the interest in any share or shares of the Capital Stock of the said La Banque du Peuple shall be transmitted by the death of any Shareholder or otherwise, or whenever the ownership of, or legal right of possession in any such share or shares, shall change by any lawful means, other than by transfer according to the provisions of the Act of Incorporation of the said Bank and of this Act, and the Members of the said Corporation shall entertain reasonable doubts as to the legality of any claim to and upon such share or shares of Stock, then and in such case it shall be lawful for the said La Banque du Peuple to make and file, in the Superior Court for Lower Canada, a declaration or petition in writing, addressed to the Justices of the said Court, setting forth the facts and the numbers of shares previously belonging to the party in whose name such share or shares stand in the Books of the Bank, and

praying

praying for an order or judgment adjudicating and awarding the said share or shares to the party or parties legally entitled to the same, by which order or judgment the Bank shall be guided and held fully harmless and indemnified and released from all or every other claim for the said share or shares, or arising therefrom; Provided always, that notice of such Proviso. petition shall be given to the party claiming such share or shares, who shall, upon the filing of such petition, establish his right to the shares referred to in such petition, and the delays to plead and all other proceedings in such cases shall be the same as those observed in interventions in cases pending before the said Superior Court; Provided also, that Proviso. the costs and expenses of procuring such order and adjudication, shall be paid by the party or parties to whom the said share or shares shall be declared lawfully to belong, and such share or shares shall not be transferred until such costs and expenses be paid, saving the recourse of such party against any party contesting his right.

which Shares

may be sub

VII. The Bank shall not be bound to see to the execution Bank not of any trust, whether express, implied or constructive, to which bound to see any of the shares of the Bank may be subject, and the receipt to trust to of the party in whose name any such share or shares shall stand in the Books of the Bank, or if they stand in the names of jeet. more parties than one, the joint receipt of such parties shall from time to time be a sufficient discharge to the Bank for any dividend or other sum of money payable in respect of such share or shares, notwithstanding any trust to which such share. or shares may then be subject, and whether or not the Bank have had notice of such trust, and the Bank shall not be bound to see to the application of the money paid upon such receipt ; any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

in Provincial

VIII. It shall be the duty of the Directors of the said Bank One tenth of to invest, as speedily as the debentures hereinafter mentioned paidup Capital can be procured from the Receiver General, and to keep in- to be invested vested at all times, in the debentures of this Province payable Securities. within the same, or of the Consolidated Municipal Loan Fund, one tenth part of the whole paid up Capital of the said Bank, and to make a Return of the numbers and amount of such debentures, verified by the oaths and signatures of the President and Chief Cashier or Manager of the said Bank, to the Inspector General, in the month of January of each year, under the penalty of the forfeiture of the Charter of the said Bank in default of such investment and Return; Provided Proviso. always, that the said Bank shall not be bound to invest any portion of its Capital in debentures under the provisions of this section, unless it shall avail itself of the power to add to its present Capital Stock pursuant to this Act; And provided also, Proviso. that the said power hereby conferred to add to its Capital Stock shall cease and determine, unless the said Bank shall by an instrument under its Corporate Seal, signify to the Governor

Duration of this Act and

other Acts re. lating to the Bank.

Proviso.

Monthly

statement re.

in Council within one year after the passing of this Act, its intention to avail itself of the power to add to its Capital Stock as aforesaid, and to what amount.

IX. This Act, and the Act of Incorporation of the said Bank and any Act amending the same, shall be and remain in force until the first day of January which will be in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and from that time till the end of the then next Session of the Parliament of this Province, any thing in the said Act of Incorporation contained to the contrary notwithstanding, and no longer; Provided always, that the extension of time in this clause enacted, shall not take place unless the said Bank shall signify its intention to add to its Capital Stock within one year after the passing hereof, in the manner provided under the next preceding section.

X. The statement required by the thirty-seventh section of quired in place the first above cited Act to be made semi-annually by the said of half yearly. Corporation, shall be made on the first Monday of each and every month, in the manner provided by the said section of the said Act.

Public Act.

XI. This Act shall be deemed a Public Act.

Preamble.

CAP. XLIV.

An Act to incorporate the Montreal Ocean Steamship
Company.

[Assented to 18th December, 1854.] WHEREAS George Burns Symes, of Quebec, Sir George Simpson, of Lachine, Knight, Hugh Allan, William Edmonstone, Andrew Allan, John Gordon McKenzie, William Dow and Robert Anderson, of Montreal, and John Watkins, of Kingston, all in the Province of Canada, have petitioned the Legislature of this Province, praying that they may be incorporated with such other persons as shall become associated with them as a Company, under the style of the "Montreal Ocean Steamship Company," for the purpose among other things of building and sailing steam vessels, between this country and Great Britain, and for such other purposes of steam navigation, as to the said Company may seem expedient, and it is proper to grant the prayer of the said Petition as hereinafter provided: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and intituled, An Act to re-unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, as follows:

ated.

I. The said George Burns Symes, Sir George Simpson, Hugh Certain perAllan, William Edmonstone, Andrew Allan, John G. McKenzie, sous incorpor William Dow, Robert Anderson and John Watkins, together with such person or persons as shall be and become Stockholders in the said Company, and their respective heirs, executors, administrators, curators and assigns, shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name of the "Montreal Corporate name and genOcean Steamship Company," with all and every the incidents eral powers. and privileges to such Corporation belonging, for and during the period of twenty years from the passing of this Act.

Duration of

Corporation.

II. It shall be lawful for the Company to construct, acquire, Purposes for charter, navigate and maintain steam vessels for the carrying which the and conveyance of goods and passengers or other traffic, bet- Company are incorporated. ween the Ports of Lower Canada within the same, and between the said Ports and elsewhere out of this Province, and to, from and between any Ports out of this Province, and steam or other vessels, for all business and purposes connected therewith and the profitable prosecution thereof, with power to sell or dispose of the said vessels or any of them, or grant and consent to bottomry or other bonds on the same, or mortgage the Stock of the Company, or any part thereof, when and as they may deem expedient, and to make contracts and agreements with any person or Corporation whatsoever, for the purposes aforesaid, or otherwise for the benefit of the said Company.

purposes of

III. It shall be lawful for the said Company to purchase, Company may rent, take, hold and enjoy, to them and their successors, as hold real prowell in this Province as in such other places, where it shall be perty for the deemed expedient for the purposes of the said Company, either their business. in the name of the said Company or in the name of the Trustees for the said Company, such lands, wharves, docks, warehouses, offices, and other buildings as they may find necessary or convenient for the purposes of the said Company, but not for any other purpose, and to sell, mortgage or dispose of the same, when not wanted for the purposes of the said Company, and others to purchase and acquire in their stead: Provided always, Proviso. that the yearly value of such lands, wharves, docks, warehouses, offices and other buildings within the Province, at the time when the said Company shall enter into possession thereof, shall not exceed at the time of taking possession, in the whole the sum of three thousand pounds currency.

IV. The Capital Stock of the said Company to be raised Capital. amongst the Shareholders shall be Five Hundred Thousand Pounds currency, in One Thousand Shares of Five Hundred Shares. Pounds each, with power at any Annual General Meeting of Increa e of Capita'. the Company to increase the same to two thousand shares, or one million pounds currency: Provided always that the said Proviso: Company shall have paid up the sum of fifty thousand pounds currency, before receiving any passengers or freight.