Passed 12th April 1856.

WHEREAS an Act has passed during the present Session of the Legislature to authorize the construction of Railways in this Province, and it is necessary to provide the funds required therefor ;

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Legislative Council, and Assembly, as follows:

1. The Governor in Council may contract a loan on the pledge of the Revenues of the Province, whether arising from the duties upon imports, the sale of Crown lands, the export duty on timber and other lumber, the Royalty derived from mines and minerals, or the tolls to be collected on the Railways constructed with the money borrowed under this Act; which money so borrowed shall not exceed the rate of two hundred thousand pounds sterling per year.

2. Certificates of Debt, to be called Debentures, payable in sterling money, to be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one, with coupons annexed, bearing interest at six per cent. payable semi-annually at such place as shall be specified therein, may be issued from time to time as the Railways proceed, in such form, verified and authenticated in such manner, payable in such periods, in such amounts not less than one hundred pounds each, and on such conditions as the Governor in Council may prescribe; the principal of such Debentures to be paid in full after the expiration of thirty years to the holders thereof.

3. A sum equal to one and a half per cent. interest upon the whole sum borrowed for the construction of Railways, to be deducted from the profits of the said Railways, together with the proceeds of the sale of all the Crown lands and timber of the Counties through which the road passes, after the completion of any section thereof, subject to any charge on such proceeds for the Civil List, shall form a surplus or sinking fund for the final redemption of the loan, and to be appropriated to the extinguishment thereof.

4. Subject to the payment of the Civil List, and of any previously existing liability, the faith and credit of the Province, and the ordinary revenues thereof, derived from all sources, and the proceeds of any special impost now or hereafter levied and collected for the purpose of paying Railway Debentures,

or the interest thereon, together with any Railway constructed by the loan hereby authorized, shall be and hereby are declared pledged to any and every holder of the same.

5. The principal sums to be raised and borrowed shall be received and paid out as other public moneys are, in defraying the charges made payable by this Act, or any other Act relating thereto; and the account of the money raised by the authority of this Act, and the expenditure thereof, shall be kept with such Bank or Banks, and the fund shall be paid and managed in such manner for the redemption and liquidation of the principal sum, as the Governor in Council shall prescribe.

6. The Legislature of the Province will by law confirm and give full effect to any agreement which may be made or authorized by the Governor in Council, not inconsistent with the spirit of this Act, or of any other Act in relation thereto, with regard to the raising and borrowing of the sums aforesaid, and the keeping of the accounts, the management of the sinking fund, and the payment of the debt.

7. The proper accounting party shall quarterly transmit to the Governor, for the purpose of being audited and laid before the Legislature, a correct and detailed statement and account of the sums raised under the authority of this Act, and of the Debentures which shall have been issued, and of the interest and dividend paid thereon, and of the redemption of the whole or any part of the principal sum, and of the expense attending the negotiation, management, and redemption of the loan.

CAP. XVII.

An Act relating to Lands required for Railway purposes.

BE it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Legislative

Council, and Assembly, as follows:

1. The Commissioners for the management and construction of Railways, appointed under the authority of an Act passed during the present Session of the Legislature to authorize the construction of Railways in this Province, or any of them, by themselves and by their servants, are authorized to enter upon and take possession of any lands required for the track of the Railways, or for Stations; and they shall lay off the land by metes and bounds and record a description thereof in the Registry of Deeds for the County in which the lands are situate, and the same shall operate as a dedication to the public of such lands; the lands so taken shall not be more than six rods in breadth for the track, exclusive of slopes of excavation and of embankments, except when it may be deemed advisable to alter the line or level of any public or private carriage road, or divert any stream or river, in which case it shall be competent for the Commissioners to take such further quantity as may be found necessary for such purposes; also at each Station a sufficient extent for Depot and other Station purposes; but for any Depot or Station the quantity so appropriated shall not exceed five acres.

2. The Commissioners, by themselves and by their servants, and the Contractors with authority from the Commissioners, may enter with workmen, carts, carriages, teams, horses and oxen upon any lands, and deposit thereon soil, earth, gravel, trees, bushes, logs, poles, brushwood, or other materials found on the line of Railway, or works connected therewith, and for the purpose of surveying and locating the said Railway, and for the purpose of digging up, quarrying, and carrying away earth, stones, gravel, or other material, and cutting down and carrying away trees, bushes, logs, poles, and brushwood therefrom, for the making of such Railway, or for the purpose of cutting down trees in the wilderness lands which may be liable to fall on said Railways, and are standing within six rods thereof, with right of ingress, egress, and regress into and upon the adjoining land for the purpose of repairing and preventing such accident, and to do such work as may be necessary, but that such works shall be as little injurious to the adjoining land as the nature of the operations will admit of, and shall be executed with all possible dispatch.

3. The Commissioners may make or construct in, upon,

across, under and over any lands, streets, hills, vallies, roads, railroads, or tramroads, canals, rivers, brooks, streams, lakes, or other waters, such temporary or permanent inclined planes, embankments, cuttings, aqueducts, bridges, roads, ways, passages, conduits, drains, piers, arches, or other works as they may deem necessary for Railway purposes.

4. The Commissioners may alter the course of any river, canal, brook, stream, or water course, and divert or alter as well temporarily as permanently the course of any such rivers, streams of water, roads, streets, or ways, or raise or sink the level of the same, in order to carry them over or under, on the bed of, or by the side of the Railway, as they may think proper.

5. The Commissioners shall have power to make conduits or drains into, through, over or under any lands adjoining the Railway, for the purpose of carrying water from or to the Railway.

6. The Governor in Council may appoint not less than three persons to be Appraisers, for ascertaining and settling all disputes and difficulties relative to the payment for land and materials, or any claim for damages occasioned by the construction of any Railway constructed under the authority of the Board of Railway Commissioners, who shall be sworn to the faithful and impartial discharge of their duties before the Clerk of the Peace of any County in the Province, who is hereby authorized to administer the said oath, and forthwith transmit a certificate thereof to the Provincial Secretary.

7. Whenever a proprietor claims payment for lands, or damages done thereto by the Commissioners or any person acting under their authority, under the provisions of the first five Sections of this Act, and he cannot agree with the Commissioners upon the price to be paid therefor, such proprietor or Commissioners may apply to the Appraisers, who shall, after ten days notice in writing to the Commissioners or their Chairman, and such proprietor, his representatives or assigns, examine the site of the said Railway and lands entered upon, and assess the damages.

8. Every claim for damages shall be made in writing, and within six months from the entry on the said lands.

9. If any land or property be taken for Railway purposes, the property of any body corporate, guardians, committees,

executors, administrators, or other trustees whatsoever, held for or on behalf of those whom they represent, whether corporations, infants, idiots, lunatics, feme coverts, persons deceased or beyond seas, or other person or persons whomsoever, who are or shall be possessed of or interested in the said land or estate, the respective contracts, agreements, and sales of the said corporations, guardians, committees, executors, administrators, or other trustees whatsoever, shall be valid and effectual in law to all intents and purposes whatsoever, and their respective receipts shall be good and valid releases and discharges therefor; and they shall agree and settle with the said Commissioners for damages, if any, by reason of taking such land or property; in case of disagreement, the damages to be settled by the Appraisers as is prescribed in the seventh Section of this Act.

10. The Appraisers, in assessing the damages, shall take into consideration the benefit likely to accrue to the respective proprietors from the Railway running through or near their land, and the damages shall be reduced or extinguished accordingly.

11. The appraisement shall be agreed to and signed by a majority of the Appraisers who may make the appraisement; such majority in no case to be less than two.

12. The Appraisers shall transmit the appraisement to the Governor in Council, who shall direct payment to be immediately made to the person entitled thereto, out of any moneys provided for the construction of Railways.

13. The Governor in Council shall determine the amount of remuneration to be paid to the Appraisers for their services. 14. The Commissioners shall erect and maintain sufficient fences along the line of Railway, where the public security may require the same, or where the safety of the proprietors through whose improved and cleared lands the Road may pass, require such protection from the working of such Railways.

15. Nothing in this Act contained shall authorize the Commissioners or contractors to enter upon any lands reserved for Naval or Military purposes, without the consent of Her Majesty.