tions.

and agree that the charge to be made to consumers of Gas shall not exceed such price as will be sufficient to produce a net profit on the works of eight per centum per annum: And if the said Corporation shall so purchase the whole of the Stock of the said Company, they may in that case pay for the same out of the funds at their disposal not specially appropriated, or may raise money by loan, or by debentures in like manner as they are empowered to raise money which they are duly empowered to borrow for any other purpose: Provided always, that the said Corporation to be Proviso: furentitled to exercise the power hereby given them of taking the whole of the said Stock ther condias aforesaid, shall take the same within ten years after the passing of this Act; and in the event of their taking the same, the said Corporation shall be and is hereby bound to fulfil all engagements which the said Company may have previously entered into in respect of the carrying on the business of the said Company, as well as its engagements with mechanics, workmen, servants and others, and the said Company shall in all those respects be entirely relieved, exonerated, and held harmless from all clains, damages and demands of all person or persons as aforesaid, by the Corporation of the said City of Montreal; and generally the said Corporation shall have all the rights and be subject to all the liabilities of the said Company imposed by this Act or lawfully contracted under it.

XXI. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained, shall extend or be construed to extend to prevent any person or persons, body politic or corporate, from constructing any works for the supply of Gas to his or to their own premises, or to prevent the Legislature of this Province at any time hereafter from altering, modifying, or repealing the powers, privileges or authorities hereinbefore granted to the said Company, or from incorporating any other Company for like purposes.

XXII. And be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall affect, or be construed to affect in any way or manner whatsoever, the rights of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, or of any person or persons, or of any body or bodies corporate or collegiate, such only excepted as are herein mentioned.

XXIII. And be it enacted, That the Gas Works hereinbefore mentioned, shall be in operation within five years from the passing of this Act, and in default thereof, the privileges and advantages granted by this Act to the said Company shall cease and be of no effect.

This Act not to affect the of any other company, &c.

incorporation

Rights not mentioned not

to be affected.

works to be in operation in

five years.

XXIV. And be it enacted, That this Act be and is hereby declared to be a Public Public Act. Act, and that the same may be construed as such in Her Majesty's Courts in this Province.

XXV. And be it enacted, That this Act shall be and remain in force for fifty years, Duration. and no longer.

MONTREAL:-Printed by STEWART DERBISHIRE & GEORGE DESBARATS,
Law Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty.

NOOL MAL

ANNO DECIMO ET UNDECIMO

VICTORIÆ REGINE.

CAP. LXXX.

An Act to amend the Act of Incorporation of The Montreal Gas Light

Company.

W

HEREAS it is

[ 28th July, 1847. ]

expedient to amend an Act of the Legislature of Lower Canada,

passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Preamble.

The Capital

Fourth, intituled, An Act to provide for the Lighting of the City of Montreal by Gas: 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, That the Capital Stock of the said Company may be increased to the sum of fifty thousand pounds currency, and the present proprietors or their successors are hereby authorized to raise and contribute amongst themselves or in such manner as may seem expedient for the purpose of increasing and extending increased to their Gas works the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, in one thousand two hundred £50,000. and fifty shares of twenty pounds each; and the money so raised is hereby appropriated in the first place to pay and satisfy all fees, expenses and disbursements incurred Application of and made in and about the obtaining and passing of this Act, and other expenses Capital. thereunto relating, and the remainder of the said money to the purpose of extending, maintaining and completing their Gas Works, and to no other use, object or purpose whatever.

of the Company may be

increased

II. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons shall lay or cause to be laid, any pipe or main to communicate with any pipe or main belonging to the said Com- Penalty on pany, or in any way obtain or use its Gas without the consent of the Board of down pipes Directors or their Officer appointed to grant such consent, he or they shall forfeit or without conpay to the said Company the sum of twenty-five pounds, and also a further sum of one pany. pound for each and every day such pipe shall so remain, which said sum, together with costs of suit in that behalf incurred, may be recovered by civil action in any Court of law in this Province having jurisdiction to the amount.

Penalty on persons increasing supply of Gas or wasting it.

Pipes must be laid down at least three feet apart from those of any other Gas Company.

Such pipes to be marked. Penalty for neglect.

may be recovered.

Other Com

III. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons shall increase the supply of Gas agreed for with the said Company, by increasing the number or size of the holes in the gas burners, or using the Gas without burners, or otherwise wrongfully, negligently or wastefully burning the same, or shall wrongfully or improperly waste the Gas, every such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, the Court before whom such person shall be tried and convicted, shall have power and authority to condemn such person to pay a penalty not exceeding five pounds currency, or to be confined in the common Jail of the District for a space of time not exceeding three months, as to such Court may seem meet.

IV. And be it enacted, That the main pipes that may at any future time be laid by the said Company shall be at least three feet apart from the main pipes of any other Gas Company which may exist at the time of the passing of this Act or may at any time hereafter be established, also the same distance of three feet apart from the water pipes belonging to the Corporation of the City of Montreal, or when that shall be impracticable, then as nearly so as the circumstances of the case will admit: and the said Montreal Gas Light Company shall have all their service pipes and stop cocks, which they shall in future lay or construct (particularly the ends of the pipes which are exposed in the cellars of the houses or buildings to be supplied by them with Gas) legibly and permanently stamped or marked Montreal Gas Light Company, to distinguish them from the service pipes and stop cocks of any other Gas Company, under a penalty of five pounds currency, for each and every case of neglect, and of one pound said currency for each day the said service pipes or stop cocks shall remain without being so stamped or marked as aforesaid, after notice in writing shall have

How penalties been given by any other Gas Company of the default thereof; the said penalties to be paid to the Gas Company so complaining, and to be recovered by action in any Court of Law in this Province having jurisdiction to the amount; and in like manner it shall not be lawful, at any future period, for any other Gas Company to lay any of their pipes at a less distance than three feet apart from the Montreal Gas Light Company's pipes, nor at a less distance than three feet from the water pipes belonging to the Cor

panies bound to observe the

same rules,

and to mark their pipes un

der like penal- poration of the City of Montreal; And any new Gas Company which shall at any

ties.

Proviso: in what manner difference between the Company and

future period lay or construct any main pipes, service pipes or stop cocks, shall have the same legibly and permanently stamped or marked with the style, name and title of the said Gas Company, particularly the end of the pipes and the stop cocks which are exposed in the cellar of any house or building, under a penalty of five pounds currency for each case of neglect, and of one pound said currency for each and every day the said main pipes, service pipes and stop cocks, shall remain without being so stamped and marked as aforesaid, after notice in writing shall have been given to them by the Montreal Gas Light Company of the default thereof. The said penalties to be paid to the said Montreal Gas Light Company, and to be recovered by Action in any Court of Law in this Province having jurisdiction to the amount; Provided always, that if any difference shall arise between the Montreal Gas Light Company and the New City Gas Company, or any other Company established or to be established in the City of Mont

any other shall real, as to the practicability of either Company's so laying its pipes that they shall be at a distance of at least three feet from those of the other Company, then such difference shall be decided by the Surveyor of the said City who, if he shall be of opinion that it is not practicable to lay the pipes at such distances as aforesaid, shall direct the mode in which the pipes of the respective Companies shall be laid at such place and the distance at which they shall be apart, not exceeding the distance aforesaid; Provided always, that an appeal shall be from any such decisions of the said Surveyor to the Mayor's Court of the said City of Montreal at any sitting of said Court held after the day on which the decision of the said Surveyor shall be notified to the parties.

to meet to choose nine

V. And be it enacted, That within three months after the passing of this Act, a Stockholders General Meeting of the Stockholders of the Montreal Gas Light Company shall be held at such place as the present Directors of the said Company or a majority of them Directors. shall appoint, for the purpose of carrying this Act into effect, and to choose nine persons, being each a proprietor of ten or more shares in the said undertaking, as Directors for managing the affairs of the Company, a majority of whom may exercise all the powers of the Directors; and in the event of there not being nine Shareholders in the Company, then and in that case the number of Directors shall be limited to the number of Shareholders, the qualification of each Director nevertheless being the ownership of at least ten shares as aforesaid, held in his own name and right.

tors.

counts.

case of failure to meet.

VI. And be it enacted, That the Directors so chosen shall serve until the first Period of serMonday in the month of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and shall vice of Direcimmediately after their election at their first meeting, choose out of their number a President and Vice-President, who shall hold their offices respectively during the same period for which the said Directors shall have been elected as aforesaid; and General General meetMeetings of the Shareholders shall be held annually for the purpose of electing Direc- ings and actors as aforesaid, on the first Monday in the month of May in each year, at which meetings the Directors of the then past year shall exhibit a full and unreserved statement of the affairs of the Company, and of the funds, property and debts due to and from the said Company, which said statement shall be certified by the President under his hand and seal; and in the event of there being no meeting of Shareholders in con- Proviso for sequence of the said Shareholders neglecting to attend, in conformity with the requirements of this Act, then and in that case the Directors of the previous year shall continue and remain in office until an election shall take place at a future meeting of the said Shareholders; and such Directors subsequently elected or remaining in office shall, at their first meeting after such election or the period named in this Act for holding such Annual Meeting, choose out of their number a President and Vice-President, who shall hold their offices respectively for the then ensuing twelve months, or until such subsequent election at a future meeting of the said Shareholders; and it shall be lawful for the said Directors from time to time in case of death, resignation, absence from the Province, or removal of the persons so chosen to be President or VicePresident, or Director, or either of them, to choose in their or his stead, from amongst them, the said Directors, another person or persons to be President or Vice-President, or from amongst the other Shareholders another person or persons to be Director or Directors, respectively, to continue in office until the next Annual Meeting as aforesaid: Provided always, that the Directors shall always vote per capita, and not accord- Proviso as to ing to the number of shares they hold: and the President or person presiding at any meeting shall have a double or casting vote.

VII. And be it enacted, That the Act incorporating the said Montreal Gas Light Company and mentioned in the Preamble to this Act as well as this Act, shall be and continue in force for fifty years from the passing of this Act, and no longer.

President and dent to be elected by Di

Vice-Presi

rectors.

votes.

The above mentioned Act

1