relative to assessment. Court in cases complaint against, or objection to, the assessment returns to be made in the said city, and it shall be the duty of the Treasurer of the said city, as soon as the Assessors thereof shall have deposited the assessment books for any Ward of the said city in any year, in his office, to cause a notice to that effect to be published in one French and in one English newspaper in the said city, and in every issue thereof for three weeks, and all persons who may think themselves aggrieved, by any thing in the said assessment books contained, may, at any time within three weeks from the day of the date of the first publication of such notice, prepare or cause to be prepared a complaint thereof in writing, addressed to the said Recorder's Court, which said complaint shall be sworn to, before any Councillor of the said city, or any other Justice of the Peace, who is hereby authorized and required to administer the same, and shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the said Court, who shall, from time to time, give due and sufficient notice, by publication in one English and one French newspaper, in the said city, of the days and hours when the said Recorder's Court will proceed to hear and determine the merits of such complaints generally, or any class or number thereof respectively; And any party aggrieved by any decision of the said Recorder's Court, with respect to such complaint, may appeal therefrom, by summary Petition, to any one of the Judges of the Superior Court for Lower Canada, sitting at Quebec, presented either in term or in vacation, within a delay of eight days from and after the rendering of such decision; And thereupon, it shall be lawful for such Judge to order that certified copies of the entry or entries in the assessment book complained of by the Petitioner, and of the decision of the said Recorder's Court on his complaint thereof, together with such complaint itself, be transmitted to him, and upon receipt thereof he shall, after having heard the Petitioner, either in person or by his Attorney, make such order in the premises as to law and justice may appertain; Provided always, that any person who shall neglect to make such complaint as prescribed by this Act, shall be foreclosed from doing so, and shall be held liable and compelled to pay the amount for which he may be assessed according to the assessment books. Appeal from the Recorder's decision. Proviso. Two sub-sections of sec tion 51 of 18 V. c. 159 amended. 12. The second sub-section of the fifty-first section of the said Act is hereby amended by adding thereto the following proviso: "Provided always, that the rate or assessment to be assessed and levied, each and every year, on real or personal property, or both, within the said City, or upon the owners or occupiers thereof in respect to such property, shall in no instance be less than five shillings currency;" The twenty-second sub-section of the fifty-first section of the said Act, shall be amended by adding after the words "by any such By-law," in the first line of the said sub-section, the following words, "for all the objects aforesaid, and." 13. The fifty-fifth section of the said Act shall be and is Section 55 hereby repealed. repealed. on assessors 14. It shall be lawful for the said Council of the said City, Power to at a meeting or meetings of the said Council, composed of not Council to imless than two thirds of the said Council, to impose by By-law pose penalties a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds currency of the in certain said Province, on any assessor or assessors, auditor or cases. auditors of, in, or for the said city, or any ward thereof, refusing or wilfully neglecting to attend to, perform, or fulfil the duty or duties which he or they the said assessor or assessors, auditor or auditors are or may be bound and required by law to attend to, perform and fulfil; and the said fine shall be recoverable before the Recorder's Court of the said City, and form part of the general funds of the said City. authorized to tures therefor, 15. Whenever and in all cases where, by any Act or Acts Whenever the of the Legislature of the Province of Canada now in force or corporation is which may hereafter be in force, the Corporation of the said borrow mo City is or may be authorized to borrow any sum or sums of neys, it may money, it shall and may be lawful for the said Corporation to issue deben issue under the hand of the Mayor and the seal of the Corporation, Debentures or Corporation Bonds for the sum sums of money to be borrowed as aforesaid, which said bonds. shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding the rate fixed by the Act or Acts authorizing the said loan or the said issue or rate which, at the date of the said Debentures as aforesaid, shall be fixed as the legal rate of interest, by any law passed or hereafter to be passed by the Legislature of this Province of Canada; any law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. certain ferries 16. The City Council of the City of Quebec shall have City Council power to enact one or more By-laws to regulate the ferries be- to have power tween the City of Quebec and the parish of Notre-Dame de la to regulate Victoire de Lévi, between the City of Quebec and the parish of over the River St. Joseph de Lévi, and between the City of Quebec and the St. Lawrence; Island of Orleans,-to fix the Tolls payable on such ferries,-to authorize an officer to grant licences for holding such ferry, and to fix the amounts which shall be paid for such licenses and the other conditions subject to which, such licenses shall be granted, and they shall have power to impose penalties upon any ferryman or other person infringing such By-laws, but no such license shall be granted for more than one year, and the tolls for the use of the said ferries shall be the samne for every person who shall make use of the said ferries, and the said And to fix tolls shall be submitted to the Governor and approved by tolls to be apthe Governor in Council, before they can be recovered, proved by and the net revenue arising from the said licenses shall be di- Council. vided as follows: one half shall belong to the Mayor, Councillors and citizens of the City of Quebec, and the other half of the revenue accruing from such licenses shall be paid to the respective Proviso. Persons build ing or repairing houses to obtain permis sion from city surveyor before оссиру ing any part of the street. Penalty for contravention of this section. Recorder may examine witnesses on oath in cases of inquiry institut ed by him at the request of the City. Council. 9 V. c. 38. Section 72 of 18 V. c. 159, repealed, and a new section substituted. respective Municipalities to which the said ferries lead; Provided always that this section shall not go into effect until after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. 17. All persons intending either to build or to re-build any house, building, inclosure or wall fronting upon any of the streets or other public thoroughfares of the said City, or intending to demolish or to repair any such, either in whole or in part, shall apply to the City Road Surveyor, and shall inform him of the time when they are to begin such works and of the probable time of their being finished, and shall also obtain from the said surveyor permission in writing for that purpose, in which permission the extent of ground which may be occupied with the material and rubbish while such works are going on, shall be particularly stated; which extent of ground shall not in any case exceed one third of the width of the street or public thoroughfare in which the said materials or rubbish shall be deposited; and every person obtaining such permission shall inclose the ground mentioned in the same with a board fence at least ten feet in height before depositing any materials or rubbish thereon; and every person who shall refuse or negleet to obtain such permission in writing from the said surveyor, or to confine his operations within the limits fixed by such permission, or to inclose the space of ground stated in the same, shall for every such refusal or neglect incur a penalty of forty shillings currency. 18. In case the Council of the said City of Quebec at any time passes a resolution requiring the Recorder to investigate any matter to be mentioned in the resolution, and relating to a supposed malfeasance, breach of trust or other misconduct on the part of any member of the Council, officer, or person employed by the Corporation, or any person having a contract there with, in relation to the duties or obligations of such member, officer, or other person to the City, or in case the Council of the City sees fit to cause enquiry to be made into or concerning any matter connected with the good government of the City, or the conduct of any part of the public business thereof, and if the Council at any time passes a resolution requiring the Recorder of the City to make the enquiry, the Recorder shall make such inquiry, and shall for that purpose have all the powers of Commissioners under the Act, intituled, An Act to empower Commissioners for enquiring into matters connected with the public business, to take evidence on oath; and the Recorder shall, with all convenient speed, report to the Council the result of the enquiry, and the evidence taken thereon. 19. The seventy-second clause of the said Act shall be and is hereby repealed, and the following shall be substituted in its place: " All debts which from and after the passing of this Act shall become due to the Corporation, for any rate or assessment corporation assessment assessed or imposed on any real or personal property, or both, within the City of Quebec, or upon the owners Privileged or occupiers thereof, in respect of such property, or for duty on claim of the business, or for any other rate, tax, or impost levied under and for moneys by virtue of any By-law of the Council of the said City, shall due for assesbe privileged debts, and shall be paid in preference to all other ments. debts, excepting debts due to Her Majesty; and shall, in the distribution of the proceeds of property, whether real or personal, of any person liable to pay any such debt, be so held, considered, and adjudged by all Courts of Justice, and by all Commissioners or other persons having jurisdiction in bankruptcy or insolvency in Lower Canada: Provided always, that the privilege hereby granted shall not extend beyond the rates or assessments due for two years, that is to say, for the current year when such claim may be made, and for the year next preceding that year: And provided also, that the said Proviso. privilege shall not require registration to preserve it; any Act, ordinance, or law to the contrary notwithstanding. Proviso. 20. And whereas the Corporation of the Mayor, Council- Act 9 V. c. 113, cited. lors and Citizens of the said City of Quebec, have, by their petition, represented that further provisions are necessary to enable them properly to carry into effect the Act passed by the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly in the ninth, and assented to by Her Majesty in the tenth year of Her reign, and intituled, An Act for supplying the City of Quebec, and parts adjacent thereto, with water, and the Acts amending the same, and have prayed that such provisions be made: There- Minimum fore it is enacted, that the minimum water-rate to be paid by any person or party liable in the said City of Quebec to watertax, shall be four dollars per annum ; any thing in the said Acts to the contrary notwithstanding. water rate altered. water-rate 21. Any water-rate to which any immoveable property in By whom the the said City shall be subject, and which shall be payable by shall be paythe proprietor, may be enforced and recovered either from the able. proprietor of the said immoveable property so taxed or assessed, or from any person occupying the said real property or any part thereof, as tenant or otherwise; and when the said tax shall have been paid by any tenant not bound to pay the same by the lease or other agreement, in virtue of which he occupies such immoveable property, such tenant shall be entitled to de- Tenant payduct the sum so paid by him from the rent which he shall ing it may rehave to pay for the use or occupation of the said immoveable tain cases. property so taxed. cover in cer 22. The provisions of any law inconsistent with or con- Inconsistent trary to the provisions of this Act shall be and they are hereby provisions repealed. repealed. 23. This Act shall be deemed a Public Act. Public Act. CAP. CAP. XXXI. Preamble, Sec. 99 of 12 An Act to extend the Powers of the Trinity House of W [Assented to 24th July, 1858.] HEREAS it is advisable further to encourage the removal of obstructions in the Harbour of Quebec : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. The ninety-ninth section of the Act of the Legislature of Vict. ch. 114, the Province of Canada, passed in the twelfth year of Her Majesty's Reign, chapter one hundred and fourteen, shall be and the same is hereby repealed. repealed. and sell effects in a certain time. Trinity House 2. When any thing found in the River Saint Lawrence may advertise within the jurisdiction of the Trinity House of Quebec has not found and not been claimed, the Harbour Master of Quebec may advertise it claimed with during four weeks in English and in French in two or more newspapers published at Quebec; and if within one calendar month after the date of the last of such publications the same be not claimed, the Harbour Master shall sell the same publicly, and after deducting the expenses of advertising, sale or otherwise, two thirds of the proceeds of the sale shall revert to the finder, and the remaining third to the Trinity House of Quebec; Provided always that it shall be in the discretion of the Trinity Period may be House of Quebec, by an Order to be duly made by them to that not more than effect, to prolong the said delay of one month, if they should see fit, to any other period not exceeding six calendar months, so that there shall intervene not less than one nor more than six calendar months between the advertising the description of the effects found and the sale of the same in the event of their not being claimed. Proviso: extended to six months. Public Act. 3. This Act shall be deemed a Public Act. Preamble. An Act to provide for the improvement and management of the Harbour of Quebec. [Assented to 24th July, 1858.] WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the improve ment and management of the Harbour of Quebec: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows: |