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Directors to make rules and regulations.

Present President and

Directors con

until October,

1817.

XI. And be it enacted, That the Directors for the time being, or a major part of them, shall have power to make and subscribe such rules and regulations as to them shall appear needful and proper touching the duty and conduct of the officers, clerks and servants employed by the said Company, and shall also have power to appoint as many officers, clerks and servants for carrying on the said business and with such salaries and allowances as to them shall seem meet, and that such rules and regulations shall bind the members of the Corporation, their officers, and all parties concerned, provided they be not repugnant to the laws of this Province or to this Act.

XII. And be it enacted, That the present Directors elected by the original Stockholders to manage the affairs of the said Company until an Act of Incorporation should tinue in office be obtained, that is to say: Clarke Gamble, Thomas Gibbs Ridout, William Botsford Jarvis, Thomas Dennie Harris, James Brown, Ezekiel F. Whittmore, Daniel McNab, Richard Juson and John L. Ranney, be and are hereby constituted Directors for managing the affairs of the said Company until new Directors shall be elected under and by virtue of the provisions of this Act in October next; and that they shall have, possess and exercise all the powers which are given by this Act to the Directors to be hereafter chosen under its provisions.

Public Act.

XIII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall be a Public Act, and as such shall be judicially noticed by all Judges and Justices of the Peace and others whom it may concern, without being specially pleaded.

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

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An Act to incorporate the British North American Electric Telegraph

Association.

WH

[ 28th July, 1847. ]

HEREAS the political and commercial connexion between the United King- Preamble: dom of Great Britain and Ireland and this Province and the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, renders the sure and speedy conveyance of intelligence between them of great general importance, and the transmission of such intelligence would be greatly facilitated by the establishment of a line of Electric Telegraphs between the City of Quebec and the City of Halifax in Nova Scotia, or other point in British North America on the Atlantic Ocean; and whereas the several persons hereinafter mentioned are desirous to make and maintain an Electric Telegraph from the said City of Quebec to the line dividing this Province from the Province of New Brunswick, at such points as may be found most convenient for communicating with other lines to be established through the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the said City of Halifax: 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, 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 George O'Kill Stuart, Esquire, now Mayor of the said City of Quebec, A Joint Stock the Honorable Réné Edouard Caron, Peter Langlois, junior, John Jones, Christian Company Wurtele, James Tibbets, Henry John Noad, Alexander Gillespie, and Edward Boxer, Esquires, all of the said City of Quebec, together with such person or persons as shall, under the provisions of this Act, become subscribers to and proprietors of any share or shares in the Electric Telegraph hereby authorized to be made, and their several and respective heirs, executors, administrators, curators and assigns, being proprietors of any share or shares in the Electric Telegraph hereby authorized to be made, are and shall be, and be united into a Company for carrying on, making, constructing, completing and maintaining the said intended Electric Telegraph and other works and property hereinafter mentioned, according to the rules, orders and directions hereinafter expressed, and shall for that purpose be one body politic and corporate, by the name of The British North Corporate American Electric Telegraph Association, which body shall hereinafter be understood to name, and be intended by the words "the said Company," whenever they occur in this Act, and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and shall have a common seal, and other the usual powers and rights of bodies corporate not inconsistent with this Act, and by that name shall and may sue and be sued, and also shall and may have power and authority

formed for the

constructing a

Telegraph

from Quebec vince Line.

to the Pro

powers.

to

Purposes for which the Company is constituted.

Power of the Company to set out and survey lands

necessary for their works,

&c.

To get and Jay materials, &c.

to take and receive gifts, grants, donations and to purchase lands, tenements and hereditaments for them and their successors and assigns, for the use of the said Electric Telegraph; saving nevertheless, to the Seignior or Seigniors within whose censive the lands, tenements and hereditaments so purchased may be situate, his and their several respective droits d'indemnité, and all other Seigniorial rights whatever and also to sell any of the said lands, tenements and hereditaments purchased for the purposes aforesaid, and any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, or communities, may give, grant, bargain, sell or convey to the said Company any lands, tenements or hereditaments for the purposes aforesaid, and the said Company shall be and are hereby authorized and empowered from and after the passing of this Act, by themselves and their deputies, agents, officers, workmen and servants to make and complete an Electric Telegraph to be called The British North American Electric Telegraph, from the said City of Quebec to the line dividing the two Provinces of Canada and New Brunswick, at such point or place as may by the said Company be found most advisable (keeping in view the object of establishing a continuation thereof under Legislative authority in the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to the Atlantic Ocean,) and to construct station houses and observatories at either termination, and at such other places on the line of the said Telegraph as they may deem expedient.

II. And be it enacted, That for the purposes aforesaid, the said Company, their deputies servants, agents and workmen are hereby authorized and empowered to enter into and upon the lands, grounds and premises, leave and license therefor being first had and obtained, of the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, or of any person or persons, bodies politic, corporate or collegiate, or communities whatsoever, and survey and take levels of the same or any part thereof, and to set out and ascertain such parts thereof as they shall think necessary and proper for making the said intended Telegraph, and all such other works, matters and conveniences as they shall think proper and necessary for making, effecting, preserving, improving, completing, maintaining and using the said intended Telegraph and other works, and also to bore, dig, cut, trench, get, remove, take, carry away, and lay earth, clay, stone, soil, rubbish, trees, roots of trees, beds of gravel or sand, or any other matters or things which may be dug or got in making the said intended Telegraph or other works, on or out of the lands adjoining or lying convenient thereto, and which may be proper, requisite or necessary for making or repairing the said intended Telegraph or works incident or relative thereto, or which may hinder, prevent or obstruct the making, using or completing, extending or maintaining the same respectively, according to the intent and purpose of this Act, and to build, erect, and set up, in or upon the lands to be acquired for that purpose under this Act, such and so many station-houses and observatories, watch-houses and other works, ways, roads and conveniences, as and where the said Company shall think requisite and convenient for Repairing and the purposes of the said Telegraph; and also from time to time to alter, repair, divert, enlarge, and extend the same, and to construct, erect, and keep in repair any bridges, arches, and other works upon or across any rivers or brooks for the making, using, maintaining and repairing the said intended Telegraph; and to construct, erect, make and do all other matters and things which they shall think convenient and necessary for the making, effecting, extending, preserving, improving, completing, and easy using of the said intended Telegraph and other works, in pursuance of and according Compensation to the true intent and meaning of this Act, they, the said Company, doing as little damage as may be, in the execution of the several powers to them hereby granted, and making satisfaction in manner hereinafter mentioned to the owners or proprietors of or the

altering works.

to be made for damages

done.

persons

Timber on

persons interested in the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, water, water-courses, brooks or rivers respectively, which shall be taken, used, removed or prejudiced, or for all damages to be by them sustained in or by the execution of all or any of the powers of this Act and that whensoever and wheresoever the said Telegraph do or shall pass Cutting down through any wood, the trees and underwood shall be cut down for the space of fifty each side of feet on each side of the said Telegraph by the proprietors of the lands upon which the line. such trees and underwood may be, and in default thereof that the said Company may cause the said trees and underwood to be cut at the cost of such proprietors of the lands; and this Act shall be sufficient to indemnify the said Company, and their servants, agents and workmen, and all other persons whatsoever for what they or any of them shall do by virtue of the powers hereby granted, subject nevertheless to such provisions and restrictions as are hereinafter mentioned.

III. And be it enacted, That for the purposes of this Act, the said Company shall and may, by some sworn Land Surveyor for Lower Canada, cause to be taken and made surveys of the Lands through which the said intended Telegraph is to be carried, together with a map or plan of the line of such Telegraph, and of the course and direction thereof, and of the lands through which the same is to pass, and also a book of reference for the said Telegraph, in which shall be set forth a description of the said several lands, and the names of the owners, occupiers and proprietors thereof, and in which shall be contained everything necessary for the right understanding of such map or plan; which said map or plan and book of reference shall, on the completion of the said Telegraph, be made, or cause to be made, and certified by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, who shall deposit copies thereof in the office of the Prothonotary of the Court of Queen's Bench for the District of Quebec, and shall also deliver one copy thereof to the said Company and all persons shall have liberty to resort to such copies so to be deposited as aforesaid, and make extracts or copies thereof as occasion shall require, paying to the Prothonotary at the rate of six pence current money of this Province, for every hundred words; and the said copies of the said map or plan and book of reference so certified, or a true copy or copies thereof, certified by the Prothonotary of the Court of Queen's Bench for the said District, shall severally be, and are hereby declared to be good evidence in the Courts of Law and elsewhere.

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the said Company shall have full power and authority to set up posts for supporting the wires of the said Telegraph in and upon any public road, street or highway, and to make the necessary excavations in the same for placing such posts or poles; and such posts, and all wires and other apparatus therewith connected, shall be, and be deemed to be to all intents and purposes, the property of the said Company, as shall also all such posts or poles or apparatus as shall be set up by the said Company for the purposes aforesaid, although the lands on which the same are set up be not the property of the said Company.

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After any

lands have

been taken,

all bodies cor

porate, &c.

may sell their

V. And be it enacted, That after any lands or grounds shall be set out and ascertained, and the line of the said Telegraph designated in manner aforesaid, for making and completing the said Telegraph and other works, and other the purposes and conveniencies hereinbefore mentioned, it shall and may be lawful for all bodies politic, corporate or collegiate, corporations aggregate or sole, communities, guardians, property curators, executors, administrators, and all other trustees or persons whatsoever, not Company. only

therein to the

When no power is vest

ed in any body corporate to sell, a fixed annual rent to

only for and on behalf of those whom they represent, whether infants, issue unborn, lunatics, idiots, femes-covert, or other person or persons who are or shall be seized, possessed of, or interested in any lands or grounds which shall be so set out and ascertained as aforesaid, or any part thereof, or upon or across which the said Company shall have occasion to set up any posts or poles, or other apparatus, or to acquire the right of way or other servitude or right, to contract for, sell and convey unto the said Company, their successors or assigns, all or any part of such lands or grounds which shall from time to time be set out and ascertained as aforesaid, or the right or servitude so required by the said Company; and that all contracts, agreements, sales, conveyances and assurances so to be made, shall be valid and effectual in law to all intents and purposes whatsoever, any law, statute, usage, or custom to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding; and all bodies politic, corporate or collegiate, or communities, and all persons whatsoever so contracting or conveying as aforesaid, are hereby indemnified for what he, she or they, or any of them, shall respectively do, by virtue of, or in pursuance of this Act; and that all such contracts, agreements, sales, conveyances and assurances, or notarial copies thereof, shall, at the expense of the said Company and their successors, be deposited in the office of the Prothonotary as aforesaid, and true copies thereof shall be allowed to be good evidence in all Courts

whatsoever.

VI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That any body politic, community, corporation, or other person or persons whosoever who cannot in common course of law sell or alienate any lands or grounds so set out and ascertained, shall agree upon a fixed annual rent as an equivalent, and not upon a principal sum, to be paid for the lands be established. Or grounds so set out and ascertained as necessary for making the said Telegraph and other purposes and conveniences relative thereto and connected therewith; and in case the amount of rent shall not be fixed by voluntary agreement or compromise, or by arbitration between the parties, it shall be fixed by a jury, convened and qualified in the manner hereinafter prescribed, and all proceedings and litigations in Court shall in that case be regulated as is hereinafter prescribed; and for the payment of the said annual rent and every other annual rent agreed upon or ascertained for the purchase of any lands or grounds, the said Telegraph, and the tolls or emoluments to be levied and collected thereon or arising therefrom shall be and are hereby made liable and chargeable in preference to all other claims or demands thereon whatsoever.

Security for such annual rent, &c.

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VII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Company to apply to Her Majesty, and all the several owners of the estates, lands and grounds through which such Telegraph is intended to be carried, and to agree with such owners respectively touching the compensation to be paid to them by the said Company for the purchase thereof, or for the right or servitude required by the said Company in or upon the same, and for their respective damages; and in case of disagreement between the said Company and the said owners, or any of them, then all questions which shall arise between the said Company and the several proprietors of, and persons interested in any estates, lands or grounds that shall or may be taken, affected or prejudiced by the execution of any of the powers hereby granted, or any indemnification for damages which may or shall be at any time or times sustained by any bodies politic or corporate, or communities, or any other person or persons respectively, being owners of or interested in any estate, lands or grounds, for or by reason of the making, repairing or maintaining the said Telegraph or other works incidental or relative thereto, or

connected

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