# St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Act

* related portals: Acts of Parliament of Canada.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
Schedules:
* Schedule A.
* Schedule B — Form of Deed of Sale
Source: Early Canada Online

## Contents

An Act to incorporate the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company.
       Preamble.
             13, 14, V. c. 132.
             14, 15 V. c. 147.
             16 V. cc. 52, 53.
             18 V. c. 188.
             28 V. c. 35.
             Suit in Chancery.
             Sale of Railway.
             Order in Chancery 23 Decr. 1865.
             Con. Stat. U. C. c. 12.
             Letters Patent 2nd Feb. 1866.
             Trust.
             Deed Poll 29 June, 1866.
             Schedule to said deed.
             Deed of 18 April, 1867.
             Trusts.
             Further trust.
             Further trust.
             Petition to Parliament.
       1. Railway declared or general advantage to Canada.
       2. Certain persons incorporated as the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company.
       3. Railway and property vested in the Company.
       4. Capital of the Company.
             Allotment of stock.
             Proviso.
             Stock books.
       5. Shares.
       6. Deed of 13 April, 1867, to be a first charge on the Railway.
             Company may issue bonds in place of certificates mentioned in the said deed.
             Or indorse certificates.
       7. Provisional Directors.
       8. Certain Bylaws continued until altered.
       9. Recital of certain instruments.
             T. Reynolds, to be Managing Director until first election.
             Proviso.
       10. Meeting of stock holders to be called.
             Election of Directors.
             Proviso.
       11. Office in London, England.
             Proxy of Managing Director.
       12. Votes at meetings of stockholders.
       13. Company may become parties to notes, &c.
             Proviso.
       14. Power to continue Railway into Province of Quebec.
       15. Commencement and completion of extension.
       16. Deeds of land to the Company.
             Form and registration of.
             Fees to Registrar.
       17. Power to enforce payment of tolls.
       18. Certain powers and provisions vested and extended to the Company.
             Proviso as to s. 10 of the Railway Act.
       19. Interpretation.
       20. Short Title.
Schedule A.
Schedule B — Form of Deed of Sale
31 Victoria, c. 19 (Canada)
An Act to amend "The Grand Trunk Arrangements Act, 1862," and for other purposes
[Assented to 21st December, 1867.]
Schedule of proprietors of the Ottawa and Prescott Railway :— :
| The Ebbw Yale Company | - - - | $405,492 69 |
| Thomas Robinson | - - - | 127,242 25 |
| Robinson and Eyre | - - - | 161,324 25 |
| W. D. Starling | - - - | 6,792 60 |
| F. A. Tamplin | - - - | 11,887 65 |
| Bailey Brothers & Co. | - - - | 27,170 36 |
| Thomas Reynolds | - - - | 50,000 00 |
| | | $789,909 20 |
And whereas the said Joseph Robinson and others, the proprietors of the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, have presented their petition, setting forth in effect the several statements hereinbefore set forth and recited, and represented that they had no corporate existence or title, and that great difficulty is experienced by them in such respect ; And it is by the said petition further alleged, that upon the purchase, by the said Joseph Robinson, of the said Railway, the same had fallen into a great state of disrepair, and was deficient in rolling-stock and in the requisites for efficiently performing traffic and locomotion, and that the petitioners, or some of them, were obliged to lay out and expend large sums in the repair of the Road, and in the necessary provision and equipment for its working ; and that under the Deed of Trust hereinbefore mentioned, the sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling was raised as a first charge upon the said Railway and its appurtenances ; and that the Railway is the only means of railway communication between the Seat of Government and the River St. Lawrence or any railway, and submitting that it is of great public interest that they should be empowered to maintain and extend the same ; and the petitioners have prayed that an Act may be passed to incorporate them under the name of "The St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company," and to vest therein the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, with the lands, rights, privileges, franchises, and appurtenances thereto belonging or appertaining, as the same were acquired as aforesaid by the said Joseph Robinson, with full power to convert the several interests of the present proprietors thereof into stock or shares, and to open stock or share-books, and also to enable the Company to substitute Bonds or Debentures bearing interest for the several certificates of the Trustees under the said Deed of Trust, heretofore made in and upon the said Railway by the proprietors thereof, or to confirm such certificates as Mortgage Bonds, and also to enable the said Company to sell or lease the said Railway and its appurtenances, and also for power to extend the line of the said Railway, from the City of Ottawa, in either or both of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and, if expedient, to alter the gauge of the Railway, and generally to confer upon the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company, all powers, rights, and privileges necessary in and for the conduct, management, working and efficiency of the said Railway and its appurtenances ; And whereas under the Act firstly hereinbefore recited, authority is given to the Ottawa and Prescott Railway Company to build, purchase, hold, and use steamboats or other vessels to ply on the waters of the Rivers Ottawa and St. Lawrence to any place not more than twelve miles distant from either of the termini of the said Railway ; And whereas by such means and under such authority, ferriage may be established on the River Ottawa, between the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and on the River St. Lawrence, between the Province of Ontario and the United States of America ; And whereas the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, as connecting the seat of Government with the main lines of Railway in Canada and with the proposed Intercolonial Railroad, and as affording unbroken railway connection between the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, is a work of general advantage to Canada, and it is therefore expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows :
1. The Ottawa and Prescott Railway, (after the passing of this Act, to be called and known as the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway,) is hereby declared to be a work for the general advantage of Canada.
2. Upon, from and after the passing of this Act, the proprietors of the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, that is to say : Joseph Robinson, Abraham Darby, Henry Dickinson, and William Tothill, lately carrying on business at No. 7, Laurence Pountney Hill, Cannon street, in the City of London, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, as Iron Masters, under the name, style, and firm of "The Ebbw Vale Company," but whose estate is now being wound up under a certain deed of inspection, Thomas Robinson, of No. 118, Cannon street, in the City of London aforesaid, Esquire, in his own behalf, the said Thomas Robinson and Alexander Robert Eyre, carrying on business at No. 118, Cannon street, in the City of London aforesaid, under the name, style, and firm of Robinson and Eyre, William Dallison Starling, of the City of London aforesaid, Metal Broker, Ferderick William Burgoyne Vernon, of Liverpool, England, aforesaid, Cotton Broker, assignee of the estate and effects of Frederick Augustus Tamplin, of Liverpool aforesaid, Merchant, who was, on the fourteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, adjudicated a bankrupt by the Court of Bankruptcy at Liverpool aforesaid, on a petition filed the fourteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four (which said Frederick William Burgoyne Vernon was chosen by the creditors of the said Frederick Augustus Tamplin, at their first meeting, on the second day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and such choice was afterwards confirmed by the said Court,) Craw shay Bailey, M. P., John Crawshay Bailey, Henry Bailey and William Latham Bailey, carrying on business at Liverpool aforesaid, under the name, style and firm of Bailey Brothers and Company, and Thomas Reynolds, of the City of Montreal, in the Dominion of Canada, Esquire, together with all such persons as shall become stockholders in the same after the passing of this Act, shall be and they are hereby ordained and declared to be a body corporate and politic, for all and every the purposes hereinafter mentioned, by and under the name, style and title of "The St.. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company," and by that name they and their successors shall have perpetual succession, and may have a common seal, and may change and alter the same at pleasure.
3. The said Ottawa and Prescott Railway, and all the lands, rights, privileges, franchises and appurtenances belonging or in any way heretofore appertaining thereto, situate in the City of Ottawa, and in the Townships of Gloucester, Osgoode and North Gower, in the County of Carleton, in the Province of Ontario, and in the Townships of South Gower, Oxford and Edwardsburgh, and in the Town of Prescott, in the County of Grenville, in the said Province, together with all workshops and buildings thereon erected, and the engines, tools, stock and other property contained therein, and together also with all the rights, claims, privileges, tolls, revenues, franchises and appurtenances of the said Railway, and all other property heretofore of the said The Ottawa and Prescott Railway Company, wheresoever situated, and of whatsoever kind, character or description, including the rolling stock thereof, the whole as the same were acquired by and are vested in the said Joseph Robinson, under the Act of the twenty-eighth year of Her Majesty's reign, and the Order of the Court of Chancery hereinbefore recited ; and also all those parcels or tracts of land situate, lying and being in the City of Ottawa aforesaid, containing by admeasurement one acre and sixty-five thousand square links, more or less, and composed of Lots numbers four, five and six, on the west side of Dalhousie street, lots numbers ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen, on the north side of Bolton street, and lots numbers ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen, on the south side of Bowler street, in the said City of Ottawa ; together with all such additional rolling stock, engines, cars, trucks, machinery, plant and other appurtenances, as may be in or upon the said Railway at the time of the passing of this Act, are hereby confirmed to and absolutely vested in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company.
Stock books shall be opened, for the subscription therein of the signatures of the several parties owning the said paid-up stock, and, on the allotment from time to time of the balance of the capital stock, for subscription therein of the several parties taking the same.
5. The capital stock may be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, if the Directors think fit.
or the Company may cause to be endorsed upon each or any of the said certificates to the effect that the same is confirmed by Act of Parliament of Canada, the seal of the Company and signature of the President being thereto affixed.
7. The affairs of the Company shall he administered and its powers exercised until the first general meeting of the stockholders, by a Provisional Board of Directors, to consist of the said Joseph Robinson, Thomas Robinson, Alexander Robert Eyre, Thomas Reynolds and William Quilter.
8. Until any change, alteration or variation in any of the by-laws or tolls or rates of passenger or freight traffic or carriage be made by a Board of Directors duly qualified in that behalf; the by-laws, tolls, and rates of passenger or freight traffic or carriage in force or receivable at the time of the passing of t his Act, or so much thereof as may not be changed, altered or varied, may be enforced, received and recovered respectively.
Provided that the said instrument or instruments be filed in the office of the Secretary of State for Canada within one month after the passing of this Act.
Provided, however, that no person shall be elected a director unless he shall be the holder and owner of at least five thousand dollars of the stock of the Company, paid up.
and the Managing Director, for the time being resident in Canada, may be represented at the meetings of any such Board by any other member thereof, under proxy to that effect, who may exercise on behalf of such Managing Director, all the rights, powers and privileges of a Director at such Board.
12. In the elections of directors under this Act, and in the transaction of all business at General Stockholders' Meetings, each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote for every one hundred dollars of paid up stock owned by him, at the time of closing the books preparatory to such meeting, and if the stock shall have been divided into shares, no shareholder shall be entitled to vote in respect of any shares on which any call shall at the time of such meeting be in arrear, and no stockholder in the Company shall be in any manner whatsoever liable for or charged with any debt or demand due by the Company beyond the payment of the extent of his, her or their share in the capital of the Company not paid up.
provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the Company to issue notes or bills of exchange payable to bearer, or intended to be circulated as money, or as the Notes or Bills of a Bank.
14. The Company and their agents and servants shall have full power and authority, under this Act, to extend, lay out, construct, make and finish a double or single track of Railway of iron at their own costs and charges, of such width or gauge as the Company see fit, from a point on the line of the said Railway to a point on the River Ottawa or Lake Deschesnes, in the County of Ottawa, in the Province of Quebec ; and for such purposes, shall have full power to erect and construct a Bridge or Bridges across the River Ottawa, at such place at or near the Chaudière Falls as may seem most expedient, as also over and across the Rideau River and Rideau Canal.
15. 1. The power given in the next preceding section shall be exercised by the commencement of the said work, within five years from the passing of this Act, and its completion within ten years therefrom.
and the Registrar shall charge and receive from the Company for all fees on every such enregistration, the sum of fifty cents, and no more ; and such registration shall be deemed to be valid in law, any Statute or provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding.
17. In case of neglect or refusal to pay the toll or freight due to the Company on any goods, they shall have the power to detain the same until payment of such freight be made, and in the meantime such goods shall be at the risk of the owner ; and if such goods be of a perishable nature, the Company shall have the right to sell the same forthwith, on the certificate of two competent persons, establishing the fact of their being so perishable ; and if such goods are not of a perishable nature and shall remain unclaimed for six months, the Company may, after giving one month's notice in two newspapers nearest the place where the goods may be, dispose of the same by public auction, and the proceeds of the sale, after paying the said Freight, Storage and costs of advertisement and sale, shall be handed over to the owner if he shall claim the same.
and subject always to the following modification of the tenth section of " The Railway Act," that is to say, that lands to the extent of twenty acres for Stations, Depots and other works wheresoever they may be necessary, may be taken by the Company, subject, however, to the provisions of the said Act in that behalf.
19. The expression "the Company," when used in this Act, means the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Company hereby incorporated.
20. This Act may be known and cited as the "The St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway Act."
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