CHAP. 14. An Act to incorporate the Columbia Telephone and [Assented to 5th October, 1896.] WHEREAS the persons hereinafter named have by their Preamble. petition prayed to be incorporated for the purposes and with the powers hereinafter set forth, and it is 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. Nathan Russel Stone, Angus MacNish, William Brown, IncorporaCharles Wilfrid McMillan and such persons as become share- tion. holders in the company hereby incorporated are hereby created a body corporate and politic under the name of "The Columbia Corporate Telephone and Telegraph Company," hereinafter called "the name. Company." 2. The head office of the Company shall be at the town of Head office. Rossland in the province of British Columbia, or at such other place in the said province as is determined by a majority of the shareholders present or represented at any annual or special general meeting called for that purpose. 3. The capital stock of the Company shall be fifty thousand Capital stock. dollars divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and after the whole amount of the capital stock has been subscribed and ninety per cent paid thereon the capital sum may be increased from time to time to a total amount not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in shares of one hundred dollars by resolution of the board of directors, ratified by a majority in value of the shareholders present or represented at any annual general meeting or any special meeting of the shareholders called for that purpose. 4. Nathan Russel Stone, Angus MacNish, William Brown Provisional and Charles Wilfrid McMillan shall be the first or provisional directors. directors of the Company. Election of directors. Build telephone and telegraph lines. 5. When and so soon as twenty thousand dollars of the capital stock have been subscribed and fifty per cent of that amount has been paid into some chartered bank in Canada, the provisional directors shall call a meeting of the shareholders of the Company at Rossland, or at some place to be named in the said province, at which general meeting the shareholders present in person or represented by proxy, who have paid not less than ten per cent on the amount of shares subscribed for by them, shall elect the board of directors; but no person other than a shareholder eligible to vote shall be permitted to vote or act as a proxy at any meeting of the Company. Company may 6. The Company may purchase, acquire and hold, sell and acquire electrical patents. deal in any patents of invention covering any electrical device or apparatus, and may (subject as hereinafter provided), build, construct and operate any lines with the necessary connections for the transmission of messages by telephone and telegraph in the province of British Columbia, within and throughout the town sites of Trail, Rossland, Grand Forks, Carson, Greenwood City, Boundary Falls, Midway, Rock Creek, Camp McKinney and in the district between said town sites, and connect with the lines of the Spokane and Columbia Telephone and Telegraph Company at a point at the international boundary line between Rossland and Northport, and with the lines of any other telephone or telegraph company at any other point on the international boundary line in the said province, with power to build, construct, equip and operate branch lines, and extensions not exceeding twenty miles in length to any town, mining camp or mineral claim in the districts of West Kootenay and Yale in the said province, either by land or by water, and upon, along, across, over or under any public roads, highways, trails, streets, bridges, watercourses or other such places, and any navigable or non-navigable waters, and may undertake the transmission of messages for the public by all or any such line or lines, or any portion thereof; provided that the same shall be so constructed and maintained as not to interfere with the public use of such roads or highways, or injuriously interrupt the navigation or use of such waters and watercourses; and provided also that nothing herein contained shall confer on the Company the right of building a bridge over any navigable water; and the Company may make connection for the purposes of its business with the lines of any telephone or telegraph company in Canada. Public rights preserved. May not build a bridge. May enter on etc. 7. With the consent of the municipal council having jurispublic roads, diction over the roads and streets of any city, town or municipality, the Company may, by its servants, agents or workmen enter upon any public road, highway, street, bridge, watercourse, navigable or non-navigable water or other such places in any city, incorporated town, village, county, municipality, or other place, for the purpose of constructing, erecting, equipping, working and maintaining their line or lines of telephone and telegraph upon, along, across, over and under the same; and may erect, equip and maintain such and so many poles or Erect poles. other works and devices as the Company deems necessary for making, completing and supporting, using, working, and maintaining the system of communication by telephone and telegraph, and may stretch wires and other telephonic and tele- Stretch wires. graphic contrivances thereon, and, as often as the Company, its agents, officers or workmen think proper, may break up Break up and open any part whatsoever of the said public roads, high- roads. ways, streets, bridges, watercourses, navigable and non-navigable waters and other like places, subject, however, to the following provisions, that is to say: be obstructed. (a.) The Company shall not in the construction or operation Travel not to of its lines interfere with the public right of travelling on or using such public roads, highways, streets, bridges or watercourses, and other like places, and shall not do any unnecessary damage, nor in any way obstruct the entrance to any door or gateway or free access to any building erected in the vicinity; (6.) The Company shall not affix any wires less than Height of twenty-two feet above the surface of the street or road, nor wires. without the consent of the municipal council having jurisdiction over the roads or streets of the municipality, erect more than one line of poles along any street or road; (c.) In all municipalities the poles shall be as nearly as Kind of poles. possible straight and perpendicular, and shall, in cities, be painted, if so required by any by-law of the council; case of fire. (d.) Whenever, in case of fire, it becomes necessary for its Cutting poles extinction or the preservation of property, that the poles or or wires in wires should be cut, the cutting under such circumstances of the poles or any of the wires of the Company, under the direction of the chief engineer or other officer in charge of the fire brigade, shall not entitle the Company to demand or to claim compensation for any damage thereby incurred; (e.) The Company shall be responsible for all damage which Liability for their agents, servants or workmen cause to individuals or property in carrying out or maintaining any of their said works; (f) The Company shall not cut down or mutilate any Trees. shade, fruit or ornamental tree; damage. (9.) In all municipalities the opening up of streets for the Approval of erection of poles, or for carrying the wires underground, municipality. shall be subject to the direction and approval of such engineer or other official as the council appoints, and shall be done in such manner as the council directs; the council may also Location of direct and designate the places where the poles are to be poles. erected in such municipality; and the surface of the street shall in all cases be restored as far as possible to its former condition by and at the expense of the Company; (h.) No Act of Parliament requiring the Company, in case Company may efficient means are devised for carrying telegraph or telephone be required to VOL. II-4 49 carry wires wires underground. Workmen to wear badges. Private rights. Temporary removal of wires and poles. Notice to company. Approval of rates by Gov wires underground, to adopt such means, and abrogating the right given by this section to continue carrying lines on poles through cities, towns or incorporated villages, shall be deemed an infringement of the privileges granted by this Act, and the Company shall not be entitled to damages therefor; (i.) No person shall labour upon the work of erection or repairing any line or instrument of the Company, without having conspicuously attached to his dress a medal or badge on which shall be legibly inscribed the name of the Company and a number by which he can be readily identified; (j.) Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to authorize the Company, their servants, workmen or agents to enter upon any private property for the purpose of erecting, maintaining or repairing any of their works without the previous assent of the owner or occupant of the property for the time being; (k.) If in the removal of buildings or if in the exercise of the public right of travelling on or using any public road, highway or street, it becomes necessary that the said wires or poles be temporarily removed, by cutting or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Company at its own expense upon reasonable notice in writing from any person requiring the same, to remove such wires or poles, and in default of the Company so doing it shall be lawful for such person to remove the same at the expense of the Company, doing no unnecessary damage thereby; and such notice may be given either at the office of the Company or to any agent or officer of the Company in the municipality wherein such wires or poles are required to be removed, or in the case of a municipality wherein there shall be no such agent or officer of the Company, then either at the said head office or to any agent or officer of the Company in the nearest or any adjoining municipality to that in which such wires or poles require to be removed; provided that nothing in this Act contained shall give the Company the exclusive right to place or erect any poles for wires or place such wires at any place; (1.) No rates or charges shall be demanded or taken from ernor in Coun- persons leasing or using the telephones of the Company until such rates or charges have been approved of by the Governor in Council. cil. Company may deal in electrical supplies. Issue of bonds. The Company may manufacture, operate, sell, purchase, lease or otherwise deal in electrical instruments and appliances, and may carry on a general electrical supply, operating and manufacturing business in any part of British Columbia, and as such may purchase, acquire and hold patents of invention and may manufacture electrical instruments, machinery and plant, and may sell, lease, purchase and deal generally in the same. 9. The Company may borrow such sum of money as is necessary for carrying out any of its objects or purposes, and may issue bonds therefor in sum of not less than one hundred dollars each, which shall be a first charge upon the undertaking and property, real and personal, and the lines, works, and plant of the Company, such bonds being payable at such times, in such sums, and at such rates of interest as the directors determine provided that the bonds issued and outstanding Amount from time to time shall never exceed seventy-five per cent of limited. the then total amount of the paid-up capital of the Company; and, provided also, that no mortgage, pledge, hypothecation or charge of or on any of the real estate, and no issue of bonds Approval of shall be made or given until sanctioned by a vote of the share- shareholders. holders present in person or represented by proxy and representing two-thirds in value of the shares of the Company at a special general meeting duly called for that purpose. OTTAWA: Printed by SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSON, Law Printer to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. |