Sydney Railway Company Act 1849 13 Vic (NSW)

Swxer anwar An Act to incorporate a Company to be called — "The Sydney Railway Company." [10th October, 1849.] Preamble. V HEREAS the making and maintaining of railways in the Colony of New South Wales would be of great public utility and it is deemed advisable to grant encouragement to such enter- prising persons as may be desirous and willing to make and maintain such railways by granting to them an Act of Incorporation Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof That William Bradley William Bowman '[homas Barker Charles Cowper Thomas Holt the younger Arthur Jeffreys David Jones Moses Joseph Charles Kemp Robert Lowe Samuel Lyons Archibald Michie Thomas Sutcliffe Mort Abraham Moses Charles Nicholson George Oakes John Norton Oxley Robert Porter Henry Gilbert Smith Charles Throsby William Walker Edward Weston and Adolphus William Proprietors incorpo. Young Esquires and all and every other person and corporation who wi de oat shall hereafter become subscribers to the said undertaking and their way Company." Several and respective successors executors administrators and assigns shall be and are united into a company for making completing and maintaining a railway or railways in the said Colony and other works by this Act authorized to be made and executed and for that purpose shall be one body corporate by the name and style of '" The Sydney Railway Company" and by that name shall have perpetual succession and shall have a common seal and by that name shall and may sue and be sued plead and be impleaded answer and be answered unto defend and be defended in all Courts and places whatsoever and the said company shall have power and authority from and after the passing of this Act and at all times hereafter to purchase and hold lands to them and their successors and assigns for the use of the said undertaking and works and generally for the purposes of carrying the rovisions of this Act into effect and also to sell and dispose of the said lands again in manner by this Act directed without incurring any penalties or forfeitures and also that the said company shall from time to time and at all times have full power and authority to constitute make ordain and establish such by-laws regulations and ordinances as may be deemed necessary for the good rule and government of the said company Provided that such by-laws regulations and ordinances be not inconsistent herewith or with any laws in force in this Colony or repugnant to the law of England. 2. 1849, 13° VIC. 147 Syduey Railway ry Company ye And be it enacted That the capital stock of the company Carita) to be. hereby alisha shall be one hundred thousand pounds sterling and into 20,000 shares of shall 'be divided into tw enty thousand shares of five pounds each and £5 cach, such shares shall be numbered beginning with number one and soon in regular arithmetical progression ascending whereof the common cxcess or "difference shall always be one and every such share shall always be distinguished by the number to be applied to the same and the said shares shall be and are here by vested in the persons hereinbefore named and in such other persons as shall take shares in the said com- pany and their successors and their several and respective executors administrators and assigns and upon taking any share every subscriber shall pay to the manager or other proper officer of the said company the sum of five shillings sterling for every share which shall he so taken and shall pay the remaining amount of every such share to such person or persons and in such parts or proportions as the directors of the said company shall deem necessary and from time to time call for and require Provided always that no such call shall execed the sum of ten shillings for or in respect of any one share and that no call or calls be made but at the distance of three months at the least from another and that notice of every such call shall be given in the Mew South Wales Government Gazette and in one or more of the newspapers published in the city of Sydney thirty days at the least before the day appointed for the payment of the same and on demand of the holder of any share the company shall cause a certificate under the seal of the said company of the proprietorship of such share to be delivered to such shareholder and the same shall be according to the form in the Schedule A to this 'Act annexed or to the like effect and that the said shares shall be and Shares to be personal he deemed personal estate andtransferable and transmissible accordingly and that every such share shall entitle the holder thereof to a propor- tionate part of the profit and dividends of the said company. 3. And be it enacted That the said company shall as soon as Rezister of share- the same can be done cause the names additions and addresses of the holders. several proprictors of shares in the capital stock of the said company together with the number of shares to which they shall be respectively entitled and also the proper number by which every such share shall be distinguished and the amount of the subscriptions paid thereon to be fairly and distinetly entered in a register hook to be kept in the office of the said company for that purpose and to be ealled the " Register of Shareholders" to the end that cach proprietor for the time being and his interest in the company may be known and that when and so often as any change of ownership in such shares shall take place by transfer or otherwise such change of ownership shall he duly entered in the said book. 4. And be it enacted That it shall be lawful for the proprictor Shares may be sold. of any share in the said undertaking and his executors or administrators to sell and dispose of any share to which he shall he entitled therein subject to the provisions herein contained and the form of conveyance of shares may he in the following words or to the like effect varying the names and descriptions of the contracting parties as the case may require— «TJ of in consideration Form of conveyance. "of paid to me by " of do hereby bargain scll assign and G a transfer to the said share (or shares as the case may be) nwnbered of and in 'The Sydney Railway Company' to hold unto the said his executors administrators and assigns subject to the same conditions as T held the same * immediately "cc ' ' ' 148 13' VIC. 1849. Sydney Railway Company. " immediately before the execution hercof and I the said " do hereby agree " to accept and take the said share (or shares) subject to "the same rules orders restrictions and conditions As " witness our hands and seals the day of " AD.18 ." And in every such case the said deed or conveyance being duly executed shall be delivered to the secretary or other proper officcr of the said company to be kept by him and the said scerctary or other proper officer shall enter a memorial of such transfer and sale tor the use of the said company in a book to be kept for that purpose and shall endorse such entry on the conveyance and shall on demand deliver a new certificate to the purchaser and for every such entry together with such endorsement and certificate the company may demand any sum not exceeding two shillings and sixpence and on the request of the purchaser of any share an endorsement of such transfer shall he made on the certificate of such share instead of a new certi- ficate being granted and such endorsement being signed by the secretary or other proper officer of the said company shall be consi- dered in every respect the same as a new certificate and until such transfer shall be so delivered to the sceretary or other proper officer as aforesaid the vendor of the share shall continue liable to the company for any calls that may be made upon such share and the purchascr or purchasers of the share shall not be entitled to receive any share of the prolits of the said undertaking or to vote in respect of such share. Evidence of property . And be it enacted That a certificate of the proprictorship of in shares. any share in the said company under the scal of the said company as aforesaid shall be admitted in all Courts as primd facie evidence of the title of any shareholder his executors administrators successors or assigns to the share therein specified but the want of such certificate shall not hinder or prevent the holder of any share from disposing thereof or reeciving his share of the profits in respect thereof. No share to be trans- 6. And be it enacted That no shareholder shall sell or transfer ferred while in . . . arrear. any share which he shall possess in the said company after any call shall have been made by the said directors for any sum or sums of moncy in respect of such share unless he at the time of such transfer shall have paid or discharged to the manager of the said company or to such other person as the directors shall authorize to receive the same the whole and entire sum of money which shall have been called for in respect of such share so to be sold and transferred. Company not bound 7. And be it enacted That the said company shall not be bound to sve to execution of trusts in respect of to sce to the execution of any trust whether express implicd or con- shares, structive to which any of the said shares may be subject and the receipt of the party in whose name any such share shall stand in the books of the said company or if it shall stand in the name of more partics than one the receipt of onc of the parties named in the register of shareholders shall from time to time be a sufficient discharge to the said company for any dividend or other sum of money payable in respect of such share notwithstanding any trusts to which such share may then be subject and whether or not the said company shall have notice of such trusts and the said company shall not be bound to sec to the application of the money paid upon such receipt. Subscribers to the 8. And be it enacted That the several persons who have sub- stock and their 'uy scribed or who shall hereafter subscribe any money towards the said as appointed by the undertaking ov their legal representatives respectively shall pay the sums respectively so subscribed or such portions thereof as shall from time to time be called for by the directors of the said company at such times and places as shall be appointed by the said directors and with respect to the provisions in this Act contained for enforcing the pay- ment 1849. 13' VIC. Sydney Railway Company. ment of calls the word " sharcholder" shall extend to and include the personal representatives of every sharcholder. 9. And be it enacted That it shall be lawful for the directors of the said company from tine to time to make such calls of money upon the several sharcholders in respect of the amount of capital subscribed or owing by them respectively as they shall deem necessary provided that thirty days notice at the least be given of cach and every such call and that successive calls be not made at less than the prescribed interval of three months as aforesaid and that no call execed the prescribed amount aforesaid and that every shareholder shall be Hable to pay the amount of the calls so made in respect of the shares held by him to the persons and at the times and places from time to time appointed by the said company or the directors thereof. 10. And be it enacted That if before or on the day appointec for such payment any sharcholder shall not pay the amount of any call to which he is liable every such shareholder shall be liable to pay interest for the same at the rate allowed by law from the day appointed for the payment thereof to the time of the actual payment. 11. And be it enacted That it shall be lawful for the saic company if they think fit to receive from any of the shareholders who shall be willing to advance the same all or any part of the moneys due upon their respective shares beyond the sums actually called for and upon the principal moneys so paid in advance or so much thereof as from time to time shall execed the amount of the calls then made upon the shares in respect of which such advances shall be made the company may pay interest at such a rate not exceeding the legal rate of interest for the time being as the sharcholder paying such sum in advance and the said company may agree upon. 12. And be it enacted That if at the time appointed by the suid company or the directors thereof for the payment of any call any sharcholder shall fail to pay the amount of such call to which he shall he liable it shall be lawful for the said company to suc such share- holder for the amount thereof in any Court: of law or equity having competent jurisdiction and to recover the same with lawful interest from the day on which such call was payable. 18. And be it enacted That in any action or suit to be brought by the said company against any sharcholdcr to recover any sum of money due and payable to the said company for any call it shall not be necessary to set forth the special matter but it shall be sufficient for the said company to declare and allege that the defendant is the holder of one share or more in the said company (stating the number of shares) and is indebted to the said company in such sum of moncy as the calls in arrear shall amount to in respect of one call or more upon one share or more (stating the number and amount of cach of such calls) whereby an action hath acerued to the said company by virtue of this Act. 14. And be it enacted That on the trial or hearing of such action or suit it shall be suflicicnt to prove that the defendant at the time of making such call was a holder of one share or more in the said company and that such call was made and such notice thereof given as is directed by this Act and it shall not be necessary to prove the appointinent of the directors who made such call nor any other matter whatsoever and thereupon the said company shall be entitled to recover what shall be due upon such call and interest thereon. 15. And be it enacted That the production of the register of sharcholders required to be kept in the office of the said company shall be prind facie evidence of such defendant's being a sharcholder and of the number and amount of his shares. 16. Term " shareholder" to include repre- sentatives, Power to make calls upon the sharchold- ers for money and obligation to pay. Interest to be paid on over-due calls. Power to recvive ad- vances from share- holders on interest. Power to suc default ing shareholders. Declarations in suits to recover money due on calls, Proof of call and of defendant's having been a sharcholder at the time sufficient. Register of share- holders to be primi facie evidence. 150 13° VIC. 1849, Syducy y - Eathoas y Company UP Shares in arrear ma; 16. And be it enacted. That if any shareholder shall fail to pay be declared forfeited. any call payable by him together with interest (if any shall have accrucd thercon) the directors of the said company at any time after the expiration of one month from the day appointed for payment of such call may if they shall think fit declare the share in respect of which such default shall have been made forfeited and that whether the said company have sued for the amount of such call or not. Notice to be given of 17. And be it enacted That before declaring any share forfeited intention to declare : 0 : 7° . os . share forfeited. the directors of the said company shall cause notice of their intention to declare such share to be forfeited to be left at or transmitted by post to the usual or last known place of abode of the person appearing by the register of shareholders required to be kept in the office of the said company to be the proprietor of such share and if the holder of any such share shall be bevond the limits of this Colony or if his or their usual or last place of abode be not known to the said directors or if the interest in any share shall be known by the said directors to have become transmitted otherwise than by transfer and so the address of the party to whom the said share may for the time being helong shall not be known to the said directors the said directors shall give public notice of such intention in the New South Wales Government Gazette and also in one or more of the newspapers published in the city of Sydney and the several notices aforesaid shall he given twenty- one days at least before the said directors shall make such declaration of forfeiture. Forfeited shares may 18. And be it enacted That after such forfeiture as aforesaid it : shall be lawful for the said directors to sell the forfeited share cither by public auction or private contract and if there be more than one forfeited share then cither separately or together as to them shall seem fit and any shareholder may purchase any forfeited share so sold as aforesaid. Bvidenee of propric- 19. And be it enacted That a declaration in writing by some tt iodhited shares, credible person not interested in the matter made in conformity with the provisions of an Act of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales passed in the ninth year of the reign of Her present 9 Vic. No. 9. Majesty Queen Victoria intituled "42 Aet for the more effectual abolition * of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various departments of " the Government of New South Wales and to substitute Declarations "in lien thereof and for the suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial " Oaths and Affidavits' that the call in respect of a share was made and notice thereof given and that default in payment of the call was made and that the forfeiture of the share was declared in manner hereinbefore required shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein stated and such declaration and the receipt of the manager or other officer of the said company authorized by the directors to receive payment of the price of such share shall constitute a good title to such share and a certificate of proprietorship shall be delivered to such purchaser and thereupon he shall be deemed the holder of such share discharged from all calls due prior to such purchase and he shall not be bound to sce to the application of the purchase moncy nor shall his title to such share be affected by any irregularity in the proceedings in reference to such sale. No more shares to 20. And be it enacted That the said company shall not sell or pe ctent oie og transfer more of the shares of any such defaulter than shall be sufficient arrears and expenses. 2S nearly as can be ascertained at the time of such sale to pay the arrears then due from such defaulter on account of any calls together with the interest payable in respect thereof and the expenses attending such sale and declaration of forfeiture and if the money produced by the sale of any such forfeited share be more than sufficient to pay all arrears of calls and interest thereon due at the time of such sale and the 1849, 13° VIC. 151 Sydney Railway Company. the expenses attending the declaration of forfeiture and sale thereof with the proof thereof and the certificate of proprictorship to the purchaser the surplus shall on demand be paid to the defaulter. 21. And be it enacted That if payment of such arrears of call On payment of + ae a ars before sale and interest and expenses be made before any share so forfeited and shares to revert to vested in the said company shall have been sold as aforesaid such te pty. share shall revert to the party to whom the same belonged before such forfeiture in such manner as if such call had been duly paid. 22. And be it enacted That as soon as five thousand shares of On payment of the capital stock of the said company shall have been actually sub- saan onuthorized scribed for and the sum of ten thousand pounds paid up and not te commence works. before it shall be lawful for the said company and they are hereby authorized and empowered by themsclves their deputies agents officers and workmen to make construct and finally complete alter and keep in repair a railway or railways with one or more sets of rails or tracks and all other proper works and conveniences adjoining thercto or connected therewith and to purchase and acquire such stationary or locomotive steam engines and carriages wagons and other machinery and contrivances and real or personal property as may be necessary for the making and maintaining the said railway or railways and for the transport of passengers and merchandise thercon and for other purposes of this Act and may hold and possess the land over which the said railway shall pass and such adjoining lands as may be required the first of such railways to commence at or near to the city of Sydney in the said Colony and to pass through the countics of Cumberland and Camden to the town of Goulburn in the county of Argyle and also through such other places in the county of Cumberland as may be deemed the most desirable route for carrying a railway towards Bathurst Provided that a map or plan of every such route shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of this Colony so soon as the same shall have been determined upon. 23. And be it enacted That before commencing any line of Before commencing railroad by this Act authorized to be made the said company shall by any ne ot rod some qualified engincer by them to be appointed cause to be made snd map or plan of linc taken levels and surveys of the country and lands through which such ane! book af velerence line of railroad is intended to be carried together with a map or plan of the said line and of the lands through which it is to pass and also a book of veference in which shall be entered the name or names of the owners and proprictors or occupiers if known of each and every portion of the said land through which any such line of railroad shall pass with a description of the said land sctting forth the bearings of such railroad the nature and quality the state of cultivation the inclosurcs (if any) and the quantity of such land which shall or may be required for the purpose of making such railroad. 24. And be it enacted That when and so often as the said Company to give . * : * notice of their inten- company shall have determined upon making any line of railroad the tion tomake railroad, said company shall hy advertisement in the New South Wales Govern- ment Gazette and in onc or more of the Sydney newspapers at least forty days before the commencement of the formation of any such yoad give notice that they intend to make the said railroad between certain places therein to be specified according to a map or plan to be seen in the office of the said company at Sydney. 25. And be it enacted That the said map or plan and hook of Map ana book of reference shall be kept in the office of the said company at Sydney and tefrenee to be Kept exhibited at all convenient times for public examination from the day said company. of the date on which such notice shall be first published and all persons shall and may have free liberty and permission at all proper and con- venient times to view and examine the said map or plan and book of reference. 26. Omissions in book of reference not to impede making the railway &c. Power to enter upon and take lands remove materials construct inclined planes tunnels &e. alter the course of rivers &c, and of roads &e. and to erect toll houses warehouses &e. Power to use private roads. 13° VIC. 1849. Sydney Railway Company. 26. And be it enacted That no advantage shall be taken of or against the said company or any interruption be given to the making of any such railway and other works on account of any error or omis- sion in the said book of reference but it shall be lawful for the said company by themselves their deputics agents officers surveyors servants and workmen to enter into and upon and to take and use for the purposes of this Act any lands or grounds set out and described in the said map or plan notwithstanding any such error or omission in case it shall appear to any two J ustices of the Peace acting for the district or place in which such lands or grounds shall be situated and be certified by writing under their hands that such error or omission proceeded trom mistake. 27. And be it enacted That for the purposes and subject to the provisions of this Act it shall be lawful for the said company their successors deputies agents and workmen and all other persons by them authorized and they are hereby empowered to enter into and upon the lands of any person or corporation whatsoever and to survey and take levels of the same or of any part thereof and to ascertain and stake or set out and appropriate for the purposes herein mentioned such parts thereof as may be necessary for the laying out making constructing and the convenient operation of such railways and all other works matters and conveniences as are hereby authorized to be made and in or upon such lands or any lands adjoining thereto to bore dig cut trench em- bank and sough and also to remove or lay take carry away and use any earth gravel stone timber or any other materials or things which may be dug or obtained therein or otherwise in the execution of any of the powers of this Act and which may be proper or necessary for making maintaining altering repairing or using any such railway and other works by this Act authorized or which may obstruct the making main- taining altering repairing or using the same respectively according to the true intent and meaning of this Act without any previous agreem nent with the owncr or oceupier of such lands and also to make or construct upon across under or over any such railway or other works or any land streets hills valleys roads rivers canals brooks streams or other waters such inclined planes tunnels embankments aqueducts bridges roads ways passages conduits drains piers arches cuttings and fences as the said company shall think proper and also to alter the course of any rivers canals hrooks streams or watercourses during such time as may be necessary for constructing tunnels bridges or passages over or under the same and also to divert or alter the course of any roads or ways or to raise or sink any roads or ways in order the more conveniently to carry the same over or under or by the side of any such railway and to make drains or conduits into through or under any lands adjoining such railway for the purpose of conveying water from or to such railway and also in or upon such railway or any lands adjoining or near thereto to erect and make such toll and other houses warchouses yards stations engines and other works and conveniences connected with any such railway as the said company shall think proper and also from time to time to alter repair or discontinue the before- mentioned works or any of them and to substitute others in their stead and where any such railway shall pass through any woodlands or forests it shall be lawful for the said company to fell or remove any trees standing thereon within the distance of one hundred yards from either side of such railway which by their liability to be thrown down or from their falling naturally may obstruct or impair any such railway and also to enter upon and use any existing private road being a road gravelled or formed with stones or other hard materials and not being an avenue or a planted or ornamental road or an approach to any mansion-house and generally to do and execute all other matters and things 1849. 13° VIC. 153 Sydney Railway Company. things necessary or convenient for constructing maintaining altering or repairing and using such railways and other works by this Act. authorized they the said company their agents and workmen doing as little damage as may be in the exccution of the several powers to them hereby granted and the said company if required so to do making full Gompany to make satisfaction in manner hereinafter mentioned to all persons and corpora. full satisfaction, tions interested in any lands which shall be taken used or injured for all damages to be by them sustained in or by the execution of all or any of the powers hereby granted and this Act shall be sufficient to indemnify the said company and all other persons 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 herein contained. 28. Provided always and be it enacted That if in the exercise of Before voads inter- the powers hereby granted it be found necessary to cross cut through fered with others to raise sink or use any part of any road whether carriage-road or horse- road cither public or private so as to render it impassable for or dangerous or extraordinarily inconvenient to passengers or carriages or to the persons entitled to the use thercof the said company shall before the commencement of any such operations cause a sufficient road to be made instead of the road to be interfered with and shall at their own expense maintain such substituted road in a state as con- venicnt for passengers and carriages as the road so interfered with or as nearly so as may he. 29. And be it enacted That the lands to be taken or used for Breadth of the lund the line of any railway hereby authorized to be made shall not exceed (Rye Bk Mt be one hundred yards in width except where greater width shall be judged necessary for wagons and other carriages to turn remain stand in lic or pass cach other or for raising embankments for crossing valleys or low grounds or in cutting through high ground or for the erection or establishment of any fixed or permanent machinery toll-house ware- house wharf or other erections and buildings or for excavating removing or depositing earth or other materials Provided always that nothing touses we. not to be herein contained shall authorize the said company or any person acting inured. under their authority to take injure or damage tor the purposes of this Act any messuage dwelling-house or other permanent building or the immediate appurtenances thercof without the consent in writing of the owner and occupier thercof respectively Provided also that nothing Crown lands not to in this Act contained shall be construed to affeet the rights of the ae aahoe tout Crown in any ungranted lands within the said Colony or to authorize the said Company to enter upon or take possession of any such land without the previous permission of the Executive Government of the said Colony. 30. And be it enacted That after any lands shall have been set Bodies politic &e. out and ascertained for making any such railway or any part thereof gree fo sell and for providing and constructing the works and convenicnees hereby authorized to be made or any of them it shall be lawful for any corpora- tion tenant in tail or for life or for any other partial or qualified estate or interest husband femme covert guardian trustceand feoflce in trust for charitable or other purposes committee executor and administrator and all trustees and persons whomsoever not only for and on behalf of them- selves their heirs and successors but also for and on behalf of the person entitled in reversion remainder or expectancy alter them if incapacitated and for and on behalf of their cestui que trust whether infant issue unborn lunatic idiot femme covert or other person and to and for all femmes covert who are or shall be seised possessed of or interested in their own right or entitled to dower or other interest in the same and for all and every other person and persons whomsocver who is are or shall be scised possessed of or interested in any lands which shall be set out and ascertained for the purposes aforesaid to v contract Form of conveyance to the company. Lands taken in pur- suance of this Act to be vested in the com- pany without any conveyance. Satisfaction to be made for lands taken for the railway or other works, Compensation for lands taken and other injuries to be deter- inined by surveyors. 13° VIC. 1849. Sydney Railway Company. contract for sell and convey the same or any part thereof unto the said company and all such contracts agreements sales conveyances and assurances shall be made at the expense of the said company and shall be made according to the following form or as near thereto as the number of the parties and the circumstances of the case will admit (namely)— "T of in consideration of the "sum of to me paid by the Sydney Railway " Company established and incorporated by an Act of the " Governor and Legislative Council of New