Organization. Directors. Constitution of corporation. SEC. 4. That as soon as five hundred shares shall be taken in the stock of said bank and ten thousand dollars paid to the commissioners who keep the books, notice shall be given in one or more newspapers published in the county of Forsyth, and a meeting of the subscribers, to be held ten days at least after the date of notice, shall be called. If at this meeting those persons who are present have a majority of the votes, if not, another meeting shall be called, they shall proceed to the election of seven directors who shall take charge of the books and money in the hands of the commissioners and immediately pursue the usual means to put the bank in operation. The said directors shall remain in office one year from the day of their election or until their successors be appointed; and it shall be the duty of the directors as soon as the bank has been organized and commenced business to fix the day in each year at which the meeting of the stockholders of the bank shall be held in the town of Kernersville for the purpose of electing directors, inquiring into the affairs of the institution and making such regulations as may be deemed fit and necessary. SEC. 5. The following rules, regulations and provisions shall form and be the fundamental articles of the constitution and corporation: A meeting of the stockholders cannot be held unless those who have a majority of the whole number of votes be present, and every act shall require the sanction of the majority of the votes which may be present; and if at any time it shall become necessary to increase or diminish the capital stock of the bank, it shall be the duty of the president to sell all the old certificates of stock surrendered and destroyed and new certificates issued in their places, and the said new certificates of stock shall be sealed and voted on at all meetings thereafter, as prescribed by the by-laws of the corporation passed by the stockholders at general meeting. No president, cashier, agent or clerk of the bank shall be permitted to vote for another, and none but stockholders who are citizens of the state shall be eligible as directors; and the directors, when appointed, shall choose one of their number (which shall always be seven) to be president of the bank, and shall manage the institution as shall seem best to them, unless otherwise directed by the stockholders, but compensation to the president and directors shall be granted at the pleasure of the stockholders. Not less than three directors, of whom the president shall always be one, shall constitute a board for the transaction of business, except in the case of absence or sickness of the president, when he may by writing nominate any other director to supply his place. A number of stockholders, not less than ten, who together shall be the owners of a majority of the capital stock, shall have power at any time to call a general meeting of the stockholders for purposes relative to the institution, giving at least twenty days notice in one or more newspapers, and specifying the object or objects of such meeting. The directors shall annually elect such officers as may be deemed necessary to perform the business of the bank, and may remove them or either of them at pleasure. These officers shall be required to give bond, with two or more sureties, in sums not less than five thousand dollars, with a condition of good behavior and faithful performance of duty. The cashier shall keep a book to contain the proceedings of the board of directors,' the names of those present, the day and date of each meeting, and shall record the yeas and nays on any question when asked for by a director. This book shall be evidence in courts of justice against said bank; and on entering on discharge of his duties the cashier shall take the following oath (or affirmation) before some justice of the peace, by whom it shall be deposited in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county of Forsyth, to-wit: "I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be), to keep a just and true record, without alteration in or erasure, of the transactions of the board of directors of 'The Bank of Kernersville,' in a book to be kept by me for that purpose." The said corporation shall purchase and hold only such lands, tenements, rents and hereditaments as shall be required for the convenient transaction of its business, or shall have been "bona fide" mortgaged to it to secure a debt previously contracted in the course of its dealings, or purchased at sale upon judgments which shall have been obtained for such debts. The bank shall, in no instance, discount note or notes, the payment of which shall be guaranteed or secured by a mortgage given on land or personal property of any kind whatever. The said corporation shall neither directly or indirectly trade in anything except bills of exchange, promissory notes and bonds, expressing on the face of them to be negotiable and payable at said bank, gold or silver bullion, or goods which shall be the produce of the lands, mint certificates, the public debt of the United States: Provided, the investments in such stocks shall not exceed one-third of Proviso. the capital stock of the bank; neither shall the said corporation take more than the rate allowed by law for or upon its loans and discounts, which interest may be taken in advance at the time of discount. The total amount of debts which the said corporation shall at one time owe shall not exceed twice the amount of stock actually paid in over and above the sum actually deposited in the bank for safe keeping. If a vacancy in the directors shall occur by death, resignation or otherwise, the remaining directors shall fill such vacancy until the succeeding annual meeting of the stockholders. The mode of transferring stock shall be regulated by the by-laws of the corporation and regulated by provisions of the same. The officers of the treasury department of the state shall be furnished once in twelve months with a statement of the amount of capital stock of said corporation and the debts due the same, of the money deposited therein and the cash on hand, and shall have a right to inspect such general accounts in the books of the bank as shall relate to the same statement: Pro PRIV-32 Interest on pro vided, that this shall not be construed to a right of inspecting the account of any private individual with the bank except of the directors. The bills, obligations and letters of credit, under the seal of said corporation, which shall be made to any person or persons, shall be assignable by endorsement thereon, under the hand or hands of such person or persons, and of his, her or their assignees, and so as absolutely to transfer and vest the property therein in each and every assignee or assignees successively, and to enable such assignee or assignees to bring and maintain an action thereupon in his, her or their name or names; and bills, checks, drafts, orders or other evidences of debt issued by order of said corporation or cashier promising the payment of money to any person or persons, his, her or their order, not under the seal of the said corporation, shall be binding and obligatory on the same, and in the like manner and with the like force and effect as upon any private person or persons; that is to say, those which shall be payable to any person or persons, his, her or their order, shall be assignable by endorsement in like manner and with like effect as foreign bills of exchange are now. SEC. 6. And if any person or persons holding any check, draft or tested checks, &c. certificate for money deposited with the bank for safe keeping, and shall present the same for payment, and payment shall be refused and go to protest, such checks, draft or certificate for money deposited shall draw interest from the date of protest at the rate allowed by law, and the said bank shall pay the same, any law to the contrary notwithstanding, and the holder of any of these evidences of debt, if not paid on demand, may bring an action of assumpsit against one or all of the directors. Books of subscription kept open. Dividends. SEC. 7. That the directors shall be allowed to keep open the subscription books until the whole of the stock shall be taken. SEC. 8. That the directors of the bank may declare dividends of the profits thereof as often as they may deem expedient, and if at any Liability of direc- time more than the real profits are divided, the directors assenting thereto shall be responsible in their private capacities to creditors who have claims against the said institution. tors. Semi-annual reports to state treasurer. SEC. 9. That the president of the bank shall in the first weeks in January and June of each and every year transmit to the treasurer of the state a full statement of the condition of the bank, exhibiting the amount of capital, debts due to other banks and what banks, amounts of deposits, and all other particulars necessary to explain the debt side of the account; also specie on hand, notes of other banks and what banks, bills of exchange, debtor bonds, and notes discounted, specifying in one column items due, the amount from stockholders, and in another the amount due from directors, not, however, using any persons name in either case, and the real estate owned by the bank, which said statement shall be published in a newspaper published in the county of Forsyth. SEC. 10. That if any president, cashier, clerk or other officer of the Penalty for false aforesaid bank shall knowingly, willingly, and with intent to deceive, returns by officer. make or cause to be made or contrive at making any false returns, statement or exhibit of the condition of the bank, either to the treasurer of the state or board of directors, or to the stockholders, or to any other person or persons that may be authorized by the legislature or by the stockholders to receive the same, such president, directors, cashier or other officer, and all persons aiding or abetting in such deception or false return, shall be liable to be indicted for a misdemeanor in the superior courts and upon conviction shall be fined at the discretion of the court and imprisoned not exceeding one year. SEC. 11. That if any director, president, cashier, clerk or other officer of the aforesaid bank shall knowingly and wilfully and with intent to deceive, make, or cause to be made, any certificate of the capital stock of the bank and issue the same to any person or persons who are not subscribers to the capital stock of the bank who have not paid up their subscription as provided in a previous section of this charter, shall be liable to be indicted for a misdemeanor in the superior courts of this state, and upon conviction shall be fined at the discretion of the court and imprisoned not exceeding three years. Penalty for issuing false certificate of stock. SEC. 12. That the stockholders of said bank shall have power to Increase of capiincrease the capital stock to two hundred thousand dollars whenever tal stock. in their opinion the wants of the community may require it. SEC. 13. That this act shall be in force from and ter its ratification. Ratified the 6th day of March, A. D. 1893. CHAPTER 320. An act to amend the charter of the town of Huntersville. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: SECTION 1. That chapter forty-six (46) of the laws of one thousand Chapter 46, private laws 1885, eight hundred and eighty-five be and the same is hereby amended as amended. follows: First, By striking out all of section two of said act and substituting therefor the following: The corporate limits of the town of Hunters Corporate limits. ville shall be one square mile, beginning one-half mile due north of the A., T. and O. Railroad crossing near R. H. W. Barker's store-house and running thence one-half mile due west; thence one mile due south; thence one mile due east; thence one mile due north; thence one-half mile due west to the beginning corner. Bond of treasurer and constable. Imprisonment in county jail. Taxation. Sale of land for taxes. Rights of purchaser. Rights of taxpayer. License taxes. Second, By inserting after the word "and" and before the word "shall" " in line twelve, section seven, the words "treasurer and town constable." Third, By striking out the word "court" in line nineteen, section eight, and substituting therefor the word "county." Fourth, By striking out of line eight of section seventeen the words "thirty-three and one-third" and substituting therefor the word "fifty," also the words seventy-five cents” in line nine of said section and substituting therefor the words “one dollar." Fifth. By striking out of seetion nineteen all after the word " 'personal" in line six thereof and adding the following thereto: And when the tax due on any lot or other lands located in the corporate limits of said town shall remain unpaid on the first day of January in each year, and there is no other visible estate owned by the person in whose name such lot or land is listed and located within the corporate limits of said town and liable to distress and sale, the town constable or other person intrusted with the collecting of the taxes shall immediately report the fact to the town commissioners, together with a particular description of such real estate, who shall transfer said report to the sheriff, tax collector, or other person intrusted with the collecting of the state and county taxes for the county of Mecklenburg, which officer shall proceed to advertise and sell such lots or land, at the same time and in the same manner and under the same rules and regulations as are provided for the sale of lands for taxes due to the state and county. And the purchaser of any such lands sold as herein provided shall be entitled to the same rights and acquire the same interest therein as he would have done had said lands been sold for state and county taxes, and the delinquent taxpayer shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as in cases of sales of lands for taxes due the state and county. Sixth. By adding to section seventeen the following: That said board of commissioners of the town of Huntersville shall have the power to levy and cause to be collected annually the following taxes: On every bowling-alley, billiard-table and taker-likeness, a tax not exceeding fifty dollars; on every company of circus-riders, stage or theatrical performers, sleight-of-hand performance, rope- or wiredancer, jugglers, exhibition of natural or artificial curiosities, a tax not exceeding fifty dollars; on each company exhibiting animals, twenty-five dollars; on singers or minstrels, twenty-five dollars; on all other performances and lectures for reward, and on all shows not included in the above a tax not exceeding twenty-five dollars, to be levied and collected for each days performance; itinerant peddler, two dollars for each day. Amend by striking out in section twentyand ten-pin alley. two and line two thereof the words "any billiard-table, ten-pin Lawful to erect, alley or." |