Proviso to

Which said Section shall be construed as the thirteenth Section of the said Act.

II. The Proviso to the fourteenth Section of the said Act shall section 14 re- be and the same is hereby repealed, and the following Proviso pealed. shall be and is hereby substituted therefor, and shall be, and shall be deemed and taken to have been, the Proviso to the said fourteenth Section:

New Proviso substituted,

Preamble.

"Provided always, that all such Bank Notes shall bear date at the City, Town or Village wherein such Bank is situate,that they shall be made payable to bearer on demand,-that they shall be marked on the face thereof as being secured by deposit of Provincial securities,-and that they shall be held to be payable at the Office of the Bank, and not elsewhere."

CAP. IV.

An Act to change the tenure of the Indian Lands in the Township of Durham.

W

[Assented to 21st April, 1856.]

HEREAS an extent of eight thousand four hundred and ninety acres of land, in the Township of Durham in Lower Canada, was granted, in the year one thousand eight hundred and five, to divers Indians, for them and their legal successors, under and by virtue of Letters Patent issued under the hand and seal of Sir Robert Shore Milnes, at that time Lieutenant Governor, on the condition that they should settle thereon and be incapable of selling, alienating, or even leasing the said Lands; And whereas the said Indians, or their legal successors or representatives, have in certain cases sold, leased or alienated all their rights in respect of such lands, for fixed sums of ground rents, and have all abandoned the said lands after having so conveyed them; And whereas the parties to whom such lands were so conveyed, have cleared and improved the same, erected buildings thereon and made agricultural settlements thereof, of great value, and the doubts which have arisen respecting the legality of such transactions are a great obstacle to the further progress of the said settlements, and it is desirable, both in the interest of the Indians who do not reside any more on the said lands, and in that of the public of the said locality, that the said transactions should be rendered legal, in order to secure a just compensation to the former, and incontestable titles to the parties now in possession of the said lands; And whereas the Act passed in the eighteenth year of Her Majesty's Reign, and chaptered one hundred and sixty-seven, is insufficient for the object intended: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows:

I. The Act intituled, An Act to alter the Tenure of the Indian 18 V. c. 167, Lands in the Township of Durham, is hereby repealed. repealed.

Indians de

II. All conveyances, sales, promises of sale or emphyteotic Conveyances, leases in respect of the said lands by the said Indians, their leases, &c., by successors or legal representatives, shall hereafter be considered clared valid. as having been made by persons legally qualified to lease, alienate, sell, cede and convey their property, notwithstanding any thing to the contrary contained in the Letters Patent of such lands; Provided always, that an annual ground rent of not less Proviso. than ten dollars for each lot of two hundred acres shall have been stipulated in favor of the Indian to whom any such lot of land was originally granted, or of his heirs or legal representatives; And provided also, that should any contestation arise Proviso. with respect to the said lands between the said Indians and the parties who have purchased or leased or who shall hereafter purchase or lease the same, such contestation shall be referred to the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, and his decision in the matter shall be final and conclusive.

may redeem

lots.

III. Any purchaser of any lot or part of a lot of the Indian Purchasers in Lands in the Township of Durham, now in possession of the possession same, may, if he thinks fit, redeem the rent attached to such the rent atland or lot of land by any instrument within the provisions of tached to their the preceding section, and payable to the Indians or their legal representatives, by paying the capital thereof at the rate of six per cent., to the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, who To whom is hereby authorized to receive every such deposit and give a payable. receipt therefor, according to Schedule A of this Act.

IV. Every such receipt, after the enregistration thereof in the Receipt for redemption Registry Office of the County of Drummond, shall be equivalent money to be to a title under Letters Patent of the Government, and shall equivalent to a discharge every such lot or part of a lot designated in such Patent. receipt, from all rents or other charges which may have theretofore been payable on the same in favor of the Indian or Indians to whom such lands were granted by the Government.

dian affairs to

V. The said Superintendent General of Indian Affairs shall Superinkeep an account of all sums deposited in his hands, and shall tendent of Inpay the interest thereon annually to the Indians, their legal keep accounts representatives or assigns, according to the proportion to which of moneys they are entitled in respect of such property.

paid.

dian has sold

VI. In any case in which one or more of the aforesaid Indians Provision_in shall, prior to the first day of January, one thousand eight hun- case any Indred and fifty-five, have sold the rent attached to such land, the the rent on a party who shall have bond fide and for a valuable consideration lot. purchased the same, shall be entitled to be reimbursed the sum which he may have paid to such Indian or Indians, as and for the purchase money of such rent, or the sum so paid shall be

deducted

Act not to affect other

claims to the lands.

Public Act.

deducted from the capital which he shall have to pay for the redemption of the said rent.

VII. Nothing in this Act contained shall have the effect of determining in any manner the merits of conflicting titles of parties having claims to the said Indian lands in Durham, or of rendering valid contracts made by any parties with any others than the Patentee or Patentees, or his or their heirs or representatives.

VIII. This Act shall be deemed a Public Act.

SCHEDULE A.

Preamble.

of

I hereby certify that

in the

now in possession range of the Township of Durham (here give a description of the lot or part of lot occupied by the person to whom the receipt shall have been given : If a whole lot, or the one half of a lot is in question, it shall be sufficient to describe it by the numbers of the lot and range, but if a smaller part than one half be referred to, the limits and bounds must be set forth) has, this day, paid to me the sum of being the capital of a ground rent attached to said lot (or part of lot) of land, and that the said sum has been paid to me for the purpose of redeeming the said land from all rent, as provided by the Act, intituled, An Act to change the tenure of the Indian Lands in the Township of Durham, and to avail him as in law may appertain.

An Act to repeal in part an Act to provide a remedy against the City of Quebec in case of injury to property by riot.

W

[Assented to 21st April, 1856.]

HEREAS by the fourth clause or section of an Act passed in the sixteenth year of Her Majesty's Reign, intituled, 16 V. c. 233. An Act to provide a remedy against the Corporation of the City of Quebec in case of injury to property by any mob, or during riots in the said City, it is enacted, "that whenever any lecture, representation, or performance, exhibition or other "public meeting, for admission or entrance to which money "shall be required or paid, shall take place, the said Corporation "shall

"shall not be liable for any demolition or destruction of property at the place where such lecture, representation, per"formance, exhibition or other public meeting shall take place, "unless the permission of the Mayor or of the said Council shall "have been first had and obtained:" And whereas protection is due by the constituted authorities to the property and persons of all British subjects lawfully convened at any meeting or assemblage for lawful purposes or such as are not expressly prohibited by the laws of the land, whether money be or be not required of or paid by the attendants thereat, and whether such meeting or assemblage be within the walls of any place of public worship, or of any public or private building, or be held in the open air, and the said above recited clause or section is manifestly to the prejudice of and in violation of the indubitable and most sacred right of British subjects, to meet and discuss in a peaceable and lawful manner, when and where they see fit, all lawful matters of public concernment in which they take an interest, whether of a religious, political, civil, or social character, and it is therefore necessary to repeal the said clause or section: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows:

I. The said fourth clause or section of the Act first men- Section 4 of tioned in the preamble of this Act, shall be and the same is the said Act hereby repealed.

repealed.

CAP. VI.

An Act to facilitate the disuniting of the Counties of Lincoln and Welland, and for other purposes therein mentioned.

[Assented to 21st April, 1856.]

HEREAS the Municipal Council of the United Counties Preamble. of Lincoln and Welland, have by their Petition prayed that an Act may be passed to facilitate the disuniting of the County of Welland from the County of Lincoln for judicial and other purposes; And whereas it appears by certificate of the Warden and Clerk of the said Municipal Council that an agreement has been entered into between the Provisional Municipal Council of the said County of Welland and the said Municipal Council of the said United Counties, for the adjustment and settlement of all debts of the said United Counties, in the manner provided by the fifteenth section of the Act of the Parliament of this Province passed in the twelfth year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Act for abolishing the Territorial Division 12 V. c. 78. of Upper Canada into Districts, and for providing for temporary Unions of Counties for Judicial and other purposes, and for the future dissolutions of such Unions, as the increase of wealth and population may require, and that the several other provisions

of

When proper buildings are constructed, the Governor may dissolve

the union of the Counties

by Proclama

tion.

Provisions of 12 V. c. 78, and 14 & 15 V. c. 5, to apply.

Special Ses

sions to be convened after

Divisions in

Welland.

of the said Section have been complied with by the said County of Welland; And whereas it is necessary and expedient to carry into effect the prayer of the said Petition: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada, enacts as follows:

I. At any time after the passing of this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the Governor of this Province, under an Order in Council, to be made so soon as he shall be satisfied that the County Buildings in the County of Welland are completed, to issue a Proclamation under the Great Seal of the Province, dissolving the Union between the said County of Welland and the said County of Lincoln, which dissolution shall take effect upon, from, and after a day to be named for that purpose in such Proclamation.

II. All the provisions of the said Act hereinbefore first in part recited, and of the Act passed in the Session held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act to make certain alterations in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada, and of any other Act or Acts, in so far as such provisions are or were intended to be applicable to senior and junior Counties after the dissolution of the Union thereof, and in so far as they are not inconsistent with this Act, shall be and are hereby declared to be applicable to the said Counties of Lincoln and Welland respectively, as if such Proclamation had been issued under authority of the fifth Section of the Act last above in part recited.

III. The Judge of the County Court for the said County of Welland shall, within thirty days after the day named in such the dissolution Proclamation for the dissolution of the said Union, convene a to appoint the special Sessions of the Peace at the said Court House in the said County, by such form of public notice as to the Judge shall seem meet, at which Sessions, one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace for the said County being present, shall be declared and appointed the number, limits and extent of Divisions in the said County of Welland for the holding of Division Courts therein, and such Divisions shall be deemed and taken to be and to have been appointed and declared under authority Proviso: as to of the "Upper Canada Division Courts Acts;" Provided firstly, pending cases. that the Division Courts now appointed by the County Judge of the said United Counties to be held within the limits of the said County of Welland in the month of April, in the year of Our Lord, 1856, shall be held by the said Judge, and all suits, proceedings and judgments commenced, had and taken therein, shall be prosecuted to completion in the said Courts as if this Act had not been passed, unless transferred by the said Judge to some one or more of the Division Courts to be established in the said County of Welland, in which case all the provisions of the "Upper Canada Division Courts Extension Act of 1853" applicable to suits transferred from one

Court