Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

426 HISTORY OF THE BANKit difficult to raise the capital of fifty thousand pounds withineighteen months, an Act of the following year1reduced itthirty thousand pounds and allowed the directors the privilegeof calling in at first only half the value of the shares, and theremainder as they mighttosee fit. In 1825 the authorizedcapital stock was restored to the original amount of fiftythousand pounds.2In 1825, after the failure of several tentative efforts, abill was introduced in the legislature of Nova Scotia toauthorize the establishment of a bank in Halifax 3 on linesvery similar to those of the Bank of New Brunswick. Therewere, however, some special clauses in the bill, especially thosesetting out the method of bringing the bank into existence,which are not found elsewhere. The capital stock, like thatof the Bank of New Brunswick, was to be 50,000 in sharesof fifty pounds each. No specific persons were named as thegrantees of the charter, which simply provided that subscriberson complying with the conditions laid down were to receive acharter, under letters patent from the Lieutenant-Governor inCouncil, as the Halifax Bank Company. Otherwise, theconditions specified in the bill are very much the same asthose in the charter of the Bank of New Brunswick, and verysimilar in principal to those contained in the first charter ofthe Bank of Montreal. The bank was to operate underby-laws adopted by the shareholders and approved by theLieutenant-Governor in Council. One-half the capital was tobe paid in before the bank went into operation, and theremainder within two years. There were the usual restrictionson the holding of real estate and the lending of money on suchover andsecurity. The total indebtedness of the corporationabove the deposits from the public was not to exceed threetimes the paid-up capital stock. This follows the Canadianrather than the New Brunswick model. An additional*2 Geo. IV, N.B., 1821, c. xx.6 Geo. IV. N.B., 1825, c. iii.See Vol. I, p. 44.