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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 10TH APRIL, 1886.
A BILL
ENTITLED
An Ordinance to authorise the raising of a Loan not exceeding Two Hundred Thousand Pounds.
WHEREAS it is expedient to raise on Loan Two
Hundred Thousand Pounds to be expended: Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :-
1. This Ordinance may be cited for all purposes as The Loan Ordinance, 1886.
2. It shall be lawful for the Governor to raise by the issue of Debentures under this Ordinance any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole Two Hundred Thousand Pounds.
3. The principal moneys and interest, secured by the Debentures issued under this Ordinance, are hereby charged upon and shall be payable out of the General Revenues and Assets of the Government of Hongkong.
4. Every Debenture issued under this Ordinance shall be for a sum of not less than one hundred pounds sterling, carrying interest at a rate not exceeding four and a half per centum per annum payable half yearly, and shall be paid off at par at any time after the expiration of five years, but not later than twenty years from the date of issue, provided always that not less than six months' notice shalí be given by advertisement, in the London Times News- paper, of the intention of the Government of Hongkong to pay off the Debentures issued or a part thereof under and by virtue of this Ordinance, and provided also that the time fixed for such repayment shall be a day on which a Coupon shall become due and payable.
5. The Debentures shall be issued in London at the Offices of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and shall be signed on behalf of the Government of Hongkong by any two of them.
6. Every Debenture shall, before being issued, be regis- tered in a Register Book to be kept for that purpose at the Offices of the Crown Agents for the Colonies.
7. There shall be attached to every Debenture, Coupons for the payment of the interest to become due in each half year upon the principal secured by the Debenture.
8. The Debentures and the Coupons shall be in such form as the Crown Agents for the Colonies may approve.
9. Every Debenture and all right to and in respect of the principal money secured thereby, and each Coupon and all right to the interest payable in respect thereof, shall be transferable by delivery, and the principal moneys secured by such Debenture, and the interest payable by such Coupon, shall be payable at the Offices of the Crown Agents for the Colonies in London.
10. The Governor shall appropriate half-yearly, out of the General Revenues of the Colony, the necessary sums to pay the half-yearly interest due on account of the said Loan.
The Governor shall further appropriate half-yearly, out of the General Revenues of the Colony, commencing six months after the date of issue of the first Debentures created under this Ordinance, the sum of £3,536 and shall remit the same to the Crown Agents for the Colonies in London, to be invested by them in some one or more of the securities of the Imperial Government of Great Britain, or of the Government of any Colony of Great Britain, as they may from time to time determine, as a Sinking Fund for the final extinction of the debt. The Crown Agents shall also from time to time invest the dividends, interest, or produce arising from such investment, so that the same may accumulate by way of compound interest.
11. In case the Sinking Fund shall be insufficient for the payment of all the principal moneys borrowed under the authority of this Ordinance at the time the same shall have become due, the Governor shall make good the deficiency out of the General Revenues and Assets of the Colony.
12. All expenses of, or incidental to the management of the Sinking Fund, or the repayment of the principal moneys to be borrowed under this Ordinance, shall be paid out of the Sinking Fund.