This Indenture made the [Day] in the Year of Our Lord One thousand Eight hundred and Sixty-seven, BETWEEN the several Persons whose Names and Seals are hereunto in the Fourth Schedule hereto respectively subscribed and affixed of the first part, and THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAE BANKING CORPORATION, hereinafter called "The Company," of the second part. WHEREAS the said Company has been Incorporated under and by virtue of Ordinance No. 5 of 1866 of the Colony of Hongkong intituled "An Ordinance enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the Advice of the Legislative Council thereof, for the Incorporation of the Hongkong and Shanghae Banking Company," which said Ordinance has been confirmed by Her Most Gracious Majesty, and is in the terms following that is to say:—
WHEREAS the several Persons hereinafter named and others have agreed to form a Joint Stock Company under the name or style of "The Hongkong and Shanghae Banking Corporation,” for the purpose of carrying on the business of Banking and of conducting all business usually transacted by Bankers: And Whereas for the purpose of establishing and carrying on the said undertaking they have agreed that a Capital of Five Millions of Dollars divided into Forty Thousand Shares of One Hundred and Twenty Five Dollars each shall be raised in the first instance with power to increase such Capital to the extent and in manner hereinafter mentioned: And Whereas the said several Persons have for some time been carrying on the business of Bankers as an un-registered and un-incorporated Company: And Whereas for the better accomplishing and carrying into effect the objects and purposes of the said Company they have applied to His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong to grant to them and all other the Subscribers of such Capital an Ordinance of Incorporation, which His said Excellency the Governor has consented and agreed to do, under and subject to the conditions, restrictions, and provisions hereinafter contained: Be it therefore enacted by His said Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, with the Advice of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :-
Preamble.
I. This Ordinance may be cited for all purposes as The Hongkong and Shanghae Bank Ordinance.
II. In the interpretation of this Ordinance, the expression "The Governor" shall mean His Excellency the Governor of the Colony of Hongkong, or the Officer for the time being administering the Government of the said Colony; and the expression "The Company" shall mean "The Hongkong and Shanghae Banking Corporation;" and the expression "The Colony" shall mean the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies.
III. The Honorable John Dent, the Honorable Thomas Sutherland, Albert Farley Heard, Esquire, George Francis Maclean, Esquire, Douglas Lapraik, Esquire, Woldemar Nissen, Esquire, Arthur Sassoon, Esquire, George John Helland, Esquire, Palanjee Framjee, Esquire, Henry William Wood, Esquire and Caleb Tait Smith, Esquire, together with such and so many other Persons and bodies politic and corporate as now are, or shall hereafter become, proprietors of any Share or Shares of or in the Capital, for the time being, of the Company hereby established, shall be one body politic and corporate, in name and in deed, by the name of "The Hongkong and Shanghae Banking Corporation,” and by that name shall and may sue and be sued, in all Courts, whether of law or of equity, and shall have perpetual succession with a Common Seal, which may be by them varied and changed at their pleasure.
IV. The Company is and shall be established for the purpose of carrying on under the management of a Court of Directors the business of Banking for the term of Twenty-one Years, commencing from the day of the date of this Ordinance, in the Colony: Provided always that nothing herein contained shall restrict the said Company, with the consent of the Commissioners for the time being for executing the Office of Lord High Treasurer in England, from establishing any Banks or Branch Banks at London or at any Port, Town, City or Place in India, Penang and Singapore, or in the Dominions of the Emperor of China, or of the Tycoon of Japan, in or at which any British Consulate or Vice-Consulate is or may be hereafter established, and also without such consent as aforesaid from establishing at London or any such Port, Town, City or Place as aforesaid, Agencies for Exchange, Deposit and Remittance.
V. The Capital of the Company shall consist of Five Millions of Dollars divided into Forty Thousand Shares of One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars each, and such further Capital not exceeding Two Millions Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, as the Directors for the time being shall deem necessary for the purposes of the said undertaking: And for the creation of which they shall have previously obtained the consent of the Governor, such consent being signified in writing under the hand of the Governor; but such further Capital shall be divided into Shares of One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars each and be paid up in full as hereinafter mentioned. And until such further Capital be raised as aforesaid, the aforesaid Sum of Five Millions of Dollars shall be taken to be the fixed Capital of the Company--- And whenever and so often as any further Capital shall have been raised then a Notification or Proclamation to that effect under the hand of the Governor shall be published in the Hongkong Government Gazette, and the said Sum of Five Millions of Dollars together with such further Capital, shall thenceforth be taken to be the fixed Capital of the Company, but with power, nevertheless, to further increase such Capital as hereinafter mentioned.
VI. It shall not be lawful for the Company to commence or carry on the said business of Banking, until it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Governor that the whole of the aforesaid Capital of Five Millions of Dollars has been subscribed for by Deed, under hand and seal; and that one-half (at the least) of such Sum of Five Millions of Dollars has been actually paid up, such satisfaction to be evidenced by a Notification or Proclamation under the hand of the Governor, to be published in the said Hongkong Government Gazette,