632752-1898-Despatch--Order-in-Council-re-Chartered-Bank-of-India-Australia-and-China — Page 2

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 7TH MAY, 1898.

HER MAJESTY, having taken into consideration the said letter, and the Draft Supplemental Charter accompanying it, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve there- of, and to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the Right Honourable Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bart., one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, do cause a Warrant to be prepared for Her Majesty's Royal Signature, for passing under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom a Supplemental Charter in conformity with the said Draft, which is hereunto annexed.

C. L. PEEL.

DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER referred to in foregoing Order in Council.

VICTORIA by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, De-

fender of the Faith To all to whom these presents shall come, Grecting.

1. Whereas by Our Royal Charter under Our Great Seal bearing date at Westminster the 29th day of December in the 17th year of Our Reign (in this Our Charter called "the original Charter") a Company was incorporated by the name of the Chartered Bank of India Australia and China with a Common Seal for the purpose of carrying on in London under the management of a Court of Directors by means of Banks or Branch Banks the business of banking in any of Our Colonies or Dependencies in Australia and New Zealand in the Islands of Ceylon or Hong Kong or at any other Port town city or place in China where a Consulate had been or might thereafter be established or which might be under the superintendence of the principal superintendent of trade at Hong Kong provided that no such Banks or Branch Banks should be established in any of Our Colonies or Dependencies in Aus- tralia or New Zealand unless the previous assent thereto of the Commissioners of Our Treasury should have been signified in writing under their hands or the hands of any two of them and for the purpose of establishing Agencies in the Chief Ports of India and in any of Our Colonies or possessions east- ward of the Cape of Good Hope in which no Banks or Branch Banks might have been established in virtue of Our Charter and in other chief ports or places of trade in the East in order to conduct the business of exchange deposit and remittance in connection with their other establishments but subject to the conditions in the Original Charter contained.

2. And whereas by a Supplemental Charter under Our Great Seal dated the 20th day of July 1861 We authorized the said Company to establish a Bank or Branch Bank in the Island of Singapore for the purpose of carrying on the general business of banking under the provisions of the Original Charter in the Island of Singapore and adjoining British Settlements that is to say Penang and Malacca but subject to the conditions in the said Supplementary Charter contained.

3. And whereas by the Original Charter We declared that on the determination of the term of twenty-one years from the date thereof the privileges thereby conferred on the said Company should cease unless We Our heirs or successors should by writing under Our Great Seal declare to the con- trary and should authorize the said Company to continue incorporated under the Original Charter for a further term of ten years or for such period and under such conditions as We Our heirs and successors should think fit.

4. And whereas by the Original Charter and the deed of Settlement made in pursuance thereof and the bye-laws made in pursuance of such deed the Commissioners of Our Treasury (in this Our Charter referred to as the Treasury) the Secretary of State in Council of India and the Secretary of State for the Colonies were authorized or required to exercise control over the management of the said Company in divers matters.

5 And whereas the period of years specified in the Original Charter expired on the 29th day of December 1874 and by a Supplemental Charter under Our Great Seal dated the 10th day of November 1874 We authorized the said Company to continue incorporated under the Original Charter as amended by the said Supplemental Charter for a further period of ten years.

6. And whereas by the said last mentioned Supplemental Charter it was declared that it should be lawful for the said Company to carry on its business without the control or interference of the Treasury the Secretary of State in Council of India and the Secretary of State for the Colonies save as in the said Supplemental Charter provided and it was by the said Supplemental Charter provided that the control of the Treasury over an increase of capital not exceeding the amount of Two million pounds and over the establishment of Banks or Branch Banks in any of Our Colonies or Dependencies in Australia or New Zealand and the power of Her Majesty to revoke the Original Charter on the representation of the Treasury that its conditions had been violated should be retained as contained in the Original Charter,