CHAP. 75. An Act to incorporate the Central Canada Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. [Assented to 27th April, 1907.] WHEREAS the persons hereinafter named have by their Preamble. petition prayed that it be enacted as hereinafter set forth, and it is expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition: Therefore His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. Phineas Hophni Burton, of Toronto, George Charles IncorporHenry Lang, of Berlin, John Dundas Flavelle, of Lindsay, ation. William Moir Gartshore, of London, William Buchan Tindall, Alfred Jephcott, George Frank Beer and John Warren Cowan, of Toronto, Daniel Wilson, of Collingwood, all in the province of Ontario, Jeffrey Hale Burland and Jean Damien Rolland, of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Theodore Harding Estabrooks, of St. John, in the province of New Brunswick, and Byron Erb Bechtel, of Waterloo, in the province of Ontario, together with such persons as become members of the company, are incorporated under the name of "The Central Canada Corporate Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company," hereinafter name. called "the Company." 2. The persons named in section 1 of this Act shall be Provisional the provisional directors of the Company, a majority of whom directors. shall be a quorum. They shall hold office until their successors are elected as hereinafter provided, and shall forthwith take all necessary steps to organize the Company. 3. The head office of the Company shall be at the city of Head office. Toronto, in the province of Ontario. Business of Re-insur ance. "Manufacturers" defined. When business may be commenced. Premium notes. Form of premium note. Rates to be charged. 4. The Company may make and effect contracts of insurance upon the mutual system with manufacturers and owners of property used for manufacturing establishments against loss or damage by fire or lightning in respect of buildings used for manufacturing purposes or in connection therewith for storage or other like purposes, and the contents thereof. 2. The Company may cause itself to be re-insured against any risk it has undertaken. 3. In this section the word "manufacturers" means persons who, in the course of their business, use machinery moved or worked by electricity, steam, water or other mechanical power. 5. No policy of insurance shall be issued by the Company until applications have been made on at least three hundred separate and distinct risks, for an aggregate of at least one million dollars of insurance, the premiums whereon in cash and premium notes received by the Company shall amount to at least fifty thousand dollars, of which at least ten thousand dollars shall be in cash; nor until a license has been issued to the Company for the transaction of such fire insurance business. 6. The Company may accept the premium notes of the assured for assurance, and may undertake contracts in consideration thereof, and the said notes shall, subject to the provisions of section 9 hereof as to fixed payments, be assessed for the losses, expenses and reserve of the Company in the manner hereinafter provided. 7. Where the premium note is made upon a sheet or page which contains other matter, the premium note shall be so entitled in conspicuous type, and shall be separated from such other matter by a blank space of at least an inch wide carried across the sheet or page, and if such other matter requires, or is intended to receive the assent of the maker of the premium note, such assent shall be evidenced by a signature wholly distinct from the signature to the premium note, and any violation of this section shall render the note absolutely null and void. 8. The rate to be charged or taken by way of premium note for insuring first class isolated property shall not be less than one dollar per one hundred dollars per annum, and the minimum rate of insurance upon other property shall be increased relatively with the increased risk, according to the nature of such property, provided that premium notes of not less than one dollar per one hundred dollars per annum may be charged or taken when and so long as the gross amount at risk exceeds two million dollars, and the total assets of the Company do not fall below two per cent of the gross amount at risk. in cash. 9. The directors may demand in cash a part or first payment First of the premium at the time that application for insurance payments is made, and such first payment shall be credited upon the said premium note or against future assessments, but not more than sixty per cent of any premium note shall be paid in cash at the time of such application or of effecting the insurance: Provided that non-payment of any of the fixed payments here- Proviso. inafter mentioned, subsequent to the first, shall forfeit the insurance if such fixed payment remains unpaid after thirty days' notice of the fixed payment due has been mailed by registered post to the person by whom the fixed payment is payable, directed to his post office address as given in his original application or otherwise in writing to the Company. Provided further, that on every premium note taken for insurance there shall be payable at the commencement of each year of insurance a fixed sum amounting to at least one-fourth of one per cent of the sum insured, and the premium note shall, as to the balance thereof, be subject to assessment by the directors. 10. All premium notes belonging to the Company shall be Assessment of premium assessed under the direction of the directors, at such intervals notes. from their respective dates, for such sums as the directors determine, and for such further sums as they think necessary and as are authorized by this Act for losses, expenses and reserve, during the currency of the policies for which the said notes were given and in respect of which they are liable to assessment, and every member of the Company, or person who has given a premium note, shall pay the sums from time to time payable by him to the Company during the continuance of his policy in accordance with the assessment, and the assessment shall become When payable in thirty days after notice thereof has been mailed by becomes registered post to the member who has given the premium note, payable. directed to his post office address as given in his original application or otherwise in writing to the Company. assessment ment of 11. If the assessment on the premium note upon a policy Effects of is not paid within thirty days after notice mailed to the assured non-payunder such policy at his said post office address, as aforesaid, assessment. the contract of insurance for which the assessment has been made shall be null and void as respects all claims for losses occurring during the time of non-payment; but the contract shall be Revival of revived when the assessment has been paid, unless the secretary contract. gives notice to the contrary to the assessed party in the manner provided in the last preceding section, but nothing herein contained shall relieve the assured from his liability to pay any assessment legally levied while his policy is in force, nor shall the assured be entitled to recover the amount of loss or damage which happens to property insured under the contract while such assessment remains due and unpaid, unless the directors in their discretion decide otherwise. Notice of assessment. Proportion of assessment. Proviso. Company may sue for 12. A notice of assessment upon any premium note mailed as aforesaid shall be deemed sufficient if it embodies the register number of the contract, the period over which the assessment extends, the amount of the assessment, the time when and the place where payable. 13. Subject to the provisions of section 8 hereof, assessments upon premium notes shall always be in proportion to the amount of the notes: Provided that where the Company alters its premium note rate, but still holds in respect of subsisting contracts premium notes of the prior rate, the Company may, as between the respective premium notes so differing in rate, make and levy such differential assessments as will, in risk of the same. amount, and of the same class of hazard, equalize the cost of insurance to the makers of the respective premium notes. 14. If, for thirty days after notice of assessment mailed as aforesaid, a member who has given a premium note refuses or assessments neglects to pay the assessment, the Company may sue for and recover it, with costs of suit, and such proceedings shall not be a waiver of any forfeiture incurred by non-payment. on premium notes. Annual assessment for a 15. The Company may form a reserve fund, to consist of all moneys which remain on hand at the end of each year after reserve fund. payment of the ordinary expenses and losses of the Company and for that purpose the directors may levy an annual assessment not exceeding ten per cent on the premium notes held by the Company, and the reserve fund may, from time to time, be applied by the directors to pay off such liabilities of the Company as are not provided for out of the ordinary receipts for the same or any succeeding year. When amount of premium 16. If there is a loss on property insured by the Company the directors shall retain the amount of the premium note given note may be for insurance thereof until the time has expired for which insurretained by ance has been made, and at the expiration of the said time the insured may demand and shall receive such part of the retained sum as has not been assessed for. directors. When premium note becomes absolutely void. 17. On the expiration of forty days after the term of insurance has ended the premium note given for the term shall be absolutely null and void, except as to first payment or fixed payments remaining unpaid, 'and except as to lawful assessments of which written notice has been given to the maker of the premium note during the currency of the policy, or within the said period of forty days, nd on the expiration of the said period the premium note shall, upon application therefor, be given to the maker thereof, provided all liabilities with which the premium note is chargeable as aforesaid have been paid. be composed 18. The Company shall be composed of policy-holders, who Company to shall own and control all its property and affairs as hereinafter of policyprovided, and each policy-holder during the continuance of his holders. policy shall be, and is hereby constituted, a member of the Company, and, while such member, may give one vote at all general meetings in person or by proxy. Such proxy must be also a policy-holder in the Company, and the authority in writing to such proxy must be filed with, or sent by registered letter to, the manager at least two days previous to such meeting. 19. Within six months after the licensing of the Company First general the provisional directors shall call a meeting of the members, to meeting. be held at the head office, of which meeting at least one month's notice shall be given by publication in at least one local newspaper and by circular sent by mail to the last known address of each member. At the said meeting the members present or repre- Election sented by proxy shall elect a board of not less than six nor more directors. than fifteen directors, who shall manage the affairs of the Company, and of whom a majority shall be a quorum. of first 2. Thereafter the Company shall hold an annual meeting, Annual notice whereof shall be given in the manner provided by sub- meeting. -section 1 of this section. At such annual meeting a statement of the Company's affairs shall be presented, and the annual election of directors shall take place. All the directors then in office shall retire, but if otherwise qualified they shall be eligible for re-election. election of 3. All elections of directors shall be by ballot, and the Annual persons who have the greatest number of votes at such directors. election shall be directors, except as hereinafter provided; and if two or more persons have an equal number of votes in such manner that more than the required number appear to be chosen as directors, then those having a greater number of votes than those whose votes are equal shall forthwith determine which of the said persons so having an equal number of votes shall be the director or directors, so as to complete the number required. 4. At each such annual meeting all business may be trans- Business acted without the necessity for specifying such business in the at annual notice of such meeting. meetings. 5. At each such annual meeting there shall also be selected Election of an auditor, who shall be a certificated chartered accountant, auditor. and whose duty it shall be to audit the books and accounts of the Company for the next ensuing year, and report thereon to the annual meeting next ensuing. Such auditor shall be elected by open vote of the members present. 20. No person, except as hereinafter provided, shall be Qualification. eligible to be elected or to continue a director unless he is a member of the Company and is assured for a sum not less than five thousand dollars, or is a member of a firm or corporation |