25. The general meeting shall decide, in accordance with such statement, the amount of the surplus operations to be allotted.
It shall assign such amount to the constitution of reserves as well as to the allocation of refunds to members and, if the by-laws provide for same, to users of the association; such allocation must be proportionate to the amount of business transacted with the association by each of the members or users and besides conformably to the provisions of the by-laws.
The by-laws concerning the allotment and payment of the surplus operations shall bind the association and its members in the same way as if they were signed and sealed respectively by each member and contained covenants on the part of each member, his heirs, executors and administrators, to observe all the stipulations of the by-laws, conformably to the provisions of this act.
The reserves of an association shall not be divided among the members except in the case of winding-up.
The association shall have the right to retain for the recovery of any claim it holds against any of its members or any user, the moneys it may owe him and to apply the same in compensation.
R. S. 1964, c. 124, s. 25.