173. Any foreman, workman or laborer, or any person who has supplied to such company, contractor, or sub-contractor, or to any person for them, labor or materials employed or to be employed in the construction of such railway, or who has given or sold one or more rights of way, may file in the office of the Minister of Transport a claim under oath, made according to form 4.
As soon as such claim is filed, the Minister of Transport may, in his discretion, retain, out of the subsidy granted by the Legislature to the company, an amount sufficient to cover the claim until satisfied, unless the company or persons entitled to such subsidies consent to the payment of the claim by the said Minister out of the amount of such subsidies.
When the claim is contested, the said Minister shall keep an amount sufficient to pay the contested claim or claims until the matter is finally settled by the courts or settled by private agreement.
R. S. 1964, c. 290, s. 190; 1973, c. 27, s. 20; 1983, c. 40, s. 68.