The directors appointed by the special Act shall, unless thereby otherwise provided, continue in office until the first ordinary meeting to be held in the year next after that in which the special Act shall have passed; and at such meeting the shareholders present, personally or by proxy, may either continue in office the directors appointed by the special Act, or any number of them, or may elect a new body of directors, or directors to supply the places of those not continued in office, the directors appointed by the special Act being eligible as members of such new body; and at the first ordinary meeting to be held every year thereafter the shareholders present, personally or by proxy, shall elect persons to supply the places of the directors then retiring from office, agreeably to the provisions herein-after contained; and the several persons elected at any such meeting, being neither removed nor disqualified, nor having resigned, shall continue to be directors until others are elected in their stead, as herein-after mentioned.