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                                                                     Exhibit 4.1



                            FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE
                             BOWATER INCORPORATED
                       SALARIED EMPLOYEES' SAVINGS PLAN



WHEREAS, Bowater Incorporated ("Bowater") established the Bowater Incorporated
Salaried Employees' Savings Plan (the "Plan") effective December 31, 1973; and

WHEREAS, Section 11.01 of the Plan reserves to Bowater the authority to amend
the Plan, and Bowater most recently amended and restated the Plan effective May
1, 1989; and

WHEREAS, Bowater desires to further amend the Plan to change the manner in
which certain matching contributions are allocated to Participant Accounts;

NOW, THEREFORE, Bowater hereby amends the Plan, effective January 1, 1996
(except as otherwise indicated), in the following respects:

      1. Section 2.01 is amended by deleting paragraph (a) thereof and
redesignating the following paragraphs accordingly.

      2. The following sentence is added after the first sentence of Section
4.01:

      "To the extent that Shares of Company Stock have been released
      from the Unallocated Company Stock Account upon payment of
      principal and/or interest on an Acquisition Loan in amounts that
      would cause the sixty percent limitation to be exceeded, such
      excess Shares shall be held unallocated until the next allocation
      of Regular Contributions pursuant to this Section or until
      allocated as Additional Contributions pursuant to Section 4.02."

      3. Section 4.02 is amended (with the amendment to subsection (a) thereof
effective May 1, 1989) to read as follows:

      "4.02 ADDITIONAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS:

            (a)  With respect to Plan Years prior to January 1, 1996, the Board
                 and the board of directors of any Employer may from time to    
                 time, authorize additional contributions by an Employer from
                 its Current or Accumulated Profits for its Employees who on
                 the day the contribution is allocated are Active Participants
                 or who were Active Participants during the Plan Year but are
                 then currently suspended under Article 8.


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                  Such contributions shall be referred to herein as "Additional
                  Employer Contributions."

                  Such Additional Employer Contributions shall be allocated to
                  the Non-ESOP Company Contribution Account of Employees,
                  unless the Employer designates such Contributions as amounts
                  to be allocated to the ESOP Account of the Employees.  Such
                  Additional Employer Contributions shall be allocated as a
                  uniform percentage (with respect to each Account to which
                  contributions are allocated) of the Regular Contributions
                  made by the Employer pursuant to Section 4.01 and remaining
                  in the Accounts of each Participant who made Contributions
                  for such Plan Year, unless the Employer designates such
                  Contributions (either alone or aggregated with other
                  specified Employer Contributions to the Plan in the same Plan
                  Year) among all Participants in proportion to their
                  respective Earnings for such Plan Year (or in any other
                  permissible manner).

                  Except to the extent required for the allocation of Shares of
                  Company Stock required to be allocated to Participants'
                  Accounts by reason of the release of such Shares from the
                  Unallocated Company Stock Account upon payment of principal
                  and/or interest on an Acquisition Loan, in no event shall
                  such uniform percentage exceed an additional forty percent of
                  the Participant' Basic Employee Contributions and/or Basic
                  Tax-Deferred Employee Contributions for the Plan Year.

            (b)   For Plan Years from and after January 1, 1996, an Employer 
                  shall make Additional Employer Contributions from its Current 
                  or Accumulated Profits if the Employer satisfies certain
                  preestablished financial targets.  The following paragraphs
                  will govern such Contributions:

                  (i)  Before the end of the first calendar quarter of each 
                       Plan Year each Employer shall establish performance
                       targets for purposes of this Section 4.02(b) and the
                       amount of Additional Contributions to be made upon the
                       achievement of such targets.  The Employer shall make
                       Additional Employer Contributions in the appropriate
                       amount with respect to each quarter in which the
                       Employer satisfies the applicable performance target. 
                       Such Contributions shall be made in proportion to Basic
                       Employee Contributions and/or Basic Tax-Deferred
                       Employee Contributions for each Employee of the Employer
                       who, as of the end of the quarter, was an Active
                       Participant or who was an Active Participant during the
                       Plan Year but is then currently suspended under Article
                       8.


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                 (ii)  Except to the extent that such Additional Employer 
                       Contributions are designated by the Employer as
                       contributions to be allocated to the ESOP Account of the
                       Employees, such Contributions shall be allocated to the
                       Non-ESOP Company Contribution Account of its Employees.

                 (iii) If the Additional Employer Contributions are designated 
                       by the Employer as contributions to be allocated to the
                       ESOP Account of the Employees, and as of the date for
                       any allocation of Additional Employer Contributions
                       pursuant to this Section 4.02(b), the shares released
                       from the Unallocated Company Stock Account during the
                       Plan Year upon payment of principal and/or interest on
                       an Acquisition Loan, less any such shares previously
                       allocated to Participants during such Plan Year as
                       Regular Contributions under Section 4.01 or Additional
                       Contributions under this Section, are greater than the
                       Additional Employer Contribution, any shares remaining
                       after such allocation shall be carried forward and
                       allocated in subsequent quarters as Regular
                       Contributions, Additional Contributions, or both;
                       provided that, as of the end of the last calendar
                       quarter of each Plan Year, all such shares shall be
                       allocated in the proportions described above."

     4.   The phrase "and for Plan Years beginning thereafter" is deleted from
the sixth sentence of Section 4.04, and the following sentence is added after
the seventh sentence of Section 4.04:

          "Effective January 1, 1996, and for Plan Years beginning thereafter,  
          Additional Contributions under Section 4.02 may be made either in
          cash or in Shares of Company Stock."

     5.   The first sentence of subparagraph 16.05(b) is amended to read as
follows:

          "As of a Valuation Date (i) at the end of each month with respect to  
          Regular Contributions made pursuant to Section 4.01, (ii) at the end
          of each Plan Year with respect to Additional Employer Contributions
          made pursuant to Section 4.02(a), and (iii) at the end of each
          calendar quarter with respect to Additional Employer Contributions,
          if any, made pursuant to Section 4.02(b), Financed Shares will be
          withdrawn from the Unallocated Company Stock Account and allocated to
          Participants' Accounts in accordance with the provisions of Sections
          4.01, 4.02 and 4.04."


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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Bowater has caused this Plan to be amended by its duly
authorized officers the 26 day of April, 1996.

                                        BOWATER INCORPORATED



                                        By:             /s/
                                           ------------------------------
                                                  Richard F. Frisch

                                        Title:  Vice President Human Resources









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