Chap. 291.—An ACT to incorporate the Mcherrin Valley railroad
; company.

Approved March 14, 1878.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
A. L. Shepherd, M. T. Dill, W. H. Clare, B. D. Tillar, W. T.
Dill, and such persons and corporations as may become asso-
ciated with them in the manner hereinafter provided, shall
be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corpo-
rate by the name of The Meherrin Valley railroad, and by
that namv shall have all the powers, rigbts, and privileges
necessary and proper to locate, construct, and maintain a
railroad, to be known as the Meherrin Valley railroad, to
begin at Claresville, in Greensville county, and run through
tbe counties of Greensville, Brunswick, and Mecklenburg, to
Clarksville.

2. That the capital stock of said company shall rot exceed
the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, and be divided into
shares of fifty dollars each; and whenever twenty-five thou-
sand dollars shall be subscribed, the: subscribers shall be in-
corporated by the name and for the purposes aforesaid, with
power and authority to effect the same.
3. The capital stock of said company may be increased
from time to time by the board of directors, to such an
amount as they may deem necessary for the interest of the
company, not exceeding the maximum capital stock pre-
scribed in this act; and the board of directors of said com-
pany, to fully construct and equip said railway, shall also
have power to issue bonds, in such sums of not less than one
hundred dollars each, and bearing interest not exceeding the
rate allowed by law, pay able, principal and interest, at ‘such
times and places and in such manner as may be deemed most
advantageous to said company, and may secure the same by
One or more mortgages on the road, franchises, income, real
and personal property, of the said company, or such parts
thereof as may be designated in the mortgage or mortgages.

4, That it shall be lawful for the said company to acquire,
in subscriptions to the capital stock of said company, or by
donations or otherwise, lands, mines, property, materials, or
labor, and to receive subscriptions from other companies,
associations, and corporations, and to make such arrange-
ments as shall be mutually agreed upon by the respective
boards of directors for such companies, associations, and cor-
porations, for the endorsement of sale and exchange of stock
and bonds, as to increase facilities for a speedy completion of
said road; and the said company may sell, lease, or other-
wise dispose of, any lands or other property acquired under
this section, at their pleasure.

5. The said company shall have the right to connect with
and to cross at, or under or above grade, any railroad now
or hereafter to be built in the vicinity of said road. No dis-
crimination shall be made in the charges of said company
against the trade and travel of any connecting work, but it
shall jointly, with such connecting companies, make suitable
arrangements for the convenient transfer of freights from
one road to the other, and, gauge permitting, for a free
interchange of freight cars upon reasonable terms, and no
discrimination shall be made in the charges of any connect-
ing work against the trade and travel of said company.

6. That any cvunty along the line of said road is hereby
authorized, in the manner and under the rules and regula-
tions prescribed by law, to subscribe to the capital stock of
said company each an amount not exceeding fifty thousand
dollars; and to this end it shall be the duty of the county
courts in such counties, in their discretion, to cause a vote
to be taken, in. the manner ‘prescribed by law, at such time
as the president and board of directors of said company may
ask, and issue bonds in such form, running such length of
time, and bearing such rates of interest, and payable at such
times and places” as the county courts of said counties may
determine, and to guarantee the payment of such bonds so
issued whenever the qualified voters, in the manner above
prescribed, shall authorize: provided, that before any county,
city, or incorporated town shall, in fact, guarantee the pay-
ment of the bonds, or any of them which may be issued
under the mortgages bercinbefore provided, or to guarantee
the payment of interest on said bonds, or exchange its bonds
so to be issued under said mortgages, or any part thereof, the
board of supervisors, if it be a county, and the proper author-
ities, if it be a city or incorporated town, shall, by resolution
entered on their records, give their assent and approval to
said guarantee or exchange: provided, furtber, that no bonds
issucd to said company by any such city, county, or incorpo-
rated town, by reason of such subscription, shall be sold or
hypothecated until the conditions berecin named sball have
been complied with.
7. This act shall be in force from its passage.