Chap. 534.—An ACT to incorporate the Winchester telephone company.

Approved February 29, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That S. L.
Hoover, 8. R. Atwell, Bruce Worthington, the Miller supply company,
E. M. Stone, together with such persons as may become stockholders,
their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby, created and
constituted a body corporate by the name of the Winchester telephone
company, by which name it shall have perpetual succession, a
common seal, may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with,
and shall have all the rights and privileges of a corporation under
the general laws of Virginia, including all such rights as by said
laws are given to telephone companies and other works of internal
improvement, and be subject also to all the rules, regulations and re-
strictions imposed by the laws of the state in relation to joint stock
companies.

2. This company is incorporated for the conduct of the telephone
business, and to that end authority is hereby granted to it to erect
and maintain all poles, wires, and so forth, that are necessary and
proper for the conduct of such a business; to establish all offices,
exchanges, and so forth, required for the same; and authority is
given to the common council of the city of Winchester to grant ex-
clusive or other rights to said company to erect and maintain such
poles, wires, exchanges, offices, and so forth, upon such terms as the
said common council may agree upon with the said company, con-
sistent with the general law of the state.

3. The said company shall have power to acquire all estate or ease-
ments necessary for the convenient erection and maintenance of
its line, offices, and so forth,and for the general conduct of its
business, and may erect its poles and wires on and along all public
highways, roads, lanes, streets, alleys, and so forth; provided that
the consent of the common council of any incorporated city shall
be first obtained for the erection of such poles and wires within its
limits; provided that no poles shall be erected upon any county road,
public highway, turnpike, roads, lanes, and so forth, until said com-
pany shall have justly compensated the abutting land owners for the
additional servitude, nor until the consent of the county court of the
county in which the telephone line or lines are to run shall have been
obtained, which consent shall not be given by said court until printed
notice of the intention of said company to apply for the same shall
have been posted by said company at the court-house of said county,
and at two public places on every mile of road along the proposed
telephone line for thirty days; and provided, further, that all such
poles and wires shall only be so located along a road or highway a3
not to interfere with travel along the said roads, turnpikes, streeta,
alleys, and so forth; provided, further, that the acquiring of such
right of way over the public road shall be as now provided by law.

4, The said company may acquire by purchase or lease any of the
property or rights of any other telephone company, and may make
any contract witb any other such company consistent with the gene-
ral laws of the state.

5. The stock uf the said company shall be not less than fifteen
hundred dollars, nor more than ten thousand dollars, to be divided
into shares of one hundred dollars each, and each share shal] be
entitled to one vote in every meeting of the stockholders: provided
that a person holding more than one share shall be entitled to one
vote on the first share, and to one vote for each other three shares of
stock so held by him.

6. The officers of the said company shall be a president, a vice-
president and a secretary and treasurer, and a board of directors of
not less than five persons: provided, however, that the secretary and
treasurer may be the same person, and the officers may all be also
members of the board of directors.

7. The first meeting of the stockholders shall be held as soon as
convenient after the passage of this act, and annually thereafter on
the first day of January in each year, and at such other times as the
stockholders may be convened by order of the board of directors
upon notice to the stockholders, or upon publication of the said no-
tice for at least one week in some newspaper published in Winches-
ter, Virginia.

8. At the first meeting of stockholders the officers and board of
directors to serve until January first, eighteen hundred and ninety-
seven, shall be elected; and their successors shall be elected annu-
ally thereafter at the first meeting in each year; provided that the
board of directors and each of the said officers shall serve until their
successors are elected.

9. The said company, through its board of directors, shall have
power to make by-laws and rules for its government not inconsistent
with the laws of the state.

10. All debts or demands due, or to become due, to the state of
Virginia, from the said company, shall be paid in currency, and not
in coupons.

11. The said company shall begin the construction of its works
within two years of the date of the passage of this.act, and com-
plete the same within five years from the same.

12. The general assembly of Virginia reserves the right to alter,
amend or repeal this act at pleasure.

13. This act shall be in force from its passage.