Chap. 164.—An ACT to incorporate the Norfolk and Great Western Rail-
-road Company.

Passed February 6, 1867.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawful to open books of subscription in the city of
Norfolk, under the direction of George Blow, Jr., William
Lamb, Gilbert C. Walker, W. C. Marrow and Charles Sharp,
or any two of them;.in the town of Portsmouth, under the
direction of G. W. Grice, G. M. Bane, Jr., Arthur Emmer-
son and Thomas B. Butt, or any two of them; in the county
of Nansemond, under the direction of John R. Kilby, W.
B. Whitehead, Nat. Riddick and T. J. Kibly, or any two of
them; in the county of Softhampton, under the direction of
P. J. Holmes, 8. B. Kello, Benjamin Pope, C. F. Urquhart,
or any two of them; in the county of Greenesville, under
the direction of John R. Chambliss, William S. Goodwin,
John W. Potts and Edward C. Land, or any two of them;
in the county of Brunswick, under the direction of J. Ra-
venscraft Jones, EK. R. Turnbull, David Meredith, W. H. E.
Merritt, or any two of them; in the county of Mecklenburg,
under the direetion of William Townes, William: D. Haskins,
Robert Overby, Tucker Carrington, M. Alexander, Jr., Thos.
F’. Goode, E. A. Rawlings, William Baskerville, Jr., or any
two of them; in-the county of Halifax, under the direction
of William Carrington, W. L. Owen, R. V. Watkins and T.
L. Flournoy, or any two of them; in the county of Pittsyl-
vania, under the direction of E. F’. Keen, 8. D. Jones, George
CG. Cabell, or any two of them; in the county of Henry,
under the direction of G. W. Booker, William Martin, J. M.
Smith, Christopher Thomas and J. W. Smith, or any two of
them; in the county of Patrick, under the direction of W.
¥. B. Taylor, Samuel Staples, T. J. Penn, W. C. Staples, F.
T. Lawson, J. T. Barksdale, or any two of them; in the
county of Carroll, under the direction of L. F. Woltz, James
Early, James Wilkinson, T. M. Dobyns and J. W. Green, or
any two of them; in the county of Floyd, under the, direc-
tion of Joseph L. Howard, Jackson Godby, Samuel Dobyns,
T. W. Williamsog, or any two of them; in the county of
Grayson, under the direction of James Anderson, J. M.
Dickinson, William R. Dickey, L. H. Brant, 8. F. Anderson
and J. W. Parsons, or any two of them; in the county of
Washington, under the direction of Valentine Kebler, Phil-
lip Rohr, L. F. Johnson, or any two or them; in the town of
Danville, under the direction of Thomas P. Atkinson, Wil-
liam T. Sutherlin, William T. Clarke, Harrison Robinson,
John W. Holland, G. W. Read and Green T. Pace, or any
two of them; and in such other places, and under the direc-
tion of such other agent or agents as a majority of the com-
missioners appointed for the city of Norfolk shall designate,
for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to an amount not
exceeding ten millions of dollars, in shares of one hundred
dollars each, to constitute a joint capital stock for the pur-
pose of constructing a railroad from the city of Norfolk, via
anville, to some point on the Virginia and Tennessee rail-
road, not east of Glade springs, and for providing everything
necessary for convenient transportation on the same.

2. Whenever one hundred thousand dollars of stock shall
have been. subscribed, the subscribers, their executors, ad-
ministrators and assigns, shall be, and they are hereby declared
to be, a body politic and corporate, under the name and style
of The Norfolk and Great Western Railroad Company; and
shall be subject to all the provisions of the Code of Virginia,
and other general laws applicable to internal improvement
companies, except so far as the same may be inconsistent
with the provisions of this act.

3. If the capital stock of the said company shall be deemed
insufficient for the purposes of this act, it shall and may be
lawful for the directors, or a majority of them, from time to
time, to increase the same by the addition of so many shares
as they may deem necessary; for which they may, at their
discretion, cause subscriptions to be received in such manner
as may be prescribed by them, or may sell the same for the
benefit of the said company, for any sum not under the par
value thereof; and the said directors, or a majority of them,
shall, by and with the consent of the stockholders in general
meeting assembled, have power to borrow money for the

urposes of this act, to issue proper certificates of such loans,
and to pledge the property otf the company, by mortgage or
otherwise, for the payment of the same, and the interest that
may accrue thereon: provided the interest shall not exceed
ten per centum per annum,

+. It shall be lawful for said company to receive not ex-
ceeding two millions of acres of land in payment for sub-
scriptions of stock: provided, however, that it shall not be
lawful for said company, at the expiration of ten years after
the completion of this road, to hold more land than shall be
necessary for the use of the road. :

5. The said company shall not refuse to allow any railroad
ready built, or which may hereafter be built, to connect
with its road; and shall, jointly with such other road or
roads, make suitable arrangements for the convenjent trans-
fer of freight from one road to the othg:; and when such
road may be of the same guage, shall not refuse a free inter-
change of freight cars upon reasonable terms; that, with the
concurrence of such road or roads leading to Lynchburg,
Richmond or Petersburg, the freight tariffs shall be so ar-
ranged that no local freight sent to or received from either
of the above named places shall be charged a higher price
per ton per mile than if sent to or received from Norfolk;

and no through freight shall be charged a higher price, if sent
to either Richmond or Petersburg, than if sent to Norfolk:

provided that such connecting road or roads shall agree to
pro rate upon fair terms; and if the connecting companies
shall not be able to agree upon such terms, the question shall
be referred to the Board of public works, and its decision
shall be binding upon the parties.

6. That the commissioners appointed for the city of Nor-
folk shall be known as a central board of commissioners, a
majority of whom shall form a quorum for the transaction of
business. They shall have authority to appoint an ggent to
solicit subscriptions, to have such preliminary survey made
as they may deem important, and to collect instalments, not
exceeding in the aggregate five per centum upon the sub-
scriptions to the capital stock of the company, out of which
they shall pay all salaries and other charges incurred by them
for the benefit of the company.

7. That each subscription to the capital stock of the said
company shall be binding from the time of making it; that
in paying the last instalment on each share, a credit of eight
per centum per annum shall be allowed on all previous pay-
ments from the date of payment; that all liabilities incurred
by the central board of commissioners, in compliance with
the sixth section of this act, shall be borne pro rata by the
subscribers to the capital stock : and if any subscriber shall
have paid more than his fair proportion of such liability, the
excess shall be refunded to him.

8. That the said company shall have authority to make an
arrangement with the Norfolk and Petersburg railroad com-
pany for the use of its road, from some point near Suffolk, to
Norfolk, and such agreement shall release the said company
from its obligation to complete its road to Norfolk within
the time hereinafter specified.

9. That the said company shall commence its road within
two years, and complete it within ten years from the passage
of this act; and upon failure to comply with either of the
above requirements, it shall forfeit all the rights and privi-
leges conferred by this act, and the state shall have the right
to take possession of the said road and other property of the
company, upon paying a fair price for the same.

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