Chap. 310.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5 of chapter 8 of an act
concerning public service corporations, approved January 18, 1904.

Approved March 17, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section five
of chapter eight of an act concerning public service corporations, ap-
proved January eighteenth, nineteen hundred and four, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§5. Receipt and transmission of dispatches.—It shall be the duty of
every telegraph company doing business in this State to receive and trans-
mit dispatches from and for other telegraph or telephone companies or

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lines, and from and for any person, upon the payment of the usual
charges therefor, if such payment is demanded; to transmit the same
faithfully, impartially, with substantial accuracy, as promptly as prac-
ticable, and in the order of delivery to the said company. For every
failure to transmit a dispatch and for every failure to transmit a dispatch
faithfully, impartially, or with substantial accuracy, and for every fail-
ure to transmit a dispatch as promptly as practicable, or in the order of
its delivery to the company, the company shall forfeit the sum of one
hundred dollars to the person sending or offering to send such dispatch,
or to the person to whom it was addressed: provided, however, that not
more than one recovery shall be had on one dispatch, and the recovery
by one party entitled thereto shall be a bar to the recovery of the other
party. But nothing herein shall prevent any such company from giving
preference to dispatches on official business from or to officers of the
United States or the State of Virginia, or from making arrangements with
proprietors or publishers of newspapers for the transmission lo them for
publication of intelligence of general and public interest out of its regu-
lar order.

2. It shall be the duty of every telephone company doing the business
of transmitting and receiving messages for compensation in this State io
receive dispatches and messages from and for other telephone or telegraph
companies or lines doing the business of receiving and transmitting mes-
sages for compensation, and from and for any person; and upon the pav-
ment of the established charges therefor, if demanded, to transmit the
same faithfully and impartially, and as promptly as practicable, and in
the order of delivery to the said company. For every failure to transmit
a dispatch or message faithfully and impartially, and for every failure
to transmit a dispatch or message as promptly as practicable, or in the
order of its delivery to the company, the company shall forfeit the sum of
one hundred dollars to the person sending or wishing to send such dis-
patch or message: provided, however, not more than one recovery shall
be had on one dispatch or message, and the recovery by one party entitled
thereto shall be a bar to the recovery of the other party. But nothing
herein shall prevent any such company from giving preference to dis-
patches or messages on official business from or to officers of the United
States or the State of Virginia, or from making arrangements with pro-
prietors or publishers of newspapers for the transmission to them for
publication of intelligence of general and public interest out of its regu-
lar order.