CHAP. 308.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 15 of an act entitled
an act to provide a special road law for the county of Fauquier; to
provide for the working and keeping in repair of the public roads in
said county and to create separate district road boards in each of the
several magisterial districts thereof; to authorize the erection of toll-
gates and the collection of tolls upon certain public roads, therein
and making certain provisions for the enforcement and collection of
said tolls and the protection of the said roads, and the property of
said district road boards, and providing certain penalties for the
violation thereof, and to repeal all special acts heretofore enacted im
reference to the public roads of said county, and to validate the official
acts of certain officers under laws heretofore in effect in said county,
approved February 2, 1915, and to prescribe a penalty for the viola-
tion thereof; and to add an independent section thereto, numbered
fifteen and a half, so as to require the owners or occupants of land
abutting on any public road to keep the same free from certain
obstructions. (H. B. 509.)

Approved March 20, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section fifteen of an act entitled an act to provide a special road
law for the county of Fauquier; to provide for the working and
keeping in repair of the public roads in said county and to create
separate district road boards in each of the several magisterial
districts thereof; to authorize the erection of toll-gates and the
collection of tolls upon certain public roads therein and making
certain provisions for the enforcement and correction of said
tolls and the protection of the said roads, and of the property
of said district road boards, and providing certain penalties for
the violation thereof, and to repeal all special acts heretofore
enacted in reference to the public roads of said county, and to
validate the official acts of certain officers under laws hereto-
fore in effect in said county, approved February second, nine-
teen hundred and fifteen, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows, and that an independent section, numbered fif-
teen and a half be added thereto as hereinafter set forth.
Section 15. All persons engaged in the lumber business,
and all shippers of lumber, ties, tiling and other like products,
who shall haul their lumber, ties, tiling and other like products
over any portion of said public roads of the county of Fauquier,
and all persons hiring teams for the purpose of hauling said
products over any portion of said roads, shall pay a license tax
for the privilege of engaging in such business, the sum of ten
dollars, together with a further sum of fifty cents on every one
hundred dollars of the gross amount of such business done by
such person or persons during the period for which the license
is granted. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the reve-
nue of the district in which such business is conducted to assess
the said license in the same manner and for the same period as
State license taxes are assessed. And in order to ascertain the
gross amount of such business, it shall be the duty of all persons
so engaged in the business aforesaid, on the first day of April
in each year, or within ten days thereafter, to make report in
writing under oath to the said commissioner of the revenue,
showing the amount of business done by them and an itemized
statement of the amount, character and value of the lumber, ties,
and tiling and other like products purchased or sold or hauled in
said county during the next preceding twelve months, and said
reports, as far as practicable, shall be verified by the certificates
of the railway companies’ agents at the respective railway sta-
tion to which products are hauled for shipment or from which
the same are shipped. The form for such report may be pre-
scribed by the board of supervisors of said county. Any per-
son, firm or corporation who shall engage in the business afore-
said, or haul or caused to be hauled any of the products afore-
said, over any portion of said public roads in said county with-
out paying the license tax herein prescribed, or who shall in any
manner violate the provisions of this section, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof. shall be
fined not less than ten dollars, nor more than fifty dollars. All
licenses hereunder shall be payable to the county of Fauquier,
and all licenses and fines assessed or collected hereunder shall
be paid to the treasurer of Fauquier county, and placed to the
credit of the road funds of the district in which the same are
collected or paid.

Sec. 1514. It shall be the duty of all persons owning or oc-
cupying land lying on or abutting upon any public road in the
county of Fauquier, to keep the said roads and the ditches or
drains thereto. so far as they abut upon the said roads, free of
all briars, bushes, trees or undergrowth and other obstructions
wherever and whenever the same shall interfere with the cus-
tomary traffic thereon, or the free use thereof bv the public,
and to prevent the stone from stone fences from falling into and
obstructing the said roads or the drains and ditches thereto.
Notice to remove any such obstruction or interference may be
given to the owner or occupant of any such land bv the board
of supervisors or by the district road board of the district, and
if the same be not removed within ten days after the receipt of
such notice the district road board may cause the same to be
removed and the actual costs thereof shall be a charge against
such owner or occupant, and the same may be recovered by said
district road board against such owner or occupant by warrant
or other legal proceedings.