Chap. 244.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section five of an act approved No-
vember twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled an act to in-
corporate the town of Boykins, in the county of Southampton, and amended
and re-enacted by an act approved February fourteenth, nineteen hundred and
one, and amended by an act approved December nineteenth, nineteen hundred
and one, and amended by an act aproved March sixteenth, nineteen hundred
and ten, and amended and re-enacted by an act approved March twenty-fourth
nineteen hundred and twenty. tH B 408}

Approved March 14, 1924.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
five of an act approved November twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred
and eighty-four, entitled an act to incorporate the town of Boykins, in
the county of Southampton, as amended by an act approved February
sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, as amended by an act approved
February fourteenth, nineteen hundred and one, as amended by an act
approved December nineteenth, nineteen hundred and one, as amended
by an act approved March sixteenth, nineteen hundred and ten, and
amended and re-enacted by an act approved March twenty-fourth,
nineteen hundred and twenty, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

Section 5. The said council shall elect one of its members president,
who shall be empowered to discharge the duties of mayor of the said
town in the absence of the mayor or his inability to act. The said coun-
cil shall also have the power to elect a clerk, a treasurer, a sergeant, and
such other officers as they may deem necessary for the said town, to
regulate their compensation, prescribe their duties, remove them from
office, and require bond, with approved security, for the faithful per-
formance of their respective duties. The clerk and treasurer may be
elected from the council or from the electors of the said town. The
clerk shall annually before the first day of May of each year, go to each
taxpayer and take the list of all personal property that is subject to
taxation for town purposes. The council shall also have power to pass
all by-laws and ordinances for the government of the said town which
they may deem proper, not in conflict with the Constitution of this State
or of the United States; to mark accurately the bounds of existing streets
and alter or change the same, and to lay off new streets, alleys or side-
walks, and keep them in order, and to make other improvements, for
which purposes the council of said town shall have the same power and
jurisdiction for condemning lands for streets, alleys and sidewalks, as
the supervisors have for condemning lands for roads in the county; to
cause to be made a plat and survey of the said town, showing distinctly
its boundaries, its public streets, alleys and sidewalks, and their width,
with such remarks and explanations as they may deem proper; to regu-
late or prohibit the running at large of animals and fowls; to provide and
protect shade trees; to establish a fire department, with suitable and
necessary conveniences; to acquire land for and maintain a cemetery,
and make such rules and regulations for the government of the same
as they may deem necessary; to make regulations in reference to con-
tagious diseases; to abate nuisances; to provide for order and quiet and
the observance of the Sabbath within said town and one mile beyond its
limits; to punish violations of the by-laws and ordinances of the said
council with fines and imprisonment, or either; to appoint, every two
years, five electors of said town to assess the value of real estate within
the hmits of the said town for the purpose of taxation, who shal] certify
their assessment to the council by the first of May, and, in addition to
the powers conferred by this act, shall have the same power and author-
ity as the councils of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants ‘under
the general laws of the State; and for the purpose of this incorporation,
the said council may levy such taxes as they deem proper on all property,
real and personal, within the said town, not to exceed three dollars on
the one hundred dollars assessed value, a capitation tax not to exceed
ten dollars; and a license tax on every vocation, profession or business
for which a State license is required, and a tax on dogs, not to exceed
one dollar; and spayed female dogs one dollar, and unspayed female
dogs two dollars each year; but nothing contained in this act shall be
construed to repeal or amend any provision of the general laws of the
State now in effect with respect to the segregation of taxes. In case of
failure to pay the tax on any dog, spayed female dog, or unspayed female
dog, each year, at a time prescribed by the council, the same shall be
killed by the town sergeant, under regulations to be prescribed by the
council.

2. All acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

3. Whereas an emergency exists, this act shall be enforced from its
passage. )