Chap. 210.—An ACT Directing the Board of Public Works to Sell the
State’s Interest in the Various Internal Improvement Companies of the
Commonwealih. .

Anproved March 28, 1871.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the board
of public works be and the same is hereby anthorized and di-
rected, to sell to each railroad and internal improvement com-
pany in this state, the interest of the state in the same, includ-
lag all bonds, stocks, loans, and claims (for the sale of which
provision has not already been made by law), for an equal
amount of state bonds, except the stock held by the state in
the Richmond and Petersburg railroad company, which stock
the board of public works is hereby authorized and directed
to sell to Henry K. Ellyson, Joseph It. Anderson, Isaac Dav-
enport, junior, Fred. R. Scott, Franklin Stearns, John B. Davis,
James H. Cox, A. F. Harvey, and Reuben Ragland, at the
rate of one hundred and fifty dollars for each share of said
stock, payable in registered or coupon bonds of the state of
Virginia, at par, within six months after the passage of this
act, according to the provisions of a proposal to purchase said
stock, signed and sealed by the parties aforesaid, and dated on
the sixth day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-one;
which proposal is hereby accepted and made a binding con-
tract between the state and the said parties; and the clerk of
the house of delegates, with whom the said contract is now
filed, is instructed, on the passage of this act, to deliver it to
the board of public works: provided, that before this sale shall
be made, the board of public works shal! obtain from the Rich-
mond and Petersburg railroad company a valid contract, bind-
ing said company to allow any connecting work all proper fa-
cilities in and for the formation of a physicai junction with the
railway track of the same, and that it shall make no higher
rates of charge on freights and passengers coming from the
line of any such connecting work, and destined for the line of
any such connecting work, than is made by said company, or
the like class of freights and passengers for transportation on
its own line for the same distance: provided, such connecting
work shall observe the same rule in its charges for the trans-
portation of such freights and passengers, and to permit the
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio railroad company to build and
construct a road track upon its road bed and across its bridges
for its own use, upon such terms as may be agreed upon be-
tween the said companies; and if they fail to agree, then upon
such terms as may be fixed by the board of public works, as
au arbiter between them: and provided further, that if the
sale provided for in this section shall, for any cause, not be
completed within six months from the passage of this act,
then the board of public works is hereby empowered and ex-
pressly directed to sell the state’s interest in the Richmond
and Petersburg railroad, to the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio
railroad for one hundred and fifty dollars in state bonds for
every share of said stock.

2. Any company desiring to avail itself of the provisions of
this act, shall signify to the board of public works its accep-
tance of the same, within six months from its passage, and
thereupon it shall become binding and obligatory upon it.

3. Any company accepting the provisions of this act, shall,
within twelve months from the passage of the same, deposit
with the treasurer of the commonwealth, state bonds to an
amount equal to one-sixth of the whole interest of the state
in said company, whether the same consist of stock, bonds, or
claims ; and the fact of such deposit shall be certified by the
treasurer to the board of public works, who shall thereupon
surrender to said company an equal amount of the state’s in-
terest in such company. And said company shall, every twelve
months thereafter, make a like deposit, and the board of public
works shall surrender a like interest, until the whole interest
of the state shall have been paid for and surrendered; it being
the intent and meaning of this act that the interest of the state
shall be sold and the same purchased by the company, in six
equal instalments, the first to be made within twelve months
from the passage of this act, and one instalment every twelve
months thereafter, until the whole purchase shall have been
completed. But such company may anticipate all or any of
said instalments, and receive such interest as it may pay for,
from time to time.

4, In any purchase and transfer, under the provisions of
this act, that interest which is the least valuable, shall be first
purchased and surrendered, and the claims and securities held
by the state shall continue to draw interest, and the same shall
be paid as now provided by law, so long as the same are held
by the state. And upon the transfer, by the board of public
works, to any company, of any stock under the provisions of
this act, every stockholder shall be entitled to cast one vote
for each share of stock held in the company, at all meetings of
the stockholders thereafter held. And the stockholders shall
determine what disposition shall be made of the stock so trans-
ferred and acquired, with power to extinguish, reissue, sell or
hypothecate the same, after the whole interest of the state in
such company shall. have been paid for; but whilst said stock is
held by the company it shall not be voted on in any meeting
of the stockholders of said company:

d. If any company, after accepting this act, shall make de-
fault in the payment of any of the instalments as herein pro-
vided, the board of public works is authorized and directed,
after sixty days’ notice to said company, to take such steps as
to it may seem for the best interest of the state to enforce the
conditions of the same; and for that purpose may institute a
suit or suits for the recovery of the amount due, or if the state
prefer, then the defaulting company shall after a lapse of three
months from and after such default, return to the state all
stocks, bonds, loans and claims acquired by it under this act,
and the state shall be as fully reinvested with all its rights
over and to the same, as if this act had not been passed; and
thereupon the state bonds delivered to the state by said de-
faulting company shall be returned to said company, but
without interest while remaining in the state treasury. And
further, upon the happening of such default by said company,
the state shall have one vote for each share of stock owned or
held by it in the company so defaulting.

6. The privilege of purchasing the interest of the state in
any work of internal improvement, under the provisions of
this act, shall remain in such company unimpaired for six
months after the passage of this act, within which time the
stockholders of such company, in general meeting assembled,
may waive any exemption from taxation now enjoyed by them,
whether such exemption is allowed by its charter or by law,
and if the company shall so waive the exemption, this act shall
for the future be taken to be a part of such charter, as fully as
if specially re-enacted with reference to such company; and
should no such meeting of stockholders be called or if called,
shall refuse to make such formal waiver of exemption from
taxation, then the board of public works shall proceed to sell
the interest of the state in such work of internal improvement,
in the manner prescribed by section eight of this act.

7 All state bonds and stocks received by the treasurer under
the provisions of this act, shall be by him forthwith turned.
over to the second auditor, who shall hold the same, subject
to the future action of the general assembly. .

8. If any internal improvement company of the state shall
fail or refuse to accept the provisions of this act within six
months after its passage, then the board of public works are
hereby authorized and directed to sell the stocks and interest
held by the state in said companies, to the highest bidder, at
public auction, after sixty days’ notice, published in the papers
of the city of Richmond, for the best price that can be ob-
tained for them, payable in the bonds of the state at their par
value. At any such sale, any company may become a pur-
chaser of the state’s interest in said company. But no such
sale shall be made under the authority of this act for less than
the original cost of said stocks and interest, or for less than
the market value thereof.

9, This act shall be in force from its passage.