Chap. 223.—An ACT to Authorize the Qualified Voters of the County of
Gloncester to Vote on the Question of Removing the Court-house and
Other Public Buildings of said County.

Approved March 18, 1872.

nf elec. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That it shall be
r removal the duty of the officers conducting elections in the county
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wnse; of Gloucester, at the several places for holding elections
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the qualified voters of said county, who shall desire to vote
upon the question of the removal of the county court-house to
the place known as the Warehouse on Ware river. The ballots
shall be respectively as follows:

For the present location.

For the site known as the Warehouse on Ware river.

The ballots so cast shall be deemed and taken as a vote for
the place indicated on the ballot. All persons entitled to vote
for members of the general assembly, and none others, shall
have a right to vote in said election

2. The officers conducting said election shall keep separate
poll books for said election, and the polls shall be kept open as
long as the polls for county offizers shall be kept open, and
shall proceed with, certify and return tne same to the clerk of
the county court of the said county of Gloucester in the same
manner, and shall be liable to the same penalties for neglect
and failure therein, as prescribed by law in relation to the ofh-
cers then to be elected.

3. It shall be the duty of the county court of said county in
term time or the judge thereof in vacation, to appoint five per-
sons to act as commissioners, any three or more of ~wwhom
shall constitute a board, whose duty it shall be to meet at the
clerk's office of the county court of said county on the Monday
next succeeding said election, and then and there proceed to
scrutinize, purge and count the ballots taken on the removal of
the said seat of justice and returned to the clerk of said court,
and decide upon the legality or illegality of the ballots so taken,
and having stricken therefrom such ballots as, in the opinion
of a majority of said commissioners may have been illegally
cast, said commissioners shall count the remaining ballots, and
shall verify the same by taking and subscribing before some
officer authorized to administer oaths in said county, an afh-
davit to the following effect:

We do hereby swear or affirm, that we have carefully exam.
ined the ballots in the boxes, cast upon the question of the
removal of the seat of justice of Gloucester county, and that
we have stricken therefrom no ballots, which in the opinion o!
& majority of us, were properly cast, and that no ballots remain
which a majority of us concur in believing are not entitled tc
be, according to the provisions of this act. Sworn to before
me , this day of , eighteer
hundred and seventy-two. And it shall be the duty of said
commissioners to return the said counted ballots, so verified.
to the clerk of the county court of Gloucester, to be preserved
by him in his office; and the said commissioners shall at the
same time certify to the county court, which of the locations
aforesaid shall_have received three-fifths of all the votes cast a’
said election. If the site of the said Warehouse shall] have
received the said three-fifths of the votes, it shall, to all intent:
and purposes, be the place for holding the courts of said county}
of Gloucester, and for conducting the business incident thereto
as soon thereafter as suitable buildings for the seat of justice
of said county shall have been erected at said place. If the
said three-fifths of the ballots shall not have been cast for said
site, the court house shall remain at its present location.

4. The judge of the said county court upon receiving said
certificate showing that three-fifths of all the votes cast at said
election have decided in favor of the Warehouse site aforesaid,
shall make an order and enter the same of record, authorizing
the board of supervisors of the said county of Gloucester, to
contract with such parties as they may think fit, for the erec-
tion of proper buildings for a court-house, clerk's office, jail
and other necessary buildings, and for the transfer of a public
lot of at least two acres, properly enclosed, with the right of
way thereto, tobe used for public purposes. Andthe said super-
visors are hereby authorized in making said contract, to allow
the contractor to take down and remove the present public
buildings in said county known as the court-house, clerk's office
and jail, and to use all the material therein for the purpose of
aiding in erecting the new buildings herein authorized to be
contracted for and erected. And the said supervisors are
further authorized to make such other arrangements and agree-
ments with said parties for building bridges over the two forks
of Ware river as will facilitate the passage of the people of
said county, themselves and their produce, to said county seat
of justice: provided, however, that in all such contracts and
agreements, it shall be expressly stipulated that the people of
the said county of Gloucester shall be subjected to no tax or
expense, by levy or otherwise therefor, beyond the sum of five
thousand dollars, already levied for the erection of a public jail
for said county, which sum shall be paid to said parties when
collected, according to contract.

5. If the vote cast as aforesaid shall be sufficient to cause the
judge to authorize the said supervisors to contract for new
buildings for court-house, clerk's office and jail, he shall also
authorize said supervisors to rent a suitable place for holding
said county court, and for holding the circuit court of said
county, until the new buildings shall have been erected accord-
ing to law, and it shall be lawful for said courts to hold the
regular terms required by law in such place.

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

Chap. 22!,—An ACT to Incorporate the Nethermuir Turnpike Company-

Approved March 18, 1872.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That it shall be
lawful to open books in the city of Norfolk, under the direction
of George P. Gordon, D. H. Vanwyck, L. L. Brickhouse,
Joseph M. Harrison, or any three of them, and in such other
places, and under the direction of such agents as any three of
the above named commissioners may designate, for the purpose
of receiving subscriptions to the amount of twenty thousan
dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each, to constitute a joint cap!
tal stock for the purpose of constructing a turnpike road from
some point near Little creek inlet in Princess Ann county, to
the city of Norfolk, Virginia.

2. When one hundred shares of the above named capital
stock shall have been subscribed, the subscribers, their execu-
tors, administrators and assigns, shall be incorporated into a
company by the name and style of the Nethermuir Turnpike
Company, subject to the provisions of the Code of Virginia:
provided, that the said company shall have the privilege of
making said road, orany part thereof, with rock, gravel, sand, clay,
plank or shells, as to them shall seem most expedient; and that
the said road shall occupy not less than twenty feet nor more
than sixty feet in width.

3. The said turnpike company is hereby authorized to erect
toll gates on the said road, and to collect tolls on the same at
the rate now provided by law. The said company is also
hereby authorized to commence the construction of their road
at either end thereof, or both, 4s soon as a sufficient amount of
stock is subscribed to finish two miles of it. They shall not
be required to make any summer or side road thereto.

4. If the capital stock of the said company be insufficient
for the purposes of this act, the said company shall have power,
and is hereby authorized, to increase the same by the addition
of as many shares as may be deemed necessary: provided, the
maximum amount thereof shall not exceed thirty thousand
dollars; and when one-half of said road is completed, said
company shall have power to borrow money for the purpose of
effecting the object of this act, not exceeding ten thousand dol-
lars, and to issue certificates or evidences of such loans, and to
pledge the property of the said company for the payment of
the same and the interest thereon: provided, that the said com-
pany shall commence the said road within one year and com-
plete the same within two years from the passage of this act.

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