Chap. 147.—An ACT to ineorporate the Bristol land company.

Approved February 1, 1880.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That F. W. Huidekoper, H. W. Bates, R. A. Avers, A. B. Pat-
terson, Justice Cox, junior, W. D. Jones, and T. H. Went-
worth, junior, or such of them as may accept the provisions
of this act, their associates and successors, be, and they
are hereby, incorporated and made a body politic and cor-
porate under the name and style of the Bristol land com-
pany, and by that name shall be known in law, and shall
have perpetual succession and have power to sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended in
all courts, whether in law or in equity, and may make and
have a common seal, and alter and renew the same at
pleasure, and shall have, enjoy and exercise all the rights,
powers, and privileges pertaining to corporate bodies and
necessary for the purpose of this act.

2. The capital stock of said company shall be one mil-
lion dollars, divided into shares the par value of which
shail be one hundred dollars each, which may be held by
individuals or corporations. The directors may receive
labor, supplies, and materials, lands, water rights, and
other property, real or personal, in payment for subscrip-
tions to the capital stock, or in payment for any bonds
sold, at such valuation as may be agreed upon between the
directors and subscribers or purchasers.

3. The said company is authorized to purchase, hold
and convey lands and interests in lands in Washington
county, in this state and elsewhere, such lands, however,
held in fee simple not to exceed at any one time five
thousand acres; to till, mine and quarry upon the same;
to construct, lease and sell dwellings, stores and other
buildings; to erect and maintain bridges, dams and fer-
ries, and otherwise use, develop, and improve the same ;
to furnish light and water, or either, to such persons,
partnerships, and corporations residing or doing business
inthe county of Washington Virginia, or Sullivan county,
Tennessee, or In any city or town therein as may desire to
use the same: to provide, locate, purchase, erect and
maintain all works necessary to furnish light and water, y
including wires, pipe lines, and conduits for the reception °
and distribution of the same, and use or sell the products
of same; to build, maintain and operate street railways,
operated by steam, horse, or other power.

4. The persons first named in this .act, or such of them x
as shall accept the provisions hereof, shal] constitute the ¢
first board of directors of the said company, and shall
continue in office until the first meeting of the stock-
holders thereof. At such first meeting, and at every annual
meeting, so many directors shall be elected as may be pre-
scribed by the laws and regulations of said company, who
mav be removed by the stockholders in general meeting;
but unless so removed shall continue in office until their
successors shall be elected and qualified. Each stock-
holder in the company shall, at all meetings or elections
thereafter, be entitled to one vote for each share of stock h
registered in his name.

5. The board of directors shall be stockholders of said V
company. They shall appoint one of their number presi-
dent, and may fill any vacancy that may occur in said
board, unless by removal, in which case the same shall be
filled by the stockholders in general meeting. Whenever
the minimum amount of capital stock therein named
shall have been subscribed, and the board of directors
shall have elected a president, said company shall be con-
sidered legally organized and may proceed to the trans-
action of business. The board shall appoint, to hold ¢
during its pleasure, the subordinate officers and agents of ,
the said company, prescribe their compensations, and take"
from them such bonds with such security as thev may
see fit.

6. The board of directors may establish offices and ¢
agencies at such places as they may deem proper, but the ®
principal office of the company shall be located at some
point within the county of Washington, in this state.

7. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said 4
company shall be held at (Goodson, in Washington county, y
Virginia, on the first Wednesday in November of each ®
vear, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and on such
other day and at such other place as the stockholders may
by resolution adopted at any annual meeting prescribe.

8. The said company shall ixsue certificates of stock in ¢
said company to the subscribers and purchasers thereof *

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in shares of not less than fifty dollars each, signed by the
president and countersigned by the secretary of said com-
pany. The said certificates shall be transferrable upon
the books’of the company by the said subscribers, their
personal representatives, or duly authorized agent or
attorney; and the said certificates, when so transferred as
aforesaid, may be returned to the said company and can-
celed, and new certificates of stock shall be issued in licu
thereof to the persons entitled thereto for a like number
of shares.

9. It shall be lawful for said company to issue or sel:
its bonds from time to time for such sum and on such
terms as its board of directors may deem expedient and
proper in the prosecution of its operations, and may secure
the payment of said bonds by mortgage or deeds of trust
upon all or any portion of its property and franchises,
including its franchises to be a corporation, and may re-
serve the right to the company, or confer on the holder of
anv bonds of the company the right to convert the prin-
cipal thereof into stock of the company at any time; and
it shall be lawful for said company to subscribe to and
hold shares in the capital stock of any railroad company
or other corporation whenever the board of directors of
the company shall deem it to its interest to do so; and
any such corporation may guarantee or hold the bonds or
the stock of the said company.

10. No stockholder in said company shall be held or
made responsible for its debts and liabilities in a larger
or further sum than the amount of any unpaid balance due
to the said company for stock subscribed for by said
stockholders.

11. The said company, for the purpose of locating, lay-
ing, constructing, and operating its street railways, wires,
conduits, and pipe-lines, and acquiring the lands and
rights of way required therefor, may enter upon lands
and acquire by condemnation, according to the laws of
Virginia, the lands and rights of way required by the
company from time to time therefor.

12. All taxes and debts due and to become due the com-
monwealth by the said company shall be paid in lawful
money of the United States and not in coupons.

13. This act shall be in force from its passage; but the
general assembly of the state of Virginia reserves the
right to modify, alter, or repeal this act at any time here-
after.
CHAP. 148 —An ACT to authorize the county of Franklin to vote
a subscription to the Roanoke and Southern railway company,
and to provide for the payment of the same.

Approved February 1. 1890.

Whereas it is desired that the people of Franklin county
should have the right to vote on the question whether or
not that county shal! subscribe to the capital stock of the
Roanoke and Southern railway company, to be paid in the
bonds of the said county, the amount of which is, as far
as possible, to be so fixed that the taxes and levies of the
said county of the said company’s property taxable therein
shall eventually pay off the principal and the interest of
said bonds; and whereas it is estimated that the distance
along the line of the company’s road-bed, as it may run
through the said county, wil! not be less than thirty miles,
the value of which, fixed at fifteen thousand dollars per
mile, will be not less than four hundred and fifty thous-
and dollars of taxable property therein; and whereas,
estimating the rate of taxation as fixed by the board of
supervisors of said county for the year eighteen hundred
and eighty-nine at one dollar on the hundred dollars’ worth
of property, the county taxes and levies on the said com-
pany’s property as aforesaid will pay five per centum In-
terest on a subscription of seventy-five thousand dollars
and leave one per centum per annum thereof to he devoted
toa sinking fund for the payment of the prineipal thereof :
therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That it shal! be lawful for the county of Franklin.to sub-
scribe for and hold stock in the Roanoke and Southern
railway company, and to provide for and make payment
of the same, whenever it shall be authorized by a vote of
the people of that county, as provided by law and by the
provisions of this act.

2. For the purposes of the taxes and levies of the county
of Franklin Jevied under this act for the payment of the
principal and interest of any bonds issued hereunder, and
no further, the taxable value of the said company’s prop-
erty of every kind taxable by said county shall be fixed at
four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which shall con-
stitute the entire taxes and levies assessable by the said
county against the said company’s property until the said
bonds have been retired; but whenever the principal and
interest of said bonds shall have been paid, then the tax-
able value of the property aforesaid shall, for all county
purposes, be as fixed by law for the purposes of state tax-
ation.
3. The county court of Franklin county shall, on the
motion of the Roanoke and Southern railway company, by
its president or any one of its directors, make and enter an
order requiring the sheriff, judges and commissioners of
election4n said county, at a time to be designated in said
order, not less than thirty days from the date of the same,
to open a poll at each voting precinct in said county, to take
the sense of the qualified voters of the said county, on the
question whether or not the board of supervisors of said
county shall subscribe the sum of seventy-five thousand dol-
lars to the capital stock of the Roanoke and Southern rail-
way company. The said order shall state all the conditions
on which the said subscription shall be made and bonds
therefor issued, which conditions shall be binding on the
board of supervisors whenever the said subscription shal]
be carried as herein provided, and shall be binding on the
said company whenever the said bonds are received by it.

4. The election herein provided for shall be held as pro-
vided for by law in force at the time of the holding of the
same, except in so far as the same may be modified, amend-
ed or affected by this act; and if it shall appear from the
returns of the said election that three-fifths of the voters
voting at the said election are in favor of the said subscrip-
tion, and that the said three-fifths includes a majority of
the freeholders voting at the said election, the county court
aforesaid shall, at its next term, or as soon thereafter as
possible, enter of record an order requiring the board of
supervisors of said county, to attend on a day and at a
place designated in said order, to carry out the wishes of
the voters of the said county, as‘expressed at the said elec-
tion: and the said hoard of supervisors shal] at such time
and place, or as soon thereafter as possible, proceed to
enter of record on the books of the said board the orders
of the county court aforesaid, the amount of said subscrip-
tion, and the result of the said election, and shall pro-
ceed to-appoint an agent or agents whose duty it shall be
to enter at once on the books of the said company a sub-
scription to its capital stock for the amount designated in
said order in the name of the said board of supervisors
and the county aforesaid, and subject to the conditions
contained in said order. .

5. Any subscription to the capital stock of the said com-
pany by the county of Franklin, under the provisions of this
act shall be paid to the said company in bonds of the said
county, which bonds shall be received by the said company
at their par value, and shall entitle the said county to
shares of stock aforesaid for the amount of said bonds.
The principal of said bonds shall be payable by the said
county ata period not later than thirty-five years from
the date of the same, and the interest thereon, which shal]
be at the rate of five per centum per annum, shall be paya-
ble annually. There shall be attached to the said bonds
coupons for the interest aforesaid, which shall be receiva-
ble at the office of the treasurer of the said county in pay-
ment of all taxes and county levies due the said couhty
by the bearer at and after the day of the maturity of the
coupons, respectively. The said board of supervisors shall
annually after the date of said bonds, create and levy a
sinking fund of one per centum of the amount of the
principal of the bonds issued as herein provided, which
sinking fund shall be annually applied to the purchase
and retirement of the principal of the said bonds; and
if at any time the county’s taxes and levies on the said
company’s property shall exceed the interest thereon for
such year and the sinking fund aforesaid, said excess shal]
be applied as the said sinking fund is directed to be ap-
plied by this act until all of the said bonds have been
retired.

6. The limitations on the amount of any county sub-
scription, as provided in section twelve hundred and forty-
three of the code of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
and the requisition that a majority of the registered voters
of said county shall vote in favor of such subscription,
as provided in section twelve hundred and forty-five of the
code aforesaid, shall not be applicable to any election
held under this act.

i. By the acceptance of the bonds aforesaid, the said
company shall signify its willingness to be taxed on prop-
erty of the value of four hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars by the county aforesaid for the purposes of this act,
andfor no other; nor shall the said acceptance or agree-
ment be considered by the board of public works in
assessing said property for the purposes of state taxation,
nor shall said agreement be operative after the retirement
of the bonds as herein provided tor; whereupon the said
county shall likewise be bound by this act.

8. The election provided for under this act shall not be
held until the said company shall have deposited with the
clerk of the county court of the said county the sum of
one hundred and fifty dollars to defray the expenses of
the election herein provided for.

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