CHAP. 86.—An ACT to authorize the board of supervisors of

Pittsylvania county to adjust and pay the claim preferred

inst said county by the town of North Danville for one-half

of the costs of constructing a bridge across Fall creek, between
the corporate limits of said town and said county.

Approved January 6, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the board of supervisors of the county of Pittsyl-
vania be authorized to adjust the amount of the claim
asserted by the tcwn of North Danville against said county
of Pittsylvania for the construction of a bridge across
Fall creek, between the corporate limits of said town and
said county; and said board of supervisors are hereby
authorized to make provision for the payment of said
sum when so ascertained. ,

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

CuapP. 37.—An ACT to authorize the town of Louisa to issue its
bonds to raise money to buy a lot and town hall thereon.

. Approved January 6, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the town of Louisa be, and is hereby, authorized,
through its council, to issue bonds not-exceeding one
thousand dollars, for the purpose of paying for a lot and
town hall thereon,.in such forms, running for such length
of time, in such sums, payable at such periods and places,
and bearing such rate of interest not exceeding 81x per
centum, as said council may determine.

2. That the council of said town are hereby authorized
and required to levy and collect a tax sufficient to pay the
interest on said bonds and to create a sinking fund to
pay the principal of the same when they shall become due,
and shall, in their discretion, exempt said bonds from
taxation by said town.

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

CuapP. 38.—An ACT incorporating the Masonic home of Virginia,

Approved January 7,. 1890.

Whereas it is represented to the general assembly of
Virginia that the grand lodge of Ancient, Free and
Accepted Masons of Virginia desires to establish and
carry on within this state an asylum for the benefit of the
widows and orphans of deceased members of the masonic
fraternity, to be known as the “Masonic home of Vir-
ginia,” and in pursuance of a resolution of said grand
lodge the following persons—to-wit: Alfred R. Courtney,
A. G. Babcock, Beverly R. Wellford, junior, David J.
Weisiger, J. Thompson Brown, William Lovenstein,
Isaac 8S. Tower, John S. Ellett, and George H. Ray—have
been appointed the first board of governors of said insti-
tution, with authority to apply for a charter of incorpora-
tion; therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the said Alfred R. Courtney, A. G. Babcock, Beverly
R. Wellford, junior, David J. Weisiger, J. Thompson
Brown, William Lovenstein, Isaac S. Tower, John §&.
Ellett, and George H. Ray, and their associates and suc-
cessors, as hereinafter provided, be, and they are hereby,
constituted and created a body politic and corporate by
the name of the “ Masonic home of Virginia,” and by that
name are hereby made capable in law and equity to sue
and be sued, plead and he impleaded, contract and be
contracted with; to make, have, and use a common seal,
and to alter, break, or renew the same at pleasure; and
shall have the right to take and hold by purchase, gift or
devise, real and personal estate (the real estate not exceed-
ing in value two hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of
the improvements thereon), and to dispose of, mortgage,
pledge, and convey the same whenever directed by a
majority vote of the board of governors.
2. The nine persons hereinbefore mentioned as the
incorporators of said institution shall constitute the board
of governors until their successors are duly appointed and
qualified. Three of the said board of governors shall hold
their office for one year, three for two years, and three for
three years, the class of each to be determined by lot at
the first meeting of the board immediately after its
organization under this act, and at each subsequent
annual meeting there shall be elected three governors to
fill the places of those whose terms then expire, such
newly chosen governors to be elected for the term of three
years.

3. There shall be a meeting of the said board of gov-
erlrors within thirty days after the passage of this act for
the purpose of organization; said board shall then elect
from its own members a president and vice-president, and
shall, as soon as practicable, appoint a secretary and
treasurer, and all other subordinate officers and agents
necessary to conduct the affairs of the institution, and
shall prescribe their duties and affix such compensation
for their services as it may deem proper. The board of
governors shall from time to time adopt such by-laws and
regulations as may be necessary for the government of the
institution, which shall have the same force and effect
if expressed in this act of incorporation; they shall fill
all vacancies in their own body that may arise by death,
resignation, or otherwise, except by the expiration of their
terms of office; and five members shall constitute a
quorum to transact any business.

4. The object of said institution shall be to establish
and carry dn at some place within the state of Virginia an
asylum or home for the widows and orphans of deceased
masons, and an infirmary for the reception and care of
sick and afflicted masons who may be placed in its charge;
the qualifications of the persons to be received into said
home and the terms and conditions upon which they may
be admitted shall be such as may be prescribed by the
board of governors, so far as the same are not inconsistent
with the provisions of this charter.

5. The membership of said corporation shall consist of
active members, life members, and honorary members.
‘The active and life members shall be freemasons, but any
person may be admitted to honorary membership. The
terms and’conditions of admission to each of said classes
of membership shall be such as shall be prescribed by the
board of governors in the by-laws of the institution. And
the said board shall also make provision in the by-laws
for creating an endowment fund for the permanent sup-
port and maintenance of the home.

6. There shall be an annual meeting of the institution
at such time and place as may be fixed by the by-laws.
At the annual meetings there shall be chosen three
worthy and discreet master masons as members of the
board of governors to fill the places of those whose terms
of office then expire. Said persons must also be active or
life members of the institution, or the proxies of some
masonic body holding a certificate of active membership;
but nothing in this act shall be so construed as to make
the members of the board whose ‘terms expire ineligible
for re-election on account of having served a previous term.

7. From and after the first annual election of governors,

as provided for in the last preceding section, there shall
be three additional members of said board of governors
on the part of the grand lodge of Virginia, consisting of
the grand master, grand senior warden and grand junior
warden. These shall be entitled to all the rights and
privileges and subject to all the rules and regulations
prescribed by the by-laws and by this act for the govern-
ment of the said board, except that the said grand lodge
governors shall not be eligible to the offices of president
or vice-president of the board. These three officers of the
grand lodge shall hold their offices as governors of said
institution until the succeeding grand annual communi-
cation of the grand lodge, or until their successors are
duly elected and qualified; and at each annual session of
the grand lodge the persons who shall be elected and
installed as grand master, grand senior warden and grand
junior warden shall, at the same time, become ex-officio
governors on the part of the grand lodge of the “ Masonic
home of Virginia,” to continue in office for one year, or
until their successors are duly elected and qualified.
Should the office of grand master, grand senior warden, or
grand junior warden become vacant during the term for
which the incumbent was elected, then in that case the
person who shall succeed to the vacant office of the grand
lodge shall also succeed to the vacancy in the board of
governors created thereby.

8. In view of the charitable objects to be accomplished
‘by the institution hereby incorporated, its property, real,
personal and mixed, shall be exempt from city, county
and state taxes. And a misnomer of the corporation in
any deed, gift, grant, or devise, or any instrument or con-
tract, shall not vitiate the same if said corporation be
sufficiently described therein to show the intention of the
parties.

9. The said corporation shall have the power to. receive
into its custody and retain under its exclusive control and
management any orphans of a deceased mason of Virginia
who may be recommended: by a masonic lodge of Vir-
ginia; also, all such as may be placed under its control
by the mother (the father being dead), or by the guardian.
And the “ Masonic home of Virginia,” hereby incorpo-
rated and made a body politic, shall have the same rights
as an individual now has to qualify as statutory guardian,
or to be appointed testamentary guardian of an infant
eligible to admission into said institution; but no com-
mission shall be allowed to said corporation upon moneys
received by it as such guardian. The children who shall
be received into said home, as aforesaid, shall, from the
time they are so received and until they attain the age of
twenty-one years, unless sooner voluntarily dismissed by
the board of governors, remain under its charge and
subject to its exclusive control. The said association
shall also have power to receive into its custody and retain
under its control any indigent or infirm master mason of
Virginia, or the widow of any deceased master mason
of Virginia, on such terms and conditions as may be
prescribed in the by-laws of said institution.

10. The corporation hereby created is invested with all
the rights of a parent or natural guardian over the person
of any child committed to its charge for the purpose of
the protection and proper training of such child; and the
superintendent of the said home shall have the right, by
and with the consent of the board of governors, to
apprentice or put to service for a term of years any of the
orphan inmates, upon such terms and conditions as in
the judgment ot the board the welfare of the child may
require. The person to whom such inmate may be appren-
ticed or put to service shall report to the superintendent,
at stated periods to be named in the articles of apprentice-
ship, the condition of the child as well as the conduct of
the same; and should the party to whom such apprentice
may be bound fail to comply with the terms of the
indenture, the superintendent, with the consent of the
board of governors, may cancel said indenture and receive
the apprentice again intothe home. The county or corpo-
ration court of the county or corporation in which the
said masonic home shall be located shall have the power,
on complaint of any person, to investigate the condition
of Or treatment of a child or children apprenticed or put to

service by said institution, and to correct or annul any

articles of apprenticeship that may have been entered
info under this act. If upon investigation such court
should deem it advisable and just, and for the purposes
of execufing the power hereby given, such court shall
cause such child or children to be brought before it,
together with the person or persons to whom said child or
children may have been bound.
11. The president and vice-president shall hold office
until the next annual meeting of the corporation and
until their successors are elected. The secretary and

baad
=
treasurer and other subordinate officers shall hold office
for such time as the board of governors may prescribe.

12. Upon the application of the proper authorities of
any masonic body in the state of Virginia desiring to
become a member of said corporation, the circuit court
of the city of Richmond, or of the county or corporation
in which such masonic body or society may be located,
shall appoint trustees for such body, either when there are
none, or in the place of the former trustees, and may
change those appointed from time to time as to such court
shall seem proper; and said trustees, when so appointed
under this act, or the trustees of said masonic body law-
fully appointed under any other act, shall hold the legal
title to all the property of such masonic body, including
its stock or certificate of membership in this corporation,
and shall manage, control and dispose of the same for the
best interests of said masonic body and according to the
wishes of the same properly expréssed.

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

CHAP. 86.—An ACT to amend section 1 of an act entitled
“An act to incorporate the Virginia Steel Company,”’ approved
May 2d, 1887.

Approved January 24, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That section one of an act entitled an act to incorporate
the Virginia steel company, approved May second, eigh-
teen hundred andeighty-seven, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

$1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That E. W. Clark, Walter H. Taylor, C. H. Clark, junior,
Charles G. Eddy, Henry A. Trout, James A. Walker, A. C.
Denniston, H. G. McCouch and Joseph I. Doran, or such
of them as may accept the provisions of this act, their
associates and successors, be, and they are hereby, incor-
porated and made a body politic and corporate under the
name and style of the Virginia development company, and
by that name shall be known in law, and shall have per-
petual succession, and shall 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 or renew-the same at pleas-
ure, and shall have, enjoy and exercise all the rights,
powers, and privileges pertaining to corporate bodies and
necessary for the purposes of this act.

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