Chap. 554.—An ACT to incorporate the Virginia farming com-
pany.

Approved March 1, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That Park L. Poindexter, Dr. William Schmoele, junior,
of the county of Norfolk, Virginia; J. P. Andre Mottee, of
Holland; J. O. Magruder, of Albemarle county, Virginia;
C. J. Campbell, Amherst county, Virginia; Newton McAl-
pine, Portsmouth, Virginia, with such other persons as
they may hereafter associate with them, be, and are here-
by, constituted a body corporate and politic under the
name and style of the Virginia farming company, and
under that name shall have perpetual succession and a
common seal, which they may alter or amend at pleasure ;
shall sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, contract
and be contracted with, and have and exercise all the
powers and privileges of a corporation granted by the
general laws of this commonwealth not inconsistent with
the terms of this act.

2. The capital stock of this company shall not be less
than five thousand dollars nor more than one million dol-
lars, in shares of fifty dollars each, and the principal
office of the company shall be in some city of this state.

3. The corporators hereinabove named, or any three of
them, may act as commissioners to receive subscriptions
to the capital stock of said company from individuals, or
from other corporations or associations, in money, land,
or other valuable considerations, and when the minimum
capital shall have been subscribed the.subscribers may,
at the call of said commissioners, meet in person or by
proxy in the city of Norfolk or Portsmouth and organize
by the election of five directors.

4. The board of directors shall elect a president and
vice-president from its own membership, and appoint a
secretary and treasurer, the latter of whom may be re-
quired to give bond in such sum as the by-laws of the
company shall prescribe. After organization as aforesaid
the stockholders, at any general meeting, may increase the
number of directors, and may provide for the proper gov-
ernment of the corporation by such by-laws as they may
deem fit and proper. The board of directors may appoint
such subordinate agents and officers of the company as
they may deem necessary for the proper dispatch of the
business of the company.

5. In consideration of the important objects and pur-
poses of this company, to-wit: the encouragement of
settlers in the state of Virginia, assistance to them in
procuring transportation, in selecting homes, in the erec-
tion of houses, in developing hidden resources and uncul-
tivated lands, and reclaiming sunken lands of the Dismal
swamp, increasing the population and taxable values of
the state—the following powers and privileges are hereby
granted to the said Virginia farming company: to deal in
real estate, either as purchaser and owner or agent for
buyer and seller; to negotiate loans as agent or principal,
and to charge therefor according to the laws of this state;
to guarantee titles of real estate to purchasers; to lay out
towns; to erect buildings; to conduct grist and saw-mills
and genera) lumber business; to purchase, own, or sell
canals; to cut and construct ditches, drains, dykes, dams,
and raceways as may be necessary for improving its lands
for agricultural, grazing, lumbering, and building pur-
poses; to conduct the general farming business; to sub-
divide large tracts into small farms for sale, lease, or rent,
and to establish and operate manufactories.

6. Every stockholder in the said company, whether an
American citizen or an alien, shall have equal right to
nen stock and to be eligible for office in the said com-

; ad The personal liability of any and every stockholder
shall be limited to the amount due and unpaid upon the
shares of stock owned by him.
8. The board of directors shal) cause to be kept a book
in which shall be recorded the ownership, locality and
acreage of each tract or parcel of land entrusted to the
company for sale, and it shall be lawful for the company
to charge each person entering land, for record and sale, a
fee of ten dollars, and an additional fee of twenty-five
cents on the hundred dollars of the owner’s valuation of
such property in excess of one thousand dollars, and this
recordation shall constitute an option in favor of the com-
pany for one year, but the length of option and terms of
commission may be made a matter of contract between the
company and the owner, and the company is authorized to
charge a reasonable commission to the buyer or seller of
‘any property so entrusted to it.

9. The said company shall have power and authority to
borrow money, and to secure its payment by deeds in trust
or mortgages on its property, and to make and deliver, and
to take and receive promissory notes, bills of exchange,
bonds and such other instruments of writing as may be
necessary and proper for the performance of its business ;
and all grants and conveyances of property which shall
be made to said company shall be held by it in its corpo-
rate name; and al] grants, bargains and sales, or contracts
which shall be made by said company shall be signed and
sealed by its president or vice-president with its corporate
seal, and countersigned by its secretary, and when so
signed, sealed and countersigned, shall be effectual to pass
lands or any property therein described, according to the
legal effect, true intent and meaning of all such convey-
ances, grants, bargains and sales and contracts.

10. The taxes assessed upon said company shall be paya-
ble only in lawful money of the United States, and not in
coupons.

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