Chap. 345.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1 of an act entitled an_act to
incorporate the Virginia electric railway company, approved February 27, 1894,
and to change the name thereof to the Virginia railway and electric company.

Approved February 16, 1598.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
one of an act entitled an act to incorporate the Virginia electric railw av
company, approved February twenty-seventh, cighte ‘en hundred and
ninety-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

<1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Rh. A.
Patterson, A. W. Garber, George B. Me. Adams, W illiam P. DeSaussure,
John C. Robertson, T. William Pember rton, LL. D. Crenshaw, junior,
and such other persons as may hereafter be associated with them,. their
successors and assigns be, and they are hereby, constituted a body politie
and corporate to be known as the Virginia railway and clectric company,
and by that name to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in “ll
the courts of law and equity in this state, and may have, make and use
a common seal, and the same break, alter and renew or change at their
pleasure, and may make, ordain, establish, alter or amend such by-laws,
ordinane es and reculations concerning all matters of organization and
business, not herein specifically provided for as they may think proper,
and generally may do every act and thing necessary to carry this act
into effect or to promote the objects and “designs of the corporation:
provided, that such by-laws, ordinances and reaul: tions or acts be not
inconsistent with the laws of this state or of the United States.

The said company shall be, and is hereby, empowered to promote,
establish and maintain the business of a general railway and electric
company, to erect, establish, maintain and operate and purchase, or sell
a plant or plants in the cities of Petersburg, Richmond, Norfolk and
other citics of the state of Virginia, and in the counties and villages of
said state, for the generation of electricity and the supply of the electric
current for its own use and for sale to persons, natural or artificial, de-
siring to use the same for heat, light or power, or for any and all other
uses to which the electric current may be now or at any time hereafter
applied or applicable, and may manufacture, use and sell, distribute
and furnish the same for all said purposes, to all and any persons, par-
ties and corporations desiring to use the same, upon such terms as may
be avreed on between the contracting par ties, and to purchase, manu-
facture and sell all apparatus and appliances used in connection there-
with. .

It may build, purchase, rent, or otherwise acquire and maintain and
operate, in streets, alleys, avenues, public highways and waterways,
subject only to the ‘consent or authorization thercof by any incorporated
town or city, and to such conditions, restrictions, and linutations as may
be imposed by such town or city, and subject to the consent or authori-
zation thereof by the judges of the county courts of the several counties
of the state and the boards of supervisors thereof, who are hereby vested
with the power so to do, within and through which said poles, wires,
subways, underground conduits and sub-marine cables, and other
electrical conductors may be constructed, such or any line or lines of
poles and wires and of underground conduits or subways and sub-marine
eables or other conductors and conduits, for the carri: age or support of
electric wires, with the necessary fixtures, stations, terminals, or other
facilities connected the ‘rewith, as may be necessary and suitable for the
proper, full, and convenient carrying on of the business of the company,
and the same may sell, lease, and otherwise dispose of, as the company
may deem best, and may take and acquire by purchase, condemnation.
lease, or otherwise, and may hold and thereafter sell or otherwise dispose
of such real estate, not exceeding the amount hereinafter limited and
provided for, as may be found. neecssary and convenient for the estab-
hshment, ercetion, and maintenance of such lines of poles and wires and
underground conduits and subways and sub-marine cables, together with
the necessary fixtures, stations, terminals, or other facilities, and for any
other of the purposes and uses of said company, the mode of condemn-
Ing such real estate being the same, and the same powers being hereby
given to the officials and courts of this state in such condemnation as
are provided by the laws of Virginia for the condemnation of lands by
companies Incorporated for works of internal improvement. But the
power to condemn is hereby limited to the acquisition of land necessary
for construction of all liwdraulic works and for the conveying of elee-
tricity to any corporate limits, but no condemnation of land in any eity
shall be allowed.

The said company may utilize for its purposes steam and water-
power and any other av ailable power, and may purchase, erect, main-
tain and operate, lease, sell and otherwise dispose of all the buildings,
structures, factories, machine- shops and machinery that may be neces-
sary, convenient and suitable for the general business of the company;
may purchase or construct, own, maintain and operate and lease, sell,
or otherwise dispose of, canal flumes, and any other structures or devices
for the utilization of water-power, ‘including water-wheels, dams and
sluices, Water-ways, waste-wavs and gates in the beds of the streams
and rivers of the state and through the intervening country: provided,
however, that on such sale or purchase taking place all statutory duties,
obligations and conditions incident to the exercise of such rights shall
be, and they are hereby, transferred from the company or individual
previously subject to said duties. obligations and conditions and itm-
posed upon the said Virginia railway and = eleetrie company, and shall
be binding upon it alone. But it is not intended by any provision
herein to grant anv power to said company to build any dam, gates,
slices, canal, water-way or waste-way, or do any other act whatever
Which shall in any way diminish or interfere injuriously with the
stream or flow of water necessary for the water-works or its appurte-
nances, or the water supply of any town or city. The said company
may construct, own, maintain and operate, and may lease, sell or other-
wise dispose of electric railways in the said state, and may purchase
any now in operation inand through the streets and highways of the
cities and eounties thereof, and in and through said counties, to be
operated by electricity or cable, and may take reasonable tolls for trans-
portation of persons or property, and may purchase, construct, miain-
tain, own and operate, lease, sell or otherwise dispose of, bridges,
viaducts and aqueducts of wood, stone, iron or other suitable material
for its use or for the use of the public, and may take tolls from persons
or corporations using the same: provided, however, that the councils of
said cities and towns respectively, and the Judges of the county courts
of said counties respectively and the boards of supervisors thereof, who
are hereby vested with the authority so to do, shall first consent to the
location of said railways on the streets and highways and through the
country within their respective limits or jurisdiction; and all lines of
railway built by the said company or owned and operated by it shall be
at all times subject to all restrictions, conditions and limitations of
whatever nature which may be imposed respectively by the councils
of said cities and towns or by the judges of said county courts as
to so much of said railways as may be within the limits or juris-
diction of -said cities and counties respectively. Whenever any
part of a railroad constructed under this charter shall hereafter
be brought within the limits of a city or town by extension of the
corporate limits it shall then be subject to the limitations and = condi-
tious to which the connecting portion of its line in such city or town may
then be subjected. And the said company may construct, maintain,
and operate its railways over bridges already constructed across the
James river and others rivers of the state, subject to all reasonable linn-
tations and agreements which may be imposed by the persons or corpo-
rations owning or controlling the same, or in the case of the free bridge,
between Richmond and Manchester, by the commissioners of the James
river bridge,

The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than twenty
thousand dollars nor more than five million dollars, divided into shares
of one hundred dollars each, and the same may be issued as common or
preferred stock, or part thereof common and part preferred, as the directors
may determine. Subscription to the capital stock may be received by
the corporators herein named, or any three of them, at such time and
place as they may appoint, and with or without public notice, as
they may deem best; and as soon as the minimum capital stock has
heen subscribed the said subscribers may organize as a corporation and
proceed to elect a president and board of directors, and adopt such by-
laws and regulations as may be proper for the management of the affairs
of the company, and thereafter further subscription to the capital stock
may be received by the board of directors. Subscriptions to the capital
stock may be payable either in money, land, labor, services, materials,
rights, or other property, or in the capital stock of other like corpora-
tions, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between
the said company and the subscriber.

The company hereby incorporated may acquire by lease, purchase,
subscription to its capital stock, or otherwise, and use and cperate the
works, property, franchises, rights, privileges and immunities of any
other electric railway company or companies, or of any company or
companies incorporated for the purpose of manufacturing or furnishing
electricity to the public, or having the power so to do; and the company
hereby incorporated may unite and consolidate with such other com-
pany or companies upon such terms as may be agreed on between them;
and power is hereby conferred on such other company or companies to

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transfer by sale or lease their works, property, franchises, rights, privileges
and immunities to the company hereby incorporated, or to unite and
consolidate with it upon such terms as may be agreed upon between
them.

The amount of real estate to be owned and held by the said company,
exclusive of its roadbeds and canals and other rights of way, shall not
exceed ten acres in each incorporated city or town, nor one thousand
acres In each county in the state of Virginia, in or through which it may
be operating or intend to operate.

The principal oflice of the company shall be in the city of Richmond,
but it may establish branch oflices in any other section of the state, or
in the state of New York, or elsewhere in the United states, wherever it
tay be convenient or necessary for the use of the company and the
conduct of its business.

The company may dispose of the whole or any part of its property,
however acquired, by sale, lease or otherwise; may borrow money and
may issue bonds, either registered or coupon, "and may secure the pay-
ment of the same by mortgage or deed of trust upon the whole or any
part of its property, works, rights, franchises and privileges: prov ided,
that nothing in this act shall be construed as allowing or authorizing the
construction of any lne between the cities of R ichmmond and W ashing-
ton; and provided further, that nothing in this act shall be so construed
as to enable the said company to construct any street railway on any
street within the limits of the city of Norfolk nearer than two squares
to any street in said city now occupied by a street railway or on which
any railway company shall have heretofore applied for or procured from
the councils of said city permission to place, construct and maintain its
tracks, or to include the county of Norfolk or any city, town or village
within the limits of said county.

The right to construct railways under this act must be exercised
within at least two vears from January the first, eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, and shall not be exercised after the expiration of ten years
from said date.

Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to authorize the
Virginia railway and electric company, its successors or assigns, to ac-
quire by condemnation any of the works, property, easements, rights or
privileges of any other work of internal improvement, or to construct or
do any work which would interfere with or obstruct the safe and rea-
sonable maintenance and operation of such other work of internal im-
provement.

This act shall be in force from its passage.