CHAP. 139.—An ACT to re-enact and renew the charter of the Peters-
burg Gas-Light Company.

Approved March 3, 1880.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the act enti-
tled an act to incorporate the Petersburg gas-light company,
passed March ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-one, to-wit :

§1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That Thomas
Wallace, Henry Whyte, Dugger Jones and Company, James
Orr, James Macfarland, Robert Ritchie, Robert Leslie, David
Foster, and such other persons as may hereafter be associated
with them, shall be and they are hereby incorporated and made
a body politic and corporate under the name and style of The
Petersburg Gas-Light Company, for the purpose of furnishing
the citizens of the town of Petersburg with the use of gas-
light for public and private convenience; and they are hereby
invested with all the rights, powers and privileges (so far as
they apply to the purposes aforesaid) conferred on bodies poli-
tic and corporate hy the act entitled an act prescribing general
regulations for the incorporation of manufacturing and mining
companies, passed February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and
thirty-seven, and are subject to all the restrictions, regulations
or limitations contained in said act.

§ 2. Be it further enacted, That the capital stock of the said
company shall not be less than fifteen nor more than fifty thou-
sand dollars, to be raised by subscription in shares of fifty
dollars each, for which purpose books of subscription may
be opened under the superintendence of James Macfarland,
Robert Leslie, Thomas N. Lee, Robert Ritchie, Thomas Wal-
lace, Thomas Shore, Henry Whyte, John W. Syme and Benja-
jamin Jones, in conformity with the rules prescribed by the act
hereinbefore recited.

§ 3. Be it further enacted, That the said company shall have
the right to purchase and hold land not exceeding three acres
in whole or detached pieces in the said town for the establish-
ment of gasometers for the supply of cotton, tobacco and other
manufactories.

$4. And be it further enected, That it shall be lawful for
the common council of the town of Petersburg to cause any of
the principal streets in the said town to be lighted at the ex-
pense of the corporation if they deem it expedient, or upon
the petition of three-fourths of the persons owning or occupy-
ing houses on any street or part of a street proposed to be
lighted, it shall be lawful for the common council to assess a
tax upon all occupants and owners of houses therein sufficient
to defray the expense of lighting the same, and every such tax
shall be assessed according to the value of the several lots as
ascertained at the last assessment thereof.

§ 5. Be it further enacted, That all the stock, bonds and
other property belonging at any time to said corporation shall
be considered personal estate, and the several acts amenda-
tory of said act passed respectively December eighteenth,
eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, February seventh, eighteen
hundred and fifty-one, and March twenty-second, eighteen
hundred and seventy-three, be and the same are hereby re-
vived, renewed and re-enacted for a period of thirty years from
the passage of this act: provided, that the location of any
gasometer or other work hereafter by the said company within
the corporate limits of the said city shall be at such place or
places as the common council thereof may approve, and that
the said gas company shall lay their mains, pipes, establish
stop cocks, and otherwise conduct any work on their behalf,
under such rules and regulations as the said council shall pre-
scribe: and provided further, that the said gas light company
shall from time to time extend their mains and pipes and
supply such part of the said city and its inhabitants with gas-
light not supplied, as the said council may reasonably require :
and provided further, that the quality of the gas-light supplied
shall have the illuminating power of seventeen candles, and
that the rate of charge per thousand feet to all consumers shall
not be greater than may be necessary to yield upon the gas
actually supplied not exceeding ten per centum net on the bona
fide capital invested in the necessary work of the said gas
company's works, such rate for cach year to be fixed by the
common council of the said city, upon the receipts ani proper
expenses of the said company for the preceding year, and the
bona fide capital up to such time actually invested in the pro-
per works of the said company ; and to yield such maximum net
profit upon the said basis, it shall be the duty of the said coun-
cil to fix the rate of charge for gas as aforesaid whenever
so required by the said company, and the said council are em-
powered to make or cause to be made such examination of the
books and affairs of the said company as may be deemed
necessary to enable the said council to discharge from year to
year the duty aforesaid: and provided also, the said council
shall fix the rental of metres and the furnishing and laying of
all service pipe on the basis of a profit not higher than ten per
centum: and provided expressly, that nothing contained in
this act shall be construed to interfere with or impair the right
of the city of Petersburg and the exercise of the right by her
common council to erect gas-works on that behalf and for the
same purpose, nor to impair the force of any existing contract
so far as the provisions hereof may conflict.

2. This act shall be in force from its passage, and shall be
subject to future amendments or repeal at the pleasure of the
general assembly.