CHAP. 401.—An ACT to amend section 8 of the charter of the
town of North Danville.

Approved March 3, 1890.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That section eight of the charter of the town of North Dan-
ville, as amended by an act approved May fourteen,
eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

88. The council of the said town shall have all the
powers which are now or may hereafter be by law vested
in the council, or mayor and council, of townsof less than
five thousand inhabitants, except that the councilmen shall
not have the powers of justices or conservatore of the
peace.

They shall have, specifically, powers to lay and collect
taxes on such property, business and professions, and such
other subjects of taxation as are or may be taxed by the
state: provided, that the rate of taxation shall not exceed
for any one, year, in addition to the tax levied on account
of the debt of the county of Pittsylvania, the rate of one
dollar and fifty cents for each one hundred dollars of the
assessed value of real and personal property on such pro-
perty as is assessed und assessable. and the poll tax shall
not exceed fifty cents foreach male taxable person for any
one year.

The council shall have power to fix fines and penalties
for the violation or non-performance of town ordinances,
which shall be recoverable by warrant before the mayor
or a justice of the said town, and to provide for the im-
prisonment of persons convicted in case of the non-pay-
ment of fines: provided, that no. fine of greater amount
than fifty dollars shall be imposed on any one person ir
any one case, and no person shall be confined in jail fora
greater period than six months for the non-payment of
anv one fine, and provided that in any case where the
fine, exclusive of costs, exceeds ten dollars the person
convicted shall be entitled to an appeal to the corporation
court for the town of Danville upon giving security in
the same manner and with the like effect as provided in
section twenty-nine hundred and forty-seven of the code
of Virginia; to establish markets in and for the said
town, erect suitable buildings therefor, prescribe the times
and places for holding the same, and to pass such ordi-
nances as shall be necessary or proper to regulate the
same, and prevent huckstering, forestalling, and regra-
ting; to establish and enlarge water-works, gas-works, or
other artificial lights within or without the limits of the
said town, contract or agree with the owners of any land
for the use or purchase thereof, or may have the same con-
demned for the location, extension, or enlargementiof said
works, the pipes connected therewith, or any fixtures or
appurtenances thereof; to protect from injury by ade-
quate penalties the said works, pipes, fixtures, land, or
anything connected therewith within or without the limits
of the said town, and to prevent the pollution of water by
prohibiting the throwing of filth or other offensive matter
therein, or placing the same in any other place where the
water may be affected thereby, and such prohibition may
be enforced by proper penalties; to close, extend, widen,
narrow, lay out, graduate, improve, and otherwise alter
streets and public alleys in said town, and have them
properly lighted and kept in good order; and they may
make and construct sewers and ducts through the streets
and public grounds of the said town, and through any
places whatsoever, when it may be deemed expedient by
the council. The council may have over any street or
alley in the town which has been or may be ceded to the
town like authority as over other streets or alleys; they
may build bridges in or culverts under any street or alley,
and prevent or remove any structure, obstruction, or en-
croachment over, under, or in any street or alley or side-
walk thereof, and may have shade trees planted along the
said streets; they may also regulate the size, materials,
and construction of buildings hereafter erected in such
manner as the public safety and convenience may require ;
to provide in or near the town lands to be appropriated,
improved, and kept in order as places of interment for the
dead, and charge for the use of ground in such places of
interment, and regulate the same: provided, that all
moneys received for the use of such grounds shall be set
apart and used for the improvement of cemeteries: may
prevent the burial of the dead in town except in the pub-
lic burying ground; may regulate burials in said grounds,
and require the keeping and return of bills of mortality
by the owners or keepers of all cemeteries; to require and
compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances in said
town at the expense of the persons or person causing the
same, or the owner or owners of the land whereon the
same may be; to prevent or regulate slaughter-houses or
soap and candle factories in the said town, or the exercise
of any dangerous, offensive, or unhealthy business, trade,
or employment therein; and to regulate the transporta-
tion of coal or other articles through the streets and
alleys of the town; to prevent hogs, dogs, or other ani-
mals from running at large in the town, and may subject
the same to such levies, regulations, and taxes as they
may think proper; and the council may prohibit the rais-
ing or keeping of hogs in the town.

They shall have power to establish and maintain a fire
department in said town, and provide for the regulation
and government of the same, and to compel the residents
of the town to aid and assist the fire department when nec-
essary; to establish fire limits in the town within which
no buildings shall be erected without the consent of the
council, unless the outer walls be of brick, stone, or some
incombustible material; to assess the costs of paving the
streets and sidewalks of the said town, in whole or in part,
upon the real estate abutting on such streets and side-
walks, and collect the same from the owners of such real
estate as taxes are collected: provided, that the cost of
paving no street or sidewalk shall be assessed as aforesaid
unless the said paving be done at the request of two-thirds
of the property owners on such street, and be directed by
two-thirds vote of the council.

In order to carry out the provisions of this section rela-
tive to the establishment of water-works or artificial lights,
the council shall have power to borrow money to the
amount of forty thousand dollars and issue therefor the
bonds of the town, to run for thirty years or less and be
redeemable after ten years, and to bear interest at a rate
not greater than six per centum per annum payable semi-
annually; and shall have authority to levy a tax, to be
known as the water and light tax, on the real and personal
property taxable in the town not to exceed in any one year
ten cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value
of such property, to be used in paying the interest on said
bonds or to create a sinking fund to redeem said bonds,
which tax shall be included in the tax above allowed.

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