Chap. 553.—An ACT giving the consent of the state to the purchase by the
United States of certain real estate in Wythe county, and exempting the
same from taxation, &c.

Approved March 2, 1894.

Whereas it has been represented to the general assembly that it
may be desirable for the United States to acquire by purchase a
piece or parcel of land in Wythe county, on Tate’s run, immediately
adjoining the Norfolk and Western railroad, on the north side there-
of, being the tract of land, containing thirteen acres, more or less,
granted by S. P. Browning and wife to M. McDonald, commissioner
of fisheries of the state of Virginia, by deed dated October twenty-
second, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and recorded in deed-
book thirty, page five hundred and five, in the office of the clerk of
the county court of Wythe county; and the two coterminous tracts
(the first containing one and one-fourth acres, and the other three
acres, more or less) granted by the said Browning and wife to the
said McDonald, commissioner, and so forth, by deed dated August
twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, and recorded in the
same office, in deed-book thirty-three, page thirty-three, the three
tracts aggregating seventeen and one-fourth acres, more or less, for
the purpose of a fish hatchery:

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
consent of this commonwealth be, and is hereby, given for said pur-
chase; and when the same shall have been made, jurisdiction 18
hereby ceded to the government of the United States, so that con-
gress and the authorities of the federal government shall have all
lawful power and control over and in the same, as is specified in the
seventeenth clause of the eighth section of the first article of the
constitution of the United States: provided, however, that the con-
sent herein given shall not extend beyond the tract of land herein
mentioned, and containing seventeen and one-fourth acres, more or
less: and provided, further, that the’ state retains jurisdiction over
the same in all matters relating to the violations of the laws of this
state, to the execution and service of all process issued by or from
the courts, magistrates or other state officers, in pursuance of law,
and in all other matters not incompatible with the consent herein
given and the rightful authority of the United States thereby ac-
quired or to be acquired under this act.

2. If the government of the United States shall fail to make the
purchase specified in the preceding section, and for the purpose
therein designated, within three years from the passage of this act,
then this act shal! cease to be of any force and effect, and the full,
complete and undivided jurisdiction over the same shall revert to
and vest in this commonwealth, as if it had not been passed; and
whenever the United States shall cease to occupy and use said prop-
erty the same as a fish hatchery, the same shall revert to the state
of Virginia.

3. The said real estate, and the buildings or structures that may
be erected thereon, are hereby exempted from any tax to be imposed
by this state or the constituted authorities of Wythe county.

4. The board of public works of the state of Virginia is hereby
authorized, empowered and directed to sell the said three several
parcels or tracts of land to the United States for the best price and
on the best terms that can be agreed on, and to have the title to
the same conveyed by the said M. McDonald, commissioner, and so
forth, to the United States, in accordance with the provisions of this
act. And the said M. McDonald is hereby authorized and directed
to convey the said lands to the United States upon the written
request of the president of the said board of public works.

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