Chap. 6.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Clover, in Halifax county.

Approved December 14, 1895.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
town of.Clover, in the county of Halifax, as the same has heretofore
or may hereafter be laid off into lots, streets and alleys, shall be, and
the same is hereby, made a town corporate by the name of Clover,
and by that name shall have and exercise the powers conferred upon
towns by chapter forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen hun-
dred and eighty-seven, and be subject to and governed by the provi-
sions of the said chapter applicable to towns, and all laws which may
hereafter be gnacted by the general assembly of Virginia for towns,
so far as the-same are notin conflict with this act.

2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: Beginning at
a stone near mouth of a cut on the railroad; thence north fifty-two
and a half degrees west sixteen hundred and thirty-six feet toa
large white oak near Garner’s spring; thence north six degrees east
fifteen hundred and twelve feet to corner of E. C. Hurt’s lot; thence
with Hurt’s lot north twenty-three and one-half degrees east, three
hundred and ninety-six feet to a stone across public road to Mount
Laurel on W. G. Morton’s land; thence north fifty-nine and one-
fourth degrees east eighteen hundred and ninety-four feet to a white
oak on W.G. Morton’s line; thence south eighty-two degrees east
seventeen hundred and sixteen feet to astake on Coleman’s ferry
road near John Allen’s house; thence south three and one-half de-
grees west sixteen hundred and fifty feet to a cedar tree at Harriet
Smith’s old house place; thence south one-half degree west seven-
teen hurdred and sixteen feet to a large white oak on F. A. Wad-
dell’s line uear the old school-house; thence south forty-seven and
one-half degrees west twelve hundred and sixty-five feet to corner
on road to Dryburg below Dr. Wootten’s house; thence north sixty-
one and one-half degrees west, five hundred and twenty-eight feet to
corner on road to Houston near Mary Foster’s house; and thence
north sixty-eight degrees west one thousand and sixty-three feet to
the beginning.

3. There shall be elected on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen
hundred and ninety-six, and every two years thereafter, one elector
of the said town, who shal! be denominated the mayor, and five elec-
tors, who shall be denominated the councilmen of said town, who
shall qualify by taking the oath prescribed by law before, and enter
upon the duties of their offices, on the first day of July next succeed-
ing their election, and shall hold said offices for the term of two
years, and thereafter until their successors are elected and qualified,
unless sooner removed.

4. The mayor and said councilmen shall, together, constitute the
council of said town; and in the council so composed (four of whom
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business) shall be
vested the corporate powers of the town.

). The council shall, at its regular meeting in July, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-six, and every two years thereafter, appoint a ser-
geant, clerk, assessor, and treasurer, and may appoint policemen and
such other officers and agents for the proper conduct and business of
the town as they may deem necessary, prescribe their duties, fix their
compensation, and require and take from them such bonds, with
good security, and in such penalty as they may deem proper, with
condition for the faithful discharge of the duties of their offices;
provided that if such appointments are not made at the regular
meeting in July, then the same may be made at any subsequent
meeting. The officers so appointed shall hold their respective offices
for the term of two years, unless sooner removed, and thereafter until
their successors are appointed and qualified. The same person may,
in the discretion of the council, be appointed to and hold at the
same time more than one of said offices. The sergeant of said town
shall, in addition to the duties that may be prescribed by the coun-
cil, have the same powers and discharge the same duties as consta-
bles, within the corporate limits thereof and to the distance of one
mile beyond the same.

6. The council shall have, subject to the provisions of this act and
of chapter forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred
nd eighty-seven, applicable to towns, the control and management
of the fiscal and municipal affairs of the town, and all property,
real and personal, belonging to it, and may make such ordinances,
ders, and by-laws and regulations as they may deem necessary to
snforce and carry out the powers vested in said council; and in ad-
enon thereto the following powers, which are hereby vested in
them :

First. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious, or
other dangerous diseases.

Second. To regulate the building of stables, privies, and hog-pens;
io require and compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
or anything which, in the opinion of a majority of the council, or
in the opinion of the mayor, under an ordinance vesting in him
such discretion, is a nuisance within the said town, at the expense
of the person causing the same, or the owner or owners of the ground
whereon the same may be, the collection of which said expense may
be enforced in the same manner as fines due said town; to provide
for the drainage of lots by proper drains or ditches; to prevent or
regulate slaughter-houses and soap-factories within the said town,
or the exercise of any dangerous, offensive, or unhealthy business,
trade or employment therein.

Third. To prevent hogs, dogs, cows, or other animals from run-
ning at large in the town, and may subject the same and the owners
thereof to such levies, taxes, and regulations as they may think pro-
per.

Fourth. To establish and maintain a fire department in the said
town and provide for the regulation of the same, and to compel the
residents of the town to aid and assist the fire department when ne-
cessary. They shall have power to establish fire limits in the said
town, within which no building shall be erected without the consent
of the council, unless the outer walls thereof be of brick, stone, or
some other incombustible material.

Fifth. To prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals
at an improper speed; to prevent the throwing of stones, playing
marbles, or engaging in any employment or sports on the streets,
sidewalks, or public alleys and grounds; to prohibit and punish the
abuse or cruel treatment of horses or other animals in the said town ;
and to prohibit and punish the tying of horses or other animals to
any fence, palings, or other objects on or along the streets and pub-
lic ways in said town.

Sixth. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, and street-
beggars; to prevent vice and immorality; to preserve public peace
and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances, and disor-
derly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill fame and gambling-
houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent, and disorderly con-
duct or exhibitions in the said town, and expel therefrom persons
guilty of such conduct who have not resided therein as much as one
year. .
Seventh. To prevent any cow, horse, hog, or other animal from
injuring or trespassing upon any public square or grounds within
the corporate limits of the said town, or grazing thereon, whether
the same belong to the State, town, or county, and from injuring or
destroying any tree growing in such square or grounds.

7. Where by the provisions of law, the council have authority to
pass ordinances on any subject, they may prescribe punishment by
fine or imprisonment, or both, for all violations thereof: provided
that in no case shall the fine exceed fifty dollars or the imprison-
ment sixty days. Fines may be recovered with cost upon warrants
issued in the name of the town of Clover before the mayor or any
councilman of said town. Whenever judgment is rendered against
any person for a fine, the officer trying the offender may require im-
mediate payment thereof, and in default of such payment may com-
mit the party so in default to jail until such fine and cost be paid,
of may compel him to work out such fine and cost on the public
streets or ways or other improvements of said town upon such terms
as the council may by ordinance prescribe. All fines for the viola-
tion of the ordinances of said town shall be paid into the treasury
thereof, and be appropriated as the council] may determine.

8. Until a jail or prison-house is provided for said town by the
council thereof they shall have the use of the jail of Halifax county
for the safe-keeping and confinement of all persons sentenced to im-
prisonment under the ordinances or by-laws of the said town.

9. Any person applying to the county court of Halifax county
for license to sell spirituous liquors, wines, beer, ale or porter, or any
mixture thereof, within the corporate limits of the town of Clover or
within one mile of the corporate limits of said town, shall produce
before the court of the said county a certificate of the council of said
town to the effect that the applicant is a suitable person, and that
no good reason is known to the council why the license should not be
granted. And the said court shall not grant any license to sell liquors
within the said limits until and unless such certificate be given.

10. To meet the expenditures that may be lawfully chargeable
tothe said town, the council may annually levy a town levy of so
much as in its opinion may be necessary upon all taxable persons
and property, resident or situate within the said town not exempted
from taxation by the laws of the state: provided that a capitation
tax not greater than fifty cents per head on the male inhabitants of
the said town over the age of twenty-one years may be levied in any
one year: and provided, further, that the tax so to be levied on the
real and personal property within the said town do not exceed fifty
cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value thereof for
any one year.

11. The council of said town may impose, levy and collect a
license tax on all persons doing business in said town, and upon any
person or employment therein which it may deem proper, whether
any tax be imposed thereon by the state or not. As to all such per-
sons or employment the council may lay a direct tax, or may re-
quire a license therefor, under such regulations as it may prescribe,
and levy a tax thereon.

12. The council may, in the name of and for the use of the said
town, contract loans and issue bonds therefor, bearing interest at the
rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually and
redeemable in thirty-four years or less, which bonds shall not be
sold at less than their par value, and the said bonds shall be exempt
from taxation by the said town: provided the council shall uot con-
tract any loan or issue bonds therefor unless the same be author-
ized by a vote of the resident freeholders of said town and a majority
of the vote be in favor thereof; and provided, further, that in no
case shall the aggregate debt of the said town at any one time ex-
ceed seven and a half per centum of the assessed value of the pro-
perty, real and personal, within the corporate limits of the said
town; and in any election held under this section the order therefor
shall state the object for which the money is to be used.
13. The council of said town may pass all by-laws, rules, and ordi-
nances, not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the state,
which it may deem necessary for the good order and government of
the town, the management of its property, the conduct of its affairs,
the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health, and protec-
tion of its citizens or their property; and to do such other things,
and pass such other by-laws and ordinances, as may be necessary or
proper to carry into full effect any power, authority, capacity, or
jurisdiction which is, or shall be, granted to or vested in said town,
or in the council or officers thereof, or which may be necessarily in-
cident to a municipal corporation.

14. The corporate limits of the town of Clover shall constitute a
school district, and the council shall] appoint, as soon as it may
deem expedient, three trustees for the public schools to serve one,
two, and three years, respectively, and annually thereafter it shall
appoint a school trustee to serve three years.

15. From and after this act goes into effect, and until the coun-
cilmen and mayor to be elected under its provisions shall have been
elected and qualified, J. M. Pollard, George M. Allen, W. H. Heidel-
berg, C. A. Gregory, and A. V. Womack are hereby appointed council-
men, and W. G. Morton, mayor, and may qualify before any justice
of the peace of Halifax county, and thereupon shall constitute the
council and mayor of the said town of Clover, and may organize and
perform the duties of said council and mayor.

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