Chap. 834.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 8,4 and5of an act approved
May 6, 1887, entitled “an act to incorporate the Portsmouth street railway
company,” and to amend and re-enact sections 8 and 4 of an act approved
May 21, 1887, entitled “an act to amend and re-enact sections 3 and 4 of act
approved May 6, 1887, to incorporate the Portsmouth street railway com-
pany,’ and to authorlze the county courts of Norfolk, Nansemond and Isle of

ight counties to regulate the use of county roads by the said company in
those counties.

Approved March 5, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
two, three, four and fiveof an act approved May sixth, eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, entitled ‘“‘an act to incorporate the Portsmouth
street railway company,” and sections three and four of an act ap-
proved May twenty-one, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled
“an act to amend and re-enact sections three and four of an act ap-
proved May sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, to incorporate
the Portsmouth street railway company,” be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

§ 2. The said company shall have power and authority to locate,
construct, equip, maintain and operate a street railway along and
through the streets of Portsmouth, with the consent of the coun-
cil of the said city; and may, if a majority of the stockholders
of the said company shall so determine, locate, construct, equip,
maintain and operate, along and through the streets of Ports-
mouth and along and through the county roads of the counties of
Norfolk, Nansemond and Isle of Wight, or along and through such
other lands (not exceeding eighty feet in width) as it may acquire,
a branch of its said railway, by such route as its board of directors
may determine, from Portsmouth to Smithfield, and any extensions
and subordinate branches of the said railway and the said Smithfield
branch, within the said city and the said counties, or any of them;
provided that the use of streets in the said city of Portsmouth shall
be only with the consent of the council of the said city, and the use of
the county roads of any of the said counties shall be subject to such
conditions, limitations and restrictions as may be imposed by the
county court of the county whose road is used; and provided, fur-
ther, that nothing herein contained shall affect in any way the right
of individuals and corporations, who are owners of lands abutting
on the said county roads, to have just compensation from the said com-
pany for such of their property as may be taken by the construction of
the said company’s lines along and through the said roads. The said
company may contract with any such individuals or corporations for
the right of way for constructing, equipping, maintaining and ope-
rating its lines of railway, including its tracks, poles, wires and other
necessary or convenient structures, along and through the said county
roads, and with the owners of other lands along and through which
it may determine to construct, equip, maintain and operate its lines of
railway, and may acquire, by purchase, gift or otherwise from the own-
ers, land necessary for the erection, maintenance and operation of its
power-houses and other buildings and structures, and for its yards.
And, if the said company and the said owners cannot agree on the terms
»f such contract or purchase, the right of way and other necessary
jands may be acquired by the said company by condemnation accord-
ing to the laws of Virginia relating to the acquisition of lands by
internal improvement companies.

And power is hereby given to the county courts of the counties of
Norfolk, Nansemona and Isle of Wight to make such conditions,
limitations and restrictions as they may deem proper to regulate the
use of county roads in their respective counties by the said company.

The said company is authorized and empowered to locate, construct,
equip, maintain and operate all such power-houses and other build-
ings and structures, plants, machinery and equipment as may, in the
Opinion of its board of directors, be necessary for operating its lines
of railway.

And the said company shall have perpetual succession, and have
power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be de-
fended in all courts, whether in law or in equity, and may make and
have a common seal and alter and renew the same at pleasure, and
shall] have, possess and enjoy all the rights and privileges of a cor-
poration or body politic in the law and necessary for the purposes of
this act.

§ 3. It shall be lawful for said company to transport passengers,
freight and baggage over its lines of railway and to collect fare and
tolls for the same; provided that there shall not be charged for a sin-
gle passenger fare more than five cents for a single trip within the
city of Portsmouth, without the consent of the council of the city of
Portsmouth. |

§ 4. The capital stock of the said company shall be not less than
fifty thousand (50,000) dollars nor more than five hundred thousand
(500,000) dollars, divided into shares of the par value of twenty-five
(25) dollars each; and the said company may connect or unite its
lines of railway with those of any other company or companies, or
consolidate and merge its stock, property and franchises with and
into those of any other company or companies of this state opera-
ting, or authorized to operate, a connecting line of railway, upon such
terms and under such name as may be agreed upon between the com-
panies so uniting or connecting, merging or consolidating, or may
acquire the said property and franchises of said other company or
companies by lease or sale; and for that purpose power is hereby
given to the said company and to such other company or companies
to make and carry out such contracts as will facilitate and consum-
mate such connection, merger or consolidation, lease or sale; pro-
vided that a copy of every such contract of consolidation and merger
shall be filed in the office of the board of public works. And the said
company shall pay all taxes, dues and demands due the common-
wealth in lawful money of the United States, and not in coupons.

§ 5. The said company may accept, in payment for subscriptions
to or purchase of its capital stock, cash, labor, material, easements,
rights of way, bonds, stock, real or personal property, at such valua-
tion and at such prices as may be agreed upon between the directors
and the subscribers to or purchasers of the stock ; and may sell, lease
914 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

or otherwise dispose of the considerations other than cash s0 re
ceived; provided that the amount of land which the said company
may acquire and hold in addition to its right of way shall not ex
ceed, within the city of Portsmouth, five acres, or in the countie
aforesaid fifty acres in each county.

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