Chap. 85.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1, 2 and 4 of an act entitled
an “Act to ee a board of trustees for the Virginia female institute at
Staunton, an rovide for the future government of said institute, ap-
proved March 14, 1874, ” with a preamble to said amended and re-enacted
sections.

Approved January 18, 1896.

Whereas since the above named act, approved March fourteenth,
eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and which is printed as chapter
one hundred and eight in the session acts of the general assembly of
Virginia for the year eighteen hundred and seventy-four, went into
operation, the diocese of the Protestant Episcopal church in the
state of Virginia, referred to in the above named act as “ The Diocese
of Virginia,” has been divided into two other dioceses—one known as
the diocese of Virginia and the other as the diocese of southern Vir-
ginia; and whereas at the last council of the Protestant Episcopal
church, in the diocese of Virginia, prior to the division hereinbefore
mentioned, the same having been held in Danville, Virginia, in the
month of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, amongst the reso-
lutions adopted providing for the division of the diocese, was the
following: “Fifth. Resolved, That the Virginia female institute
shall remain the property of the diocese of Virginia and of the pro-
posed new diocese, and under their joint control and management,
on such terms and conditions as may be hereafter determined,”’
which, together with other action of said council of the diocese of
Virginia, at Danville, Virginia, in May, eighteen hundred and
ninety-two, relative to said division, was subsequently, in the same
year, approved and ratified by the general convention of the Protes-
tant Episcopal church in the United States; and whereas, in pur-
suance of the resolution adopted by the council of the Protestant
Episcopal church in the diocese of Virginia, at Danville, in eighteen
hundred and ninety-two, hereinbefore quoted, committees of the
councils of the two dioceses hereinbefore named, into which the
former diocese of Virginia was divided, have met in joint session
and agreed that said last named two dioceses should, in their joint
holdings, control and management of said Virginia female institute,
be upon a footing of exact equality in all respects, which action of
said committees has been reported to and confirmed by the councils
of their respective dioceses; and whereas it is deemed desirable and
important that a new board of trustees should be appointed for said
institute, and that the aforesaid act, approved March fourteenth,
eighteen hundred and seventy-four, should also be otherwise changed
and amended so as to recognize the division of the diocese of the
Protestant Episcopal church in Virginia, into the two existing
dioceses hereinbefore mentioned, and to provide for the substitution
of said two dioceses to all the interest in and control and manage-
ment of the said Virginia female institute and its property and
affairs, to which the former diocese of Virginia, prior to its aforesaid
division, was entitled under said act of the fourteenth of March,
eighteen hundred and seventy-four: now, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
one, two and four of an act entitled an act to appoint a board of
trustees for the Virginia female institute at Staunton, and to provide
for the future government of said institute, approved March four-
teenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Right
Reverend F. M. Whittle, D. D., Right Reverend John B. Newton,
James M. Garnett, R. Taylor Scott, Joseph Bryan, John G. Williams
and Thomas Potts, all of whom reside within the boundaries of the dio-
cese of the Protestant Episcopal church, at present known and desig-
nated as the Diocese of Virginia, and Right Reverend A. M.Randolph,
D. D., W.W. Old, Charles M. Blackford, W. A. Anderson, H. M. Bell, T.
C. Elder and Thomas D. Ranson, all of whom reside within the bounda-
ries of the diocese of the Protestant Episcopal church, at present
known and designated as the Diocese of southern Virginia, be, and
they are hereby, appointed trustees of the Virginia female institute,
in the city of Staunton, Virginia, and they and their successors shall
constitute a board, with full power to manage and control the pro-
perty and affairs of said institute; to adopt proper and needful
rules and regulations for the government of the same; to appoint
annually a board of directors, and to hold, preserve and use the pro-
perty and effects of the said institute for the uses and purposes of
its original charter and none other. The board of trustees hereby
appointed shall be divided into two parts, designated as part one
and part two, respectively. The seven persons first hereinbefore
named as trustees, and described as living within the limits of the
present diocese of Virginia, and their successors, shall constitute
part one, and the seven persons last hereinbefore named as trustees.
and who are described as living within the limits of the diocese
known at present as the diocese of southern Virginia, and their suc-
cessors, shall constitute part two. The said trustees and their suc-
cessors may acquire, receive, hold, manage, rent, sell, grant, convey,
invest, convert, and otherwise dispose of, as to them shall seem most
conductive to the interest of said institute, for the purpose of edu-
cating white females in said institute, and erecting, acquiring.
equipping and furnishing the necessary buildings and other pro-
perty therefor, and maintaining said institute, all lands, tenements,
stocks, bonds, goods, moneys, securities, chattels ’and ‘property of
every kind, which have been, or may be given, bequeathed or devised
to, or otherwise acquired by said trustees for the purposes aforesaid,
or for the endowment of said institute, or of any chair therein, or
for the purpose of establishing or endowing fellowships or scholar-
ships therein, upon such conditions as may be imposed by the donor,
grantor, or testator making said gift or grant ; and for said purposes
the trustees and their successors may acquire the stock of said cor-
poration, and hold the same for the advancement of the cause of
education in the said institute. Devises, bequests, gifts and grants
may be given or made to the trustees of the Virginia female insti-
tute for any or all of the purposes aforesaid.

§ 2. The first meeting of said board of trustees shall be held on the
first Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, at the Vir-
ginia female institute, in the city of Staunton; and there shall be at
least one regular meeting of the board in each year thereafter, the
time and place of such meeting to be fixed by said board; and in
the event the board is unable to agree on the time and place for the
regular annual meeting, it shall be held on the first Thursday in
May, and at said institute in Staunton. Any five members, irrespec-
tive of the parts of the board to which they belong, may call a spe-
cial meeting of the board to be held at said institute in Staunton,
and at such time as may be designated by a written or printed notice,
duly mailed to the regular post-office addresses of the other members,
or by publication in at least two newspapers of general circulation,
one of which shall be published in the diocese of Virginia and the
other in the diocese of southern Virginia; the notice if sent by mail
to be forwarded at least two weeks before the meeting, and if by pub-
lication in the newspapers the first insertion in each paper to be at
least two weeks before the meeting, and the publication to be con-
tinued until the meeting. Three members from each of the parts
into which the board of trustees is divided—six altogether—shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and no measure
can be carried unless a majority of the members from each diocese,
constituting the quorum in attendance on the meeting at which it is
voted on, shall vote in its favor; nor can any office be filled, or any
person elected or chosen to any position by the board, unless by a
like concurrent vote of the two parts. The board of directors, which
the board of trustees are by the first section of this act authorized to
appoint, shall consist of as many members as the board of trustees
in a regular annual meeting assembled shall determine, who may be,
in whole or in part, persons other than members of the board of
trustees; and they may all reside in one diocese, or be selected from
the dioceses of Virginia and southern Virginia in equal numbers as
between the two. The board of trustees shall have power to enact
by-laws for its own government, and also for the government of the
board of directors: provided that they are not in conflict with the
constitution or laws of this state or of the constitution and laws of
the United States.

$4. Each part of said board of trustees shall have power to fill
any vacancies, which may occur in the membership of such part,
arising from death, resignation, inability or refusal to act, or removal
from the diocese represented by such part. Any such vacancy shall
be filled by that part of the board in which it occurs alone, without
assistance from or interference by the other part of the board; but
the selection of a person to fil] the vacancy shall be made from two
or more persons recommended therefor by the council of the diocese
‘o which the part of the board of trustees in which the vacancy oc-
curs shall belong; and in this way part one of the board may keep
this part full, and part two may keep its membership full, each
doing this without interference on the part of the other.

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