Chap. 571.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3 and 4 of an act entitled “an
act to enlarge the powers of the Richmond Traction Company,” approved Janu-
ary 12, 1898.

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
three and four of an act entitled “an act to enlarge the powers of the
Richmond Traction Company,” approved January twelfth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-

lows :
§ 3. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than one hun-
dred thousand dollars nor more than ten million dollars, divided into
shares of one hundred dollars each. Subscriptions to the capital stock
may, from time to time, be taken and received by the board of directors
in such amounts as they may determine, and without public notice. Sub
scriptions to said capital stock may be payable in money, lands, services,
materials, rights, easements, capital stock, or property of other corpora-
tions of like character now in existence or which may be hereinafter in-
corporated: provided, that as to such companies as may be hereafter in-
corporated, and shall act under franchises hereafter granted by the city
of Richmond, the consent of the council of the city of Richmond must be
first obtained, and upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon
between the said company and the subscriber.

§ 4. The said company shall be, and is hereby, empowered to promote,
establish, and maintain the business of a general railway and electric
company, and to erect, establish, maintain and operate, and purchase or
sell a plant or plants in the cities of Richmond and Manchester, and the
counties of Henrico and Chesterfield, for the generation of electricity
and the supply of electric current for its own use and for sale to persons,
natural or artificial, desiring to use the same for light, heat, or power, or
for any and all other uses to which the electric current now or may be
at any time hereafter applied or applicable; and manufacture, use, and
sell, distribute and furnish the same for all said purposes to any person
or persons, parties and corporations desiring to use the same upon such
terms as may be agreed upon between the contracting parties, and to pur-
chase, manufacture, and sell all apparatus and appliances used in con-
nection therewith. The said company, in addition to the franchises
granted it by the city of Richmond, may construct and operate street
railways in the city of Manchester and the counties of Chesterfield, Hen-
rico, Hanover, and run over and through the streets of the city of Man-
chester, and upon such of the public roads of the counties of Chesterfield
and Henrico, for such distances and for such times, and upon such con-
tracts, and subject to such conditions, limitations, and restrictions as it
may make and agree upon with the common council of Manchester and
the county courts and board of supervisors of seid counties, respectively,
which contracts the common council of Manchester and the county courts
and the board of supervisors of said counties are hereby respectively au-
thorized to make with said company: provided, that if any territory over
which any route may run shall in future be taken into the limits of the
city of Richmond, that portion of the route in said territory shall be sub-
ject to the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions as may at that
time or thereafter be imposed by the council of the city of Richmond
upon the portion of the route then in the hmits of the said city. But
nothing herein contained shall affect in any way the rights of private
persons or corporations owning land adjoining or contiguous to the
routes in said counties along and over which the said company may
be allowed to construct said road without the payment of just compen-
sation, to be ascertained in the modes prescribed by law. Such company
may contract with any such persons or corporations owning such lands
or any interest, franchise, privilege, or eascment therein or in respect
thereto, over or contiguous to which such line is proposed to be con-
structed, for the right of way for erecting, repairing, and preserving its
tracks, poles, wires, and other structures necessary for operating its line,
and the land necessary for the erection and occupation of offices, power
houses, and other buildings and structures at suitable distances along its
line for the use of said company in operating its said line. If the com-
pany and such owner cannot agree on the terms of such contract, the
company shall be entitled to such right of way and necessary land upon
making just compensation therefor to such owner. Such compensation
shall be ascertained and made as provided in chapter forty-six of the
Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the amend-
ments thereto adopted by the legislature of Virginia for the acquisition
of lands by a company incorporated for the werk of internal improve-
ment when such internal improvement company cannot agree on the
terms of the purchase with those entitled to the lands wanted for the
purposes of the company. But the said corporation shall have no right
to condemn the property of any railroad or other corporation, but may
cross railroad track as now provided by law. And said corporation may
unite and consolidate with any other company or companies engaged in
the electric railway business or the manufacture of electricity upon such
terms as may be agreed upon between them, and power is hereby con-
ferred on such other company or companies to transfer by lease their
works, property, franchises, privileges, and immunities to the company
hereby incorporated, or to unite and consolidate with it upon such terms
as mav be agreed upon between them.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.