Chap. 163.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3 and 22 of the charter of
the town of South Boston, in the county of Halifax.

Approved April 20, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the gencral assembly of Virginia, That section three
of an act entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to
incorporate the town of South Boston, in the county of Halifax, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 3. There shall be elected on the first Tuesday in December, nineteen
hundred and four, and every two years thereafter, from among its electors,
seven trustees for the said town by the qualified voters residing within its
corporate limits. The provisions of section ten hundred and twenty-two
of the Code of Virginia, as amended by the act approved February ,

nineteen hundred and three, entitled an act to amend and re-enact sec-
tion ten hundred and twenty-two of the Code of Virginia, in relation to
registrars and judges of election for the towns of this State, shall apply w
the town of South Boston, and the registrar and judges of election for
said town shall be appointed by the electoral board of the county of Hah-
fax, as prescribed in said act for the appointment of registrars and judge
of election for the towns of this State; and the duties of the registrar for
said town shall be such as are prescribed by said act. The judges of elec-
{ion for said town, so appointed, shall hold all elections therein, between
the hours of one o'clock in the afternoon and sunset of the same dav.
They shall appoint two clerks of election, who shall keep the poll books
thereof. The judges and clerks of election, before entering upon the dis
charge of their duties as such, shall be duly sworn, as prescribed by the
general laws of this Commonwealth for judges and clerks of election.
The judges of election shall decide any contest with reference to the right
of any individual to vote, and they shall count the ballots. In case it i
impossible, by reason of a tie, to determine the seven persons who have
received the highest number of votes, one of them shall determine the mat-
ter by lot, in the presence of his associates and of the clerks of election.
The persons holding the election shall determine who have received the
highest number of votes at such election and certify the same and an ab-
«tract of the votes on the poll books, and make return thereof, together
with the ballots, to the clerk of the council, to be preserved by him. He
shall immediately, on their receipt, make out and deliver a certificate of
election to each of the persons elected. The persons so elected as trustees
shall enter upon their duties on the first day of January next succeeding
their election, and hold their offices for the term of two years, and until
their successors are elected and qualified. They shall elect one of their
number to be mayor of the said town, and may fill any vacancy occurring
in their body for the unexpired term. If the judges of election appointed
for said town, or any one or more of them, shall decline or fail to serve
as such, their places shall be filled in the manner prescribed by the general
laws of this Commonwealth.

2. That section twenty-two of the charter of the town of South Boston,
in the county of Halifax, as amended by an act approved March twentv-
fifth, nineteen hundred and two, entitled an act to amend the charter of
the town of South Boston, in Halifax county, Virginia, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$22. 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 or less per annum, payable semi-annually, and redeem-
able in thirty-four years or less, which bonds shall be exempt from taxa-
tion by said town: provided, that the council shall not contract any loan
or issue any bonds therefor, unless the same be authorized by a vote of the
frecholders who are qualified voters of the said town, and a majority of
those voting be in favor thereof: and provided, further, that in no case
shall the aggregate debt of the said town at any one time exceed seven and
a half per centum of the assessed value of the property, real and _per-
sonal, 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.
3. This act shall be in force from its passage.