Chap. 158.—An ACT to provide a charter for the town of Victoria, in
the county of Lunenburg, and to repeal all other acts or parts of acts
in conflict therewith. (S. B. 15)

Approved March 11, 1916.
ARTICLE I.
Corporation and Boundaries.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the inhabitants of the territory in Lunenburg county contained
within the boundaries prescribed in section two hereof is, be,
and shall continue to be a body politic and corporate, in fact and
in name, under the name and style of the town of Victoria; and
as such shall have and exercise all the powers conferred by and
be subject to all laws of the State of Virginia now in force, or
that may hereafter be enacted for the government of towns of
less than five thousand inhabitants, so far as the same are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this act.
_ 2. The boundaries of the town shall be as follows: Begin-
ning at the southeast corner of lot number eight in block num-
ber thirty-five of plat of Victoria Land Company, incorporated,
filed in the office of the clerk of Lunenburg county; thence in a
northwesterly direction along Marshall avenue to a point form-
ing right angles to property of Tidewater Townsite Corporation,
plat of which is filed in the office of the clerk of the county of
Lunenburg; thence in a westerly direction along the border of
the property of the said Tidewater Townsite Corporation, shown
in said plat, to Ffteenth street; thence in a southwesterly direc-
tion along Fifteenth street to Virginian Railway Company’s
tracks; thence in a southerly direction to a point intersecting
Mecklenburg avenue, as shown on plat of the Tidewater Im-
provement Company, incorporated, plat of which is filed in the
office of the clerk of Lunenburg county, said line being a straight
line that will pass ten feet to west of property of G. W. Phelps;
thence in a southwesterly direction along Mecklenburg avenue
to where it intersects the county road; thence in a southwesterly
direction along said county road, where it intersects Roanoke
avenue as shown on the plat of the Tidewater Improvement
Company, above referred to; thence in a southeasterly direc-
tion along said Roanoke avenue to where it ends; thence in an
easterly direction along the line of the property of the Tide-
water Improvement Company, incorporated, as shown on said
plat on Thirteenth street; thence in a northwesterly direction
along Thirteenth street to its end; thence in a straight line to
county road; thence in a northwesterly direction along said
county road to the southwest corner of lot number one, in block
number seventeen, as shown on plat of Victoria Land Company,
incorporated, above referred to; thence in a northwesterly direc-
tion along the border of the property of Victoria Land Com-
paany, incorporated, as shown on plat above referred to, to the
point of beginning. The boundary line of said town is plainly
designated by a red line on plat filed with the petition upon
which said town was formerly incorporated by an order of the
circuit court of Lunenburg county, under an act approved March
fourteenth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled an act to pro-
vide for the incorporation by the courts of towns of more than
two hundred and less than five hundred inhabitants, and con-
ferring upon said towns, when incorporated, certain powers of
taxation: the obiect of this act being to incorporate such terri-
tory as was incorporated by said order, and which is more par-
ticularly designated by a map made by A. D. Kaylor, town engi-
neer, on January twentieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, and
dulv of record in I.unenburg circuit court clerk’s office.

38. Administration and government.—The administration
and governmert of the said town shall be vested in one principal
officer, to be denominated the mayor, and six councilmen, who
shall constitute the town council, all of whom shall be electors

of said town.
1916.] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 279

4. The mayor and councilmen shall each be elected for a
term of two years, and each shall serve until his successor shall
have qualified. They shall be elected on the second Tuesday in
June, immediately preceding the expiration of the terms of their
predecessors, and shall enter upon their duties on the first day
of September next succeeding their election.

5. The electors of the town of Victoria shall be the actual
residents of the town, who are otherwise qualified to vote for
members of the general assembly, and who have paid their State
poll tax as required by law, that it to say, for any general,
special or local option election to be held on or before the second
Tuesday in June, shall have personally paid at least six months
prior to the second Tuesday in June of that year all State poll
taxes assessed or assessable against him during the three years
next preceding that in which such election is held, and for any
election, general, special or local option, held after the second
Tuesday in June in any year, shall have personally paid at least
six months prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in
November of that year all State poll taxes assessed or assessable
against him during the three years next preceding that in which
such election is held.

6. The municipal officers of said town shall in addition to
said mayor, consist of a treasurer, sergeant, clerk of the council,
and commissioner of the revenue, and such other officers as may
be provided for by the town council, and the council may ap-
point such committees of the council and create such boards and
departments of town government and administration with such
powers and duties and subject to such regulations as it may
seem fit, consistent with the provisions of this act and the gen-
eral laws of this State.

7. A treasurer, clerk of the council, sergeant and commis-
sioner of the revenue shall be appointed by the council at its
first regular meeting in October in every odd numbered year, or
as soon thereafter as may be, and shall assume the duties of their
office on the first day.of January next succeeding. Their term
of office shall be for two years from the time fixed for their as-
suming the duties of their offices, and they shall serve until their
successors shall have qualified.

8. The time of appointment of all other officers may be pre-
scribed by the council, and they may be appointed for such term,
not exceeding two years, as the council shall provide, but all
municipal officers shall serve until their successors shall have
qualified, unless otherwise provided by the council.

9. The duties and compensation of all municipal officers,
except as herein or hereafter by the general laws of the State
defined or provided for, shall be defined and prescribed by the
town council. |

10. In addition to the power to appoint such officers as are
herein expressly mentioned, the town council shall have the
power and authority to appoint such officers and employees as
the council may deem proper; and any committees of the coun-
cil, any municipal board, the mayor of the town, and any head
of a department of the town government may appoint such
officers and employees as the town council may determine, the
duties and compensation of which officers and employees shall
be fixed by the council, except so far as the council may author-
ize such duties to be fixed by such committees or other appoint-
ing power, and may require of any of the officers and employees
so appointed bonds, with sureties in proper penalty, payable to
the town in its corporate name, with condition for the faithful
performance of said duties.

11. All officers and employees appointed as provided in the
preceding section may be removed by the town council at its
pleasure, and where the appointment is by a committee or board,
by a vote of such committee or board, or where such appoint-
ment is made by the mavor or head of a department, such re-
moval. may be by order of the mayor or head of department.

12. In case of a vacancy in any position so authorized to be
filled in section ten of this act, a qualified person may be ap-
pointed to fill such position for the unexpired term by the pro-
per appointing power.

13. It shall be lawful for any officer appointed by the coun-
cil, any committee, municipal board, mayor, or the head of any
department to fill two or more of the offices whose incumbents
are appointed by the council or by any appointing power desig-
nated by the council, subject to the same penalties, liabilities
and requirements as to each of said offices as would apply to
the incumbents thereof if held by different persons.

14. The mayor, councilmen and all municipal officers of said
town shall, before entering upon the duties of their respective
offices, be sworn in accordance with the laws of the State of
Virginia by any one authorized to administer oaths under the
law of the State.

15. When the mayor, councilmen, treasurer, sergeant and
commissioner of the revenue take the oaths required of them,
duplicate certificates of the court, or persons administering the
same, stating the fact of their having been taken, shall be ob-
tained by the person taking the same and be by him delivered
for record as follows: one to the circuit court of Lunenburg
county, and one to the clerk of the town council. When any
other municipal officer takes the oath required of him, a cer-
tificate as aforesaid, shall be secured by him and delivered to
the clerk of the town council.

16. If any person elected or appointed to any office in said
town shall neglect to take such oath on or before the dav on
which he is to enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office,
or shall. for twenty days after the beginning of his term of of-
fice. fail to file such bond with such security as may be required
of him by the council of said town, he shall be considered as
having declined said office, and the same shall be deemed vacant,
and such vacancy shall be filled as prescribed in this act or by
the general laws of this State.

17. If any person, having been an officer of said town, shall
not within ten days after he shall have vacated or been removed
from office, and upon notification or request of the clerk of the
council, or within such time thereafter as the council may allow,
deliver over to his successor in office all property, books, and
papers belonging to the town or appertaining to such office, in
his possession or under his control, he shall forfeit and pay to
the town a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, to be sued
for and recovered with costs; and all books, records and docu-
ments used in any office by virtue of any provision of this act,
or of any ordinances or order of the town council, or any su-
perior officer of said town, shall be deemed the property of said
town and appertaining to said office, and che chief officer thereof
shall be held responsible therefor.

ARTICLE ITI.

18. The mayor.—The mayor shall be elected by the quali-
fied electors of the town for the term of two years. His salary
shall be fixed by the town council, and shall not be diminished
during his term of office. All fees allowed him under the gen-
eral laws of this State for the issuance of warrants, trial of
cases, etc., shall be collected as other costs are collected and
turned into the town treasury.

19. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the
town and it shall be his duty to see that the by-laws and ordi-
nances thereof are fully executed, and he shall preside over the
meetings of the town council, voting only in case of a tie.

20. Every ordinance, or resolution having the effect of an
ordinance, shall, before it becomes operative, be presented to
the mayor. If he approves, he shall sign it, but if not, he may
return it to the clerk of the council; and the council shall enter
the objection at length on its journal and proceed to reconsider
it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the members
elected to the council shall agree to pass the ordinance or reso-
lution, it shall become operative, notwithstanding the objections
of the mayor. If any ordinance or resolution shall not be re-
turned by the mayor within five days (Sundays excepted), after
it shall have been presented to him, it shall become operative
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless his term of office,
or that of the council, shall expire within said five days.

The mayor shall have the power to veto any particular item
or items of an appropriation, ordinance or resolution; but such
veto shall not affect any item or items to which he does not
object. The item or items objected to shall not take effect ex-
cept in the manner provided in this section as to ordinances or
resolutions not approved by the mayor.

21. The mayor snall see that the duties of the various town
officers members of the police and fire departments, whether
elected or appointed, are faithfully performed. He shall have
power to investigate their acts, have access to all books and
documents in their office; and may examine them or their sub-
ordinates on oath, but the evidence given by persons so examined
shall not be used ‘against them in any criminal proceedings.

22. The mayor shall have power to remove any officer ap-
pointed by him, and to suspend any municipal officer or em-
ployees, other than the councilmen, whether elected by the peo-
ple or appointed by the council or by any appointing power
designated by the council, for misconduct in office or neglect
of duty to be specified in the order of suspension. On the sus-
pension of any officer not appointed by the mayor, the mayor
shall report the same to the town council at their next stated
meeting for their consideration, but in no case shall the sus-
pension or removal by the mayor of an officer not appointed
by him be final unless ratified by the council, after a reasonable
notice to the officer complained of and an opportunity be af-
forded him to be heard in his defense.

23. The mayor shall communicate to the town annually at
the beginning of each fiscal year, January first or oftener, if
he be required by the council, a general statement of the con-
dition of the town in relation to its government, finances and
improvements, with such recommendations as he may deem
proper; and may from time to time communicate to the council
such suggestions and recommendations as he shall deem proper.

24. In case of the absence or inability of the mayor, the
president pro tempore of the council, to be chosen by a ma-
jority of the council present at a legal meeting, or in his absence
or inability some other member of the council chosen in the same
manner, shall possess the same power and discharge the mu-
nicipal duties of the mayor during such absence or inability.

25. In case a vacancy shall occur in the office of mayor, the
vacancy shall be filled by the appointment by the town council
of any one eligible to such office.

26. Of the town council generally.—The town council, in
addition to the mayor, shall be composed of six members, who
shall be elected by the popular vote of the qualified electors of
the town.

27. .The town council shall, by ordinance, fix the time of
their stated meetings, and no business shall be transacted at a
special meeting unless two-thirds of all members of the council
be present, but that for which it shall be called.

28. The town council may be convened at any time upon
the call, in writing, of the mayor or any three members thereof,
but if all members of the council shall be present at such meet-
ings, any action taken or resolution or ordinance passed at such
meeting shall be valid though there should have been no call
in writing for said meeting or such call be irregular, or not
served upon all the members of the council. Service of the
notice of a call of any special meeting shall be had upon all the
members of the council and the mayor, who do not sign the call.
Such notice may be served by delivering a copy of such call in
writing to the party in person, or, if he be not found at his usual
place of abode or his usual place of business in the town, if any,
by delivering such copy and giving such information of its pur-
port to his wife or any person found at his usual place of abode,
who is a member of his family and over the age of sixteen
years, or who is in his employment; and if he be not found at
his usual place of abode or place of business, if any, within the
town, nor any such person be found at his usual place of abode,
by leaving such copy posted at the front door of the said place
of abode, or place of business. |

29. The mayor and three councilmen, or in the absence of
the mayor, four councilmen shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, except as herein otherwise provided.
But no vote shall be reconsidered or rescinded at any special
meeting, unless at such special meeting there be present as large
a number of the council as were present when such vote was

en.

30. The meeting of the town council shall be open to the
public except when by a recorded vote of two-thirds of those
members present the council shall declare that the public wel-
fare requires secrecy; but the journal of their proceedings shall
at all times be open to inspection by citizens of the town.

31. The town council shall have authority to adopt rules
for the regulation of their proceedings, and to appoint such
officers and committees as they deem proper; but no tax shall
be levied or corporate debt contracted, unless by a vote of two-
thirds of the council, which vote shall be bv yeas and nays, and
recorded in the iournal: nor shall any ordinance be passed or
resolution adopted having for its obiect the appropriation of
money exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars except by the
recorded affirmative vote of a majority of all members elected
to the council.

32. <A journal shall be kept of the proceedings of the town
council, and at the request of any member present the yeas and
nays shall be recorded on any question. At the next meeting
the proceedings shall be read and signed bv the person who
was presiding when the previous meetine adjourned, or if he
be pot then present, by the person presiding when they were
read.

33. The clerk of the council shall keep said iournal and
shall record the proceedings of the council at large thereon, and
keep the same properly indexed.
34. The town council shall judge of the election, qualifica-
tions and returns of its members; may compel the attendance
of absent members, and fine them for disorderly behavior, and,
with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

35. If any person returned as a member of the council shall
be adjudged by the council disqualified or expelled, a new elec-
tion to fill the vacancy shall be held at the same place, on such
day as the council may prescribe.

386. Any vacancy in the town council occurring otherwise
than mentioned in section thirty-four and section thirty-five
above, during the term for which a member of the said council
has been elected, shall be filled by the council, by the appoint-
ment of any one eligible to such office, such appointment to be
for the unexpired term of the office to be filled.

37. If any member of said council be voluntarily absent
from its meetings consecutively for three months, his seat may
be declared vacant by the council and the unexpired term filled
according to law.

38. The council shall have power to suspend and remove
all other officers whether they be elected or appointed, for mis-
conduct in office or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order
of suspension or removal; but no such removal! shall be made
without reasonable notice to the officer complained of, and an
opportunity afforded him to be heard in his defense; and no
removal of any town officer by the mayor, other than an officer
appointed by him, shall be final until the same shall be ratified
by the town council.

39. The town council shall have, subject to the provisions
of this act and the general laws of this State, not in conflict
therewith tne management and control of the fiscal and munic-
ipal affairs of the town and of all property, real and personal,
belonging to the town.

40. The town council shall have all power and authority
that is now or may hereafter be granted to the councils of towns
by the general laws of this State and by this act; and the recital
of special powers and authorities herein shall not be taken to
exclude the exercise of any power and authority granted by the
general laws of the State to town councils, but not herein speci-

ed.

41. For carrying into effect the powers granted by this act
and the general laws of this State, not in conflict therewith, the
town council may make ordinances and by-laws, and prescribe
fines and other punishments for violation thereof, lay taxes and
levies, keep a city guard, appoint a collector of taxes and levies,
and such other officers as they may deem proper, define their
powers, prescribe their duties and compensations, and take
from any of them a bond, with surety, in such penalty as to the
council may seem fit, payable to the town by its corporate name
and with condition for the faithful discharge of said duties; but
no general ordinance, or by-law or regulation having the effect
of a general ordinance, shall become operative until published
in some paper published in the town, if any, and if none, until
publicly posted in the town at such places as the council may
direct, but an ordinance establishing a town code shall be taken
as duly published when copies thereof have been printed and
placed on sale for the public.

42. Where not otherwise provided for by the laws of this
State the town council shall by ordinance provide for any ir-
regular elections not herein or by the State laws provided for,
and appoint the necessary officers to conduct the same.

43. The town council shall have the power and authority
to prevent hogs, dogs and other animals from running at large
in said town, and may subject the said animals to such confisca-
tion, regulations and taxes as they may deem proper; and to
prohibit and punish the abuse or cruel treatment of horses and
other animals in said town.

44. The town council shall have the power and authority
to protect the persons and property of the inhabitants of the
town and others within the town, restrain and punish drunk-
ards, vagrants and street-beggars; to prevent and quell riots,
disturbances and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses
of ill-fame and gambling houses; to prevent and punish betting
at cards or other games, regardless of the amount won or lost,
or making or having any interest in any wager therein; to pre-
vent and punish lewd or indecent conduct or exhibitions in said
town, to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct who
have not resided therein as much as one year; to prevent and
punish disorderly conduct and the use of profane and abusive
language; and for any violation of such ordinance may impose
fines and other punishments in addition to those prescribed by
the laws of the State.

45. The town council shall have the power and authority
to prevent the coming into town of persons having no ostensi-
ble means of support and of persons who may be dangerous to
the peace and safety of the town.

46. The town council shall have the power and authority,
when any felony has been committed or attempted to be com-
mitted in the town and may in their discretion, offer such re-
ward as they think right, not to exceed one hundred dollars,
for the arrest and conviction of such criminals said reward to
be paid out of the contingent fund of the town when duly ap-
proved and ordered to be paid.

47. The town council shall have the power and authority
to establish a market or markets in and for said town, and ap-
point proper officers therefor; to provide suitable buildings and
grounds therefor; to prescribe the time for holding markets
and to regulate the same, and to make and enforce such regula-
tions as may be necessary and proper to prevent huckstering,
forestalling and regrating.

48. The town council shall have the power and authority
to provide for the weighing or measuring of hay, coal, or any
other article for sale, and regulate the transportation thereof
through the streets.

49. The town council shall have the power and authority
to lay off public grounds and provide, erect and keep in order
all buildings proper for the town; to provide a prison house and
work house, and employ managers, physicians, nurses and ser-
vants for the same, and prescribe regulations for their govern-
ment and discipline, and persons therein.

50. The town council may make appropriations of public
funds, of personal property, or of any real estate to any chari-
table institution or association within its limit not controlled
in whole or in part by any church or sectarian society, and to
any public free school of the county of Lunenburg which is used
or attended by the children of residents of the town, whether
located within or without the town. The words ‘“Sectarian
Society” shall not be construed to mean a non-denominational
young men’s or young woman’s Christian association, and the
town council may contract with any sectarian institution or
other person or institution for the care of indigent, sick or in-

jured persons.
ARTICLE VI.

51. Sale of ardent spirits— Whereas, the State of Virginia,
in an election held on September twenty-second, nineteen hun-
dred and fourteen, on the question of State-wide prohibition,
voted for State-wide prohibition, and thus far, as a whole, is
soon to be no license territory; and whereas, the town of Vic-
toria is now no license territory; now, therefore, no person, firm
or corporation shall, within the town of Victoria, sell or offer
for sale any ardent spirits, or other liquor or mixture thereof
which is intoxicating, or solicit orders for the same, or act as
agent for the sale or distribution, and the transmission of such
orders; or have in his possession for personal or other use
more than one quart at one time; or advertise the sale, distribu-
tion giving away or dispensing of the same in any local paper
published in the said town, or by the circulation of hand-bills
or circulars therein; nor shall any carrier, private or public,
bring into, deliver, or distribute in the said town any spirituous
or vinous intoxicating liquor regardless of the name by which
it may be called; nor shall any person receive the same from
any such carrier; nor shall any person bring into said town any
such liquors except for his own use and then not more than one
quart at any time, and this act shall apply to all packages of
such intoxicating liquors, whether broken or unbroéken. Any
person, or public or private carrier, violating the provisions
of this section of this act shall be fined not :ess-than twenty-five
nor more than five hundred dollars for each offense; and upon
a second conviction, such person so convicted shall be likewise
fined and also sentenced to confinement in jail not less than
thirty days nor more than ninety days; and upon the second
conviction of a carrier, private or public, the person or agent
of such carrier, guilty of the second violation of such provisions,
shall be confined in jail as aforesaid. And the place of delivery
of such liquors shall be held to be the place of sale. But this
section of this act shall not be deemed in force until published
for four weeks consecutively in some newspaper published in
the town of Victoria, or if none, then in some newspaper pub-
lished in the county of Lunenburg, or some adjoining county.
And the mayor of the said town or any member of the town
council, or any citizen of the said town shall have the right to
have this section of this act published as soon as this act shall
have been passed and become operative. But nothing in this
provision of this act shall apply to licensed druggists and phar-
macists, or other agencies designated by general laws for the
purpose, who shall receive and dispense ardent spirits, as by
general laws defined, so long as such ardent spirits are received
and dispensed in strict compliance with general prohibition laws
of the State, unless such druggists and pharmacists or other
agencies, shall be further restricted or prohibited by ordinance
or resolution hereafter duly passed by the town council of th

town of Victoria. "

52. Prevention of disease and protection of health.—The
town council shall have the power and authority to secure the
inhabitants of the town from contagious diseases; to establish,
erect and maintain and regulate hospitals and pest houses; to
appoint a health officer for, and to organize a board of health
for the town, with the authority for the prompt and efficient
performance of his and its duties. Such hospitals and pest
houses may be established by the town within or without the
corporate limits of the town.

53. The council of the town may establish in or near the
town hospitals and quarantine grounds, subject to such regu-
lations as are not contrary to law, and if the council cannot
agree on the terms of purchase with the owner of land needed
for such purpose they may acquire title to the same by condem-
nation proceedings in the mode prescribed by the general
statutes of this State. Provided, however, that where the coun-
cil desires to locate a hospital or quarantine ground outside the
corporate limits, it shall first obtain the consent thereto of the
board of supervisors of Lunenburg county.

54. The town council shall have the power and authority to
prevent injury or annoyance from anything dangerous, offen-
sive, or unhealthy, to provide by general ordinances what are
nuisances, to cause the abatement of any nuisance so declared to
be by the general laws of this State or the general ordinances
of the town, and to require and compel the abatement and re-
moval of such nuisances within said town by or at the expense
of the owners of the ground whereon the same may be or of the
persons responsible therefor.

55. The town council shall have the power and authority to
regulate slaughter-houses, soap and candle factories and the
exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business, trade
or employment within the town, and to prevent and prohibit the
erection of such houses and factories, and the exercise of such
business, trades and employments within the town.

f any ground in said town shall be subject to be cov-
ered with stagnant water, or if the owner or owners, occupier
or occupiers thereof, shall permit any offensive or unwholesome
substance to remain or accumulate thereon, the council may
cause the substance to be removed therefrom, and may collect
the expense of so doing from the said owner or owners, occupier
or occupiers, or any of them (except in case where such nuisance
is caused by the action of the town authorities or their agents,
in which case the town shall pay the expense of abating the
same), by distress and sale in the same manner in which taxes
levied upon real estate for the benefit of said town are author-
ized to be collected; provided that reasonable notice shall be
first given to said owners or their agents. In case of non-resi-
dent owners, who have no agents in said town, such notice shall
be given by publication for not less than two weeks in any news-
paper published in said town.

ARTICLE VIII.

57. Police force—The town council shall have the power
and authority to appoint a chief of police and such additional
police officers and privates as it may deem necessary or proper,
to prescribe rules and regulations for the government thereof,
to prescribe uniforms and badges of officers therefor, and to
prescribe their rate of pay; and in addition thereto the mayor,
or in his absence, the president pro tempore of the council, or
in the absence of both, any councilman, shall have the power
and authority whenever the regular police force of the town is,
in the judgment of such person deemed, inadequate to meet the
needs of the occasion, to appoint and swear in such additional
or special policemen as he may deem requisite for a term of ser-
vice not to exceed ten days, and at such compensation as the
council may fix for special policemen, or if no compensation be
fixed by the council, then at one and one-half dollars per day.
The duties and powers of such special policemen shall be the
‘same as that of private or the regular police force.

58. Until the town council shall appoint a chief of police
the town sergeant shall perform the duties of such office.

59. The police force shall be under the control of the mayor
for the purpose of enforcing peace and order and executing the
laws of the State and ordinances of the town. They shall also
perform such other duties as the council may prescribe. For
the purpose of enabling them to execute their duties and powers,
each policeman is hereby made a conservator of the peace and
endowed with all the powers of a constable in criminal cases,
and all other powers which under the laws of the State may be
necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of his office.
Their pay, uniforms, and the rules and regulations for said
police shall be prescribed by the council.

60. The officers and privates of the police force of the town
shall be invested with all the power and authority which be-
longs to the office of constable at common law in taking cogni-
zance of and enforcing the criminal law of the Commonwealth
of Virginia, and the ordinances and regulations of the town re-
spectively; and it shall be the duty of each and every one of
such policemen to use’ his best endeavors to prevent the com-
mission within the said town of offenses against the laws of the
Commonwealth and against the ordinances and regulations of
the town, to observe and enforce all such laws, ordinances and
regulations, to detect and arrest offenders against the same,
with and without warrants, to preserve the good order of the
town, and to secure the inhabitants thereof from violence, and
the property therein from injury. The sergeant or any police
officer shall have a right to arrest without a warrant any per-
son suspected of having in his possession a larger quantity of
intoxicating liquors than by this act allowed, and he shall also
have the right, upon a search warrant from the mayor or any
councilman, and in the urgent cases without any warrant, to
search any building or any premises within the town suspected
by him of having therein or thereon a larger quantity of intoxi-
cating liquors than by this act allowed, and in the case of the
necessity of assistance in making such arrest, he shall have the
right to call to his aid bystanders or other persons in said town,
who, for a refusal to render such assistance, without good cause
for such refusal, shall be fined not less than five nor more than
twenty-five dollars, in the discretion of the mayor or the council-
man trying the case.

61. The policemen of the town, other than the sergeant,
shall have no power or authority in civil matters, but they shall
in all other cases execute such warrants or summons as may
be placed in their hands by the mayor or any councilman of
said town, or any other properly constituted authority, and shall
make due return thereof. The criminal jurisdiction of the police-
men of the town shall extend one mile beyond the corporate
limits of the town.

ARTICLE IX.

62. Fire department and prevention of fire——The town
council shall have the power and authority to establish and main-
tain a fire department for the town, and all powers necessary
for the government, management, maintenance, equipment and
direction of such fire department and the premises, property
and equipment thereof. The council may make ordinances as
it may deem proper for the prevention and extinguishment of
fires, for the regulation of the conduct of persons in attendance
at fires, in relation to the powers and duties of the officers and
men of the fire department, to require citizens to render assist-
ance to the fire department in case of need, and in relation to
the acquisition, use, maintenance and preservation of real es-
tate, personal property, fire apparatus and equipment necessary
or proper for the use of the fire department.

63. The town council may appoint a chief engineer, to be
designated the chief of the fire department, and as assistants
thereto so many fire wardens as the council may direct, to be
known by such designation as the council may determine, and
may employ or authorize to be employed such firemen, station-
men, horsemen and ladder men as it may deem proper; and may
prescribe their rate of pay.

64. The said engineer and fire wardens and the commanders
of such fire companies as may be formed under the general laws
of this State shall constitute the fire department of the town;
and the said fire department and the firemen, stationmen, horse-
men and ladder men employed by the town and the members
of fire companies formed under the general laws of this State
shall have such powers and duties and be subject to such regu-
lations as are provided by the general laws of the State and by
the ordinances of the town.

65. The principal engineer shall have command over the
fire wardens and firemen, et cetera, employed by the town, and
at fires over the commanders of any fire companies formed under
the general laws of this State, and over all other persons who
may be present.

At fires he shall appoint the station operations of.all persons,
companies, apparatus and equipment for the purpose of ex-
tinguishing the fire, removing things from any building on fire
or in danger thereof, guarding the same, and suppressing all
tumult and disorder.

He or the warden in command may direct the pulling down
or destroying of any fence, house or other thing which he may
judge necessary to be pulled down or destroyed, to prevent the
further spreading of the fire, and for this purpose may require
such assistance from all present as he shall judge necessary.

The owner of the property so destroyed shall be entitled
to recover from the town the amount of the actual damage which
he may have sustained by reason of the same having been pulled
down or destroyed under such direction; but no person shall re-
cover compensation for property which would have been de-
stroyed by the fire, if the same had not been pulled down or de-
stroyed under such direction, but only for what could have been
saved with ordinary care and diligence, had no such direction
been given.

67. The grade of the fire wardens shall be designated by
the council as first, second, and in like order, and in the absence
of the principal engineer the first warden shall have his powers
and perform his duties; in the absence of both, the second war-
den shall have the same powers, and perform the same duties,
and so on.

68. The town council may, in their discretion, authorize or
require the fire department to render aid in cases of fire occur-
ring beyond the limits of the town, and may prescribe the con-
dition on which such aid may be rendered.

69. The town council shall have the power and authority
to make regulations for the purpose of guarding against danger
from accidents by fire, and among other things may from time
to time designate such portions and parts of the town as they
may deem proper within which buildings of wood may not be
erected. They may prohibit the erection of wooden buildings
in any portion of the town without their permission, and shall,
on petition of the owner or owners of at least one-half of the
ground included in any square of the town, prohibit the erec-
tion on said square of any building or buildings, or addition to
any buiiding, unless the outer walls thereof be made of brick
and mortar, or stone and motar, and may provide for the re-
moval of such buildings or addition which shall be erected con-
trary to such prohibition at the expense of the builder or owner
thereof; and if any such building shall have been commenced
before said petition can be acted on by the council, or if any
building in process of erection or already built, or any part
thereof, appears clearly to be unsafe, the council may cause such
building to be taken down after reasonable notice to the owner,
or may cause any part of such building, dangerous from lia-
bility to fire, to be rendered safe, and may prescribe the material
to be used in roofing or repairing roofs, and pass such ordi-
nances and by-laws as they may deem necessary to carry out
this provision, affixing such penalties as are not in conflict with
this act, and which said fines shall be a lien on the property
condemned, to be collected as other taxes or fines.

-70. The town council shall have the power and authority
to regulate the keeping or storage of gun-powder or other com-
bustibles within the town, and to provide magazines for the
same, and direct the location of all buildings for the storage
thereof; to regulate the sale and use of gun-powder and other
combustible material; to regulate the exhibition of fire-works
and the discharge of fire-arms, the use of lights and candles
in barns, stables and other buildings, and to restrict the making
of bonfires in streets, alleys and yards.
71. Water and sewers and other public utilities—The town
council shall have power and authority to acquire or otherwise
obtain control of or establish, maintain, operate, extend and en-
large water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and other public
utilities within or without the limits of the town; and to acquire
within or without the limits of the town by purchase, condem-
nation or otherwise whatever land may be necessary for acquir-
ing, establishing, maintaining, operating, extending and en-
larging said water-works, electric plants, and other utilities,
and the right of way, rails, pipes, poles, conduits and wires con-
nected therewith or any of the fixtures or appurtenances there-
of; provided, that said town shall not have the right to acquire
by condemnation the steam and electric plants, gas works and
water works, or water-power fixtures and appurtenances, or
any part thereof, owned and operated in whole or in part on
the first day of August, nineteen hundred and fifteen, by any
manufacturing or public service corporation, for the purpose
of acquiring, establishing, operating or enlarging its electric
plant or water-works.

The town council shall have the power and authority
to prevent the pollution of the water and injuries to water-
works, for which purpose their jurisdiction shall extend to five
miles above the same.

73. The town council shall have the power and authority
to protect from injury the water-works, gas-works and electric
works of the town, whether within or without the town by ordi-
nances prescribing adequate penalties of the injury thereof.

74. The town council shall have the power and authority
to require owners or occupiers of the real estate within the cor-
porate limits of the town which may front or abut on the line
of any sewer or water pipe line or conduit to make connections
therewith, and to use sewer pipes and conduits and water fur-
nished by the town, under such ordinances and regulations as
tne council may deem necessary to secure the proper sewerage
and to improve and secure good sanitary conditions; and shall
have the power to enforce the observance of all ordinances and
regulations by the imposition and collecuon of fines and penal-
ties, to be collected as other fines and penalties under the pro-
visions of this act.

75. The town council shall have the power and authority
to fix and impose the charges and dues to be paid by the owners
or occupiers of the properties or persons served thereby for
tapping or using such sewers, pipes or conduits and for the use
of water supplied by the town, to make and pass all such ordi-
nances and to enforce the same as may be necessary and proper
to compel the payment of said fees and charges by the imposi-
tion and collection of reasonable fines and penalties, to be col.
lected as are other fines and penalties under the provisions of
this act; and to pass ordinances prohibiting the use of the town
sewerage or water system through any such connections the
fees and charges for wnich have not been paid, and the use of
the town sewerage through any connections with any property
and of the delivery of water supplied by the town on or to any
property when the rees and charges for the use of the town
sewerage system through connections with such property or
for water delivered by the town on such property or the de-
livery of town water to any person dilinquent in the pay-
ment of the fees and charges for such connections, for the use
of the town sewerage system, or for water supplied to him by
the town.
ARTICLE XI.

76. Streets, et cetera, and cemeteries.—All streets, cross
streets and alleys and walkways which have already been laid
off and opened according to the plats of the several sub-divisions
of the town, to-wit, the plat or survey of the Tidewater Town-
site Corporation, the Tidewater Improvement Company, the
Victoria Land Company, and the survey and plat of A. D.
Kaylor, made in nineteen hundred and fifteen, and all streets,
cross streets and alleys and walkways, that have heretofore been
opened and used as such, or which may at any time be located,
surveyed and opened in said town, or any extension of the same
within the corporate limits of the town, shall be and they are
hereby established as public streets, alleys and walkways of the

own.

77. Any street, alley or walkway heretofore or hereafter
reserved or laid out in the division or sub-division into lots of
any portion of the territory within the corporate limits of the
town, by a plan or plat of record, shall be deemed and held to
be dedicated to public use as and for a public street, alley or
walkway, as the case may be, of the town, unless it appears by
said record that the street, alley or walkway so reserved is
designated for private use, and whenever any street, sidewalk,
alley or walkway or lane in the town shall have been opened
and used as such by the public for the period of five years, the
same shall thereby become a street, alley, walkway or lane for
public purposes, unless notice of the contrary intention on the
part of the land owner be given in writing to the mayor of the
town, who shall report the receipt of such notice to the council
that it may be spread on the journal; and the council shall have
the same authority and jurisdiction over, and right and interest
therein, as they have by law over the streets, alleys, walkways
and lanes laid out by them; and all streets, alleys and walkways
hereinafter laid out in the division or sub-division into lots of
any portion of the territory within the corporate limits of the
town shall be made to conform to existing streets, alleys and
walkways, both in widths and their courses and directions.

78. The town council shall have the authority to open,
close, alter, improve, widen or narrow streets, avenues, alleys
and walkways; to have them kept in good condition and prop-
erly lighted; to prevent the cumbering of the streets, sidewalks,
alleys, lanes or bridges of the town in any manner whatever;
to prevent the building of any structure, obstruction or en-
croachment over, under or in any street, sidewalk or alley in
said town; and to plant or permit to be planted along said
streets shade trees.

The town council shall have the power and authority
to adopt ordinances authorizing owners or occupants of property
abutting upon any street or alley in the town, within such limi-
tation as they may prescribe, to construct and maintain, upon
and over such street or alley, awnings, fire escapes, shutters,
signs, cornices, gutters, down spouts and bay windows and other
appendages to buildings; but such permission so granted shall
be held and deemed to be a license merely and shall be revocable
at the pleasure of the town or the general assembly of Virginia
and said permission shall not be construed to relieve the said
owners of any negligence on their part.

80. The town council shall have the power and authority
in their discretion to establish and maintain parks, playgrounds
and boulevards and cause the same to be laid out, equipped and
beautified.

81. The town council shall have the power and authority
in particular districts or along particular streets to prescribe
and establish building lines, or to require property owners in
certain localities or districts to leave a certain percentage of
the lots free from buildings; to regulate the height of buildings
and to make regulations concerning the building of houses in
the town.

82. The town council shall have the power and authority to
prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals and
automobiles, motorcycles and other wheeled vehicles at an im-
proper speed; throwing stones or engaging in any employment
or sport on the streets, sidewalks or public alleys, dangerous
or annoying to passengers.

83. The town council shall have the power and authority
to impose taxes and assessments upon the abutting land owners
for making and improving the walkways upon then existing
streets, and improving and paving then existing alleys, and for
either the construction, or for the use of sewers; but the same
when imposed shall not be in excess of the peculiar benefits re-
sulting therefrom to such abutting land owners. All such taxes
and assessments upon abutting land owners for the improving
of walkways, improving and paving alleys, and for construct-
ing sewers, shall be made in accordance with the provisions of
the general laws of this State.

84. No street, gas, railway, water, steam or electric heat-
ing, electric light or power company, cold storage, compressed
air, viaduct, conduit, telephone or bridge company, nor any cor-
poration, association, person or partnership engaged in these o1
like enterprises shall be permitted to use the streets, alleys, or
public grounds of the town, without the previous consent of
the corporate authorities of the town.

85. No person or corporation shall occupy or use any of
the streets, avenues, parks, bridges or any other public places
or public property of the town, or any public easement of the
town of any description, in a manner not permitted to the gen-
eral public, without having first obtained the consent thereto of
the town council or a franchise therefor; and any person, upon
conviction of so doing before the mayor or any councilman of
the town, shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than
fifty dollars, each day’s continuance thereof to be a separate of-
fense, such fine to be recovered in the name of the town and for
its use; and such occupancy shall be deemed a nuisance and the
mayor or councilman trying the case shall have power to cause
the said nuisance to be abated, and to commit the offenders and
all their agents and employees engaged in such offense, to the
town prison until such order shall be obeyed.

86. The town council shall have the power and authority to
make and enforce ordinances to secure the safe and expeditious
use of the streets and alleys of the town, to regulate traffic
thereon, and for the protection of persons and property thereon
or near thereto,

87. In every case where a street or alley in said town has
been or shall be encroached upon by a fence, building, porch,
projection, or otherwise, in addition to being a nuisance subject
to abatement, as herein provided, it shall be the duty of the
town council to require the owner, if known, or if unknown,
the occupant of the premises encroaching, to remove the same
within a reasonable time, and if such removal be not made
within the time prescribed by the council, to cause the encroach-
ment to be removed and collect from the owner, or if the owner
be unknown, from the occupant, all reasonable charges therefor,
with costs, by the same process that they are herein empowered
to collect taxes. No encroachment upon any street or alley,
however long continued, shall constitute any adverse possession
to or confer any rights upon the person claiming thereunder as
against the town.

88. The town council shall not take or use any private
property for streets or other public purposes without making to
the owner thereof just compensation for the same, but in cases
where the town council cannot by agreement with the owner or
owners thereof, obtain title to any land needed for streets or
any municipal building or other public purposes, it shall be law-
ful for the council to acquire the same by condemnation pro-
ceedings in accordance with the general laws of this State.

89. The town council shall have the power and authority
to provide places for the interment of the dead in or near the
town, and to acquire the lands necessary therefor. The said
council shall also have the power to prescribe and enforce al]
needful rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws
of the State, for the use, protection and ornamentation of the
cemetery ; to set aside, at their discretion, by metes and bounds,
a portion thereof for the interment of strangers and the indi-
gent poor; to divide the remainder into burial lots and sell or
lease the same, and to execute all proper deeds or other writings
in evidence of such sale or lease and to prescribe what class or
condition of persons shall be admitted to interment in the ceme-
tery. The money from such sale or lease of burial lots shall be
invested, used and employed for the use, protection, preserva-
tion and ornamentation of said cemetery. The cemetery, when
established and enclosed, shall be exempt from all State, county
and municipal taxation.

ARTICLE XII.

90. Town officers.—The town council, except as herein pro-
vided, shall fix the compensation of the treasurer, sergeant,
clerk of the council and commissioner of the revenue of the
town, and they shall, before entering upon the duties of their
several offices, give bond, with surety, to be approved by the
town council, in such sum as as the council shall prescribe. The
giving of bond by said officers shall be entered upon the records
of the council and the original bond shall be filed with the clerk
of the council. Until and unless the amount of the bond re-
quired of said officers shall be otherwise fixed by. the council,
the bond of the treasurer shall be in the sum of two thousand
dollars, of the sergeant two thousand dollars, and of the clerk
of the council and commissioner of the revenue each one thou-
sand dollars.

91. The treasurer shall receive all money belonging to the
town, and unless it be otherwise provided by the town council
shall collect all property and license taxes, levies and assess-
ments which may be levied by the town council, and such other
moneys due the town as the council may direct, and perform
such other duties as the council shall prescribe.

92. As moneys and revenues belonging to the town are re-
ceived by the treasurer or other officer, whose duty it is to col-
lect the same, he shall promptly pay over the same to the town
by depositing the same in some depository or depositories ap-
proved and established by the resolution of the town council
subject to the order of “the town of Victoria;” and until and
unless the council shall otherwise provide, “the Virginian Bank
of Commerce and the Bank of Victoria shall be taken and con-
sidered to be regularly approved and established depositories
of the town of Victoria.

93. All disbursements of town moneys. shall be by check
or order of the town of Victoria signed by the treasurer and
countersigned by the clerk of the council, unless the treasurer
and clerk of the council be the same person, in which event the
said checks and orders shall be countersigned by the mayor.
94. All moneys received on special assessments shall be
held as a special fund, to be applied to the payment of the matter
for no other purpose whatsoever. The treasurer may for
greater convenience deposit such special fund in one of the
regular depositories of the town to the order of town of Victoria
for such special fund, and the same shall be disbursed upon
check or order of the town of Victoria for such fund, signed and
countersigned as provided in section ninety-three hereof.

95. The treasurer shall report to each stated meeting of
the council the amount of cash then on deposit to the order of
the town and in what depositories deposited.

96. On or before the first day of January of each year the
treasurer shall make his final settlement with the town council
at which time he shall make up a statement of all moneys col-
lected by him on account of town levies, license, taxes, penalties
and all other sources since his last final settlement with the
town council, and also lists of insolvents and delinquents as
herein prescribed.

The treasurer shall also on the first day of January, of each
year make up a statement of all municipal license taxes, levies,
other revenues and moneys of the said town collected or received
by him since his last final settlement, verify the same by affi-
davit, and file the same with the mayor; and shall at the same
time pay over to the town the full amount of moneys not here-
tofore paid into the treasury, such payment to be made as pro-
vided in section ninety-five hereof; but nothing herein shall be
taken to relieve the treasurer of the duty to pay into the treas-
ury the moneys and revenue of the town when and as collected.

The mayor or chairman of the finance committee of the town
council may call upon the treasurer once in every thirty days
after the first of January in each year for a statement of the
amount of moneys collected by him for the town and such treas-
urer shall within five days from the receipt of such call deliver
such statement to the mayor and pay into the treasury as above
prescribed, the amount collected and not formally so paid in.

All statements by the treasurer provided for shall be veri-
fied by affidavit; and if the treasurer fail to make any such
statement, within the prescribed time, he shall forfeit his com-
missions on all sums that should have been or were embraced
in such statement which prior to the date for such statement
had not been paid into the town treasury.

9 At the end of each fiscal year when the treasurer makes
his final settlement with the council, and oftener if required, he
shall make a full and detailed statement of the financial condi-
tion of the town and of all receipts and disbursements and ex-
penditures for the preceding fiscal year.

Such annual statements shall be published in some news-
paper published in the town and shall exhibit:

First. (a) Cash on hand at the beginning of the year, and
in what depositories deposited.
(b) Cash revenue received during the year, itemizing under
general heads the sources from which received. ~

(c) Expenditures actually made during the year, showing
under general heads the purposes for which expended.

(d) Cash balance on hand at end of the year, showing in
what depositories deposited.

(e) Accounts approved and allowed by the council outstand-
ing and unpaid at the beginning of the year.

(f) Accounts approved and allowed by the council out-
standing and unpaid at the end of the year.

Second. (a) Revenue due and unpaid to the town at the
beginning of the year, showing under general heads from what
source accruing.

(b) Revenue assessed or otherwise accruing to the town
during the year, showing under general heads from what source
accruing.

(c) Revenue collected during the year, showing separately
collections from revenue accruing during the year, and from
revenue due and unpaid at the beginning of the year.

(d) By separate items levies, license taxes, water and sew-
erage charges, and other accounts declared insolvent and uncol-
jectable by the council.

(e) Revenue due and unpaid to the town other than that
included in “d” above, at the end of the fiscal year, showing
under general heads the sources from which due.

Third. (a) The known indebtedness of the town, bonded
and otherwise.

(b) The amount of the sinking fund-for the bonded debt
showing how invested or where deposited.

But the form and matter of such statements may be altered
or changed by the town council, provided only that the informa-
tion that would be contained in the statements above mentioned

given.

98. The treasurer shall pay over to the town the full amount
of moneys of the town collected or received by him without any
deduction for or on account of any commissions or salary due
him from the town, and shall receive from the town payment
of any such commissions or salary as the salary of other offi-
cers of the town are paid.

99. The treasurer of the town shall keep all accounts and
account books of the town. Such books shall be kept regularly
posted up to date and shall exhibit (a) accurate and detailed
statements of all moneys received and expended ; (b) a schedule
of the property owned by the town and the income derived there-
from, and the expense of maintenance and operation therefor;
(c) separate accounts with each appropriation made by the
town council by budget or otherwise; (d) the purpose of each
payment of public money; (e) a separate account with each de-
partment of the city government; (f) and such other accounts
as may be necessary to show a complete financial statement of
the town or may be required by the council. Such books and
accounts shall always be subject to the inspection of the mayor
or anv member or committee of the town council.

_ 100. The treasurer is expressly prohibited from using
directly or indirectly the moneys or warrants of the town in his
cutody, or keeping them for his own use or benefit, or that of
any person or persons whomsoever, and any violations of this
provision shall subject him to immediate removal from office.

_ No person shall be allowed to qualify as treasurer a second
time, unless and until he shall have satisfactorily settled his
account as treasurer for the preceding term; and if such set-
tlement be not made on or before the regular time for entering
into the duties of his office for another term, the office shall be
considered vacant, and the vacancy shall be filled as herein
provided.

The treasurer of the town of Victoria and his bondsmen shall
be liable to the same penalties and criminal punishment for the
treasurer’s returning false lists of real estate, persons or prop-
erty as delinquent for the non-payment of municipal levies, for
the non-payment to the town of moneys received by him for the
town and for all other acts of misfeasance and nonfeasance by
the treasurer as such treasurer, as is provided by the laws of
Virginia for county and city treasurers.

If the treasurer does not pay the revenue into the treasury
of the town as provided in this act, he shall be charged with a
penalty thereon at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum,
from the time the same was so payable.

It shall be the duty of the mayor of the town to forthwith
proceed against the treasurer and his sureties in the name of
the town of Victoria for the recovery of the amounts due from
such treasurer.

101. The town sergeant shall perform the duties, receive
the compensation, and be subject to the liabilities prescribed by
this act, the ordinances, by-laws and regulations of the town
council and by the laws of this State and also shall have the
powers and discharge the same duties as constable within the
corporate limits of the town, and to the distance of one mile
beyond the same, and be subject to the same liabilities touch-
ing all process lawfully directed to him as constables are sub-
ject to under the laws of this State.

102. The town council shall have the power and authority
to prescribe for the town sergeant such general and other duties
as it may see fit.

103. In all civil and criminal cases arising under the State
laws he shall receive the same fees as are provided by law for
constables, and in all cases arising under the town ordinances,
where not otherwise provided, he shall receive the same fees as
constables receive in similar cases arising under the State laws;
but in the event the sergeant receives a salary or allowance out
of the treasury he shall not receive any fees for services in a
criminal case for the violation of a town ordinance from the
State, county or city, but all such fees shall be paid by the party
against whom judgment is rendered.

104. The sergeant shall be collector of all fines and penal-
ties imposed for the violation of town ordinances, by-laws, rules
and regulations, and of delinquent town levies, and by all levy
tickets declared delinquent by the town council and allowed the
treasurer in his settlement with the town council shall be turned
over to the sergeant to collect; and for that purpose he shall have
all the powers and authority, and be subject to the same liabili-
ties and penalties as are prescribed for county treasurers in
the collection of State taxes and county levies, and may be pro-
ceeded against in the same manner, so far as applicable.

105. The sergeant shall pay over to the treasurer monthly,
or oftener, if he thinks proper, all moneys which come into his
hands for taxes or levies or otherwise belonging to the town.
He shall, as of July first and January first of each vear, make up
reports to the council in writing, of all moneys collected by him
for the town and the disbursements thereof, verify the same
by affidavit and file the same with the mayor, to be transmitted
to the council.

106. The clerk of the council shall attend the meetings of
the council and keep a record of its proceedings, and keep such
record properly indexed. He shall have the custody of the cor-
porate seal of the town and affix the same whenever required so
to do by the laws of the State or the ordinances, by-laws, regu-
lations of the council. He shall keep all papers that by the laws
of this State, the provisions of this act or the ordinances, by-
laws and regulations of the council are required to be filed with
or kept by him.

107. The clerk of the council shall immediately after the
close of each session of the town council make out and present
to the mayor a transcript of every ordinance, resolution, or order
concerning any public improvement, or concerning the payment
of money, or of legislative character passed by the council at
such session.

He shall, in like manner, transmit to the treasurer a trans-
script of all ordinances, resolutions, or orders appropriating
money, or authorizing the payment of money or the issue of
bonds or notes.

He shall, in like manner, give notice to all parties presenting
communications or petitions to the town council of the final
action of the council on such communication or petition.

He shall publish such reports and ordinances as the town
council are by this act or the laws of this State required to pub-
lish, and such other reports and ordinances as they may direct;
and shall, in general, perform such other acts and duties as are
required of him by the laws of this State and as the council may,
from time to time require of him.
108. The clerk of the council shall make out quarterly an
itemized statement of all accounts authorized to be paid by the
council and cause the same to be posted at some public place in
the town and published in some newspaper published in the

wn.

109. The commissioner of the revenue shall perform all the
duties in relation to the assessment of property for the purpose
of levying the town taxes or levies, shall see to it that all per-
sons, firms and corporations chargeable with a town license tax
are assessed with such license tax, tax all dogs within the cor-
porate limits which are assessable for taxation, and shall per-
form such other duties in relation to the assessments of prop-
erty and other subjects of taxation as may be ordered by the
town council.

For the performance of his duties, the commissioner of the
revenue of the town shall be vested with all the power and
authority that county commissioners of the revenue are vested
with, and shall have the power to propound interrogatories to
each person subject to taxation, and may use such other evi-
dence as he may be able to procure. Such interrogatories shall
be answered under oath, and any applicant refusing to answer
such interrogatories under oath shall be fined not less than five
nor more than one hundred dollars for each offense.

110. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of revenue
to assess for taxation all persons and property subject to muni-
cipal taxation whether the same shall have been omitted from
assessment by the commissioner of revenue for Lunenburg
county or not.

111. The commissioner of revenue shall keep his office in
some convenient place in the town, and shall keep therein such
books, schedules and records, and in such manner as the mayor
and town council may prescribe, which books, records, and other
papers shall be subject to the inspection of the mayor, the mem-
bers of the town council, or any committee thereof, and of the
collector of town taxes.

He shall receive for his services the same fees allowed by
law to commissioners of revenue for the several counties and
such other compensation as the town council may from time to
time direct.

112. Finances, assessment and collection of revenue.—The
town council, within the limits of the Constitution of this State
and in accordance with the provisions of the general laws
thereof, may, in the name of and for the use of the town, con-
tract loans or cause to be issued certificates of debts, notes or
bonds.

113. The town council shall have the power and authority,
without reference thereof to a vote of the people, to issue cer-
tificates of indebtedness, revenue bonds or other obligations
issued in anticipation of the collection of the revenue of the
town for the then current year; provided, that such certificates,
bonds or other obligations mature within one year from the
date of their issue, and be not past due, and do not exceed the
revenue for such year.

_ 114. The town council shall have the power and authority
without reference to a vote of the people to provide by ordi-
nances for the issue of new bonds for the redemption and liqui-
dation of any lawfully issued bonds when they fall due, become
subject to call, or can for any reason be refunded or redeemed.
Said new bonds shall not exceed in amount the original bonds
to be redeemed, liquidated or refunded, may be registered or
coupon, and shall be sold to the highest bidder for cash; pro-
vided, no such new bonds shall bear a higher rate of interest
than six per centum per annum; and provided, further, that
the proceeds of the sale of the new bonds so issued shall be used
only in the payment of the old bonds which are subject to call,
redemption, or can otherwise be refunded or redeemed. Such
bonds shall be payable in lawful money of the United States;
and a sinking fund shall be created and maintained, sufficient to
redeem such bonds at maturity, and shall be applied to such
redemption and to no other purpose.

115. Whenever there shall be contracted by the town council
any debt not payable within one year thereafter, or any liability
be fixed upon the town by judgment of any court or by a suit
brought against the town and compromised by the town authori-
ties, there shall be set apart annually for thirty-four years, or
until the debt is paid, a sum not less than one per centum of the
amount of any such debt in addition to the annual interest
agreed to be paid thereon, which sum shall be applied and in-
vested towards the payment of such debt.

116. All bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness of the
town shall be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the
clerk of the council, and to all bonds the clerk of the council shall
affix the corporate seal of the town and attest the same.

117. The town council shall have the power and authority
to provide by a special tax and levy for the payment of the
interest on all bonds at maturity or sooner.

118. All contracts for the erection of public improvements
and buildings within the jurisdiction of the town where the esti-
mated costs thereof exceeds three hundred dollars, and in all
cases where practicable, shall be let to the lowest responsible
bidder, all things considered, and notice shall be given at least
twenty days before the work is finally let by advertisement in
one or more newspapers published in the town; and the party
to whom any contract is let shall give bond as the council may
require, but in no event shall any member have any interest in
such contract.

119. For the execution of their powers and duties, the town
council shall have the power and authority to raise annually by
levies, taxes and assessments, in said town, such sums of money
as they shall deem necessary therefor and in such manner a3
they may deem expedient in accordance with the provisions of
this act and the laws of this State and of the United States.

The town council shall, at its first regular meeting in Feb-
ruary of each year, or as soon thereafter as may be, cause to
he made up and entered on their journal an account of ail sums
lawfully chargeable on the town which ought to be paid within
cone year, and shall order and make a town levy of so n-uch as
in their opinion is necessary to be raised by levy on real and
personal property and persons, in addition to what may be re-
ceived from licenses and other sources. The levy so ordered
may be upon any or all of the following subjects of taxation:

(a) Male persons in the town above the age of twenty-one.

(b) Any property, real and personal, in the town not spe-
cifically exempt, from State taxation.

(c) Such other subjects of taxation as may at the time be
assessed with the State taxes or county levies against persons
residing therein and not specifically exempted from municipal
taxation; and,

(d) Such other subjects of taxation as at the time said levy
is ordered may be subject to municipal taxation by the laws of
this State.

120. The rate of such levies upon real and personal prop-
erty shall not exceed one dollar on the one hundred dollars of
assessed valuation.

121. Such municipal capitation tax or levy so ordered, shall
not exceed one dollar per poll, and the payment thereof shall
not be prerequisite to voting in any municipal county or State
election. Such capitation tax or levy may be collected at the
same time and in the same manner, by distress or otherwise,
that levies on personal property are collectible; but such muni-
cipal capitation tax or levy shall not be a lien upon nor collecti-
ble by legal process from the personal property which may be
exempt from levy or distress under the poor debtor’s law. All
persons exempt by the Constitution of Virginia from the pay-
ment of State capitation taxes shall be exempt from the pay-
ment of said municipal capitation tax.

122. The town council may exempt from all municipal tax-
ation bonds and other obligations of indebtedness issued by the
town.

123. The town council may levy a lower rate of taxation
for a period of not exceeding ten years upon land added to its
corporate limits than is imposed on similar property within
the corporate limits at the time such land is added.

124. The assessment of real and personal property in the
town for the purpose of municipal taxation shall be the same
as the assessment for the purpose of State taxation, whenever
there shall be a State assessment of such property; but where
the commissioner of revenue for the town knows of property
that has been omitted by the commissioner of revenue of the
county from his books, the commissioner of revenue of the town
may by the same proceedings as are provided for county com-
missioners of revenue in similar cases assess such omitted prop-
erty, real or personal, for taxation.

125. All municipal taxes shall be uniform upon the same

class of subjects within the town, and shall be levied and col-
lected under general laws and ordinances.
_ 126. The town council in addition to the State taxes on
licenses, may when anything for which a license is so required
is to be done within the town, impose a tax for the privilege of
doing the same and require a license to be obtained therefor;
and in any case in which they see fit may require from the per-
son licensed, bond with sureties, in such penalty and with such
condition as they may deem proper, or make other regulations
concerning the same; and within the limitations of the Consti-
tution of this State and of the United States, may levy a license
tax on any other business or thing done or carried on in the
town, whether a license tax is required therefor by the State
or not; provided, however, the town council shall not impose
any license tax, fine or other penalty upon any person for sell-
ing farm and domestic products within the limits of the town,
and outside of and not within the regular market houses and
sheds of the town; provided, such products are grown or pro-
duced by such person.

All license taxes heretofore imposed by the town council of
the town of Victoria, on persons firms or corporations for the
privilege of doing something for which the State may, but does
not require a license tax, are hereby ratified and no action shall
lie for the recovery of such license tax so paid.

127. Within the limitations of the Constitution of this State
and the United States, the town council may levy a license tax
on any person, firm or corporation whether his or its principal
place of business or office is within or without the town, if said
person or corporation does, or offers to do, business within the
town, and upon the agent of any insurance, oil, fertilizer, laun-
dry or other company or person where such agent does, or offers
to do, business within the town, whether the principal office or
place of business of such agent be within or without the town.

128. The council may grant or refuse license to owners or
keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks, automobiles, motor-
cycles and other wheeled carriages kept or employed in the town
for hire, and may require the owners or keepers of wagons,
drays and carts, automobiles, motorcycles, and other wheeled
vehicles using them in the town, to take out license therefor,
and may assess and require taxes to be paid thereon, and sub-
ject the same to such regulations as they may deem proper, and
may prescribe their fees and compensation.

129. The town council shall have the power to lay a license
tax upon the keeping of any stable, cowhouse, privy or dry
closet permitted within the town, and to provide for the keep-
ing in a cleanly condition at the expense of the town, the places
so licensed, and to make reasonable rules and regulations with
reference thereto. :

__ The council shall also have the power and authority to pro-
vide for the removal by employees of the town of garbage and
rubbish, and fix and collect charges therefor, and the penalties
for the non-payment of such charges.

130. The town council shall have the power to levy a tax
on dogs kept within the town.

_ 131. The town council shall fix the rates for water and
lights supplied by the city for its works, the time when such
rates shall be paid, and the penalties for the non-payment
thereof.

132. The town council may levy a tax on water and gas and
for the use of sewers.

133. The town treasurer or other officer whose duty it is
to collect town taxes shall commence to receive the town levies
on or before the first day of July of each year, or as s00n there-
after as he may receive copies of the commissioner of the reve-
nue’s books, and continue to receive the same up to the first day
of December thereafter; and for this purpose,.said treasurer or
such other officer shall advertise for ten days at the voting place
in the town, and at such other public places therein as may be
necessary to give general publicity thereto, upon what days he
will be in his office in said town to receive such levies; and shall
at the time specified, remain in his office not less than three
days for the purpose of receiving such levies.

Any person failing to pay any town levies to the treasurer
or other such officer by the first day of December of the year in
which assessed shall incur a penalty thereon of five per centum,
which shall be added to the amount of levies due from such tax-
payer, which when collected by the treasurer or other such officer
shall be accounted for in his statements; and on the sum total of
said levy ticket and penalty, there shall be added interest at six
per centum per annum from December fifteenth of the year in
which such levy was assessed until the same be paid.

It shall be the duty of the treasurer or other officer after the
first day of December to call upon each person, resident within
the town chargeable with levies, who has not paid the same,
or upon the agent, if any, of such person resident within the
town, for payment thereof; and upon the failure or refusal of
such person or agent to pay the same he shall forthwith pro-
ceed to collect the same by levy, distress or otherwise.

Should it come to the knowledge of the treasurer or other
such officer that any such person or persons owing such levies
is moving or contemplating moving from the town prior to the
first day of December, he shall have the power to collect the
same by levy, distress or otherwise at any time after such levy
bills have come into his hands. .

134. There shall be a lien upon all real estate within the
town for town taxes and levies assessed thereon, and interest
on such taxes and levies at the rate of six per centum per
annum, from the fifteenth of December, in the year in which
same may have been assessed, for the period of five years, un-
less sooner paid.

135. Municipal capitation taxes or levies levied by the town
council shall be a lien upon all the real estate owned by the
person against whom such tax or levy is assessed from the time
of such assessment; and if such tax be not paid, real estate may
be subjected to sale for the payment thereof, and all costs and
expenses at the same time and in the same manner that such
real estate would be subject to sale for the payment of taxes
and levies assessed thereon, or in any other manner provided
by the laws of this State; and it is hereby expressly provided
that such real estate may be sold for such capitation taxes or
levies due and unpaid though they be not three years past due.

1386. Any goods or chattels in the town belonging to the
person or estate assessed with town levies or taxes, may be dis-
trained therefor by the treasurer or other officer whose duty
it is to collect the same. In all cases property subject to levy
or distress for municipal taxes and levies shall be liable to levy
or distress in the hands of any person for town taxes and levies
thereon.

When the treasurer or other such officer has to levy or dis-
train and selJ, or levy or distrain without selling, he shall re-
ceive a fee of sixty cents to be collected with the town levies
or taxes levied or distrained for.

137. The treasurer or other officer whose duty it is to col-
lect town taxes or levies may distrain for municipal levies and
license taxes for which he has accounted to the town council at
any time within one year after June fifteenth next succeeding
the year for which such levies or license taxes were assessed.

138. The goods or chattels of the tenant, or other person,
claiming under the party or estate assessed with municipal levies
on land, may be distrained if found on .the premises, but not
for an amount exceeding the rent contracted to be paid by such
tenant for said premises, nor until the property of the land-
lord subject to distress, within the town, shall have been ex-
hausted. |

139. Any real estate in the corporate limits of said town
belonging to the person or estate assessed with town taxes or
levies due on such real estate, may be rented or leased by the
treasurer or other officer whose duty it is to collect town taxes
and levies, either on the premises or at some public place in the
town, after giving not less than fifteen days’ notice by printed
or written notice posted at the front door of the courthouse of
the circuit court of Lunenburg county, and at three or more
places in the neighborhood of the real estate to be leased. Such
lease shall be for a term not exceeding one year, and for cash
sufficient to pay the levies due on the real estate so rented, and
the costs and charges of advertising and leasing.
When a lease is effected the treasurer or other such officer
leasing such real estate, shall put the lessee in possession there-
of, and for such purpose shall have like powers as those exer-
cised by a sheriff acting under a writ of possession.

When real estate is advertised for leasing for the town taxes
and levies thereon and there is any tenant in possession of the
property so advertised, then the treasurer or other collecting
officer making the lease, shall serve upon such tenant at least
five days prior to the day of leasing, a copy of the notice of
leasing.

When the treasurer or other such officer advertises and
leases, or advertises without leasing, a parcel of real estate
under this section, he shall receive a fee of sixty cents to be paid
as a part of the cost of this proceeding. -

140. Any payment of taxes or levies by the tenant, unless
under an express agreement by which the tenant is bound to
pay such taxes, shall be a credit against the person to whom he
owes the rent.

141. No deed of trust or mortgage upon goods or chattels
shall prevent the same from being distrained and sold for town
taxes or levies against the grantor in said deed while such goods
and chattels remain in the grantor’s possession; nor shall any
such deed prevent the goods and chattels conveyed from being
distrained and sold for town taxes or levies thereon, no matter
in whose possession they may be found.

142. The officer of the town whose duty it is to collect the
town taxes and levies, shall have all the powers to levy upon
and distrain goods and chattels of the tax debtor or any other
person therefor that may be given by the laws of this State to
the officer of a town whose duty it is to collect town levies and
taxes. ‘

143. When the treasurer or other officer whose duty it is to
collect town taxes and levies, cannot find sufficient goods or
chattels to distrain for municipal levies and taxes, any person
indebted to or having in his hands estate of the party assessed
with such levies or taxes may be applied to for payment thereof
out of such debt; and a payment by such person of the said levies
or taxes, either in whole or in part, shall entitle him to charge
or credit for so much on account of such debt or estate against
the party so assessed. If the person applied to does not pay
so much as may seem to the treasurer or other such officer ought
to be recovered on account of the debt or estate in his hands, the
treasurer or other such officer shall, if the sum due for such
taxes or levies does not exceed twenty dollars, procure from the
mayor or any councilman of the town or from a justice of the
peace a summons directing such person to appear before the
mayor or some councilman of the town or some justice of the
peace at such time and place as may seem reasonable; and if the
sum due exceed twenty dollars, shall procure from the clerk of
the circuit court of Lunenburg county a summons directing such
person to appear before the said court on the first day of the
next term thereof; and from the time of the service of any such
summons, the said taxes and levies shall constitute a lien on
the debt so due from such person, or on the estate in his hands.

If such summons be returned executed, and the person so
summoned do not appear, judgment shall be entered against him
for the sum due for such taxes and levies, and for the fees of
the clerk, mayor, councilman, or justice and of the officer who
executes the summons.

If the person so summoned appear, he shall be interrogated
on oath, and such evidence may be heard as may be adduced,
and such judgment shall be rendered as, upon the whole case,
shall seem proper.

144. The treasurer or other officer whose duty it is to col-
lect town taxes and levies after ascertaining which of the taxes
and levies assessed in town cannot be collected, shall not later
than the fifteenth day of June, in each year, make out lists of
such as cannot be collected upon forms similar to those pre-
scribed for county treasurers, with the names of the persons
chargeable with such town taxes and levies placed thereon
alphabetically, and such lists shall be of four classes:

Ist. A list of property on the commissioner’s land book
improperly placed thereon or not ascertainable, with the amount
of the municipal levies charged thereon.

2nd. A list of other real estate which is delinquent for the
non-payment of the municipal levies thereon.

3rd. A list of such municipal levies assessed other than on
real estate, as he is unable to collect, including the capitation
levies included in list number four below.

4th. A list of such municipal capitation taxes or levies as
he is unable to collect.

At the foot of each list, subscribe the following oath: “TI
Lecce eee e cere eee eees , of the town of Victoria, in Lunenburg
county, who is charged with the duty of collecting the taxes and
levies of said town, do swear that the foregoing list is, I verily
believe, correct and just; that I have received no part of the
town levies mentioned in the said list; and that I have used due
diligence to find property within my town liable to distress for
the said levies, but have found none.”

145. Each of the said lists shall be presented to and ex-
amined by the town council, together with the tax or levy tickets
corresponding thereto; and if the said council be satisfied of the
correctness of the lists, and that the taxes or levies are cor-
rectly extended, or having corrected them, if erroneous, it shall
credit the treasurer or other officer charged with the collection
thereof with the amount thereof; and thereafter the treasurer
or other such officer shall be under no liability for failure to
collect the same, and such delinquent tax or levy tickets shall
be delivered to the town sergeant for collection.
146. The original of the lists whereof credit may be allowed,
shall be preserved in the office of the clerk of the town council.
Within one month after the said lists are allowed, the said clerk
shall transmit to the auditor of public accounts a copy of the
list of real estate appearing thereby to be delinquent, showing
the amount of delinquency of each lot, and a copy of the list of
capitation taxes or levies appearing thereby to be delinquent.

The said clerk shall at the time he certifies said lists to the
auditor of public accounts, make two other copies of the same,
one of which he shall deliver to the clerk of the circuit court
of Lunenburg county to be delivered by him to the treasurer
of Lunenburg county as hereinafter provided, and the other of
which he shall deliver to the clerk of the circuit court of Lunen-
burg county to be recorded by him as hereinafter provided.

147. When the clerk of the circuit court of Lunenburg
county delivers to the treasurer of said county a list of real
estate delinquent for the non-payment of State taxes and county
levies, he shall also deliver to said treasurer the said copy of
real estate delinquent for the non-payment of municipal levies
and capitation taxes of the town of Victoria. Upon receipt of
which lists the county treasurer shall proceed to post and dis-
tribute copies of such lists and advertise for sale the real estate
so delinquent as is provided by the laws of this State in the case
of real estate delinquent for the non-payment of State taxes and
county levies and capitation taxes.

148. After such lists of such delinquent municipal levies
and capitation taxes are delivered to the treasurer of Lunen-
burg county, he shall have the authority to receive payment
thereof, and for all collections thereof he shall receive a com-
mission of ten per centum, and unless the amount for which
said lands are so delinquent and such municipal capitation taxes,
together with the interest, costs and charges shall have been
previously paid to such treasurer, he shall proceed to sell such
real estate so delinquent at the same time and place, and in the
same manner, as real estate delinquent for the non-payment
of State taxes and county levies.

149. The sale by the treasurer of Lunenburg county of
tots of land in the town of Victoria shall be of each lot sepa-
rately, or such undivided interest therein as shall be sufficient
to satisfy the State taxes, county levies and municipal levies
thereon, with interest, costs and charges as provided by law,
end its proportion of expense.

150. All proceedings in anywise connected with the sale
of land in the town of Victoria for the nompayment of muni-
cipal levies thereon, the duties of the treasurer of Lunenburg
county with reference to such sales, reports of such sales, con-
firmation of such sales, rights of purchasers at such sale, right
of redemption of land so sold, duties of the clerk of the circuit
court of Lunenburg county as to such sales, the making of
deeds to purchasers at such sales, and all other matters, shall
be the same as are provided by the laws of this State as to
sales of lands delinquent for the non-payment of State taxes.

151. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court of
Lunenburg county to lay a copy of the treasurer’s report of
such sales before the council of the town of Victoria at the next
meeting thereof after the clerk has certified such report to the
auditor of public accounts, and the town council shall charge
the said treasurer with whatever is due on account of said sales
for municipal levies, less a commission of ten per centum, and
his sureties on his official bond shall be liable therefor.

152. When any real estate is offered for sale for the non-
payment of State taxes, county levies or municipal levies of the
town of Victoria, as provided in this act, and the laws of this
State, and no person bids the amount chargeable thereon, the
treasurer shall purchase the same in the name of the auditor of
public accounts for the benefit of the State and county or the
town, respectively, unless such real estate has been previously
purchased in the name of the auditor, in which case it shall be
sold for such price as it will bring.

A list of real estate so purchased in by the treasurer, show-
ing in whose name sold, the amount of taxes, county levies,
municipal levies, costs and charges certified by oath, shall be
returned by him to the circuit court of Lunenburg county at
the time he returns his report of sales of delinquent lands as
is provided by law. If the court finds said list to be correct,
or having corrected the same, where there are errors, it shall
confirm the same and direct its clerk to transmit a copy thereof
to the town council of the town of Victoria at their next meet-
ing. On the receipt of said copy, the town council of the town
of Victoria shall credit the treasurer with the amount of town
levies chargeable on such real estate so purchased in the name
of the auditor.

When any real estate in the town of Victoria is sold
for less than the aggregate amount of taxes, county levies and
municipal levies thereon, what may remain after the Common-
wealth’s lien for its taxes and interest is satisfied, shall go rata-
kLly to the county and town of Victoria.

154. Where town levies of the town of Victoria are paid
to the auditor of public accounts in redemption of any delin-
quent real estate in said town, he shall immediately thereafter,
account for and pay over the same to the treasurer of the town.

155. The clerk of Lunenburg county shall pay over to the
treasurer of the town all levies of the town of Victoria received
by him under the provisions of this act and the general laws of
this State within ten days after collecting the same, and take
and file receipts therefor in his office. __

156. So soon as the clerk of the circuit court of Lunenburg
county shall receive from the clerk of the town council of Vic-
toria, copies of the lists of the real estate within the town of
Victoria delinquent for the non-payment of town levies thereon
and of persons delinquent for the non-payment of municipal
capitation taxes he shall record and index the same in a book
to be kept for such purpose, without waiting for a sale to be
had thereof. Such book shall be furnished by the town of
Victoria and ‘shall conform as near as may be to the book in
which real estate delinquent for the non-payment of State taxes
and county levies and State capitation taxes. For recording
such lists and indexing the same, the said clerk shall be entitled
to a fee of five cents per name to be paid by the town of Victoria.

ARTICLE XIV.

157. Enforcement of laws and ordinances, et cetera.—The
mayor of the town of Victoria and each member of the council
thereof shall be clothed with all the powers and authority of a
justice in civil matters within the corporate limits of the town,
and in criminal matters within said limits and one mile be-
yond the same; and shall have the power to issue process, hear
and determine all prosecutions, cases and controversies, which
may arise under the by-laws and ordinances of the town; im-
pose fines and inflict punishment when and whereever they are
authorized by the said by-laws and ordinances and issue exe-
cutions for the collection of said fines; and may, upon the failure
of the offender to pay the fine or penalty recovered and costs,
order the offender to be confined in the county jail of Lunen-
burg county or the prison of the town for a term not exceeding
ninety days, and compel said offender to work on the streets or
other public improvements of the said town.

158. Appeals may be taken to the circuit court of Lunen-
burg county from the decisions of the mayor and councilman
on both civil and criminal matters in the same manner and upon
the same terms, and be tried in the same way as appeals from
the decision of a justice are taken, and tried in like cases, ex-
cept that no appeal shall be granted from the decision of the
mayor or the member of the town council trying the same, im-
posing a fine for the violation of any of the ordinances or by-
laws of said town for offenses not made criminal by the com-
mon law or the statutes of Virginia until and after bond be
given by the person so fined, with security approved by the
mayor or member of the council imposing the same, conditioned
to pay all fines, costs and damages that may be awarded by
the said court on appeal; the penalty of said bond to be double
the sum sufficient to pay all such fines, costs and damages. Should
the decision of the mayor or councilmen rendering the same be
affirmed, in whole or in part ,the said court sha)l enter judg-
ment against the said principal and surety for the amount so
affirmed, with costs, before the mayor or member of the council
trying the same, and the costs of the appeal and execution shall
be issued thereon in the name of the town against both prin-
cipal and surety.
159. In any case in which a judgment is rendered by the
mayor or any member of the council for a fine, going in whole
or in part, to the Commonwealth, or for a fine going, in whole
or in part, to the town of Victoria, the mayor or the member of
the town council rendering said judgment may, of his own
motion, or at the instance of the attorney for the Common-
wealth, or of the mayor of the town, commit the defendant to
jail until the fine and costs are paid, or until the costs are paid
where there is no fine; or the mayor or any member of the town
council may issue a capies profine before or after the return of
a writ of fieri facias. :

160. In any case in which a judgment is rendered by the
mayor or any councilman of said town upon a trial for a mis-
demeanor under the general laws of the State of Virginia or
upon any trial for the violation of a town ordinance, in which
a fine is imposed upon the defendant, or in which the defendant
is required to pay the costs, and the same are not paid, the
mayor or the member of the council, as the case may be, may,
in his discretion, take security for the payment of such fine and
costs or for the costs alone, where there is no fine, such pay-
ment to be made within thirty days from the day of trial.

It shall be sufficient to bind such surety that the mayor or
councilmen before whom such case is tried, endorse on the war-
rant the name of the surety, amount for which he is bound, and
the date of the endorsement; but if no security is given, the
defendant may be committed to jail until such fine and costs,
or such costs alone are paid, but said committment to jail shall
not exceed ninety days.

If security be given, in case the fine imposed be for a mis-
demeanor under the laws of the State of Virginia, if the same
is not paid to the clerk of the circuit court of Lunenburg county,
the said clerk shall issue execution against the person against
whom the judgment is rendered, as well as against the surety
in the manner provided by section seven hundred and nineteen
of the Code of Virginia, and in case such fine be imposed for the
violation of a town ordinance, if payment is not made to the
proper collecting officer, of such town, the mayor or some coun-
cilman of said town shall issue execution in the name of the
town against the person against whom the judgment is ren-
dered, as well as against the surety for the amount of the fine
with costs.

But in case the bond is not given, as provided in this sec-
tion, the mayor or any councilman, as the case may be, may
commit the defendant to jail until the fine and costs are paid, or
until the costs are paid, where there is no fine, unless sooner dis-
charged by due course of law.

161. All criminal and civil writs and process issued by the
mayor or any councilman under the general laws of the State
of Virginia, shall run in the name of the “Commonwealth of
Virginia,” and all criminal and civil writs or process issued by
the mayor or the members of the town council for the violation
of or under ordinances of the said town, shall run in the name
of “The town of Victoria,” and writs and process issued in the
name of the town of Victoria shall conform as near as may be
to the form for similar writs and process issued under general
State laws.

162. Whereby the provisions of this act or the general laws
of this State, the council has authority to pass an ordinance, by-
laws or regulations on any subject, it may prescribe any penalty
not exceeding five hundred dollars or confinement in jail not
exceeding six months, or both, for the violation thereof, and any
other form of punishment provided for by the laws of this State
for the punishment of misdemeanors; and when, as in this act
or by the ordinances, by-laws and regulations of the town coun-
cil or by general law provided, any offender shall be sentenced
to serve a term in prison or be imprisoned for failure to pay
any fine or penalty and the costs of trial, or the costs of trial,
where there is no fine or penalty, imposed upon him for the vio-
lation of a town ordinance, such an offender may be compelled
to work on the streets or other public improvements or works of
the town, unless physically incapable of so doing; and such
offender shall be credited on the amount of such fine, penalty or
costs with the sum of fifty cents for each day that he so works.
If any person imprisoned refuses to so work as herein provided
during the term of his imprisonment, he may be subjected to
such reasonable corporal punishment as may be prescribed by
the town council by ordinance. Such corporal punishment shall
be administered by the town sergeant or such police officer as
the town council shall designate.

163. The town council shall have the power and authority
to establish a chain gang and require offenders against town
ordinances to work therein; and may provide that when any
person is sentenced to serve a term in jail for the violation of
any town ordinance or to be imprisoned for the non-payment of
a fine or penalty imposed for the violation of a town ordinance,
he may be required to work in such chain gang upon the streets
or other public works or improvements of the town.

The jailer of the county of Lunenburg is hereby authorized
to receive into his jail, and there keep until released in accord-
ance with law, any person regularly committed to his jail for
the violation of any town ordinance, regulation or by-laws; and
unless otherwise provided by town ordinances any sentence of
imprisonment imposed or order for confinement in prison for
the non-payment of any fine, penalty or costs imposed by the
mayor of the town or any councilmen for the violation of a
town ordinance, regulation or by-law, may be either in the town
prison or in the county jail of Lunenburg county as such officer
imposing such sentence or making such order shall designate.

164. The jailer of Lunenburg county, or the person in
charge of the prison of said town, is authorized to receive into
the said jail or prison, without mittimus or warrant, all persons
apprehended by the sergeant or any police officer of said town
for violation of the rules, regulations, by-laws or ordinances, or
disturbing the peace of said town, and shall be authorized to
retain such person in custody until the morning of the second
day, at which time they shall be discharged, unless regularly
committed to his custody by a mittimus or warrant, in which
case the officers so receiving said parties shall be entitled to
fees provided to be paid when a person is committed under a
warrant or mittimus of a justice of the peace.

165. The town sergeant and police officers and policemen
of the town shall have power to arrest without warrant and
carry before the mayor or any councilman, to be dealt with
according to law, any and all persons who shall violate any
town ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation in their presence;
and it shall be their duty to swear out warrants of arrest for
any person or persons where they have reason to believe that
any violation of the ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations
of the town council has been committed by such person or
persons.

ARTICLE XV.

166. All ordinances now in force in the town of Victoria,
not inconsistent with this act, shall be and remain in force until
altered, amended or repealed by the town council.

167. The present officers of the town shall be and remain
in office until the expiration of their several terms; but where
any such officers are holding over after the expiration of the
regular terms for which elected or appointed, the town council
shall proceed as soon as may be to fill such offices for a term to
expire on the first day of October, nineteen hundred and sixteen.

168. All acts or part of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed, in so far as they affect the provisions of this
act.
169. Inasmuch as the necessities of the town require prompt
action, an emergency exists rendering it necessary that this act
shall go into operation at once, therefore this act shall be in
force from its passage.