Penalty upon failure to pay fine. Proviso. dog or dogs, or shall be found off of their premises on the Sabbath, having with him or them a shot-gun, rifle or pistol, he or they shall be subject to indictment; and, upon conviction, shall pay a fine not to exceed fifty dollars at the discretion of the Court, two-thirds of such fine to enure to the benefit of the free public schools in the County of which such convict is a resident, the remainder to the informant. SEC. 2. That upon failure of such convict to pay the required fine, he shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more than three months as the Court, in its judgment, shall direct: Provided, That this act shall not apply to any person who may violate its provision in defence of his own property. SEC. 3 This act shall take effect from and after March first, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. Ratified the 27th day of January, A. D. 1869. CHAPTER XIX. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE AND EMPOWER R. W. HARDIE, LATE Sheriff of Cumberland empowered to collect taxes. When power to cease. SECTION 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact, That R. W. Hardie, late Sheriff of Cumberland County, be and he is hereby authorized and empowered to collect all arrears of taxes due him for the years eighteen hundred and sixty-six and eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, which collection shall be made under the same rules, regulations and restrictions as other collection of taxes by virtue of the laws of the State. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the power and authority hereby granted shall cease and determine with the year eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. Ratified the 27th day of January, A. D. 1869. CHAPTER XX. AN ACT AMENDATORY OF THE ACT TO INCORPORATE THE WESTERN 1 SECTION 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact, That the act incorporating the Western North Carolina Rail Road Company, ratified on the fifteenth day of Eebruary, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and all other acts amendatory thereof, be amended as follows, to-wit: The capital stock of the Western North Carolina Rail Road Company, for the Western Division of said Road, shall be ten millions of dollars, and the capital stock of the Eastern Division shall be increased to six and one-half millions of dollars, and the State shall subscribe for the stock of said Company, as now provided by law, until the Road shall be completed: Provided, nevertheless, That, of the appropriation made for the Eastern Division of said Road, a sum of not exceeding eighty thousand dollars, shall be expended in the construction of a branch Road, leading from a point at or near Catawba Station, in Catawba County, to the Lime Beds, in said County, said branch not to exceed five miles in length. Amendments. Capital stock. Proviso. Directors of Wes tern Division em. SEC. 2. That the Board of Directors of the Western Division of said Road, at any time, by order of the stock- powered to borrow money. holders of said Division, shall have power to borrow money from time to time, not exeeeding in amount the sum of two millions of dollars, and to secure the payment of the same by bonds of the Western North Carolina Rail Road Company, signed by the President and countersigned by the Treasurer of the Western Division of said Road, bearing interest at a rate not greater than eight per cent. per annum, payable at such place, and maturing at such time, not exceeding thirty years, as may be designated, and to secure the payment of such bonds, and enhance the value Property may be of the same, the said Board of Directors may mortgage from time to time, all the property of said Company, including the franchise and road bed, belonging or appertaining to the said Western Division, and no more, and it shall be sufficient to register such mortgage deeds in the County of Buncombe, according to law, to make the same effectual, as if the same were registered in every County in which the property of said Company, so conveyed, is situated. mortgaged. Capital stock paid as gold value. SEC. 3. When the capital stock is paid for with land, the in land, same price price allowed for such land shall be fixed at the value of the same in gold, before the Treasurer shall subscribe for stock on the part of the State, on account of such stock. And the President of said Western Division shall certify the solvency of all subscriptions, whether payable in land or not, as provided by law. Act of August 19, 1868. re-enacted. SEC. 4. That an act entitled "An act to amend the charter of the Western North Carolina Rail Road Company," ratified the nineteenth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and all the provisions thereof be, and the same is hereby re-enacted, and in all Constituted a part things confirmed: and the said act is hereby constituted a part of this act; and all the bonds of the State, heretofore made and issued to and for and on account of said Rail Road Company, and for the purposes therein specified, are hereby ratified and made good, to all intents and purposes, as if issued under and in pursuance of the provisions of this act. of this act. State bonds ratifiled. New bonds issued by virtue of this act. SEC. 5. That on the surrender of the bonds heretofore issued under and by virtue of the provisions of the said act, the Treasurer is hereby authorized and required to issue and substitute new bonds of the State, of like tenor and date, executed in like manner, and in all respects similar, for such bonds so surrendered: except that such new and substituted bonds shall be issued and purport to be issued, under and by virtue of this act, and the bonds so surrendered shall be burnt by the Treasurer in the presence of Bonds surrendered the Governor and Auditor, who shall cause to be made and signed a certificate specifying the numbers and dates of such bonds so burnt, and the act under which the same were issued, and the Treasurer shall report such action and certificate to the General Assembly at its first session thereafter. to be burnt. SEC. 6. In order to provide for the payment of the interest Interest on bonds. npon such bonds, so issued under said act, and the bonds to be issued and so substituted under this act, as well as for that on all such other bonds as may be issued under the provisions of this act, which has accrued and which may hereafter from time to time accrue, there shall be annually levied and collected as other taxes, a special tax of one-eighth of one per cent. on all the taxable property in the State; and the Treasurer shall apply the tax so collected to the payment of such interest as the same shall accrue. Commissioners to discharge duties on County Courts. SEC. 7. That in further subscription for the capital stock of the Western North Carolina Rail Road Company by heretofore imposed Counties, the County Commissioners of any County shall, in all respects, for their Counties respectively, do all things. and discharge all duties to that end and purpose, that heretofore by law devolved upon the County Courts in Counties proposing to subscribe, and subscribing for such capital stock, and a majority of the County Commissioners may act, and at such time or times as they may from time to time designate, and a majority of the votes cast upon any proposition to the people of a County to subscribe for such capital stock, shall be sufficient to authorize such subscrip Commissioners having stock. Time of meeting. tions for such capital stock heretofore made, are here in all things ratified. SEC. 8. That the County Commissioners of any County having stock in said Company, shall appoint & proxy to represent such stock in the stockholders' meetings, said Proxy, how ap- proxy to be appointed by a majority of the Commissioners. pointed. SEC. 9. The stockholders of the Western Division of said Road shall have power to fix the time and place of their meetings, and the proceedings had and acts done, by such stockholders, and the Directors of said Division in and at the organization of the same are hereby in all things ratified and confirmed. Stockholders of Eastern Division to oficers. SEC. 10. The stockholders of said Company, including elect Directors and the State, for the Eastern Division, shall have the power and the right to elect all the Directors and officers of the Company and to prescribe the duties of each, except that the Board of Directors shall elect the President from the Board of Directors: Provided, That on all questions, and in all elections, the State shall be entitled to a pro rata vote upon all her stock according to the representation of the individual stock in the meeting; and a proxy appointed by the Gov ernor shall cast the vote of the State. Proviso. Stockholders of Western Division to officers. SEC. 11. The stockholders of said Company, including lect Directors and the State for the Western Division, shall have the power and the right to elect all the Directors and officers of the Company, and to prescribe the duties of each, except that the Board of Directors shall elect the President from the Board of Directors: Provided, That the State shall be entitled to a pro rata vote upon one-third her stock, according to the representation of the individual stock in the meeting. Proviso. Company have power to take secu ties, &c. SEC. 12. That said Company shall have power and the right to take all such securities and mortgages of real and personal estate, as it may deem proper, to secure the faithful performance of contracts, for the construction and repairs of said Road, and the buildings and other things incident |