of the city shall be extended or contracted, if necessary, it shall be the duty of the city council to redistrict the city into wards, or so change the boundaries of existing wards, or so increase or diminish the number of wards as that no one ward shall exceed any other ward in population by more than three thousand inhabitants. But in no case shall the city council redistrict the city into wards or change the boundaries of existing wards, except in so far as it may be necessary to change such boundaries for the purpose of attaching newly annexed territory to such existing ward or wards as may be contiguous thereto, oftener than once every five years, except upon a recorded vote of three-fourths of the members elected to the council, or three-fourths of the members elected to each branch thereof, when the council is composed of two branches; and in every such case the reason therefor shall be set forth in the ordinance providing for such redistricting: and provided, that whenever the city shall be so redistricted the judge of the corporation or hustings court shall appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to rearrange and revise the registration books of said city, so as to place each registered voter on the proper precinct and ward registration books, and for this purpose the registrars shall, upon the order of the corporation court or judge thereof, deliver to the commissioners so appointed the registration books for the purposes aforesaid. The commissioner shall receive such compensation as the judge of the corporation court may allow to be paid by the city, together with all other expenses incurred thereby. A mandamus shall lie on behalf of any citizen to compel the performance by the council of the duty so prescribed.

2. In all cases in which cities have been redistricted into wards, or in which the boundary lines of existing wards have been changed, the ordinances of the said councils in so doing, which were first adopted since the present Constitution took effect, are hereby validated; and said wards as designated and established thereby, are hereby declared to be the existing wards of said cities, and the time within which the same may be again altered or changed, or said cities redistricted, shall be computed from the date of the adoption of said ordinances, respectively.

3. No ordinance of any city redistricting the same into wards, or changing the bounds of existing wards, which may be adopted between the passage of this act and the time when the same shall take effect, shall be valid unless the same be adopted by a recorded vote of threefourths of all the members elected to the council, or three-fourths of all the members elected to each branch, where the council is composed of two branches.

4. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

CHAP. 120.-An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2629 of the Code of Virginia, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved December 10, 1903.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia. That section twenty-six hundred and twenty-nine of the Code of Virginia, as amended

and re-enacted by an act approved December ten, nineteen hundred and three, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$2629. How property of non-resident minor or insane person transferred to foreign guardian or committee.-When any minor or insane person entitled to property or money in this State resides out of it, on the petition of a guardian or committee lawfully appointed and qualified in the State or country of his residence, to which petition such minor or insane person, and the committee of such insane person, if there be one, shall be made parties defendant, and the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem to such minor or insane defendant, who as well as such committee, if there be one, shall answer the petition on oath, the circuit court of the county, or circuit or corporation court of the corporation, in which the estate is, may order the guardian or committee in this State, if there be one, to pay and deliver to such foreign guardian or committee, or his agent or attorney, all personal property and money in his hands belonging to said ward or insane person, and authorize such foreign guardian or committee to sue for, recover and receive all money or personal property which belongs to his ward or insane person, including the accruing rents of his real estate, in like manner as if he were appointed a guardian or committee of such ward or insane person in this State, and remove the same to the State or country in which said foreign guardian or committee was appointed and qualified.

2. Inasmuch as certain non-residents are now entitled to have their estates removed as contemplated by this act, and an emergency exists for the removal of said estates, this act shall be in force from its passage.

CHAP. 121.-An ACT requiring the chairmen of the boards of supervisors and presidents of city councils to check over and compare the assessments made by the corporation commission of public works in each county and city.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the clerk of the corporation commission shall furnish to the chairman of the board. of supervisors of each county, and the president of the council of each city, a list of railroad, canal, telegraph and telephone companies within the said counties and cities, together with the number of miles of said railroads, canals, telephones and telegraphs, and the assessments made thereon by the said corporation commission; and it shall be the duty of the boards of supervisors of the counties and the councils of cities, to forthwith check over and compare said lists and assessments, and ascertain whether they be correct, and to notify the said clerk of the corporation commission accordingly. The said boards of supervisors and councils of said cities may, when there is reason to doubt the correctness of the assessed length of any line, require the county surveyor to make all necessary surveys in order to properly verify the assessment of the corporation commission and appropriate a sum out of the county or city levy to pay said surveyor for such surveys. If any chairman of

the board of supervisors, or president of any city council, fail to call the attention of their respective bodies to the requirements he shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars for each offense.

CHAP. 122.-An ACT to authorize the boards of supervisors of the several counties of this Commonwealth to appropriate county funds to secure historical and physical descriptions of their respective counties, and to edit and publish the same, for distribution at the Jamestown tercentennial exposition and elsewhere, and to select and prepare exhibits of the industrial, agricultural, mineral, and commercial resources of their respective counties, to be exhibited at the Jamestown tercentennial exposition.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the boards of supervisors of several counties of this Commonwealth, in laying the annual levy for the year nineteen hundred and six, may include in said estimates a sum not exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars for each county, for the purpose of securing historical and physical descriptions of said counties, and editing and publishing the same for distribution at the Jamestown tercentennial exposition and elsewhere, and the selection and preparation of exhibits of the industrial, agricultural, mineral and commercial resources, to be exhibited at the said Jamestown tercentennial exposition.

2. The historical and physical descriptions of said counties shall include among other things, as follows: Date of formation; from what territory formed: notable incidents in its history; in what grand division of the State situated; distances from the city of Richmond, and from Hampton roads, and from the nearest general market town, and lines of communication with the same; area in acres, open or forest; geology; general character of soil; minerals; general products; particular industries; average production per acre of usual crops; topography; mileage of railroads, electric lines, turnpikes and graded roads; population, white and colored, in nineteen hundred; assessed value of real and personal property in nineteen hundred and six; number and value of farm animals and stock in nineteen hundred and six; number of soldiers, white and colored, respectively, that enlisted in the Confederate and Union armies; and such other information as may be deemed pertinent by the respective boards of supervisors.

3. Said boards of supervisors of such counties that may determine to prepare such historical and physical descriptions of their respective counties and the selection of said county exhibits, are hereby authorized to co-operate with the Jamestown exposition company, and shall notify the president of the Jamestown exposition company of their intention. so to do, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the Jamestown exposition company to have distributed at and during the period of said exposition, such pamphlets containing the historical and physical data as may be sent by the respective boards of supervisors to the Jamestown exposition company for distribution; and said boards of supervisors shall also notify

the Virginia commission for the Jamestown tercentennial exposition of their intention to prepare such historical and physical descriptions of their respective counties and the selection of said county exhibits, and it shall be the duty of said Virginia commission for the Jamestown tercentennial exposition to co-operate with and assist said boards of supervisors in such manner as they may deem wise and expedient, in the selection of said county exhibits, and the said commission for the said Jamestown tercentennial exposition shall arrange for the installation and exhibition of the said county exhibits for the said Jamestown exposition.

4. Immediately upon the approval of this act by the governor, the clerk of the house of delegates shall cause two thousand extra copies of the same to be printed, and shall forthwith mail twenty copies for the chairman of the board of supervisors in each county of the Commonwealth.

5. And because of an emergency in the time limit in which this act may be rendered effective, the same shall be in force from its passage.

CHAP. 123.-An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1035 of the Code of Virginia of 1887, with reference to the salary of mayors of towns.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section ten hundred and thirty-five of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven be amended and re-enacted to read as follows:

$1035. The council of a town may adopt rules for the regulation of their proceedings, but no tax shall be levied or corporate debt contracted unless by a vote of two-thirds of the council, which vote shall be by yeas and nays, and recorded in the journal. The mayor shall preside over the said council; and the council may direct the payment to the mayor of a salary not exceeding nine hundred dollars per annum, payable as the council may direct, and anything in the charter of any town in this Commonwealth in conflict with this provision is hereby repealed; and in the event of the absence of the mayor the council may appoint a president pro tempore. A journal shall be kept of their proceedings, 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 by the person who was presiding when the previous meeting adjourned, or if he be not then present, by the person presiding when they were read: provided, however, this act shall not become operative in any town in this State until in an election held in such town, the qualified voters thereof shall have voted affirmatively as to the ques tion of the salary of the mayor.

CHAP. 124.-An ACT to authorize the district school board of Capeville school district, in Northampton county, to borrow money for the purpose of providing a suitable school building in that district, and to provide for the payment of the amount so borrowed.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the school board of the Capeville school district, in Northampton county, may borrow not exceeding the sum of two thousand dollars ($2,000) for the purpose of buying or erecting and furnishing a suitable school building in that district.

2. The said board shall issue its bond or bonds for the money borrowed. payable at such time or times as may be agreed upon, not exceeding ten years after their issue, bearing interest not exceeding the legal rate, and payable annually or semi-annually, as agreed upon. Such bond or bonds shall be signed by the chairman and attested by the clerk of the said board, and shall be countersigned by the chairman of the board of supervisors of said county, sealed with the county seal, and attested by the county clerk.

3. From the school levy for the said district there shall be paid, as it matures, the interest on the bond or bonds hereby authorized, and there shall be set aside annually as a sinking fund, such sums as will provide for the payment of the principal when it matures. Such sinking fund shall be invested in the bonds hereby authorized, or in such other securities as the said board, with the approval of the division superintendent of the schools for said county, may select.

4. The said board shall annually report to the board of supervisors of said county the amount of the debt outstanding, and the amount and condition of the sinking fund.

5. An emergency existing, the immediate preparation of a building for use next session, this act shall be in force from its passage.

CHAP. 125.-An ACT to amend sections 3, 4, and 7 of an act entitled "an act to incorporate the town of Colonial Beach, Virginia," approved February 25, 1892.

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections three, four and seven of an act entitled "an act to incorporate the town of Colonial Beach, Virginia," approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§3. The administration and government of the said town shall consist of one principal officer, to be styled the mayor, and six councilmen, who, together with the mayor, shall constitute the council of the town, and such other officers as are hereinafter mentioned, or may be provided for by the council for the efficient government of the said town and carrying out of the provisions of this charter.