chantable timber trees heretofore or hereafter sold and conveyed to parties not owning the surface within their respective districts, and shall enter the same on the land books of their respective districts separately from other lands charged thereon, and shall extend the taxes upon said lands, improvements, fixtures, and machinery, and said standing merchantable timber trees, assessed as aforesaid at the rate fixed by law upon tangible property.

The commissioner, in assessing mineral lands, shall set forth upon the land book the area and the fair market value thereof, first, of such portion of each tract as is improved and under development; second, the fair market value of the improvements, fixtures, and machinery upon each tract; and third, the area and the fair market value of such portion of each tract as shall not be under development; and in assessing standing merchantable trees he shall set forth the number, description or kind of timber and the fair market value thereof. If the surface of the land is held by one person, and the standing merchantable timber trees, or the coal, iron, and other minerals, mineral waters, gas or oil under the surface be held by another person, the estate therein of each, and the relative fair market value of their respective interest, shall be ascertained by the commissioner. If the surface of the land and the coal, iron, and other minerals, mineral water, gas or oil under the surface be owned by the same person, the commissioner shall acertain the fair market value of the land, exclusive of said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas or oils; and also ascertain in addition the fair market value of the said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas, and oils, and shall assess each at such ascertained values, stating separately, however, in every case the value of the surface of the land and the value of the said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas, and oils under the surface.

And every such assessment as is herein provided for, heretofore made by any commissioner in this State, shall nevertheless be valid and binding in so far as it would be valid and binding, had it been made after this act goes into effect.

The several commissioners shall, on or before the first day of August, nineteen hundred and three, and on or before the fifteenth day of May in every second year thereafter, certify a copy of such assessments made in their respective districts of mineral lands and mineral rights as aforesaid to the State corporation commission, with the name and postoffice address of each person, firm or corporation in whose name any such lands or interest therein shall have been assessed upon the land book of his district with the amount of tax extended thereon. Upon receiving the copy aforesaid the corporation commission shall examine into the justice of any such assessments, and if it shall appear to the commission that any tract of land, or any part thereof, or the improvements, fixtures, or machinery thereon, or any right or interest in the same, or any part thereof, has not been assessed at its fair market value, the said commission shall direct the attorney for the Commonwealth for the county or corporation wherein. such land or interest therein so assessed is situated, or any other special attorney it may designate, to apply in the name of the Commonwealth to

the circuit court of the county or corporation court of said city to have said assessment corrected, which court shal. have jurisdiction for the purpose.

Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment of his lands or interest therein hereunder may, at any time prior to the first day of February next succeeding, apply to the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city in which the land lies to have said assessment corrected. Said application may be made either by motion in open court or by filing a petition in the clerk's office of said court, setting forth the lands or mineral rights on which the assessment complained of is made, praying that said assessment may be corrected; and the said court, at its next term after the filing of said petition, shall hear the said cause and enter such judgment as to it shall seem proper. The Commonwealth's attorney and the commissioner of the revenue who made the assessment shall be made defendants to such petition or motion, and written notice shall be served upon them at least five days prior to the day fixed for the hearing of such motion or petition. Continuances of the hearing of said motions or petitions may be granted for good cause. The proceedings upon any such application shall conform to section four hundred and forty-four of the Code of Virginia, and all amendments thereof, except so far as in conflict herewith: provided, that the Commonwealth and the person whose property is assessed shall have the right of appeal from the decision of said circuit or corporation court to the supreme court of appeals. The said State corporation commission, for the purpose of this act, may make, or cause to be made, such examination of the said lands or improvements, fixtures, and machinery thereon as it may deem necessary, and may summon and compel the attendance of witnesses, and call for such information, and require the production of such books and papers as it may deem necessary in the premises.

2. In view of the fact that there are now pending in some of the courts of the Commonwealth proceedings for the purpose of invalidating certain assessments of standing timber trees heretofore made, an emergency is hereby declared to exist for making this act immediately operative, and it shall therefore be in force from the date of its passage.

CHAP. 51.-An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled "an act to amend and re-enact section 50 of chapter 7 of the Code of Virginia in relation to the apportionment of representation in congress," approved February 15, 1892.

Approved February 23, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act entitled "an act to amend and re-enact section fifty of chapter seven of the Code of Virginia, in relation to apportionment of representation in congress," approved February fifteenth, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, be amended and re-enacted to read as follows:

$50. The counties of Accomac, Northampton, Lancaster, Richmond, Northumberland, Westmoreland, Gloucester, Middlesex, Mathews, Essex,

King and Queen, Caroline, Spotsylvania, Elizabeth City, Warwick, York, and the cities of Newport News and Fredericksburg, shall form the first congressional district.

The cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth and the counties of Princess Anne, Norfolk, Nansemond, Isle of Wight, and Southampton, shall form the second congressional district.

The cities of Richmond and Manchester and the counties of Henrico, Goochland, Chesterfield, New Kent, Hanover, and King William, James City, Charles City, and the city of Williamsburg, shall form the third congressional district.

The city of Petersburg and the counties of Prince George, Surry, Sussex. Dinwiddie, Greenesville, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Amelia, Powhatan, and Prince Edward, shall form the fourth congressional district.

The city of Danville, the town of North Danville, and the counties of Pittsylvania, Franklin, Floyd, Henry, Patrick, Carroll, and Grayson, shall form the fifth congressional district.

The cities of Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Radford, and the counties of Montgomery, Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax, and Roanoke, shall form the sixth congressional district.

The cities of Winchester and Charlottesville and the counties of Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Rappahannock, Madison, Greene, Albemarle, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Page, shall form the seventh congressional district.

The city of Alexandria and the counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, Alexandria, Fauquier, Culpeper, Orange, Louisa, King George, Stafford, and Prince William, shall form the eighth congressional district.

The counties of Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell, Washington. Smyth, Bland, Tazewell, Wythe, Pulaski, Giles, and Craig, and the city of Bristol, shall form the ninth congressional district.

The cities of Staunton and Buena Vista and the counties of Augusta, Highland, Bath, Alleghany, Rockbridge, Amherst, Nelson, Appomattox, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Cumberland, and Botetourt, shall form the tenth congressional district.

CHAP. 52.-An ACT to authorize the sale of lots purchased by the Commonwealth for delinquent taxes and not redeemed within four years or more.

Approved February 23, 1906.

Whereas it appears that at different periods, in many sections of the Commonwealth, there has been more or less speculation in city and town. lots, and the lots in projected cities and towns; and

Whereas it further appears that during such periods a large quantity of land has been subdivided into lots, and the lots sold, or offered for sale, at inflated prices; and

Whereas it further appears that in many cases such lots are now of little value, and that they have been practically abandoned by their owners,

and purchased by the Commonwealth for delinquent taxes, and that in many cases they will not now sell for a sum sufficient to pay the amount paid for them, together with such additional sums as would have accrued from taxes, levies, and interest, if such real estate had not been so purchased; now, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That during the month of August, annually, the clerk of the circuit court of each county, and the clerk of each corporation court, shall prepare a list of all town and city lots within his county or corporation, and of all lots which are a part of some plat or subdivision of land, made as provided by acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven and eighteen hundred and eightyeight, chapter four hundred and eighty-six, and acts amendatory thereof, whether within the corporate limits of a town or city or not, which have been purchased by the Commonwealth for delinquent taxes more than four years prior to January first of the year in which such list is made, and which have not been redeemed; and said list shall show the person in whose name the lot stood at the time of the purchase by the Commonwealth, and the amount required to redeem each of said lots, including amount of taxes due for the year in which such lot is sold, and the amount due the State, county, and corporation, respectively, shall be stated in separate columns. The amount required to redeem any such lot shall be ascertained by charging against the same the amount paid therefor by the Commonwealth (including the taxes due the county, district, town, or city at the time of sale, if the amount bid by the Commonwealth was not sufficient to cover same), and such additional sums as would have accrued from taxes, levies, and interest if such real estate had not been purchased by the Commonwealth, with interest on the amount for which said sale was made, or on all amounts then due for taxes on said real estate, at the rate of six per centum per annum, from the day of sale, and on the additional sums from the fifteenth day of December in the year in which the same would have accrued, and the amounts due the State, county (including town or district), and city shall be stated in separate columns.

2. As soon as completed, which shall not be later than September first of each year, the clerk shall deliver said list to the treasurer of his county or corporation, and within thirty days after receiving said list the treasurer, if he be an officer of a city, shall post a printed copy thereof in at least five public places in each ward of his city. If the treasurer be an officer of a county, he shall post a copy at the front door of the courthouse of his county on the first day of the circuit court occurring next after receiving such list, and also a printed copy in at least five public places in each magisterial district in said county. And the expense

thereof, as well as the printing and publication of said list, shall be paid by such county, city or town. as the case may be, but shall be apportioned among the delinquents according to the amounts due by them, respectively, as prescribed by section one of this act, and added to the respective amounts so due. To each copy thus posted and published the treasurer shall attach a notice that the real estate therein mentioned, or so much of each parcel thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the amount required to

redeem the same, including its proportion of the costs and charges as aforesaid, will be sold at public auction on the first day of the corporation or circuit court of the county or corporation occurring thirty days from the first publication of such notice, between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, in front of the courthouse of his county or city, unless the amount required to redeem said lots, together with costs. and charges as aforesaid, shall have been previously paid to such treasurer. 3. If the amount required to redeem, including costs and charges as aforesaid, be not previously paid, the treasurer shall proceed at the time. advertised to make sale of said lots, which shall be sold separately, at publie auction, for cash, to the highest bidder, and the sale may be adjourned from day to day, and proceed, between the hours aforesaid, until completed.

The treasurer conducting the sale and his deputies shall not, directly or indirectly, purchase any real estate sold. If he does, he shall forfeit fifty dollars for each such purchase, and the same shall, moreover, be void. 4. The treasurer, on receiving from a purchaser the amount of his purchase, shall give him a receipt for the same, in which he shall set forth with reasonable certainty a description of the lot sold, in whose name it was sold, the price paid, and the amount required to redeem the said lot as aforesaid, for which receipt the purchaser shall pay the treasurer twenty-five cents; but all lots which stand in the name of one person purchased by the same person on the same day shall be included in the same receipt.

5. Within thirty days after the sales have been completed, or at the next term of the circuit or corporation court thereafter, the treasurer shall report said sales, and shall state in his report, in separate columns, the name of the said person charged with taxes on each lot, at the time of its sale to the Commonwealth, the amount required to redeem each lot, giving the amount due the State, county (including district or town) or city separately, the proportionate part of the costs of sale charged against each lot, the name of the purchaser and the amount of his bid. In all cases where no bid is received for a lot, it shall be reported not sold for want of bidders, and such lots shall be included in the list to be made by the clerk the next year, as required by section one of this act. Said report shall have attached thereto the affidavit of the treasurer to the correctness thereof, and that he and his deputies are in no way interested in the purchase of any lot sold by him.

6. The court, if it find said list correct, or having corrected the same where there is error, shall confirm the report and order it to be recorded and properly indexed in a book kept for the purpose, and to be known as "lot sales by the Commonwealth."

7. After the confirmation of the report of sales provided for in the preceding section, the purchaser may enter and hold possession of the real estate purchased by him in accordance with the provisions of section six hundred and forty-six of the Code.

8. The clerk of said court shall certify a copy of said report to the auditor of public accounts within thirty days after the date of such confir

mation.