thirds vote, yeas 25, nays 1; passed the House of Representatives with amendments by a two-thirds vote, yeas 102, nays 2.]

Approved March 30, 1899.

Became effective March 30, 1899.

RAILROADS—AUTHORIZING LEASE BY ONE LINE OF

S. B. No. 214.]

ANOTHER.

CHAPTER LII.

An Act to authorize the lease of any railroad connecting at the State line, not exceeding thirty miles in length, by any railroad company so connecting with

same.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That any railroad now or hereafter constructed, not exceeding thirty miles in length, connecting at or near the State line with any other railroad, may be leased by the company owning such other railroad, on such terms and for such time, not exceeding ten years, as may be approved by the Railroad Commission of Texas; provided, that said Commission may refuse to approve the same for any cause which it may deem sufficient; and provided further, that at any time before or after the expiration of such lease, the same may be renewed or another lease executed, subject to the provisions and limitations of this act; and provided further, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to railroads whose total mileage in this State may exceed thirty miles, although a portion thereof so connecting at the State line may not exceed thirty miles in this State.

SEC. 2. During the term of such lease the lessor company shall remain subject to the jurisdiction of the said Railroad Commission of Texas, and, notwithstanding such lease, shall be liable for any and all things occurring on or in connection with such road to the same extent as it would be if such lease had not been made, it being the intent hereof that the lease shall not operate to exempt the lessor company from any liability that would otherwise exist against it; but this section shall not be so construed as to release the lessee company from any liability; provided, this act shall not apply when any such lessee road is of less length than 100 miles at the date of the passage of this act.

SEC. 3. Any company whose road may be leased under the provisions of this act is hereby exempted from the laws of this State requiring general offices to be maintained and the general officers to reside in this State, except in so far as it may be required by Section 3, Article 10, of the Constitution of the State of Texas, and except in so far as may be required by the order or orders of said Railroad Commission.

SEC. 4. In any suit against the lessor company, for the purpose of service of process, the officers and agents of the lessee company shall be the officers and agents of the lessor company.

SEC. 5. The near approach of the close of this session, and the large amount of business remaining to be disposed of before final adjournment, creates an emergency which authorizes the suspension of the con

stitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house, and such rule is hereby suspended.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 19, nays 6; and passed the House of Representatives, no vote given.]

Approved March 30, 1899.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

NORTH TEXAS STATE NORMAL COLLEGE.

S. B. No. 145.]

CHAPTER LIII.

An Act to provide for the establishment, maintainance and government of a State normal school to be located at Denton, Texas, and be known as the North Texas State Normal College.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That there shall be established at the college heretofore known as the North Texas State Normal College, at Denton, in the county of Denton, Texas, a normal school to be known as the North Texas State Normal College; provided, that the citizens and municipal authorities of said city of Denton, shall, within sixty days after this act takes effect, convey or cause to be conveyed to the State of Texas, by a good and perfect title, the buildings, grounds and other property belonging to or used by the said North Texas Normal College, and bind the city of Denton to furnish for the use of said school an abundant supply of pure artesian water free of cost to the State, for all the purposes of said school, which said conveyance and obligation shall be approved by the Governor and Attorney-General; provided, that said college building, when tendered and accepted, shall be sufficient to accommodate at least four hundred pupils, and provided further, that if the donation and proposition mentioned herein is not fully complied with by the city of Denton to the satisfaction of the Governor, Comptroller and Superintendent of Public Instruction, then the location of such normal college shall be open to such other place as the Governor, Comptroller and Superintendent of Public Instruction may deem most satisfactory and advantageous to the State.

SEC. 2. When said conveyance is duly approved by the Governor and Attorney-General said building, grounds and other properties belonging to or used by said North Texas Normal College, shall pass to and be under the control of the State Board of Education, and on or before the third Monday in September, A. D. 1899, the same being the 18th day of said month, the said State Board of Education shall organize and put in operation at said location a State normal school to be known as the North Texas State Normal College, which shall be conducted for a session of not less than thirty-six weeks each year, upon approved methods and plans for first class schools designed for the special training of teachers, and said school shall be under the control and management of the State Board of Education.

SEC. 3. The State Board of Education shall have power to prescribe rules and regulations for the management, control and discipline of said

State normal school; to prescribe courses of study and text-books for the same; to regulate the admission of pupils thereto; to select a president and such teachers as may be deemed necessary therefor, and fix their compensation, and to do and perform all other acts not inconsistent with the laws of this State, as may be necessary or proper for the successful management and conduct of said school.

SEC. 4. The Legislature may, after the taking effect of this act, from time to time, make such appropriation for the support of said State normal school as may be necessary, which shall be paid out upon vouchers drawn in such manner as may be provided by the State Board of Education, upon approval of the Superintendent of Public Education.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the State Superintendent to visit said school and investigate the operations thereof at least twice during each year, and report to the State Board of Education the condition, progress and need of said school, and the said State Board may appoint other persons to visit said school and report thereon.

SEC. 6. The State Board of Education may appoint a local board of directors for said normal school, to be composed of three resident citizens of Denton county, to perform such duties as may be prescribed by said State Board.

SEC. 7. The fact that there is now no normal school in North Texas, and persons preparing themselves for teachers are put to great unnecessary expense in attending the Sam Houston Normal, thereby entail a great and unnecessary hardship upon the public school system in the northern part of Texas, creates an emergency and imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and said rule is hereby suspended, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate, no vote given; and passed the House of Representatives, no vote given.]

Approved March 31, 1899.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT-TIME OF HOLDING

H. B. No. 555.]

COURTS.

CHAPTER LIV.

An Act to amend an act passed by the Twenty-fifth Legislature in the year 1897, entitled "An Act to amend Subdivision 15, of Article 22, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, relative to the time of holding the terms of the district court of the Fifteenth Judicial District of Texas, passed by the Twentyfourth Legislature in the year 1895, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act," providing for the selection and empaneling of grand juries for the January term of said court, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Section 1, of Chapter 76, of the Acts of the Twenty-fifth Legislature, fixing the times of the holding of the terms of the district court of

the Fifteenth Judicial District of Texas be amended so as to hereafter read as follows:

15. The Fifteenth Judicial District of the State of Texas shall be composed of the county of Grayson, and the district court shall be held therein as follows: A term beginning on the third Monday in September of each year, and may continue in session until and including the last Saturday in December; a term beginning on the first Monday in January in each year, and may continue until and including the last Saturday in March of each year; a term beginning on the first Monday in April of each year, and may continue in session until the business is disposed of; provided, that the grand jury selected for the January term of said court shall not be empaneled during said term unless so ordered by the judge of said court; provided further, that the judge of said court may, at any time, either before or during said January term, order said grand jury to be empaneled on a day fixed by said judge, and when so ordered the members of such grand jury shall be immediately served as in other cases, and it shall be the duty of such members to appear at said time,

and upon a failure upon the part of any such member to so appear, he

may be fined by the judge as in other cases.

SEC. 2. All laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives, no vote given; and passed the Senate, no vote given.]

Approved April 1, 1899.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

S. B. No. 130.]

FISH AND GAME-AMENDMENT.

CHAPTER LV.

An Act to amend Chapter 153, of the General Laws of the State of Texas, passed at the Regular Session of the Twenty-fifth Legislature, entitled "An Act to prohibit the taking of fish from the fresh waters, lakes and streams of this State otherwise than by means of the ordinary hook and line and trot line; and to prohibit the sale or shipping of game fish in this State, and to provide penalties for the violation thereof," by exempting Stephens, Eastland, Palo Pinto and other counties from certain provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Chapter 153 of the General Laws of the State of Texas, passed at the Regular Session of the Twenty-fifth Legislature, be amended so as to hereafter read as follows: That if any person shall, at any time during the year take, catch, ensnare or entrap any fish, except minnows for bait, by means of nets, traps, poison or dynamite or in any other manner than with the ordinary hook and line, or trot line, in any of the fresh waters, lakes and streams of this State, such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than one hundred dollars; provided, that minnows for bait shall not be taken by poison or dynamite; provided further, that the following counties are exempt from all the provisions of

this act, except as refer to the taking, catching or ensnaring of fish by poison or dynamite: Stephens, Eastland, Palo Pinto, Panola, Comanche, Knox, Shackelford, Young, Archer, Throckmorton, Baylor, Delta, Franklin, Camp, Red River, Burnet, Jack, San Jacinto, Polk, Cook, Collin, Ellis, Hill, Kaufman, Mason, Llano, Anderson, Nacogdoches, Coryell, Fannin, Denton, Rockwall, Johnson, Trinity, Walker, Lavaca, Bosque, Hamilton, Brazos, Fayette, Gregg, Shelby, Sabine, Zapata, Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron, Titus, Morris, Harding, Jefferson, Tyler, Liberty, Grimes, Jasper, Montgomery, Caldwell, Goliad, DeWitt, Montague, Newton, San Augustine; provided, that Webb county is hereby exempted from all the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. The near approach of the close of the present session of the Legislature, and the crowded condition of the calendar, and the importance of the provisions of this act to people of Stephens, Eastland and Palo Pinto counties, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity requiring the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 24, nays 1, and reported to the House where it was amended and reported back to the Senate; the Senate refused to concur in House amendments and asked for Free Conference Committee; report of Free Conference Committee adopted by Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 25, nays 1. And the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 91, nays 10; Senate refused to concur in House amendments and asked for Free Conference Committee; report of Free Conference Committee adopted by the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 101, nays 5.]

Approved April 1, 1899.

Became effective April 1, 1899.

FISH AND GAME LAW-AMENDMENT TO PENAL CODE.

An Act to amend Articles 529, 529e, 5291, of Chapter 5, Title 13, of the Revised Penal Code of the State of Texas, of 1895, and adding thereto Article 529u, and amending Article 529g and 529s, and repealing of Subdivision 18 of Article 529g, of Chapter 98, of the General Laws of the State of Texas, of 1897, relating to the offenses for the protection of fish, birds and game; and repeal all laws in conflict herewith.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Articles 529, 529e, 5291, of Chapter 5, Title 13, of the Penal Code. of the State of Texas of 1895, be amended so as to hereafter read as hereinafter set forth, and that Article 529u be added to said Chapter 5, Title 13, of the Penal Code of the State of Texas of 1895, as hereinafter set forth, and that Articles 529g and 529s, of Chapter 98 of the General