CHAPTER 306. other property necessarily used in operating the railroad of said company, shall be subject to the same assessment and taxation, and no other, and entitled to the same exemptions, of like property of other railroads in this state is now by general law subject or entitled to. Three per cent. of earnings to be treasury. SECTION 9. In consideration of the privileges and paid into state exemptions granted to and conferred upon the said company by this act, the said company shall annually, on or before such day as other railroad companies are or may be required to pay the tax or license required of them by law to be paid, pay into the treasury of this state three per centum of the gross earnings of its railroad for the year ending on the last day of the next preceding December, to be ascertained by deducting the total expense for the operating and repair of said railroad and rolling stock for such year, from the total receipts of the year. And the said company shall be compelled to apply for and obtain a license in the manner directed by chapter 174 of the general laws of 1860. How earnings to be ascertained. Governor, &c., may examine books, &c. SECTION 10. For the purpose of ascertaining the gross earnings of said company, it shall keep an accurate account of its annual receipts and expenses; an abstract whereof for each calendar year shall be furnished by said company to the treasurer of this state, on or before the tenth day of February in each year, the truth of which abstract shall be verified by the affidavit of the officer of said company having the charge and custody of such accounts; and if such officer shall knowingly and willfully swear falsely in such affidavit, such false swearing is hereby declared to be perjury, and to subject such officer to the penalty provided by law for such crime. SECTION 11. For the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of such abstract, and the truth of such affidavit, full power is hereby vested in the governor of this state, or any other person appointed as by law prescribed, to examine the books and papers of said company, and to examine, under oath, the officers, agents and employees of said company, and other persons; and if any person so examined by the governor or other authorized person, shall knowingly and willfully swear falsely concerning the matter about which he shall give testimony, such false swearing is hereby person to CHAPTER 306. lien on road, &c. declared to be perjury, and to subject such the penalty provided by law for such crime. SECTION 12. For securing to this state the payment State to have first of the aforesaid per centage, it is hereby declared that the state shall have the first lien upon the railroad and all other property of said company, which lien shall take and have precedence of all demands, decrees and judgments against said company; and the state shall also, in case of such failure or neglect by said company to pay such per centage, have the right to proceed against said company to procure a forfeiture of its charter, in the manner provided in chapter 174 of the general laws of 1860; and if the said company shall refuse or neglect for the space of ninety days, to pay such per centage, the state may repeal the exemption from taxation hereby granted, and thereafter the lands so exempted shall be subject to assessment and taxation in the same manner as they would have been, if this act had not passed. from taxation to SECTION 13. If ten miles of the railroad of said com- When exemption pany shall not be completed so as to admit of the run- cease. ning of a locomotive over the same, within five years from the date of the passage of this act, and if said railroad shall not be in like manner completed to its northeastern terminus, at or near the Black River Falls, within ten years from the date of the passage of this act, then the exemption from assessment and taxation, conferred by this act, shall cease and determine in relation to such proportion of the lands of said company so exempt, as the uncompleted portion of the line of said railroad bears to the whole line; and the lands in relation to which such exemption shall so cease, shall be those which are most distant from the completed portion of said railroad. SECTION 14. So much of the act of which this is Repeal. amendatory, and which is hereby revived, as conflicts with the provisions of this act, or is inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed. SECTION 15. This act is hereby declared a public Public act. act. SECTION 16. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved April 15, 1861. The secretary of state, of the state of Wisconsin, does hereby certify, that the laws published in this book have been compared with the originals deposited in this office, and that they appear to be correctly printed. [L. S.] In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the great seal of the state, at the capitol in Madison, this 12th day of October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. L. P. HARVEY, Secretary of State. |