and they shall organize by electing directors and such other officers as they may designate in their by-laws; and immediately upon the organization the directors shall elect one of their number as president of the company and cause books of subscription to the capital stock Books of subscription. of the company to be opened, and thereafter all meetings shall be Meetings, &c. held and all officers shall be elected as the by-laws of the company may prescribe. SEC. 9. That this corporation, formed under this act, shall exist for Corporate existthe term of sixty years. SEC. 10. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. ence. CHAPTER 167. An act in regard to the Eastern Carolina Land, Improvement and Bank ing Company, extending the time within which said company may be organized. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact : vate laws 1889, and chapters 271 and 824, private laws 1891, re SECTION 1. That chapter two hundred (200) of the private laws of Chapter 200, prieighteen hundred and eighty-nine (1889), incorporating the Eastern Carolina Land, Improvement and Banking Company, together with acts amending the same (private acts, eighteen hundred and ninety- enacted. one, chapters two hundred and seventy-one and three hundred and twenty-four), be and the same are hereby declared in full force. SEC. 2. That said corporation is allowed two years after the passage Time allowed for organization. of this act within which to organize under said statutes. SEC. 3. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. CHAPTER 168. An act to amend an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Polk County Railroad Company," being chapter one hundred and thirty-four of the laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: SECTION 1. That chapter one hundred and thirty-four of the laws Chapter 134, laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven be and the same is 1887, amended. hereby amended in section one, line four, by striking out the word Route of road. Officers. Official acts vali dated. Corporation not dissolved by failure to elect. Subscription by counties, townships, cities and towns. Subscription to be made in bonds. Election on ques 66 or "and inserting the words "to connect with a projected line from Gaffney City, South Carolina, and extending said railroad from Columbus or Mills' Springs in Polk county to Chimney Rock in Rutherford county, and thence to any point on the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina, with one or more branch roads," and that said act be further amended by adding thereto the following additional section: SEC. 2. That the officers of the Polk County Railroad Company heretofore elected under the provisions of the charter of said company are hereby declared to be legal officers of said company, and shall serve as the officers of said company for one year from the ratification of this act and until their successors in office are elected, and all their acts as officers of said company shall be valid; and the failure to elect officers annually shall not dissolve the corporation, but the officers formerly elected shall continue in office until a new election takes place. SEC. 3. That for the purpose of aiding in raising the capital stock for the construction of said railroad it shall and may be lawful for any county, township, city or town near or through which the line of said railroad or any of its branches may be located, or which is interested in its construction, to subscribe to the capital stock of said company such sum or sums in bonds as a majority of their qualified electors may authorize the county commissioners of such county or of the county in which such township is situated or the municipal authorities of such city or town to subscribe. That said subscription shall be made in coupon bonds bearing six per centum interest, payable annually, and said bonds to be paid thirty years from date of issue, and to be in denominations of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars. SEC. 4. That for the purpose of determining the amount of such tion of subscrip- subscription it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of any county in which said railroad or any of its branches may be located, or which is interested in the construction of said road, or in which the township in which the road is located, or in which it is interested, is situated, or the municipal authorities of any city or town interested in the construction of the said road, upon a written application of fifty freeholders of such county or city, or of twenty-five freeholders of such township or town, specifying therein the amount to be subscribed in bonds, to submit to the qualified electors of such county, township, city or town, as the case may be, the question of "subscription" or "no subscription" to the capital stock of said company; and said county commissioners or municipal authorities of such city or town shall have the power to order an election specifying the time, place and purpose of the election and to provide for the holding of the same according to law, at which said election the ballots shall have written or printed thereon either the word “Subscription" or the words "No Ballots. tion. subscription;" the said county commissioners or the said municipal Notice of elecauthorities of said city or town, having first fixed the amount proposed to be subscribed according to the request of the petition submitted to them; notice of said election being published for thirty days immediately prior thereto in one or more newspapers published or circulating in the county, township, city or town in which said election is to be held. held. SEC. 5. That all elections under the preceding section shall be held, Election, how if for a county, according to the laws and regulations provided for the election of members of the general assembly, and the returns shall be made to and be canvassed by the board of county commissioners, who shall ascertain and declare the result and make a record of the same. If the election shall be held for a township, the registrars and judges of election shall make returns to the board of county commissioners, who shall canvass the same and ascertain and declare the result and make a record of the same. If the election shall be Returns. held for a city or town, it shall be conducted as elections for municipal officers, and the mayor or aldermen or other municipal authorities shall ascertain and declare the result and make a record of the same. That in case a majority of all the qualified voters in said Subscription to county, township, city or town, as the case may be, shall have voted bonds issued on for "Subscription," then the chairman of the board of county com- of qualified vote of majority missioners in all cases of county or township elections, or the proper municipal authorities in case of city or town elections, shall be authorized and required to subscribe to the capital stock of said company in behalf of said county, township, city or town, as the case may be, the sum which may have been named in the said petition, which subscription shall be made in coupon bonds, payable thirty years from date, bearing six per centum interest payable annually as aforesaid. be made and voters. SEC. 6. That to provide for the payment of the interest on such Special tax. bonds and their redemption at or before maturity, the board of county commissioners aforesaid, or the municipal authorities of any city or town subscribing shall, in addition to all the taxes, each year compute and levy on all property and polls of any such county, township, city or town as may make a subscription of bonds to the said company a sufficient tax to pay such interest, and after ten years from the date of said bonds a second additional tax sufficient to provide each year a sum equal to one-twentieth (2) part of the principal of said bonds as a sinking fund, which amount shall annually be collected as other How collected. taxes and paid to the county treasurer or other officer of said county, city or town authorized by law to perform the duties of treasurer or commissioners of sinking fund and by him invested in said bonds, How invested, which shall be cancelled by the county commissioners or the municipal authorities of the city or town as the case may be; but in case such treasurer or other officer shall be unable to invest the sinking &c. Township incorporated. Corporate powers. fund herein provided for in said bonds at or below their par value, he shall invest the same in such solvent bonds or securities as may be selected and approved by the board of county commissioners aforesaid or the proper authorities of any city or town subscribing to the capital stock of said company until the maturity of said bonds, when said sinking fund shall be applied to their redemption. SEC. 7. That for the purpose of this act all the townships along the line of the said railroad or any of its branches, or which are interested in the construction of the same, are hereby declared to be bodies politic and corporate and are vested with all necessary powers to carry out the provisions of this act, and shall have all the rights and be subject to all the liabilities in respect to any rights or causes of action Corporate agents. growing out of the provisions of this act; and the county commissioners of their respective counties in which are situated the respective townships subscribing are declared to be the corporate agents of the townships as incorporated and situated within the limits of said counties respectively. Taxes collected on corporate property in townships, &c., applied to payment of interest on township, &c., bonds. County, &c., representation in stockholders meetings. Authorized to build part of line, &c. Proviso. SEC. 8. That whenever any township or townships shall subscribe bonds to the capital stock of said company, the county taxes which shall be levied and collected upon the property and franchises of the said company in the county in which such township or townships is or are situated shall be applied to the payment of the interest on the said bonds pro rata to the amount of said interest until the said bonds shall have been paid in full; and the corporate taxes on the property and franchises of said company levied or collected in and for any city or town subscribing bonds to the capital stock of said company shall be applied to the payment of said interest upon said bonds of said city or town; that nothing herein contained shall be taken or construed in any wise to invalidate any of the bonds aforesaid in case the taxes as aforesaid should for any reason fail to be applied to the payment of the said interest or any part thereof, nor shall such failure invalidate such bonds. SEC. 9. That in all conventions of stockholders of said company such counties, townships, cities or towns as may subscribe to the capital stock shall be represented by one or more delegates, to be appointed for such purpose by the county commissioners of the respective counties or by the corporate authorities of such cities or towns respectively. SEC. 10. That the said company may construct and operate any portion of said line, and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of its charter and franchises over such portion so constructed, and may construct and operate other portions of said line or any of its branches in like manner when deemed advisable by said company: Provided, that work shall be commenced on the first portion of said line within three years from the ratification of this act and completed from the South Carolina state line to Chimney Rock via Columbus and Mill Springs within two years thereafter. re-enacted. SEC. 11. That such portions of chapter one hundred and thirty-four Conflicting provisions in chapof the laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven as are ter 134, laws 1887, in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed or repealed. modified to conform to the provisions of this act, and all other por- Other provisions tions of chapter one hundred and thirty-four aforesaid are hereby renewed and re-enacted; and all the rights, franchises, powers and privileges thereby conferred upon the Polk County Railroad Company are hereby preserved and protected, and all other laws and parts of Conflicting laws laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed or rendered inoperative. SEC. 12. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. repealed. CHAPTER 169. An act to incorporate the Aid and Loan Association of Littleton Female College. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact : SECTION 1. That the officers and members who are at present or in Incorporators. the future may be of the Aid and Loan Association of the Littleton Female College, Littleton, Warren county, North Carolina, be and they are hereby incorporated under the name and style of the "Aid ers. and Loan Association of Littleton Female College," and by that name Corporate name. may have succession and a common seal, sue and be sued, plead and Corporate powbe impleaded in any court of record or before any justice of the peace in this state, and contract and be contracted with, acquire, hold and dispose of real estate and personal property for the benefit of said company as may be required for the convenient transaction of its business. ers. SEC. 2. The members of this corporation shall have perpetual suc- Corporate powcession, shall forever elect their own officers and shall have power to pass all necessary laws and regulations for their own goverment which may not be inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States. SEC. 3. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. |