LAWS 1865, P. 866.

MINERALS.

MINERAL RESOURCES.

JOINT RESOLUTION.

MARCH 21, 1865.

Relative to the development of the mineral resources of Pennsylvania and increase of

revenue.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, That the governor is authorized to take measures to obtain a full statement of the increase in the material wealth of Pennsylvania, from the recent development of its mineral resources, and to present such facts and estimates to the next legislature, with such recommendations, in regard to an increase of the revenue therefrom, as he may deem most conducive to the interests of the Commonwealth; the necessary expense to be paid by the State treasurer, upon the order of the governor, and accounted for to the auditor general in the usual manner.

STATISTICS-COAL AND OIL PRODUCTION-MINE ACCIDENTS.

LAWS 1871, P. 261.

AN ACT for the collection of mineral statistics.

MAY 9, 1871.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That in addition to the information now required to be furnished to the auditor general by the several railroad and canal companies of this commonwealth, each of said railroad and canal companies, when their railroad or canal passes through any of the coal regions of the State, shall report for the year 1871 and annually as soon after the first day of January in each year, or the close of the fiscal year of said companies, as the information can be procured under oath of one of the officers of said company, to the auditor general, the quantity of coal of each kind and of coke in tons of two thousand pounds each, received for transportation at each station on every such railroad and at each coalshipping point on said canal, distinguishing in said report the quantities received direct from the mines from that received from other railroad or canals, giving the name of said connecting railroad or canals in such a manner that the amount of the production of coal on the line of said railroad or canal may be correctly ascertained; the Monongahela slack-water navigation company and all other slack-water navigation companies engaged in conveying coal or coke are also hereby required to make returns in the same manner as is hereinbefore required of railroad and canal companies.

SEC. 2. It shall also be the duty of each of said railroad companies to report the quantity of coal purchased or mined for their own use in this State by them during each year, and which was produced along the line of said railroad,

and stating at what place or places the same was mined, and which was not included in the reports of coal received for transportation before mentioned of said railroad, or of any other railroad or canal.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of all coal mining companies or firms and individuals working mines, and of all State and county officers, to furnish to the auditor general, in answer to his letters or circulars, all information in their possession in regard to the quantity of coal mined that is sent to market direct by any navigable river, or used by any rolling mill, blast furnace, salt works, or otherwise, and which is not transported on any railroad, canal or slackwater navigation company, and also to inform him when and of whom correct information as to the coal production of any such locality can be procured; and further, to inform him of all accidents in mines in counties where there is no mine inspector appointed by law, and how the same was caused.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the auditor general, on receiving said reports, and such other authentic information as he shall collect, to collate said reports and information, and make a report, giving the results only in tabular form, showing the quantity of coal mined during each year in each county, and in each important coal producing region in a perspicuous form, separating the several kinds of coal into anthracite, semibituminous, bituminous, and splint or block coal, suitable for smelting iron, giving also from time to time the statistics of each region, from the beginning of its coal trade so far as it can be ascertained; he shall also specially report the number of accidents resulting in death or injury, in coal mines in those counties where there is no mine inspector, classifying them according to the cause thereof, whether occasoned by fire, explosions, falls of roof or coal in shafts or slopes, or other causes under ground or at the surface.

SEC. 5. The auditor general shall also, in the same manner, collect statistics, collate, classify, and report, at the same time, the quantities of petroleum, salt, iron ore, zinc and other mineral productions of the Commonwealth; also the pig iron and merchant or wrought iron manufactured in the Commonwealth. SEC. 6. Eight thousand copies of said report of the auditor general, together with his suggestions on the workings of existing laws and his propositions as to new enactments, shall be published for distribution, annually, as soon as it is prepared, with the title of the Mineral Statistics of Pennsylvania; and one copy thereof shall be sent by mail, by the auditor general, to each person who shall have furnished him with information, as aforesaid, and the balance shall be delivered to the legislature for distribution.

SEC. 7. Any railroad or canal, or slack-water navigation company, or coal mining company, firm, or individual engaged in mining, or any county officer who shall neglect or refuse, for thirty days, to make report or give the information required by this act, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, to be recovered by order of the auditor general, in an action of debt in which the Commonwealth shall be plaintiff, by the district attorney of the proper county, the one-half thereof to go to said district attorney and the other half for the use of the poor of the proper poor district.

SEC. 3. That in all cases of real estate mainly valuable as developed mineral, levied upon by virtue of a writ of fieri facias, and an inquest shall be held thereon in pursuance of the provisions of the forty-fourth section of the act of June 16, 1836, entitled "An act relating to executions," it shall be the duty of the inquest in ascertaining the yearly rents and profits of such real estate to take into consideration the amount of rent or mineral leave paid, and which said real estate may produce from the iron ore, coal, or other minerals mined. from such estate, and which its capacity, as developed mineral land may or shall produce, and said inquest shall estimate the rent or mineral leave aforesaid, with the other rents and profits of the same for the next succeeding seven years, and in case such rent, mineral leave, and profits shall be sufficient to satisfy the judgment upon which said execution was issued, with interest and costs of suit beyond all reprizes within said seven years, it shall be the duty of the inquest to extend said real estate and determine the amount of rental to be paid, in each of the next succeeding seven years, respectively.

SALE AND CONVEYANCE.

LAWS 1853, P. 503.

APRIL 18, 1853. •

AN ACT relating to the sale and conveyance of real estate. NOTE. This act makes no reference to mines or minerals and is not given. LEASING AND COMBINATION-SUPPLEMENT.

LAWS 1874, P. 277.

JUNE 8, 1874.

A FURTHER SUPPLEMENT to an act, entitled "An act relating to the sale and conveyance of real estate," approved the 18th day of April, A. D. 1853, authorizing the courts to decree the leasing and combination of lands for mining purposes.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That whenever, under the provisions of the aforesaid act of April 18, 1853, and the several supplements thereto, the courts of this Commonwealth, or any of them, have power to decree a lease of lands for mining purposes, it shall be further lawful for the said courts to order and decree that such lands may be so combined and consolidated with other adjoining lands as to form one tract in which the several persons or parties so combining and consolidating shall become seized of undivided interests, proportionate to their several divided interests before such combination and consolidation, and that the rents or royalties to be received under such lease shall be in the like proportions.

DEVELOPMENT BY JOINT TENANTS.

LAWS 1854, P. 437.

APRIL 21, 1854.

AN ACT to enable joint tenants, tenants in common, and adjoining owners of mineral lands in this Commonwealth, to manage and develop the same.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That at any time hereafter when any five or more persons, who may be joint owners, tenants in common, or joint tenants of mineral lands within this Commonwealth, may desire to form a company, under the provisions of this act, for the purpose of developing and improving such mineral lands, it shall be lawful for any company formed under the provisions of this act, to construct railroads in and upon their lands; also to erect dwelling houses and other necessary buildings; also all necessary machinery for raising, moving, and preparing all minerals, found in their lands, for market, and all other improvements necessary to prepare their lands for leasing: * * Provided, That none of the provisions of this act shall extend to, or embrace the counties of Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh, and York.

SEC. 6. That the companies organized under the provisions of this act, shall pay into the State treasury for the use of the Commonwealth, in four equal annual payments, commencing one year after the filing of the certificate of organization, a tax of one-half of one per centum on their capital stock, and at the same rate upon any subsequent increase thereof. (Repealed. See p. 245.)

ANNOTATIONS.

CORPORATIONS BY LANDOWNERS.

1. INCORPORATION BY OWNERS.

2. EFFECT OF INCORPORATION-CONVEYANCE NOT REQUIRED.

3. TAXATION OF CORPORATIONS.

1. INCORPORATION BY OWNERS.

Under the act of April 21, 1854 (P. L. 437) it is the owners of mineral lands that are to be incorporated and not those who desire to speculate in them; and the articles of association should set out that the corporators are possessed of mineral lands and give a description of them. For these reasons the charter is insufficient.

Lancaster Mining, Smelting & Manufacturing Co., In re 30 Pa. St. 151.

2. EFFECT OF INCORPORATION-CONVEYANCE NOT REQUIRED.

The legal effect of an incorporation under this statute is to vest in the company the title to all the lands in the certificate described without any further conveyance or assignment.

Stockwell v. McHenry, 32 Pittsburgh Legal Journal (N. S.) 121, p. 123.

8. TAXATION OF CORPORATIONS.

A mining company organized under this act was required to pay a bonus of one-half of 1 per cent on the amount of the original capital stock, payable in four annual installments. The act of April 10, 1862, authorized corporations to reduce or increase their capital stock, but said nothing whatever as to the bonus required to be paid. But a mining company organized under this act can not avoid the payment of the bonus by reducing its stock under the act of 1862, two days before an installment of the bonus fell due.

Commonwealth v. American Kaolin Co., 2 Pearson, 364.

Mining companies organized under this act were required to pay a yearly State tax of one-half of 1 per cent on their capital stock, but the act was unconditionally repealed by the act of April 3, 1872 (P. L. 37).

Commonwealth v. Alliance Coal & Min. Co., 16 Philadelphia Rep. 574, p. 575; 40 Leg. Intell. 280.

LAND DIVIDED INTO SHARES-SUPPLEMENT (1). LAWS 1855, P. 217.

APRIL 12, 1855.

A SUPPLEMENT to an act to enable joint tenants, and tenants in common and adjoining owners of mineral lands in this Commonwealth, to manage and develop the same. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That any companies which have been or may hereafter be incorporated under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement may divide the land authorized to be held by them into shares, of the value of not less than ten dollars; and the capital stock may be reduced to correspond with the reduction in the value of the shares hereby authorized.

GOVERNOR TO ISSUE PATENTS-SUPPLEMENT (2). LAWS 1855, P. 462.

MAY 7, 1855.

AN ACT to authorize the governor to issue letters patent in certain cases. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

* * *

That in all cases where companies have been or shall hereafter be formed under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to enable joint tenants, tenants in common, and adjoining owners of mineral land in this Commonwealth to manage and develop the same," approved the 21st day of April, A. D. 1854, it shall be lawful for the governor whenever the certificate of the organization of any such company shall have been duly executed, in conformity with the provisions of the said act or acts, and filed in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth as therein provided, to issue letters patent under the great seal of the Commonwealth, declaring the subscribers to the stock of any such company, and also those who may thereafter become subscribers or holders of the said stock, to be a body politic in deed and in law, in the same manner and form as is now provided by law in other cases.

COMPANIES TO ENGAGE IN MINING-SUPPLEMENT AND REPEALING ACT (3).

LAWS 1856, P. 283.

APRIL 9, 1856.

AN ACT supplemental to an act, entitled "An act to enable joint tenants, tenants in common, and adjoining owners of mineral lands in this Commonwealth, to manage and develop the same," approved the 21st day of April, A. D. 1854.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the second proviso of the second section of an act to enable joint tenants, tenants in common, and adjoining.owners of mineral lands in this Commonwealth to manage and develop the same, approved the 21st day of April, A. D. 1854, is hereby repealed; and that companies now formed, or that may hereafter be formed, under the act mentioned in the foregoing section, be and they are hereby authorized, in addition to the rights and privileges conferred by said act, to engage in and carry on the mining, and preparing for market, coal, fire clay and other minerals found on or in their lands, manufacturing the products of the same, selling or conveying the same, and the products thereof.