the choice of directors, and also special meetings to be held at such time and place, and on such notice, as the by-laws may determine.

Resolved further, That the corporators herein above named shall cause books to be opened for subscriptions to the stock of this corporation, according to the mode herein above provided, on or before the first day of August next, giving public notice of the time and place, when and where the said books shall be opened, and shall continue to receive subscriptions until the number of two hundred shares shall be subscribed and five dollars per share paid on the same, when the subscribers shall meet for the purpose of organizing the company, notice of said meeting to be published ten days in two papers published in the city of Norwich. The remainder of the installments on such stock, at such times and in such sums, to be called in as the board of directors shall direct. And further, that the death of any nominee before the payment of the stock in full, shall not release the holder thereof from his liability to pay the balance due thereon, and that and all other stock, the installments of which are not paid as required, shall be forfeited and be for the use of the said corporation, after notice personally served upon the holder or holders of said stock or their legal representatives and a public sale of the same."

TITLE XXIX.

TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

INCORPORATING THE PROPRIETORS OF THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.

PASSED 1846.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Assembly convened, SEC. 1. B. B. Mussey, George W. Bazin, J. M. Thompson, Edward A. Mitchell, Winthrop Atwill, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of The Proprietors of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, for the purpose of constructing and using lines of said telegraph, under the letters patent granted to Samuel F. B. Morse, under the laws of the United States, within the state of Connecticut; and by that name they and their associates and successors shall be capable in law to receive and hold such estate, both real and personal, as may be necessary and convenient in accomplishing the object for

which this incorporation is granted; and they are hereby empowered to sue and may be sued, to plead and be impleaded in any court in this state, and to make and have a common seal and the same to alter at pleasure, and to elect in such manner as they shall determine to be proper, all necessary officers, and fix their compensation and define their duties and obligations; (provided, that the number of directors shall not be less than five nor more than twenty ;) and to make by-laws and regulations consistent with the laws of this state, for their own government and for the due and orderly conducting of their affairs and the management of their property.

SEC. 2. The said corporation may by their by-laws determine the manner of calling and conducting all meetings, the number of members that shall constitute a quorum, the number of shares that shall entitle the members to one or more votes, the mode of voting by proxy, the mode of selling shares for the non-payment of assessments, and the tenure of office of the several officers. Provided, that no by-law shall be made repugnant to the provisions of this act.

SEC. 3. The first meeting of said corporation shall be called by a notice signed by any one or more of the persons named in this act, and setting forth the time, place and purposes of said meeting; and such notice shall seven days at least before the meeting be published in some newspaper printed in the city of New Haven, in New Haven county.

SEC. 4. Whenever, by reason of the death, absence or other legal impediment of the officers of said corporation, there shall be no person duly authorized to call or preside at a legal meeting thereof, any justice of the peace within New Haven county may, on the written application of three or more of the members thereof, issue a warrant to either of said members, directing him to call a meeting of the corporation by giving such notice as had been previously required by law; and the justice may, in the same warrant, direct such person to preside at such meeting, until a clerk shall be duly chosen and qualified, if there shall be no officer present legally authorized to preside thereat. And said corporation when so assembled, may elect officers to fill all vacancies then existing, and may act upon such other business as might by law be transacted at a regular meeting of the corporation.

SEC. 5. The capital stock of said corporation shall be not less than twenty-five thousand dollars, nor more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

SEC. 6. Any person who shall willfully, wrongfully and maliciously injure or destroy the lines of posts, wires, or other materials or fixtures employed in or for the construction or use of any line of the electromagnetic telegraph, erected for use and used in this state by said corporation, and all persons who shall aid and assist in the same, shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in a common jail for a term not exceeding six months, or by such fine and imprisonment both, at the discretion of the court having cognizance of the offense.

SEC. 7. This act may be amended, altered or repealed at the pleasure of the general assembly.

TITLE XXX.

TOWNS.

ESTABLISHING THE MILEAGE OF TOWNS.

PASSED 1888.*

Resolved by this Assembly, That the following be and the same is hereby established as the rule of mileage of the several towns in this state, to Hartford and New Haven, on which the fees for travel of the members of the general assembly and all others who are paid out of the treasury of the state, shall be computed, viz:

Resolved by this Assembly, That the society of Andover, in the towns of Hebron and Coventry, with all the inhabitants residing within the limits of said society, be and the same is hereby incorporated into a distinct and separate town by the name of ANDOVER, and the inhabitants aforesaid and their successors forever residing within said limits, shall have and enjoy all the powers, privileges and immunities which are enjoyed by other towns in the state, with the right of sending one representative to the general assembly of this state.

And said town of Andover shall pay its proportion of all debts and claims already due, or for which said town of Hebron may be hereafter made liable by force of any claim now existing; and shall be entitled to its proportion of the property, including the town deposit fund, of said town of Hebron; and shall take and support its proportion of the poor persons now maintained by said town of Hebron; all said proportions to be, (reckoning on the grand list of 1847,) as the list of that part of Hebron now embraced in Andover, bears to the list of said town of Hebron.

And said town of Andover shall pay its proportion of all debts and claims already due, or for which said town of Coventry may be hereafter made liable by force of any claim now existing; and shall be entitled to its proportion of the property, including the town deposit fund, of said town of Coventry; and shall take and support its proportion of the poor persons now maintained by the town of Coventry; all said proportions to be, (reckoning on the grand list of 1847,) as the list of that part of Coventry now embraced in Andover, bears to the list of said town of Coventry; saving and excepting that the town of Andover shall not be entitled to any portion of the town house belonging to Coventry, nor be liable for any expense for building, hereafter, any town house or place for holding public meetings in said town of Coventry.

And in case the selectmen of the town of Andover and the selectmen of the town of Hebron, or the selectmen of the town of Coventry, should not be able to agree as to the division of the property, the poor,-or the amount of debts and claims of said towns of Coventry and Hebron, respectively, then on application of the selectmen of either of said towns, to Ralph R. Phelps, Esq., of Manchester, he is hereby authorized to make such apportionment, first giving to the towns interested, suitable notice of time and place of hearing, and his decision shall be final.

The collectors of the towns of Hebron and Coventry are hereby authorized to collect all taxes already laid, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

The first town meeting in said town of Andover shall be held on the first Monday of October, 1848, at nine o'clock, A. M., at the Conference House in Andover, and Calvin Daggett, (and in case of his failure, Gurley Phelps,) shall be moderator of said meeting, and shall warn said meeting, by setting up a notification of the same on the public sign-posts in Andover, and in such other place or places as he may think proper, at least six days before said meeting. And said town of Andover shall have all the powers, at said first meeting, incident to other towns in the state, and full right to act accordingly; and the officers elected at such first meeting shall hold their offices until others are chosen and sworn in their stead.

MILEAGE OF ANDOVER.

PASSED 1849.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the mileage of the town of Andover, in Tolland county, to Hartford, shall be eighteen miles, and to New Haven fifty-three miles.