CHAP. 248.--An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3 and 4 of an act entitled an act to amend the charter of the town of Cape Charles and to legalize certain acts of the town council, approved December 20, 1895, section 3 having been amended by an act a...

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections three and four of an act entitled an act to amend the charter of the town of Cape Charles and to legalize certain acts of the town council, approved December twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, section three having been amended by an act approved February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3. The council of said town shall appoint annually an assessor, who shall be qualified voter of said town, and shall assess the value of all the real and personal property in the corporate limits of said town, subject to town taxation, which said assessment shall not be higher than the assessment made on said property for State taxation, if there be a State assessment of such property, and the same shall form the basis of taxation for said town; and said council shall have power and authority to levy and collect annually a tax on the real and personal property and other subjects in the corporate limits of said town, subject to town taxation, and for the privilege of carrying on any regular business, trade or profession, by persons residing within the corporate limits thereof; provided, that the poll tax shall not exceed fifty cents on every resident of the town over twenty-one years of age, in any one year, and for the purpose of carrying on any regular business, trade, occupation or profession within said town by persons residing without the corporate limits shall not exceed in any one year the tax imposed by said council on persons residing within the corporate limits for carrying on like business, trade, occupation or profession. Should any person carry on such business, trade, occupation or profession without obtaining a license therefor and paying the tax required by ordinance, he shall be prosecuted as for a violation of the ordinances of said town as herein provided for.

Section 4. The said council shall also have power and authority to make all necessary provisions to prevent accidents by fire, and to supply the town with water for all necessary purposes, and to purchase engines, hose, firehooks, ladders and other fixtures useful for preventing accidents by fire, and to organize fire companies. The council of said town shall also have power and authority to negotiate any loan or loans for the purpose of purchasing necessary real estate, and for the erection of public buildings, and for general improvement of said town. All outstanding loans of the town are hereby validated, ratified and confirmed. They shall also have power and authority to establish markets and regulate the same; to grade and pave or in any other way improve the streets, sidewalks, and alleys of said town; to make and maintain sewers; to change and direct the water courses in said town; to prevent and punish by reasonable fines the practice of firing guns and pistols, or in any manner setting fire to powder; of running horses, and of all else detrimental to the peace and quiet of said town; to license and regulate shows and public exhibitions, and to tax the same to such an extent as they may deem reasonable and expedient; to prescribe rules for the orderly and regular building of houses and chimneys; to regulate blacksmith shops and all other shops considered likely to occasion accidents by fire, and the erection of stoves and stove-pipes; to regulate the erection of privies, stables and cow-sheds; and prescribe their location; to regulate butchers' stalls and slaughter-houses; to abate and remove nuisances within the said town at the expense of those who may occasion them; to prohibit horses, mules, hogs, dogs, cows and other animals from running at large within the limits of said town; to prevent the exhibition of stud horses or jackasses or other objectionable exhibitions; and generally to pass all by-laws and ordinances, not contrary to the Constitution and laws of the State or of the United States, which the said council may think necessary and proper for carrying into effect the foregoing powers, or that may hereafter be vested in them; and for the regulating of the police, preserving the peace and good order and government of said town, and to amend and repeal the same at their pleasure; and to enforce the observance of such by-laws and ordinances, under penalties not exceeding one hundred dollars for one offense, to be recovered, with costs in the name of said corporation, before the mayor or any councilman of said town, and applied in aid of the taxes imposed upon said town.

Subject to the provisions of section one hundred and twenty-five of the Constitution, and section three thousand and sixteen and following of the Code of Virginia, the council shall have power to grant exclusive franchises to public service and public utility corporations or companies.

An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.