year thereafter; and the interest due thereon, shall be applied in payment of the interest on the bonds authorized to be issued and endorsed by the first section of this act; and the principal of said bonds, when due, shall be promptly collected by the president and directors, and the proceeds thereof shall be applied to discharge the bonds so authorized as aforesaid, to be endorsed by the public treasurer, and any excess that shall remain, shall be applied to pay the principal of said bonds as it falls due; and the said president and directors are hereby authorized to receive subscription of Subscriptions stock, as preferred stock, to the amount of one hundred ef $100,000 pre- thousand dollars, as in their discretion they may deem propmay be receiv'd er for the best interest of the company, to be applied, or so ferred stock General meeting of stockholders. Sinking fund. much thereof as may be necessary in discharge of any other liabilities of said company; and that whenever the sum of one hundred thousand dollars shall have been subscribed, and paid or secured as prescribed in this section, said company may elect one of the stockholders thereof a director on the part of said company, and so on for every additional hundred thousand dollars so paid or secured, as aforesaid, the said company may elect an additional director on the part of said company; and in the event that stock shall be so paid or secured, before all the bonds authorized by the first section are sold, bonds to the amount of such stock so paid or secured, as aforesaid, shall be returned and cancelled by the public treasurer, who shall give to the president a receipt for the bonds so returned, as aforesaid. SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That as soon as practicable after this act shall have been ratified, the president and directors shall call a general meeting of the stockholders of the Cape Fear and Deep River Navigation Company, and the said company shall signify its acceptance of the provisions of this act, by a resolution subscribed by the members thereof, signifying their acceptance thereof, and authorizing deeds of mortgage and pledge to be executed as prescribed by this act, for the purposes therein specified, and all other purposes specified in this act, for the purpose of indemnifying the State of North-Carolina from all losses, by reason of her endorsement as aforesaid, of the bonds aforesaid; and upon said company's signifying its acceptance, as aforesaid, there shall be an election and appointment of president and directors, to be selected from the stockholders of the company, and no one shall be appointed or eligible as a director, who is not a stockholder. SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That said company shall pay, or cause to be paid, to the public treasurer of the State, on the first Monday in January, 1856, and annually thereafter, until the aforesaid bonds (issued as aforesaid,) shall have been paid, one per centum of the net profits of said company, to be by him invested in State securities, SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That a tax of two cents Tax on coal per ton, on all coal that shall be shipped and conveyed from carried on the the mines on Deep river, shall be annually levied, and paid part of sinking as other taxes of the State are paid, and shall be collected fund. by the sheriff of the county of Chatham for the time being, who shall account for and pay the same unto the public treasurer; and when so received, shall be invested and re- invested, as prescribed in the section immediately preced- ing; and shall constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal of said bonds, and shall be so applied by said treasurer, as prescribed in section 12 of this act; and when the debts and liabilities of the company shall have been dis- charged, the tax so arising shall constitute a part of the revenue of the State, to be applied as such; and that all laws and clauses of laws, coming in conflict with this sec- tion, be and the same are hereby repealed. SEC. 13. Be it further enacted, That said company shall be required to put back-slopes to the dams at Cross creek, SEC. 14. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its ratification. [Ratified the 10th day AN ACT TO REPEAL, IN PART, AN ACT OF THE SESSION OF 1852, Chap, 6. CHAPTER 15TII, ENTITLED AN ACT CONCERNING THE PLACE OF SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State Act of 1872 re- of North-Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority Cumberland, pealed as to of the same, That so much of the said act as applies to the Wilkes d counties of Cumberland, Wilkes and Madison, be, and the SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. [Ratified the 9th day Chap. 7. Amendment. Governor to is. tion. CONSTITUTION. AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH- WHEREAS, A large number of the people are disfranchised, by the freehold qualification now required of voters for members of the Senate: Therefore, SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, (three-fifths of the whole number of members of each House concurring,) That the second clause of the third section of the first article of the amended constitution, ratified by the people of North-Carolina, on the second Monday of November, in the year of [our] Lord eighteen hundred and thirty-five, shall be amended to read as follows: Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a native or naturalized citizen of the United States, and who has been an inhabitant of the State for twelve months immediately preceding the day of any election, and shall have paid public taxes, shall be entitled to vote for a member of the Senate, for the district in which he resides. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the governor of the she proclama State be, and he is hereby directed to issue his proclamation to the people of North-Carolina, at least six months before the next election for members of the General Assembly, setting forth the purport of this act, and the amendment to the constitution herein proposed, which proclamation shall be accompanied by a true and perfect copy of the act, authenticated by the certificate of the secretary of State; and both the proclamation and the copy of this act, the governTo be publish- or of the State shall cause to be published in ten newspapers ed in ten news of this State, at least six months before the election of members to the next General Assembly. [Ratified the 3d day of February, 1855.] papers. COUNTIES. Chap. 8. AN ACT TO LAY OFF AND ESTABLISH A NEW COUNTY BY Formed from a NAME OF HARNETT. THE SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That a new county be formed from a portion of the county of Cumberland, under the name and style of Harnett, to be bounded as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the lines of Johnston and Sampson counties, on Black Mingo; thence a direct line to the mouth of Lower Little river; thence up said river to the bridge at Elliott's Boundaries. mills; thence a straight line to the place on the Murchison road where Hector's creek crosses; thence with said line to road to the Moore county line; thence with said line to the Chatham county line; thence with that to the Wake county line; thence with that to the Johnston county line; thence with that to the beginning. Ratified the 7th day of February, 1855.] AN ACT SUPPLEMENTAL TO AN ACT ENTITLED AN ACT TO ESTAB- Chap. 9. LISH A NEW COUNTY BY THE NAME OF HARNETT." other counties, SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State Invested with of North-Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority the rights of of the same, That the county of Harnett is hereby invested &c. with all the rights, privileges [and] immunities which other counties in this State enjoy; all the justices of the peace and officers of the militia, who reside within the limits of Harnett county, shall continue to hold and exercise all the official powers and authorities, in and for said county, that they hitherto have held and exercised in and for the county of Cumberland. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the constables now Constables. residing in Harnett county, shall continue to hold their offices and perform all the duties appertaining thereto, until the first county court to be held for said county, under the like rules, regulations and penalties as constables are subject to in other counties in this State. in Legislature, SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the counties of Cum- Representation berland and Harnett shall be represented in the General elections, &c. Assembly as heretofore, until a future General Assembly shall direct and otherwise provide; and all elections for members of Congress and members of both Houses of the General Assembly, and elections of President and Vice President of the United States, shall be held by the sheriff or other returning officer of the county of Cumberland, in all the territory comprised within the limits of both counties, at the times and places, and under the same rules and regulations and restrictions as have been appointed, or may hereafter be appointed by law; and the certificates of said sheriff, or other returning officer, as to the results of said elections, shall be as valid and as effectual, to all intents and purposes, as if the act establishing the county of Harnett had not passed. SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That a court of pleas and Courts. quarter sessions shall be, and the same is hereby established in and for said county of Harnett, to be held by the justices of said county; the first session of said court shall be held to be elected. County officers on the second Monday of March, in the present year of our Lord, and regularly thereafter on the [second] Mondays of June, September, December and March. At the first session of said court, a majority of the acting justices being present, the court shall proceed to elect a sheriff, a coroner or coroners, a clerk of the county court, a register, an entry taker, a county surveyor, and all other proper officers; and the persons so elected shall give bond, and shall continue in office until their successors are chosen and qualified according to law. The county court, until a site for a county town be chosen, and the proper buildings erected, shall be held, and the records be kept at Summerville: Provided, however, That the county court, a majority of the acting justices being present, may direct otherwise. County court. Commissioners y seat. SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That the court of pleas and quarter sessions, by this act established, shall have, possess and exercise the like power, authority and jurisdiction as are had, possessed and exercised by other county courts in this State; and shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all crimes committed within the limits of said county, of which the county courts have jurisdiction; and all suits at law now pending in the county court of Cumberland, wherein all the plaintiff's and defendants are citizens of Harnett county, and all indictments in the county court of Cumberland, against citizens of Harnett county, or persons residing there, shall be transferred to the county court of Harnett for trial, in the manner now provided by law for the removal of cases from one county to another for trial. SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That all persons who may be liable to imprisonment under any process, either civil or criminal, in Harnett county, shall be committed to, and be imprisoned in, the jail of Cumberland county, until the jail of Harnett county be completed. SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That George W. Pegram, to lay off coun- John Green, Eldridge Stewart, James Johnson, James P. Hodges, John McKay and Samuel E. Johnson are hereby appointed commissioners to lay off and allot the county seat of said county, at or within three miles of the geographical centre; and shall have power to purchase, or take by gift or donation, a tract of land not less than one hundred acres, to be conveyed to the chairman of the county court and his successors in office, for the use of the county, upon which a town shall be laid off to be called "Toomer," and within the limits of which the court house and other public buildings shall be located and erected. When the said buildings shall be completed, the courts of the county court shall be held there, Dividing line and the public officers shall keep their respective offices between Cum- there. The said commissioners shall cause to be surveyed Ifarnett. and marked, in connection with a like number of commis berland and |