APPENDIX I.

797

canal shall have been finished according to the true intent and meaning of thisact. For the collection of which tolls, the president and directors shall havepower to establish so many toll-houses, and at their pleasure to appoint andremove so many collectors, and at such places as from time to time they mayjudge expedient; and the said president and directors shall have full authority,subject to the direction and control of a majority in interest of the stock-holders represented in any general meeting, to regulate and fix a tariff of tolls,not exceeding an average of two cents per ton per mile; and so to adjust thesaid tolls, in relation to the capacity or burden of the boats, and the dimen-sions of the rafts passing the locks of the said canal, as to promote economyof water and time in the navigation thereof.

11. And be it enacted, That the president and directors shall, annually, orsemi-annually, declare and make such dividend of the net profits, from thetolls to be received according to the provisions of this act, and from the otherresources of the company, as they may deem advisable, after deducting there-from the necessary current, and the probable contingent expenses, to be dividedamong the proprietors of the stock of the said company, in proportion to theirrespective shares, in manner following; that is to say: if such net profitsshall not exceed ten per cent, on the amount of shares, which shall have beenpaid for in current money of the United States , and expended on the easternsection of the said canal, then the whole thereof shall be divided among theholders of such shares, in proportion to their respective shares ; but, if suchnet profits shall exceed the rate of ten per cent, per annum in any year, onsuch amount of stock, then the surplus shall be divided among such stock-holders as shall have paid for their shares in certificates of the debts of thePotowmac Company, until they shall therefrom have received a dividend ofsix per cent.; and, if a surplus yet remain, the same shall be divided amongthe stockholders who shall have paid for their shares in certificates of thestock of the Potowmac Company, until they shall have received therefrom adividend of six per cent, per annum on such shares; and if a surplus stillremain, so long as the western section of the canal shall remain unfinished,such surplus shall be applied, from time to time, to the construction and com-pletion thereof, in such mode as the president and directors, under such rulesand regulations, not inconsistent with the constitution of the United States ,or of the several states aforesaid, as the stockholders, or a majority thereof, ingeneral meeting, may prescribe, until the western section of the canal shall bealso completed; after which, if such surplus shall still arise, the same shallbe divided among all the stockholders, without discrimination, in proportionto their respective shares, until the annual dividend thereon shall have reachedfifteen per cent., beyond which it shall never extend. But should the netrevenue of the company exceed that amount for any two years in succession,then such excess shall be applied, by the president and directors, in suchmode as shall be agreed on by a majority of the stockholders convened ingeneral meeting; first, to strengthening and improving the works of the canalof every description requiring the same; next, to the accommodation, wherenot already provided, of the inhabitants of the shores of the river Potowmac,and of the country drained by the tributary streams thereof, now navigable,or which may hereafter become so, by affording to them, in the best practicalmode, a safe and easy access to the canal, from the surface of the main river,and of the said streams emptying therein ; and, last of all, to the erection ofsuch tvalls of stone or other materials, along the water margin of the canal,as shall fit the same for the navigation of steamboats of a size adapted to thesaid canal. And should the said tolls continue, after all such improvementshave been completed, to net more than fifteen per cent, per annum to thestockholders for any two years in succession, the tolls upon the same shall bereduced, by the president and directors, according to some just and equitableratio, till the said dividend shall fall to fifteen per cent, per annum: Provided,That, should the said dividend thereafter sink below fifteen per cent., the saidtolls, or a part thereof, may be renewed, till the said net dividend reachesthat amount. And for any, or all the within-mentioned purposes, the saidpresident and directors are empowered to borrow, in behalf of the company,on the credit of such excess of tolls, such sum or sums of money as theymay deem expedient, at such rate of interest, and wuth such delay of payment,as they may stipulate, with the previous consent of a majority of the stock-holders in general meeting convened.

12. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the president anddirectors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, so long as there shall

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Act of Virginia.

Dividends.

Creditors ofthe PotowmacCompany.