any locks made in any such mill dams, and such surveyors shall report to the next court. the sufficiency or insufficiency of such locks; and if it shall appear to any of the said courts, by such report, that any such locks are not sufficient for the passage of boats or other vessels, that then such court to whom such report is made, shall order the pulling down and destroying such mill-dams and locks, unless the owner or owners thereof shall, before the first day of October following, repair and make sufficient the lock or locks so complained of.

VII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That before the pulling down and destroying any such mill-dams and locks, the court of the county where such mill-dams are, shall appoint four or more of their number, to view such mill-dams and locks, who, if the said locks are, in their opinion, still insufficient, shall immediately direct the pulling down of the same, unless the proprietor can offer some expedient that shall be acceptable to the said viewers, and which he will become bound to perform; and if the pulling down be resolved on, they shall report their opinion of the value thereof, upon oath, to the next court; which report and valuation shall, at the court to be held for the proof of public claims in their county, be certified to the next succeeding Assembly, that such valuation may be paid to the owner or owners of such mills, to be levied on those counties which shall be benefitted by the pulling down such mill-dams and locks. VIII. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue and be in force four years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Assembly.

CHAP. XIX.

An Act, for giving a certain sum of money to trustees, for clearing the Fluvanna, and for appointing a store house at Westham; and for other purposes therein mentioned.

HEREAS it is found, by experience, that the Money vestFluvanna river is, in some measure, useful for ed incommis fransporting tobacco, and other things, but that sever- clear Fluvan Z z--Vol. 5.

sioners to

river.

Public store

al places in the said river are obstructed by rocks, so as to render the navigation difficult and hazardous; and it being thought that the clearing the said river will be a great advantage to the inhabitants of this colony, especially those to the Westward of the great mountains: Therefore, for the encouraging of so useful an undertaking,

11. Be it enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That the treasurer of this colony shall, and he is hereby impowered and directed, out of the public money now in his hands to pay to Joshua Fry, Charles Lynch, Benjamin Cocke, William Randolph, and Peter Jefferson, gentlemen, the sum of one hundred pounds, in trust, to be by them or the survivors of them, applied towards clearing the said river, in such manner as shall by them be thought most convenient: And the said Joshua Fry, Charles Lynch, Benjamin Cocke, William Randolph, and Peter Jefferson, gentlemen, shall be, and they are hereby required, to apply the aforesaid sum of one hundred pounds, as soon as conveniently may be, to and for the use and purpose herein before mentioned, and be accountable for the same, from time to time, to the General Assembly.

III. And whereas it is expedient, that a public storehouses to be house should be appointed, above the falls of James erected at Westham, river; Be it therefore further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That a public storehouse shall be appointed at Westham, on the land of William Byrd, and shall be constantly kept and maintained, by the proprietor thereof, for the receiving tobacco and other goods and merchandizes; and that there shall be paid and satisfied to the proprietor thereof, by the owner or owners of such tobacco, or other goods or merchandizes, which shall be lodged and kept therein, for the storage for the same, the rates and prices following; viz. for every cask, containing sixty gallons, and upwards, and every bale or parcel of the like or greater bulk, six pence, for the first day, or three months, and one penny for every month afterwards; and for every cask under sixty gallons, and for every bale or parcel of a less bulk than a sixty gallon cask, three pence, and one penny, respectively, for every month, as aforesaid; and for all salt and grain not packed in cask, the price

of storage shall be after the rate of eight pence for sixteen bushels, and so proportionable for a lesser or greater quantity, for the first day or three months, and one penny for every month afterwards: Which several rates and prices shall be paid and satisfied, before such tobacco, goods, or merchandizes, so lodged in the said storehouse, shall be taken out or removed threfrom; and that the proprietor shall keep every parcel of salt and grain, brought loose and unpacked to the said storehouse, in separate heaps or parcels, unmixed with any other, and shall deliver out the whole thereof as received; and if it shall have really lost any of its quantity by melting, or by rats, or other unavoid able accidents, the owner of such goods shall bear the loss, unless it exceed the sum or quantity of five per cent. if taken out in three months, or if it lie longer, one per cent. per month, not exceeding ten per cent. in the whole.

IV. And be it also further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if the proprietor of the said storehouse shall refuse to take in any tobacco, goods, or merchandizes, which shall be brought to such house, he or she, so refusing, shall be liable to satisfy, make good, and pay the owner or owners thereof, all such damages as he, she, or they shall sustain, by reason of the said tobacco, goods, or merchandizes, not being received and kept in such storehouse; and moreover shall be liable to an action at common law, for any damage that shall or may happen to any such tobacco, goods, or merchandizes, during the time they shall be in the custody, or under the care of the said proprietor, or which shall be lost out of the said warehouse, for want of due care.

V. And whereas many persons who live distant from navigation, and have their goods landed at storhouses, have suffered greatly, by not having them preserved from wet, and other casualties; and it is hard to fix upon the person by whom the neglect or abuse is committed: Be it therefore further enacted, That for the future, the owner or keeper of any storehouse, shall, at the time of receiving any goods or merchandizes into his or her care, give a receipt, in writing, to the person or persons who shall deliver the same; in which receipt shall be particularly mentioned the marks numbers and condition of the several sorts of goods by

him or her received, which receipt shall be by the owner or keeper of the said storehouse, fairly entered in a book, to be kept for that purpose: And if the owner or keeper of such storohouse shall fail to make a fair entry in his or her book, as aforesaid, or refuse to give a true copy of such receipt when required, he or she in either case so offending, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings, to the informer: To be recovered, with costs, before any justice of the peace in that county wherein the said offence shall be committed.

CHAP. XX.

An Act, for confirming the vestries of the parishes of St. Anne and Truro; and for dissolving the vestries of the parishes of St. Margaret and Newport.

Election of I. vestries of

St. Anne & Truro confirmed.

Vestries of

dissolved.

THEREAS some doubts have arisen, whether the election of vestrymen in the parish of St. Anne, in the county of Albemarle, and the last election of vestrymen in the parish of Truro, in the county of Fairfax, were strictly legal and regular:

II. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-GovernSt. Margaret or, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General As and Newport sembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That the said elections of vestrymen in the said parishes of St. Anne and Truro, be confirmed, and the said vestries are hereby established, as and for the legal vestries of the said parishes: And all and every levy and levies heretofore assessed, and every other act and thing by such vestries done or suffered, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be good, valid and effectual, to all intents and purposes.

III. And whereas it hath been represented to this Assembly, that the election of vestrymen in the parish of St. Margaret, in the county of Caroline, on the twenty first day of May last past, was disorderly and illegal: Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the vestry, or pretended vestry of the said parish, is, and are hereby dissolved: And that all and every act and acts, thing and things, which at any time or times hereafter, shall or may be performed suffered, or done by them, as a vestry or pretended ves

try of the said parish, shall be, and are hereby declared to be utterly void, to all intents and purposes what

soever.

IV. Provided always, That all and every levy and levies heretofore laid, and all and every other act and thing by the said vestry or pretended vestry, done or suffered, shall be good, valid, and effectual, in as full and ample manner, as if the election of the said vestry had been legal and regular.

V. Provided also, and be it enacted, That the collector of the said parish of St. Margaret, shall and he is hereby impowered and required, to pay and satisfy, unto the present minister or incumbent of the said parish, on or before the last day of May next, the salary allowed him by law, out of the tobacco in the state of the last levy, in the same manner as if it had been therein particularly levied for his use: And in case such collector shall fail to pay the same, he shall be liable to the action of the said minister or incumbent, his executors or administrators: for all damages to be sustained, by reason of the non-payment of such salary.

VI. And whereas the vestrymen of the parish of Newport, in the county of Isle of Wight, have represented to this Assembly, that they are old and infirm, and thereby rendered unable to perform their duty, and have prayed to be dissolved: Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the vestry of the said parish of Newport, be, and it is hereby disSolved: And that all and every act and acts, thing and things, which, at any time or times hereafter, shall or may be performed, suffered, or done by them, as a vestry of the said parish, shall be void, and of none ef fect.

VII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the freeholders and house keepers of each of the said parishes of St. Margaret and Newport, shall meet at some convenient time and place, to be appointed and publickly advertised, at least one month before, by the sherifs of the said counties of Caroline and Isle of Wight, respectively, before the first day of June next, and then and there elect twelve of the most able and discreet persons of their several parishes, to be vestrymen of the said respective parishes: Which said vestrymen so elected, having taken the oaths ap