Special election. Notice of. Ballots. CHAP. CCXCI.-An Act to authorize the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to take and subscribe One Million Dollars to the Capital Stock of "The Western Pacific Railroad Company," and "The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California," and to provide for the payment of the same, and other matters relating thereto. [Approved April 22, 1863.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to order a special election to be held in said city and county, at the several places for holding elections therein, on the third Tuesday in May, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of said city and county the proposition for said Board of Supervisors to take and subscribe four hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of "The Western Pacific Railroad Company," by which a railroad communication shall be formed between a point on the San Francisco and San José Railroad, at or near the City of San José, and to pass through the Counties of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and Sacramento, to connect with the Central Pacific Railroad; and a proposition to take and subscribe six hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of "The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California," by which a railroad communication shall be formed, as before stated, to the eastern boundary of the State of California, so that when said roads shall be completed, there will be a continuous line of railroad from the City of San Francisco to the eastern boundary of the State of California, there to connect with other portions of the Pacific Railroad to the Missouri River. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of said Board of Supervisors to cause notice of at least twenty days to be published in one or more newspapers printed and published in said city and county, stating the proposition to be submitted to said electors, and the time and manner of voting thereon. Each of the voters voting at said election shall have written or printed upon his ballot the words, "Pacific Railroad Subscription-Yes," or the words. "Pacific Railroad Subscription-No.' Every ballot in favor of said proposition shall have the word "Yes," written or printed thereon, and every ballot against said proposition shall have the word "No," written or printed thereon; and such ballots shall be separate and distinct from any ballot for any other purpose, Manner of and shall be deposited in a separate ballot box. Said election conducting shall be conducted in the same manner as other elections for city and county officers, and sealed returns shall be made of the vote cast on said proposition within five days after the said election, and in the same manner as provided for in the case of the election of city and county officers, to the Clerk of said city and county, of the number of voters voting "Yes," and the number voting "No," which returns shall be, on said fifth day, or on the Saturday following the day of said election, opened and election. counted in the same manner as the returns of the votes for city and county officers; and when so opened and counted, the result thereof shall be declared officially by the said Board of Supervisors, who shall, at the time prescribed for the opening and counting of the returns of said election, meet as a Board for that purpose, and for perfecting the subscriptions of stock as hereinafter provided. SEC. 3. If, at the said election, a greater number of the elect- Subscription ors of said city and county, voting upon said proposition, shall vote "Yes" than shall vote "No," then, and in that event, is the Board of Supervisors of said city and county, in the name of said city and county, hereby authorized, empowered, directed, and required, immediately after the result of said election is officially declared, to take and subscribe, in the name of "The City and County of San Francisco," and for the use, benefit, and advantage of said city and county, to the capital stock of "The Western Pacific Railroad Company," a corporation duly organized under the laws of this State on the thirteenth day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, for the purpose mentioned in section one of this Act, stock to the amount of four hundred thousand dollars; and also, to take and subscribe, in the name of "the City and County of San Francisco," and for the use, benefit, and advantage of said city and county, to the capital stock of "The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California," a corporation duly organized under the laws of this State, on the twenty-eighth day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, for the purpose mentioned in section one of this Act, stock to the amount of six hundred thousand dollars, and therefor to pledge the faith of said city and county for the payment of the same, in the manner hereinafter provided SEC. 4. The said subscriptions shall be made by a committee of three members of said Board of Supervisors, to be appointed by an order of the said Board for that purpose, and who shall perform that duty immediately thereafter; and the said subscriptions shall be made, and so received, conditioned to be paid in the bonds of said city and county, issued as hereinafter directed, and not otherwise; and for such subscriptions said bonds shall be received at par, dollar for dollar. bonds. SEC. 5. The said Board of Supervisors of said city and county, Issuance of from time to time, as the work progresses on the said railroad, and as the payment of said subscriptions to such capital stock shall be required to be made by the Board of Directors of each of said companies, shall, by order, direct the President of said Board of Supervisors, the Auditor and Treasurer of said city and county, who, for that purpose, in addition to their other duties as such officers, and their successors in office, shall constitute a Board of Commissioners, to be styled the "Pacific Railroad Loan Commissioners" of said city and county, as such Loan Commissioners, to issue bonds, in the sum of one thousand dollars each, for such amount of such subscriptions to said capital stock as said Board of Supervisors may direct. Said bonds shall Interest. draw interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum from the date of their issue, and the principal thereof shall be made payable on a specified day, to be named in said bonds, which shall be thirty years after the date of their issue, at the office of the How payable. Manner of signing bonds, etc. Coupons. interest. Treasurer of said city and county, both principal and interest, payable in United States gold coin, dollar for dollar; the interest accruing on said bonds shall be due and payable semiannually, so long as such bonds are outstanding and unpaid, and shall be made payable on a specified day, to be named in coupons, at said Treasurer's office; said bonds shall be signed by the President of said Board of Supervisors, and the Auditor and Treasurer of said city and county, as such officers and ex officio "Pacific Railroad Loan Commissioners," and when so signed, shall be presented by the President of said Board of Supervisors to the Clerk of said city and county, who shall countersign the same as such Clerk, in the presence of a quorum of such Board at a meeting thereof; and it shall be the duty of said Board of Supervisors to cause the fact of such countersigning of said bonds to be entered upon their journal, together with the number, date, and amount of each bond so countersigned by the Clerk; and upon the countersigning of said bonds, it shall be the duty of said Board of Supervisors to cause the seal of said city and county to be affixed to each bond, and appoint a committee of their number to deliver said bonds to the said railroad company to whom the same shall be issued; and it shall be the duty of such committee to take a receipt from the Secretary of such railroad company for the bonds so delivered by them, setting forth the number, dates, and amounts of the bonds so delivered, and report the same to the Board of Supervisors of said city and county. SEC. 6. Coupons for the interest shall be attached to each bond, so that the coupons may be removed without mutilation to the bond, and said coupons shall be signed by the Treasurer Payment of of said city and county. When any interest shall be paid upon any bond issued under the provisions of this Act, the Treasurer of said city and county shall receive the detached coupons for the interest then due and paid, and deliver the same to the Auditor of said city and county, taking his receipt therefor, whose duty it shall be to file the same in his office, and make a report thereof at the next meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Conditions. SEC. 7. The bonds issued from time to time in payment of said stock subscriptions by virtue of the provisions of this Act, and at least an equal amount of any other funds that may be obtained by said companies, or either of them, from other stockholders, or otherwise, or that may be furnished and supplied by the contractors who are or may be engaged in the construction of said roads, or either of them, for said companies, shall be expended, from time to time, as the said bonds are required to be issued, in the actual construction and equipment of said railroads. It shall be the duty of the Secretary and Chief Engineer of each of said companies, from time to time, as the said bonds are required to be issued, to make reports, under oath, in writing, and lay the same before the said Board of Supervisors, of the progress of the work and the amount thereof done and performed, as near as the same can be ascertained, on each of said railroads. And if, after the issuance of the first instalment of said bonds to either of said companies, there should be, at any time, any failure or refusal, on the part of such company, Supervisors in the expenditure of said bonds, with other funds, in the mode and manner provided by this section, in the construction and equipment of such road, then, and in that event, the said Board Powers of of Supervisors may, at their option, withhold any future payments on such subscription to the capital stock of such company, and shall not thereafter be liable to any further calls for assessments thereon; and if so declared by said Board of Supervisors, such subscription to the stock of such company shall be held void and of no effect, and such company shall be liable to said city and county for any amount that may have been previously paid on such subscription at the time of such failure and refusal, recoverable in any Court of competent jurisdiction. SEC. 8. It shall be the duty of the said Board of Supervisors, Interest tax. previous to the making out of the duplicate of the general assessment list for said city and county, in each year to levy a tax, to be styled a "Pacific Railroad Interest Tax," sufficient to raise the amount of interest required to be paid each year on said bonds issued under this Act; and previous to the making out of the duplicate of the general assessment list of said city and county in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and for every year thereafter until the said bonds issued under this Act shall be paid and liquidated, the said Board of Supervisors shall, should it be necessary, levy a tax, not exceeding thirty cents on the hundred dollars worth of taxable property of said city and county, for the purpose of raising a Fund for the liquidation of said bonds, which shall be styled a "Pacific Railroad Loan Fund. Loan Fund." The said taxes shall be levied and collected in the same manner as the general taxes for city and county purposes, and when collected shall be paid to the Treasurer of said city and county, who shall account for and deliver the same over to the said Loan Commissioners, to be by them applied: First-The Interest Tax, to the payment of the interest falling due on said bonds. Second-The Loan Fund, to the redemption of said bonds, as hereinafter provided. Interest SEC. 9. If there should be collected as such interest tax, in any Surplus in one year, a sum greater than is required to pay the annual Fund. interest on said bonds issued hereunder, then the said Loan Commissioners shall pass over such surplus into the said Loan Fund. missioners. SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of said Loan Commissioners to Duty of make arrangements for the payment of the interest on said bonds Loan Comwhen the same falls due, at least thirty days before the time of payment, and in the event said Interest Fund is insufficient, the said Treasurer shall draw on the Common or General Fund Duty of of the said city and county for such purpose, and deliver the Treasurer. same to said Commissioners; and in the event that those Funds prove inadequate, the said Commissioners are authorized and required to make such contracts and arrangements as may be necessary for the payment of said interest and the protection of the faith of the said city and county. Loan Fund. SEC. 11. Whenever, at any time, there shall be in said Loan Surplus in Fund a sum of money amounting to ten thousand dollars or upwards, the said Commissioners shall advertise in a public newspaper published in said city and county, for a space of four weeks, of bonds. Proviso. for sealed proposals for the redemption of said bonds; and ten days from the expiration of the time for such publication, the said Commissioners shall open the sealed proposals, and shall Redemption pay and liquidate, as far as the Loan Fund then on hand shall extend, such bonds presented under said proposals as shall have the lowest value proposed at which they may be liquidated; provided, the same shall not be for more than the par value thereof; and, provided, should there be no proposals made for less than par value, then the payment of said Loan Fund on hand shall be made on said bonds according to the number of their issue, commencing with the lowest number unredeemed, of which the said Commissioners shall give four weeks notice of the number of the bonds to be so paid, after which time such bonds shall cease to draw interest; and, provided, whenever there may be sufficient moneys in such Loan Fund for the extinguishment of the bonds issued under this Act, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to advertise, in like manner, for the space of four weeks, for the redemption of all the outstanding bonds issued under this Act, after which time said bonds shall cease to draw interest. Any moneys remaining in said Loan Fund after the redemption of said bonds, shall be by the said Commissioners paid over to the City and County Treas urer, to be by him held subject to the order of said Board of Supervisors. Cancellation SEC. 12. Whenever any bonds shall have been paid and redeemed by the said Commissioners, they shall mark the same "cancelled," over their signatures as Commissioners, and immediately deliver the same to the City and County Auditor, taking his receipt therefor; and the said Auditor, upon the receipt of such cancelled bonds, shall file the same in his office. of bonds. SEC. 13. The City and County Auditor shall open with the said Commissioners a "Pacific Railroad Interest Tax Account," and a "Pacific Railroad Loan Fund Account," and shall balance and settle the same quarterly, on the first Mondays of April, July, October, and January, of each year. SEC. 14. The said Commissioners, and all other officers herein specified, for the performance of their duties under the provisions of this Act, shall, in all things herein required of them, be subject to all the liabilities and penalties to which they are subjected in the performance of any other of the duties of their respective offices, and they shall, where the fees or salary is not fixed by law for the services herein required, be allowed by the Board of Supervisors a reasonable compensation therefor, to be paid by said city and county, as other fees and salaries are paid; and the said Board of Supervisors may, and they are hereby fully authorized so to do, require of each of said Commissioners such bonds and security for the performance of their duties herein required of them as they, the said Board of Supervisors, shall deem proper; provided, however, that the penal sums of such bonds to each of said Commissioners shall not exceed ten thousand dollars. The said Commissioners shall, when so required, execute the said bonds in the same manner as other official bonds are executed, and to be approved by said Board of Supervisors, and filed in the office of the Clerk of said city and county. |