hereinbefore provided, are hereby transferred to the voters
of each county and the voters of the City of Baltimore, re-
spectively, provided that said powers so transferred shall be
exercised only by the adoption or amendment of a charter
as hereinbefore provided; and provided further, that this
Article shall not be construed to authorize the exercise of
any powers in excess of those conferred by the Legislature
upon said counties or city as this Article sets forth.

SEC. 7. The word "Petition," as used in this Article,
means one or more sheets written or printed or partly writ-
ten and partly printed; "Signature" means the signature of
a registered voter written by himself in his own handwrit-
ing (and not by his mark), together with the ward or dis-
trict and precinct in which he is registered. The authen-
ticity of such signatures and the fact that the persons so
signing are registered voters shall be evidenced by the affi-
davit of one or more registered voters of the city or county
in which said voters so signing are registered, and one affi-
davit may apply to or cover any number of signatures to
such petition. The false signing of any name, or the signing
of any fictitious name to said petition shall be forgery, and
the making of any false affidavit in connection with said
petition shall be penury.

ARTICLE XII.
PUBLIC WORKS.

SECTION 1. The Governor, the Comptroller of the Treas-
ury and the Treasurer shall constitute the Board of Public
Works in this State. They shall keep a journal of their pro-
ceedings, and shall hold regular sessions in the City of An-
napolis on the first Wednesday in January, April, July and
October in each year, and oftener if necessary; at which
sessions they shall hear and determine such matters as affect
the public works of the State, and as the General Assembly
may confer upon them the power to decide.

SEC. 2. They shall exercise a diligent and faithful super-
vision of all public works in which the State may be inter-
ested as stockholder or creditor, and shall represent and
vote the stock of the State of Maryland in all meetings of
the stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; and
shall appoint the directors in every railroad and canal com-
pany in which the State has the legal power to appoint di-
rectors, which said directors shall represent the State in alt
meetings of the stockholders of the respective companies for
which they are appointed or elected. And the president and