SEC. 6. The power heretofore conferred upon the General
Assembly to prescribe the number, compensation, powers and
duties of the County Commissioners in each county, and
the power to make changes in Sections I to 6, inclusive. Article
XI of this Constitution, when expressly granted as herein-
before provided, are hereby transferred to the voters of each
county and the voters of the City of Baltimore, respectively,
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 written
and partly printed; "Signature" means the signature of a
registered voter written by himself in his own handwriting (and
not by his mark), together with the ward or district and pre-
cinct in which he is registered. The authenticity of such signa-
tures and the fact that the persons so signing are registered
voters shall be evidence by the affidavit of one or more reg-
istered voters of the city or county in which said voters so sign-
ing are registered, and one affidavit may apply to or cover any
number of signatures to such petition. The false signing of any
name, or the signing of any fitictious name to said petition shall
be forgery, and the making of any false affidavit in connection
with said petition shall be perjury.

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 ses-
sions 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 company