STATE ROADS 3307

of said bridge, roads and ways thereto, toll houses, lodges and other build-
ings or structures necessary for the proper operation of said bridge, and
the rights so acquired by agreement shall be conveyed by deed duly ac-
knowledged and recorded. In case of failure to agree, or of disability of
the owners to contract, or of their absence from the State, the corporation
may obtain the lands, water rights or other property necessary as above
described by condemnation, but said company shall have no power to
condemn land or other property not reasonably necessary for the location,
construction and operation of the said bridge and appropriate and needed
toll houses and appurtenant structures, and the necessary approaches and
ways to said bridge. The State of Maryland hereby consents to the use
and occupation of the lands lying under the waters of the Chesapeake
Bay, necessary for the construction and operation of said bridge and the
approaches and appurtenances thereto.

1931, ch. 539, sec. 47.

64. Said Company shall grant to the State Roads Commission or to
its authorized representatives, at all reasonable times, free access to the
work to be carried on in the construction of said bridge, and to all maps,
profiles, contracts, reports of engineers, accounts, books, records and all
other papers and documents relating thereto.

1931, ch. 539, sec. 48.

65. Said Company is hereby authorized to fix and to revise from time
to time tolls for transit over said bridge and to charge and collect the
same, and to fix by contract with any person, partnership, association or
corporation desiring the use of said bridge, approaches, appurtenances and
works, or any part thereof, for placing thereon water, gas or oil pipe line,
telephone, telegraph, electric light or power line or for any other purpose,
except for tracks for railroad or railway use, the terms, conditions and
rates of charges for such use, provided, however, that any such contract
for the use of said bridge for such purpose or purposes shall in every case
provide for adequate compensation to said company, its successors and
assigns. The rates of tolls and charges so fixed shall be the legal rates,
unless and until changed by order of the Public Service Commission, as
may be authorized by law.

1931, ch. 539, sec. 49.

66. No person, partnership, association or corporation, private or
public, shall be authorized to, and it shall be unlawful for any person,
partnership, association or corporation, private or public, to construct or
operate any bridge over the waters of the Chesapeake Bay at a distance
less than ten miles from the bridge to be erected in pursuance of this sub-
title, except such other bridge be erected after the acquisition by the State
of the bridge to be erected, pursuant hereto, and with the consent of the
General Assembly.

1931, ch. 539, sec. 50.

67. A franchise tax is hereby levied annually upon the gross receipts
of said Company, its successors and assigns, derived from the tolls and
all other revenues from the said bridge, such tax being as follows, to wit:
two and one-half per cent, of so much of such gross receipts as shall be not
in excess of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in any one vear, and