626

LAWS OF MARYLAND,
for a term of two years by the joint action of the

Appoint a
keeper.

county commissioners of Kent and Queen Anne's
counties, at a salary that may be agreed on be-
tween them; and the said bridge shall be kept in
good repair, and the said keeper shall attend the
draw thereof so as to admit the passage of
steamboats, vessels and other water-craft
through said draw-way at all proper hours, and
said keeper may be appointed supervisor for the
repair of said bridge or to superintend the re-
pair thereof under the direction and authority
of said county commissioners ; and all the ex-
penses of salary and repair as aforesaid shall be
borne by said counties in the proportion of their
respective ownerships in said bridge; and the
amount necessary to keep said bridge in repair,
and to pay the keeper's salary, shall be annually
levied by said respective commissioners upon
their respective counties in the proportions as
aforesaid, and the liabilities of said respective
counties for damages received shall be also in
the proportions as aforesaid.
SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That as a preliminary
and prerequisite to the exercise of the powers
and authority hereby granted and conferred,
the sense of the legal voters of the said respec-
tive counties shall be first taken and had thereto

Submit to the
voters.

at an election to be held for the purpose in said
respective counties on the day of the next
ensuing presidential election in said coun-
ties, when the question shall be submit-
ted to the legal voters of said respective
counties as to whether or not the said bridge
shall be made and become a free bridge under
the provisions of this act ; at said general elec-
tion this question shall be submitted on separate"
ballots prepared for the purpose, endorsed "For
a free bridge," or "Against a free bridge," and
separate ballot-boxes shall be prepared for the
purpose, which need not be of glass, and if a
majority of the votes cast at said election shall
be "For a free bridge," then, and not before,
the county commissioners of Kent county shall
be authorized to carry into effect the provisions
of this law; and if a majority of all the legal
votes cast at said election in Queen Anne's
county shall be "For a free bridge," then, and