ART. 9.] CHARLES COUNTY. 741

be, and the same are hereby repealed and re-enacted with
amendments, so as to read as follows, and that the following
additional sections be added to the aforegoing article, to be
designated sections 160A, 1GOB and 160c, to read as follows:

157. The County Commissioners of Charles county shall have
the control and regulation of the public roads and bridges in
said county except in so far as the same shall not be regulated
by the provisions of this Act.

158. From .and after the fifteenth day of April, 1908, and
until the fifteenth day of April, 1914, the control and regula-
tion of the construction and repair of the public roads in
Charles county shall be entrusted to a Board of Road Commis-
sioners of Charles county, to consist of P. Reed Willis, Conrad
Posey and Harry R. Bowling, who, by virtue of this Act, shall
be constituted for the purposes herein enumerated, as such
Board of Road Commissioners of Charles county, with power to
name the supervisors of roads for the said county, not to
exceed nine in number, at a salary not to exceed two dollars
per day of actual service, and to have entire control and super-
vision of the work of repairing, constructing or reconstructing
the public roads and bridges of Charles county, to the same
extent that the same is by existing law vested in the County
Commissioners, with the right to employ such help, obtain
such teams and implements, as they may deem necessary for
the work of repairing, constructing and reconstructing such
roads and bridges, to be paid by the treasurer upon the order
of said Road Commissioners to the same extent and in the same
manner as. now provided by law in the case of the County Com-
missioners. The wages paid for laborers on said roads shall be
one dollar and twenty-five cents per day. The said Road Com-
missioners shall, as soon as possible after their term of office
shall begin, appoint some competent person, who shall be a
skilled and experienced civil engineer, who shall hold office for
six years, and be paid a salary not to exceed fifteen hundred
dollars per year. In the appointment of such engineer, the
said Road Commissioners shall be governed by the merits and
qualifications of the appointee, without reference to his politi-
cal opinions. The said engineer shall be liable to be removed
from office for incompetency or wilful, continued or persistent
neglect of duty, upon the sworn complaint of ten or more resi-
dent taxpayers of Charles county, to be filed in writing with
the said Road Commissioners, and every such complaint shall
state specifically the nature and character of the charge pre-
ferred, of which due notice shall be given the said county road
engineer; and if the said Road Commissioners, after hearing
said charges, at which the engineer and the parties making com-