100 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 58

of Hagerstown shall assume no greater liability than that which
said bondholders now have against said Washington County
Water Company, and the right of said bondholders in law and
in equity shall be in nowise altered, enlarged or diminished
by reason of the purchase of the property of the Washington
County Water Company, to which the rights of bondholders
may attach by virtue of any lien given by the Washington
County Water Company to secure the payment of said bonds,
and in case said existing bonded indebtedness upon the plant
of said Company is assumed by the Mayor and Council of
Hagerstown in the purchase of said plant, then and in that
event all the provisions herein contained relating to the pay-
ment of interest on the bonds to be issued under this Act and
the levying of taxes for said interest, and for the redemption
of said bonds shall apply to the bonded indebtedness so as-
sumed as fully as if said assumed bonded indebtedness had
been specifically referred to in each of said provisions.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the Mayor and
Council of Hagerstown, in purchasing the plant of the Wash-
ington County Water Company shall, by virtue of said pur-
chase and at the time of the consummation thereof, assume all
of the outstanding contractual obligations of said Company
heretofore assumed by said Company in the due and regular
course of its business and now binding upon said Company,
but this provision shall have no reference to any present note
indebtedness of said Company, or any current obligation due
at the time of said purchase, all of which indebtedness shall b©
paid by said Company.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That during the inter-
val between the approval of said sale by the stockholders of
the Water Company and the qualified voters of Hagerstown
and the date of the final consummation thereof by the payment
of the purchase money therefor, said plant shall continue to be
operated by the said Washington County Water Company,
with all of its rights and privileges as fully as if said sale had
not been arranged, and if during the period from March 1,
1918, the date as of which the valuation of the Public Service
Commission of Maryland is to be made, to the date of the final
consummation of the sale of said plant, the said Washington
County Water Company, in the operation thereof, • shall be
required to make any necessary capital investment, or invest-
ments, for the extension or improvement of said plant, the