T. WATKINS LIGON, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR

105

years or to manmit and set free, as they shall deem
most expedient any or all of the negro slaves now
belonging to said county.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That in case the said
Commissioners shall make sale of any or all of said
negro slaves, they shall place the proceeds of such sale
or sales to the credit of said county, to be applied to
defraying the annual expenses of said county.

Proceeds ap-
plied.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That this act shall
take effect from the date of its passage.

CHAPTER 92.

In force.

AN ACT amendatory of the act entitled, "An Act
to incorporate the Metropolitan Railroad Com-
pany," passed January session, eighteen hundred
and fifty-three.

Passed Mar
6, 1866.

SECTION. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland, That it shall not be necessary to com-
plete the railroad authorised to be constructed by the
act to which this is amendatory, to Hagerstown, as
provided in the thirteenth section of said act, before
any dividends of the net profits arising from the bu-
siness of said company shall be declared, and distri-
bution thereof made amongst the stockholders; but
that if in the progress of the construction of said
railroad to the aforesaid point of completion, the
President and Directors of the said company shall
think proper to equip for service any completed part
thereof, they are hereby authorised to do so, and to
distribute the net earnings or profits (or so much
thereof as they may think proper to distribute) arising
from the transportation and business done upon such
completed part, amongst the stockholders in divi-
dends to be declared annually or semi-annually at
their discretion, and that no part of the aforesaid net
earnings or profits shall be applied to the construc-
tion of the further or other portions of the contem-
plated railroad aforesaid, unless the President and
Directors shall deem it best for the interests of the

President and
Directors au-
thorised.