556                              Laws of Maryland                       [Ch. 414

hereby empowered to provide that the county seal to be affixed to
said bonds may be imprinted thereon in facsimile, and that all signa-
tures and counter-signatures on said bonds and the coupons attached
thereto may likewise be in facsimile except that at least one of said
signatures on each bond shall be manually affixed. In case any of-
ficial whose signature or facsimile of whose signature shall appear
on any such bonds or coupons shall cease to be such official before
the delivery of such bonds, or shall become such an official between
the date of issue and date of delivery thereof, such signature or
facsimile will nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the
same as if he had remained in office until such delivery or had taken
office prior to said date of issue. The bonds may be issued in coupon
or in registered form, or both, as the county commissioners may de-
termine, and provisions may be made for the registration of any
coupon bonds as to principal alone and also as to both principal and
interest, and for the reconversion into coupon bonds any bonds
registered as to both principal and interest, and for the interchange
of registered and coupon bonds. The county commissioners may sell
any such bonds in such manner either at public or private sale, and
for such price or prices, as it may determine to be for the best inter-
ests of the county, but no such sale shall be made at a price so low
as to require the payment of interest on the money received therefor
at more than five per centum (5%) per annum, computed with rela-
tion to the absolute maturity of the bonds in accordance with stand-
ard tables of bond values, excluding, however, from such computation
the amount of any premium to be paid on redemption of any bonds
prior to maturity. In the event the county shall sell or offer for sale
at public sale any of the bonds hereby authorized, such sale shall be
conducted in the manner prescribed by Sections 10 and 11 of Article
31 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition), as said sec-
tions may be amended from time to time. All action which the county
commissioners of St. Mary's County is authorized by this section to
take in the issue and sale of the bonds hereby authorized, shall be
taken by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners, adopted
in accordance with the established practices of the county.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all bonds issued pursuant
to the authority of this act shall, notwithstanding the provisions here-
of or of said bonds, be deemed to be negotiable instruments, and shall
have and possess all the attributes of negotiable instruments, under
the laws of this state. All bonds issued pursuant to the authority of
this act, their transfer and the income therefrom, shall at all times
be free from taxation by the State of Maryland or by any of its
political subdivisions or by any town or municipal corporation or by
any other public agency of the State of Maryland.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That from the actual proceeds
of sale of any issue of said bonds there shall first be paid the cost
of preparing the same, and all other outlays and expenses incurred
by the county commissioners in connection with the issue of said
bonds. In addition there shall be deducted from said proceeds all
amounts received on account of accrued interest which shall be set
apart by the county treasurer for application on account of the first
maturing interest liability on said bonds, and in addition said county
treasurer shall set apart any premium received on the sale of any
issue of said bonds which shall be used for the purpose of paying the
principal thereof at maturity or on prior redemption. The entire