692                               Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 337

place or places of payment of principal or interest, which may be at
any bank or trust company within or without the State. The County
Commissioners is hereby empowered to provide that the County seal
to be affixed to said bonds may be imprinted thereon in facsimile,
and that all signatures 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 official 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 such 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 determine, 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 reconver-
sion 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
AND AT SUCH INTEREST RATE OR RATES, as it may
determine to be for the best interests 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
six per centum (6%) per annum, computed with relation to the abso-
lute maturity of the bonds in accordance with standard 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 (1971 Replacement Volume)
as said sections may be amended from time to time. All action which
the County Commissioners of Cecil 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
hereof 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 corpo-
ration 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 Treas-