Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-12-25

CATION sought to be created is to lend the
credit of the State in aid Of any person, as
soclatlon or corporation, the subject must
be submitted to Il direct vote of the people
of the State aud approved by majority
! OF those who >ERi! vote thereon, ''ercept to
ana IN the completion Of such Railroads -
as were begun and were unfinished at the
| time of the adoption of the Constitution
or except in aid of Roads in which the
State had direct pecuniary interest at
| the time of the adoption of the Constitu-
! tlOn.
The Chatham Railroad gets by the bill
under consideration what is tantamoun Mt to
dilect State subscription of 81 OOO, OOO
This road was not begun and is conse-
quently not an unfnished" road within
the meaning of the Constitution. The ap-
preparation therefore cannot got validity
on that ground.
OF course the State had no t" direct
pecnniary Interest" in this road at the
time Of the adoption of the Constitution.
SO far from 1t the corporation itself had
no existence at that date
The language of the Constitution is not
"moy hape." but "has' direct pecuni-
airy interest.
The General Assembly, therefore, in my
opinion, has not the power, if so disposed,
to pass the So, 100000 appropriation for
for the Chatham road unless the same is
submitted to vote of the people.
Mr.. Malone asked that the bill be ex-
planned. He thought provision ought to
| be made in reference to the two roads
| mentioned in the first section.
But what does the 4th section mean p
AS understand it the 4th section makes
the State take $2,O0O.OO0 stock. Here is
an extraordinary effort to interpolate new
and stupendous railroad bill under a pre-
tended statement that curative statute is
intended. The act Of the 10th day of Au-
gust, 1868, simply allows the State to ex-
change her bonds for a like number of re-
gistered bonds of the Company, but this
4th section substitutes new law into, and
makes the State astockholder to the amount
Of 81, 900, O00 Is it desirable for the State
to take stock in all these railroads Ger
tainly it should not be done without great
care and reflection. I am confident this
House does not understand this bill.
MIR. Estes took the floor and argued at
some length in favor of the provisions of
the bill.
Mr.. Latin arose in reply to the inquiries
of the gentleman from Caldwell (Mr. Ma
lone) in regard to the operation OF section
4th of the bill, and concluded by calling the
precious question.
The Call was sustained.
Upon the passage of the bill on its Sc
cond reading Mr. Pou called for the yeas
and nays.
The call being sustained. resulted in the
following ballot:
YEAs-Messrs. Ames Ashworth, Barnett, blair,
Gambler, Cherry, colored, Cawthorn. colored
Clay ton, of Iransylvapia Crawford, Da is. Dix
On, Downing, Ellington, Estes. FCrkner, cOIored
oh Ha,o Ha&l; Ln~,1 6,,v,
ter, Harris, of Wake, colored Hayes, col red,
Hicks, hodgn, Hoffman. Humphri g. Hudgings
ingram. Jarvis. Justice of Henderson, Ju tice,
Of rutherford, Kei., of Hoore, Kinney Latl,
ored, Morlng. Norris, colored, Parker, Pesrso +,
Peck, Price, colored, Proctor Renfrow Rob. ins
cotored, Robinson, Reynolds, colored, Short, Sic
Vest, Waldrop, White, Wilkie, Williamson, color,
ed wilson a. Wis all-6s.
NAYs-Messrs. Arlnstr- ng, Barnes, Boddie,
nant. Rodneut, Malone. Mcmillan, NeLdenhall
Pon, Smith, OF Wayne, Sweat, colored, Thomp-
-on, Whitley, Williams, of Harnet and Williams,
OF Sampson.-2l
The Chair announced the next special
order, to wit: The bill to amend the act
entitled an act to establish legal rate of
interest and to repeal chapter No. ia, Re-
vised Code.
On motion OF Jas. H. Harris, of Wake,
SO1o1Cu, hOuSS AAtl ANO AOt Gu0 OoGCe i
protection of dobtors, reported unfavora-
bly, upon by Committed was taken up
He offered a proviso that the act shall not
apply to the coliecti On of bills of cost from
any court Of record in this State, nor to
any penalty on official bonds, and further,
that sheriffs and other collecting officers
shall not be liable on their official bonds
for failure, in obedience to this act, to col
| lect according to laws heretofore in force
only for bills of cost, and fees, and penal
ties. Adopted.
MIR. Seymour opposed the bill and pro
ceeded to show various objections to it.
Mr.. Bowman moved to insert the wore
g constitutional before the word "laws'
IN the 7th line, and the amendment wa
accepted.
Pending further discussion of the matte
the House adjourned until tomorrow, II
o'clock.