III. In the year 1885, and annually thereafter until all the bonds issued under and by authority of this act are paid, there shall be levied and collected the same as, and together with other taxes, a tax of two cents on the hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of all the property, personal, real and mixed, in the State, which shall be paid into the treasury of the State to the credit of the Sinking Fund. The Treasurer, the Auditor of Public Accounts and Second Auditor are hereby appointed Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and shall have (a majority acting) the control and management thereof, and shall annually, or oftener, apply whatever sum or sums may be to the credit of the Sinking Fund to the purchase and redemption of Bonds issued under this Act.

All the certificates of debt which shall be funded, redeemed, or purchased under this Act shall be cancelled by the Second Auditor, and delivered by him to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, at the time of payment therefor, who shall carefully preserve the same in his office. All certificates of debt acquired under the operation of the Sinking Fund, created by the Act of March 30th, 1871, shall also be so cancelled and delivered.

IV. The rules prescribed under the Act approved March 30th, 1871, în respect to preparing, signing and issuing the new Bonds and coupons, regulating the same, and in taking in, cancelling and registering the old Bonds, shall be observed by the officers of the Treasury in the execution of this Act, except so far as the same be modified by the provisions of this Act, provided that all Bonds and certificates which may be necessary to be printed shall be printed from a plate which shall be the property of the Commonwealth, and shall remain in the keeping or under the control of the Second Auditor; and provided further, that the whole amount of Bonds, so printed, or in any manner prepared, shall in no case exceed the amount of $33,538,969 with accrued interest added capitalized, from the 30th day of September, 1877.

V. The owners of all classes of Bonds mentioned in this Act, who shall exchange their securities for the Bonds created under this Act, and who shall not have yet received certificates representing the remaining onethird of their principal and interest due and payable by the State of West Virginia, shall receive certificates of a like character to those issued under the Act of March 30th, 1871, when they make such exchange; and the State of Virginia will negotiate or aid the creditors holding all of such certificates issued under this Act, or previous Acts, in negotiating with the State of West Virginia for an amicable settlement of the claims of such creditors against the State of West Virginia.

VI. The Governor is hereby authorized to arrange with such representatives of the general body of creditors as he may consider most suitable for the purpose, as to all the details of the terms and proportions in which the certificates of indebtedness mentioned in this Act, may be funded, and as to the expenses attending such operation, providing that the aggregate of tho principal and interest so arranged to be funded shall not exceed the amount hereinbefore recited.

VII. Executors, administrators, or others, acting in a fiduciary capacity, may make the exchange of Bonds herein authorized, and the same shall be deemed a lawful investment.

VIII. The treasurer shall, upon the first days of January and July, 1880, and upon the same days in each year thereafter, pay, or cause to be paid, to the holders thereof the half-yearly interest then due upon each of the Bonds of the Commonwealth, authorized to be issued under this Act.

IX. The Act approved March 14th, 1878, is hereby repealed.

We have duly received your Excellency's proclamation of April 6th, communicating the act of the General Assembly of Virginia, approved March 14th, 1878, providing for an exchange of the principal of the recognized debt of the Commonwealth into a bond bearing three per cent. interest for eighteen years, and four per cent, for thirty-two years, until paid, with a new interest bearing certificate for the amount of accrued and unpaid interest up to July 1st, 1878, to be, redeemable at the pleasure of the General Assembly.

We have taken pains to consult the owners of the obligations of the Commonwealth, both in Europe and America, in regard to the plan embodied in the act, and find a very unanimous sentiment that the terms proposed, are not such as the creditors had reason to expect in view of the resources and character of the State, or as they would feel justified to accept by making the exchange proposed.

At the same time the bond-holders are very desirous to consider the circumstances in which the Commonwealth stands, and to co-operate as far as a reasonable and just consideration of their own right and position will allow in arriving at such a settlement as would afford a common ground on which they could meet. And if the Commonwealth were to offer to the holders of the consolidated bonds a new bond having thirty or forty years to run, the arrears of interest being added to the principal, bearing four per cent. interest, and to the holders of all the other classes of bonds a similar bond bearing interest at three-and-a-half per cent.-both bonds and their coupons being payable in gold, and the coupons to be received for taxes or other dues to the State, and provided with a suitable sinking fund for their redemption, we have strong reason to believe that such a proposal would be accepted by a very large majority, if not the whole of the holders of Virginia securities.

We remain with sentiments of high consideration,

Your Excellency's obedient servants,

BARING BROTHERS & CO.,

by S. G. & G. C. WARD, Attorneys. AUGUST BELMONT,

and on behalf of the Messrs. DE ROTHSCHILD of London and Paris.

BROWN BROTHERS & CO.

RICHARD IRVIN & CO.
CHARLES M. FRY,

(Pres. of Bank of New York.)

On motion of Mr. PоPHAM, the message was laid on the table, and the usual number ordered to be printed.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication from the clerk of the House of Delegates transmitting an abstract of the reports made to him by clerks of courts. Doc. No. 1.

Mr. HINER offered the following joint resolution: Whereas grave doubts exist in the minds of many of the members of the general assembly, as well as in the minds of their constituents, embracing some of the best legal talent of the state, as to the constitutionality of a session of this body this winter, under the order of last session, and certainly still greater doubts exist as to the propriety, right or importance of Governor Holliday calling an extra session; and whereas long, tedious and expensive litigation might arise out of any legislation enacted at such session, founded upon the want of power of this body or the executive to so assemble under the present constitution; therefore, be it

Resolved, by the House of Delegates (the Senate concurring), That the adjournment of this body, on to-morrow, shall be sine die. The question being on agreeing to the joint resolution—

Mr. HINER demanded the yeas and nays, which was not sustained. The joint resolution was rejected.

The SPEAKER appointed John Meanley, W. D. Southall, II. J. Cabell, Claude Craige, Harvey Simpson, Jr., and James C. Shervin pages to the House of Delegates.

The following were presented and referred, under rule 37:

By Mr. WILKINSON: Petition of the citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania county, praying for charter to incorporate a company to build a new bridge across Dan river. Referred to the committee on

counties, cities and towns.

By. Mr. HARRISON of Sussex: Joint resolution proposing amendments to the constitution of Virginia. Referred to the committee for courts of justice.

By Mr. GRAY: A bill to amend section 21, chapter 206 of the Code of 1873, concerning the employment of convict labor upon the public grounds of the city of Richmond. Referred to committee on asylums and prisons.

By Mr. WALLACE: A bill for the relief of the tax-payers of the County of Orange. Referred to the committee on finance.

By Mr. HARRISON of Sussex: A bill imposing taxes on real and personal property, to meet the necessary expenses of the government, for public free school purposes, and to pay the interest on the public debt. Referred to the committee on finance.

By Mr. HARRISON of Susser: A bill to amend and re-enact section 59 of an act entitled an act prescribing general provisions in relation to commissioners of the revenue and the assessment of taxes on persons, property, incomes, licenses, &c., approved March 16th, 1874. Referred to the committee on finance.

By Mr. KYLE:

Resolved, That the committee on rules enquire as to the propriety of reducing the number of pages.

By Mr. ROBINSON of Norfolk City: A bill imposing a tax and prescribing regulations for collecting the same on the privilege of selling wine, ardent spirits, or malt liquors within the limits of the common

wealth, for the support of the government, and to pay the interest on the public debt. Referred to the committee on finance.

On motion of Mr. POPHAM, the House adjourned until to-morrow at 12 o'clock M.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1878.

Prayer by Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge of the Presbyterian church.
The Journal was read by the clerk.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a communication from James E. Goode, preferring charges against Richard E. Frayser, superintendent of public printing. The communication and specifications are as follows:

I submit the enclosed paper for the information of the general assembly. A list of the witnesses by whom the charges, &c., will be substantiated has been placed in the hands of Judge John T. Lovell, chairman House committee on printing.

Very respectfully,

JAMES E. GOODE.

To the General Assembly of Virginia:

The following charge and specifications, concerning Richard E. Frayser, the incumbent of the office of superintendent of public printing of the state, are respectfully submitted to the general assembly:

CHARGE.

Incompetency, and utter disregard of truth in taking the clause of the oath relative to his practical knowledge of the printing business, as prescribed by chapter 19, section 3, page 212, Code of 1873; also, falsifying the records, by garbling and otherwise, so as to present a more favorable showing for himself in his report to the general assembly.

SPECIFICATIONS.

I. That he was utterly ignorant of the printing business when he took said oath; that he had never occupied any position that would have enabled him to be conversant with said business; and that, although warned by the secretary of the commonwealth at the time the oath was administered by him, he recklessly and wilfully took it, thereby committing moral, if not legal perjury, in swearing to possess a knowledge that he did not.

II. That when he took said oath, he was not competent to give any instruction as to the mechanical execution of the work; that he could not, without instruction, measure and ascertain the correctness of the accounts for printing to him presented for certification; that he employed as porter, a printer, (who was carrying on the business of printing for himself, and who continued to do so after he became such