legal holiday, within thirty days after the date of ordering such election, of which twenty days prior notice shall be given by the board of trustees, by written notice duly posted at three public places within said district, one of which shall be at the post-office in said town of Jacksonville, and also by publication one week in a newspaper published in said district, at which election all qualified property tax-paying voters of the district may vote for or against the proposed tax and bond issue, to determine whether or not the levy of the proposed tax, at the rate ascertained as above directed, shall be made; and those in favor of the levying of such tax, or the issuance of such bonds, shall write or print upon their ballots, "For School Tax," and those against the levying of such tax, or the issuance of such bonds, shall write or print on their ballots, "Against School Tax;" and due returns thereof shall be made to said trustees within ten days, and the result thereof shall be recorded by the said trustees in a well bound book, to be kept for that purpose. The vote of two-thirds of the qualified property tax-paying voters voting at the election being cast in favor of the tax, shall authorize the levy to be then immediately made by order of the board, and said board of trustees shall so order it.

SEC. 20. After the levy of a sufficient annual tax to provide for the re-payment of the same, with interest according to contract, and to pay the probable cost of collection and disbursement of the taxes, and the cost, if any, of negotiation of bonds, the board of trustees of the Jacksonville Independent School District, of Cherokee County, State of Texas, shall be authorized to contract for the loan of the principal sum or sums of money required and ascertained as hereinbefore directed, and to deliver to the lender thereof the obligations of the board of trustees of said independent school district, and their successors in office, in the form of negotiable bonds, as herein provided, bearing interest at the rate of not more than five per cent per annum, payable annually as it accrues, at the place named in said bonds.

SEC. 21. That the denomination of said bonds shall not be less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, as may be determined by the board of trustees.

SEC. 22. When a sufficient sum of money available for the purposes, as herein provided, arising from the sale of said bonds as herein provided, the board of trustees shall proceed forthwith to purchase therewith such building sites, and erect thereon, furnish and equip all such needed school buildings within said district as the accumulated funds thus obtained will be sufficient to pay for; and the board of trustees may adopt such methods in the premises as it may deem best calculated to secure the best value for the money to be invested, for the purposes aforesaid.

SEC. 23. The board of, trustees of said independent school district shall have power and are hereby authorized to levy and collect an annual ad valorem tax not in excess of twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property within said district, for the purpose of paying the annual current expenses of the maintenance and support of the public schools within said district; provided, that no such tax shall be levied until an election shall have

been held within said district for the purpose of determining said question, whereat two-thirds of the qualified voters and property taxpayers in said district, voting at such election, shall have voted in. favor of the levying of said tax. The rate and amount of tax necessary to be levied for such purpose shall be ascertained and determined by the board of trustees, and when so ascertained and determined, the board shall order the election, as herein provided, to be held in the same manner as provided for the election in Section 19 of this Act. But no such tax shall be levied in said district for such purpose for the year 1905.

SEC. 24. All taxes assessed and levied under this Act shall be due and payable on or before the first day of February of each year next after the date of such assessment and levy.

SEC. 25. To facilitate the prompt collection of the taxes, and to effectually avail itself of the lien therefor upon any property delinquent, the board of trustees may, in its discretion, waive the regular proceedings prescribed by general law for the enforced collection of taxes, and adopt the extraordinary remedy of a direct suit therefor against the owner or owners of the property delinquent and for the foreclosure of the lien, in the form of suit for debt and foreclosure, according to the statutory form and rules of procedure in such cases, obtaining service upon the defendant or defendants in such suit in manner as now provided by general law. Such suit or suits shall be instituted and prosecuted in the name of the Jacksonville Independent School District as plaintiff.

SEC. 26. The available school funds that have heretofore or that may be hereafter apportioned to the schools within the territory now embraced within said independent district shall be paid immediately upon the passage of this Act, and the organization of said board of trustees, to the treasurer of said board.

SEC. 27. The amount arising from the levy heretofore made under general law of the twenty cents ad valorem tax on the one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property within said independent district on hand, or that may be hereafter collected for the years 1904 and 1905, shall be paid to the treasurer of said board when organized as herein provided, for the use and benefit of the public schools within said independent school district; and it shall be the duty of the tax collector of Cherokee county, Texas, to collect said tax levied for the year 1905, in the same manner as heretofore required to do by general law, and to pay the same to the treasurer of said board of trustees, and the said board of trustees shall have power and are hereby authorized to proceed by suit, as hereinbefore provided, to collect such tax as may be delinquent for said years 1904 and 1905.

SEC. 28. One election may be held in each year to determine whether or not a special tax, as herein provided, for bonded indebtedness, shall be levied, notwithstanding an election held in the preceding year may have resulted contrary to the proposed tax.

SEC. 29. The absolute title to all property within the Jacksonville Independent School District, as hereby established, of right belonging to the use of the public free schools, from whatever source deraigned, or in whomsoever the recorded or unrecorded title thereof may be

vested, shall, upon the passage of this Act, vest in the board of trustees of said district and their successors in office.

SEC. 30. All laws heretofore enacted or hereafter to be enacted affecting independent school districts, formed by the incorporation of towns and villages for free school purposes only, shall apply to the Jacksonville Independent School District, in the same manner and to the same effect as though said district had been incorporated under the general laws.

SEC. 31. The deplorable condition of the public free schools within the territory comprising said independent school district, being now without adequate public school buildings, and wholly insufficient equipment, and without funds to provide for the same, creates an emergency; and an imperative public necessity exists, authorizing the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring that bills be read on three several days, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage; and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 94, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 22, nays 0.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas. for his approval on the 13th day of April, A. D. 1905, but was not signed by him nor returned to the house in which it originated with his objections thereto, within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and thereupon became a law without his signature.-O. K. SHANNON, Secretary of State.]

Became a law April 25, 1905.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS-PROVIDING FOR SUBDIVIDING COUNTIES INTO.

An Act to amend "An Act to amend 'An Act to amend Article 3938, Chapter 10, Title LXXXVI, of the. Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas of 1895, relating to school districts,' approved June 6th, 1899."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Chapter 183 of the Acts of the Twenty-sixth Legislature be so amended as to hereafter read as follows:

Art. 3938. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners court of all organized counties, not already subdivided, to subdivide their respective counties into convenient school districts by the first day of June, 1905, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and the counties hereafter organized shall be subdivided before the beginning of the next ensuing school year (provided that nothing in this Article shall be construed to effect counties that have been placed under the community system). Said courts shall designate said school districts by numbers; provided, that when districts are once established they shall not be changed without the consent of a majority of the legal voters in all districts affected by such change; and provided, further, that when any

patron or patrons of any school in any school district desire to be transferred to any adjoining district, they shall make application to the commissioners court of their county for a change in the district line, and if it shall appear to the said court upon full and complete evidence, that the desired change in the district line will divide the distance more equally between the two schools affected by the change, and that the patrons so petitioning live nearer by the most practical road to the school to which they desire to be attached than from the one from which they seek to be released, or if it shall appear to the said court that there is an uncontrollable and dangerous obstacle between the house of said petitioning patron and the school to which they have heretofore been attached, and that the school to which they desire to be attached is more accessible than the former, the said commissioners court may change the district line as requested, but said change shall be by unanimous consent of all the commissioners elected, and by the consent of the majority of the trustees. The commissioners court shall also have power to correct all errors in school district lines, and to complete said lines when they are defective. But two or more adjacent school districts may, by a majority of the qualified voters of each district, and with the approval of the county superintendent, be consolidated, and in such case the county superintendent shall designate such consolidated district by suitable number. The commissioners court of any organized county to which an unorganized county is attached for judicial purposes may, and upon the written petition of not less than ten resident citizens of such unorganized county, shall create such unorganized county into one or more school districts, and shall cause an order to that effect to be entered upon the minutes of said court.

SEC. 2. The fact that there is now no law by which school districts which are once established may be changed, and the great necessity for such a law, and the near approach of the close of the session, creates an imperative public necessity and an emergency that the rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and it is so suspended; and it is enacted that this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives, no vote given; it was referred to the Senate, where it was amended and passed, no vote given; the House of Repre sentatives concurred in the Senate amendments, no vote given.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 13th day of April, A. D. 1905, but was not signed by him nor returned to the house in which it originated with his objections thereto, within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and thereupon became a law without his signature.-O. K. SHANNON, Secretary of State.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

HIDE AND ANIMAL INSPECTOR-AUTHORIZING APPOINTMENT OF, FOR DEAF SMITH COUNTY.

An Act to require the Governor of Texas to appoint an Inspector of Hides and Animals for the county of Deaf Smith and place said county under the provisions of Articles 5002 to 5042 inclusive, Revised Statutes of 1895, and to declare an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That the Governor of Texas shall immediately appoint an Inspector of Hides and Animals for the County of Deaf Smith who shall hold his office for two years and until the appointment and qualification of his successor. That the said county, Deaf Smith, shall be subject to all the provisions of Articles 5002 to 5042, inclusive, Revised Statutes of Texas of 1895, except that the Inspector shall not be elected in said county.

SECTION 2. The near approach of adjournment of this Legislature and the crowded condition of the calendar creates an emergency and imperative public necessity that the Constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that this Act become a law from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 23, nays 0; and passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 106, nays 0.]

Approved April 15, 1905.

Became a law April 15, 1905.

FISH AND OYSTER COMMISSIONER-RELATING TO.

S. B. No. 119.]

CHAPTER 90.

An Act to amend Articles 2513, 2515, 2518d, 2518e, of Chapter IV, Title 48 of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1895; Articles 2516 and 2518h, Chapter CLXXV of the General Laws of 1899, passed by the 26th Legislature, Articles 2514, 2518, c, and 2518k, Chapter CXXII, of the General Laws of 1903, passed by the 28th Legislature, and Article 529g, Chapter CXXX of the General Laws of 1901 passed by the 27th Legislature, and adding Article 529x and repealing all laws in conflict therewith relating to the Fish and Oyster Commissioner of the State of Texas, his duties, etc., and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That Articles 2513, 2515, 2518d, and 2518e of Chapter IV, title 48 of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1895, Articles 2516 and 2518h, Chapter CLXXV of the General Laws of 1899, passed by the 26th Legislature, Articles 2514, 2518c and 2518k Chapter CXXII of the General Laws of 1903, passed by the 28th Legislature and Article 529g, Chapter CXXX of the General Laws of 1901, passed by the 27th Legislature be so amended as to hereafter read as follows:

Article 2513. All of the public rivers, bayous, lagoons, lakes, bays and inlets in this State, and all that part of the Gulf of Mexico within the jurisdiction of this State, together with their beds and bottoms, and