constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and the same is hereby suspended, and that this act take effect from and after its passage and it is so enacted.

[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 by a two-thirds vote, yeas 25, navs 0; the House of Representatives concurred in the Senate amendments, no vote given.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 15th 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.

STENOGRAPHERS-REPORT OF, MADE STATEMENT OF FACTS OF ORAL EVIDENCE.

An Act to provide for the appointment of a competent stenographer to report cases, and to make the report of such stenographer, when filed and approved, the statement of facts of the oral evidence in the case; and to provide for the compensation of such stenographer.

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

SECTION 1. For the purpose of preserving the record in all cases for the information of the court, jury and parties, the judges of the, district courts in all the judicial districts of this State, composed of only one county, or of only a portion of one county, and all other district courts sitting in the same counties therewith, shall appoint an official stenographer for such court, who shall be well skilled in stenography, and who shall be a sworn officer of the court, and shall hold his office during the pleasure of the court.

SEC. 2. Before any person can be appointed in the first instance an official stenographer of any court contemplated by this Act, he shall be examined as to his competency by a committee of at least three members of the bar practicing in said court, such committee to be appointed by the judge thereof. The test of competency shall be as follows: The applicant shall write, in the presence of such committee, at the rate of at least one hundred and twenty words per minute for five consecutive minutes, from questions and answers not previously written by him, and transcribe the same with accuracy. If the applicant pass this test satisfactorily, a majority of the committee shall furnish him with a certificate of the fact, which shall be filed in the records of the court. Upon the occasion of subsequent appointments, the presentation of certified transcript froin the clerk of the court of the certificate above mentioned shall be taken as prima facie evidence of the stenographer's competency.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the official stenographer to attend all sessions of the court, to take full stenographic notes of the oral evidence offered in every case tried in said court, together with all objec

tions to the admissibility of testimony, the rulings of the court thereon, and all exceptions taken to such rulings; to preserve all official notes taken in said court for future use or reference, and to furnish either party to the suit a transcript of all of said evidence or other proceedings, upon. the payment to him of the compensation hereinafter provided.

SEC. 4. When such transcript is made at the request of either party to the suit, said stenographer shall file a duplicate copy thereof among the papers of the case, and it shall be made the duty of the court, if the transcript be found to be correct, to approve the same; provided, however, before approving the same it shall be submitted to the interested parties for any objections thereto, and such objections, if found to be material and well founded, shall be allowed. If said transcript is thus approved and signed by the judge, the same shall be filed among the papers of said cause, and become a record therein, but not to be recorded.

SEC. 5. In case an appeal is taken from the judgment rendered in said case, said original stenographer's transcript shall be sent up as the record of said cause as the report of the testimony therein, the cost of such transcript paid by either party to be taxed against the party losing on such appeal; and no other record of said testimony shall be sent up on appeal; provided, any original documentary evidence, sketches, maps, plats or other matters introduced in evidence, and if embraced in the stenographer's report, may be made a part of the record of said cause by written direction of the court, which may be sent up in the original form if requested by either party to the suit, or transcribed by the clerk with other parts of the record therein; provided, that in any case where such stenographic transcript is not made, this Act shall not apply. Provided, that in criminal cases where the defendant is convicted of a felony, and desires to appeal, upon a satisfactory showing to the court that he is unable to pay for the stenographer's transcript, that the judge of the court in which said defendant is convicted shall order the official stenographer to make the same for the defendant, in which event the same shall be paid for at the rate provided for in this Act, and in the same manner as the transcript of the clerk of the court is paid for.

SEC. 6. After the final disposition of said cause on appeal, the stenographer's report, together with all other original evidence, if any, shall be returned to the clerk of the district court from whence appeal was taken.

SEC. 7. All objections to the admissibility of testimony, if any, shown by said stenographic report and the ruling of the court thereon, shall be regarded and considered as though they were separate bills of exception; provided, however, nothing therein shall be so construed as prohibiting parties from filing separate bills of exception as the law now provides, in case such parties elect to do so, and when done shall be prepared and filed as in other cases provided by law.

SEC. 8. The official stenographer shall receive as per diem compensation the sum of five dollars for each and every day he shall be in attendance upon the court for which he is appointed, to be paid monthly out of the general fund of the county in which said court sits, upon the certificate of the judge thereof, by the commissioners court of said

county. He shall also receive from the person or persons obtaining transcripts of his notes the sum of fifteen cents per folio of one hundred words for each transcript furnished.

SEC. 9. Hereafter the clerks of all the courts having appointed official stenographers, as provided for in this act, shall tax as costs in each civil case now or hereafter pending in such courts, except suits for the collection of delinquent taxes, and except suits which are not contested, in which cases the imposition of the stenographer's fee herein provided for shall be within the discretion of the trial court, a stenographer's fee of three dollars, which shall be paid as are other costs in the case, and which shall be paid by said clerk, when collected, into the general fund of the county in which said court sits, except cases in which the district court has not original jurisdiction.

SEC. 10. The official stenographer may, with the consent of the court, appoint one or more deputies, when necessary, to assist him in the discharge of his duties.

SEC. 11. It shall be the duty of each official stenographer to file with the district clerk of the county for which said stenographer is appointed annually upon the first day of January after his appointment, an itemized statement, verified by his affidavit, of all sums collected by him as per diem or other compensation during the preceding year, giving the name of the person paying each sum and the date of the payment of the same.

SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the county treasurer of all counties in which the district courts having official stenographers shall sit to file with the clerk of such court annually on the first day of January an itemized statement of all sums received by him from such clerk during the preceding year as stenographer's fees by such clerk.

SEC. 13. In all other judicial districts the district judge thereof may appoint an official stenographer, if in his judgment such appointment is necessary, and in the event of such appointment, the terms of this Act shall apply, and thereafter in every civil case filed in the district court of said judicial district there shall be taxed and collected the stenographer's fee as provided for in Section 9 of this Act, and the stenographer so appointed shall receive the compensation hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 14. The fact that the present law relating to the appointment of official stenographers has caused and is causing confusion, and needs amending, constitutes an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution, and this Act shall take effect on and after its final pas sage and approval.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives by the following vote, yeas 73, nays 17; and passed the Senate by the following vote, yeas 21, nays, 4.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 15th day of April, A. D. 1905, but was not signed by him nor returned to the house in which 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.

FISH AND SQUIRRELS-PROTECTION OF SAME.

H. B. No. 599.]

CHAPTER 113.

An Act to protect fresh water fish and squirrels from being killed, or caught to be sold in this State or out of this State, and exempting certain counties, and creating an emergency.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: It shall be and is unlawful for any person to take in any way any fresh water fish for sale or barter for money or anything of value whatsoever; provided, that any one person shall be allowed to sell as much as fifty pounds of fish in one week, and no more than fifty pounds of fish in any one week of seven days; provided, the counties of Wharton and Nueces shall be exempt from the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. It shall be and is unlawful for any person to kill more than ten squirrels in any one day of twenty-four hours and it is not lawful for any person to sell more than five squirrels in any one week of seven days.

SEC. 3.. If any person shall violate any provision of this act, said person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars with confinement in the county jail not less than one day nor more than ten days. Provided the provisions of this bill shall not apply to any courts situated in the 9th and 12th and 31st and 5th and 18th and 21st and 17th and 10th and 2nd and 24th and 15th and 14th Senatorial districts of Texas.

SEC. 4. The near approach of the end of the session, and the nccessity of passing a law preserving the fish and squirrels, create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule. requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and that this Act take effect from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

[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 Representatives concurred in the Senate amendments, no vote given.]

[NOTE. The foregoing act was presented to the Governor of Texas for his approval on the 15th day of April, A. D. 1995, 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.

SHEEP-PROVIDING FOR ERADICATION OF SCAB.

H. B. No. 347.]

CHAPTER 114.

An Act to effectually eradicate scab, to protect the property rights of sheep men of Texas, and making it a misdemeanor to violate the provisions of this act, and prescribing the penalties for such violation.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful to import into this State or to move from one county to another, or to

move from their accustomed range onto lands owned or leased by any person, without permission of such person, any flock of sheep in which one or more of such animals are infected with scab, and any person moving from one county into an adjoining county with sheep, shall, before crossing the boundary line of said adjoining county, notify the county judge of said county wherein he proposes to enter or cross, and the said county judge shall appoint two competent persons well versed in the knowledge of the scab disease to examine said flock or flocks, and if the same shall be found free of scab or other infectious disease, then said sheep shall be allowed to proceed through said county, and the county judge shall receive the sum of two dollars and fifty cents for his services, and the said persons so appointed by him shall receive the sum of two dollars per day for their services. Said money to be paid by the party owning said sheep. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum of not less than fifty dollars and not more than one hundred dollars for each such offense. Provided, that this act shall not apply to any person en route from his ranch for the purpose of delivery of his sheep at a railroad shipping point or any point designated by the buyer thereof; provided, that said party can show a written contract signed by himself and the party to whom he has sold said sheep specifying the place of delivery; said contract being witnessed by two reputable and creditable persons, citizens of the county in which said sheep were sold; provided, that the person desiring to import into this State or to move from one county to another any flock of sheep, shall not be required to have said sheep examined except in the first county through which he proposes to pass with said sheep, and he shall indicate to the persons making the examination the destination of said sheep, and the county judge of said county making the examination shall issue to the owner or persons in charge of said sheep, a certificate, showing said sheep to be free from scab and other infectious diseases, which certificates shall be good for one continuous journey of not exceeding thirty days.

SEC. 2. Any person who shall move sheep infected with scab along a public road in this State shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty hundred nor more than one hundred dollars.

SEC. 3. Any person who shall refuse to permit his sheep to be examined for scab or other infectious diseases, or to place the sheep in pen for such purpose, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

SEC. 4. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act be and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. The fact that there is now no adequate law upon this subject, and the further fact that scab disease is spread throughout the ranges of Texas promiscuously by sheep-drifters from New Mexico, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity requiring the suspension of the constitutional rule that requires bills to be read on three several days, and said rule is hereby suspended, and 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