on their ballots, "Against the tax," and due returns 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 repayment of the same, with interest, according to the contract, and to pay the probable costs of collection and disbursement of the taxes, and the cost, if any, of negotiation of bonds, the board of trustees of the Gause Independent School District of Milam 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 tax payers 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 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 for the foreclosure of the lien, in the form of a 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 the manner as now provided by general law. Such suit or suits shall be instituted and prosecuted in the name of the Gause 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 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 Milam 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 the 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 a 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 Gause 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 Gause 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 98, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 24, nays 0.]

Approved April 17, 1905.

Became a law April 17, 1905.

MIDLOTHIAN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT-INCORPORATION OF.

H. B. No. 592.]

CHAPTER 144.

An Act to authorize, enable and permit the territory situated within the bounds of the city of Midlothian, in the county of Ellis, and State of Texas, and other lands and territory adjacent thereto, to incorporate as an independent school district for free school purposes only, to be known as the "Midlothian Independent School District," with all the powers, rights and duties of independent school districts formed by incorporation of towns and villages for free school purposes only.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That the territory situated within the bounds of the city of Midlothian, county of Ellis, and State of Texas, incorporated for municipal purposes under the general laws of this State, as a city of one thousand inhabitants and over, and other lands and territory adjacent thereto, as herein after described and bounded, is hereby authorized, enabled and permitted to incorporate as an independent school district, for public free school purposes only, under the name of the "Midlothian Independent School District," in the manner in this Act provided.

SEC. 2. The territory hereby created into said independent school district is hereby described and bounded as follows:

Beginning at the S. W. corner of the N. Phillips, Jr. survey; thence E. with S. line of same to the S. E. corner of same; thence N. with E. line of same to the N. E. corner of same; thence E. with the S. line of the W. W. Rawls survey to the W. boundary line of the M. T. Hawkins survey; thence S. W. line of same to its S. W. corner; thence E. with S. line of Hawkins survey to its S. E. corner; thence N. with E. boundary of same to an offset in said survey; thence E. with S. line of same to its S. E. corner; thence N. with E. line of same to S. W. corner of J. C. Hawkins survey; thence E. with S. boundary line of same to S. E. corner of same; thence N. with E. boundary of same to an offset of said survey; thence E. with S. line of same to W. boundary of W. D. Witherspoon survey; thence N. with W. line of said W. D. Witherspoon survey, to B. G. Garvin's S. W. corner; thence E. with S. line of Garvin survey to S. E. corner of same; thence N. with E. boundary line of same to S. E. corner of B. Monroe survey; thence N. with E. boundary line of same to a point due W. of F. E. Witherspoon's S. W. corner; thence E. on S. boundary line of F. E. Witherspoon to its S. E. corner; thence N. on E. line of same to its N. E. corner; thence W. with its N. line to N. W. corner of same; thence N. with W. line of G. Kirk and E. line of J. E. Vinson surveys to the N. E. corner of the J. E. Vinson survey; thence W. with N. line of same to the S. E. corner of J. E. Kelley survey; thence with E. boundary line of Kelley survey

to the N. E. corner of same; thence W. with N. line of Kelley, Hinkley and W. S. Garvin to said Garvin N. W. corner; thence S. with W. line. of Garvin and Littlepage surveys to S. W. corner of Littlepage; thence with E. line of John Chaublee to N. E. corner of J. T. Rawls survey; thence W. with N. line of same to N. W. corner of same; thence W. with N. line of Wm. W. Rawls survey to N. W. corner of same; thence S. with W. line of same to S. W. corner of same; thence W. on N. line of L. Newton survey to N. W. corner of same; thence S. with S. line of same to S. W. corner of same; thence S. with W. line of E. H. Belcher survey to S. W. corner of same; thence E. with S. line of same to S. E. corner of same; thence S. with W. line of J. W. Brack survey to S. W. corner of same; thence E. with S. line of same to the S. E. corner of same; thence S. with the W. line of the E. H. Belcher survey to S. W. corner of same; thence S. with S. line of same to place of beginning.

SEC. 3. The county judge of said county of Ellis, within ten days after receiving the written application of not less than one hundred of the qualified electors of said territory hereinbefore described, shall make an order for holding an election on a day therein named, and at a place therein designated, within said territory, for the purpose of submitting to a vote of the qualified electors of said above described territory, the question of incorporating as an independent school district, under the name of the "Midlothian Independent School District" under the authority and provisions of this Act.

SEC. 4. The said county judge shall appoint an officer to preside at said election, who shall elect two judges and two clerks to assist him in holding the same, all of whom shall serve without compensation. Ten days' previous notice of the time, place and purpose of such election shall be given by posting advertisements thereof at three public places within said above described territory; and except as herein otherwise provided, said election shall be held in the same manner as general elections under the general laws of this State; a return thereof shall be made to said county judge within five days thereafter.

SEC. 5. If a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be in favor of such incorporation, and shall be so returned to said county judge, said school district shall thereby be and become an incorporated independent school district under the name of the "Midlothian Independent School District," and shall have, possess and exercise all the powers, rights and duties of independent school districts formed by towns and villages and incorporated for free school purposes only; and the said county judge shall cause an entry thereof in the records of the county commissioners' court; and said judge shall, within ten days after receiving said election returns, order an election to be held in said "Midlothian Independent School District" for the purpose of electing seven school trustees, four of whom shall serve until the regular election in May, 1906, and the remaining three shall serve until such election in May, 1907. The seven elected at such election shall as soon as possible thereafter, determine by lot which four of the trustees shall serve until May, 1906, and which three shall serve until May, 1907.

Said seven trustees and their successors, shall be elected and qualified in the manner provided by the Act of the first called session of the Twenty-sixth Legislature, approved February 21, 1900, entitled "An

Act to provide a uniform method of selecting school trustees in independent school districts," etc., as amended by the Act of the Twentyeighth Legislature, which took effect ninety days after the adjournment of said Twenty-eighth Legislature.

SEC. 6. Such incorporated independent school district and the said. trustees and school board thereof, shall be vested with, and have, possess and exercise all the rights, powers and duties of independent school districts, and of the boards of trustees thereof, formed by towns and villages incorporated for free school purposes only, under the provisions of Chapter 45 of the General Laws of the State of Texas for the year 1897, Chapter 15 of Title LXXXVI, of the Revised Civil Statutes of 1895, and the aforesaid Act, approved February 21, 1900, so far as the same are now in force, and any Acts amendatory thereof, as to voting, assessing, levying and collecting taxes for school purposes, and as to voting and issuing coupon bonds of said independent school district for the purpose of purchasing or constructing free school buildings, and as to having full management and control of the public free schools of such incorporated independent school district, and as to re-organizing by choosing from their number a president, and by choosing a secretary, a treasurer and an assessor and collector of taxes, wholly free and independent of and free from the control, interference and powers of said incorporated city of Midlothian.

SEC. 7. The near approach of the close of the present session of the Legislature, and the crowded condition of the calendar of both the Senate and the House, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be and the same is hereby suspended, and it is so enacted, and that this Act shall 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 89, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 28, nays 0.]

Approved April 17, 1905.

Became a law April 17, 1905.

CORPORATIONS-PUBLIC UTILITY-AUTHORIZING CITIES AND TOWNS TO REGULATE RATES CHARGED BY.

An Act to provide a method by which city councils of cities and towns incorporated under the general or special laws of this State may secure the regu lation of the rates to be charged by public utility corporations engaged in supplying water, gas, light, telephones and sewerage to the public; conferring upon district courts the power to regulate the rates of such corporations, defining such corporations, providing penalties for all violations of the Act, and declaring an emergency.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: All extortionate and unreasonable rates charged by public utility corporations, as hereinafter defined, are hereby declared to be unlawful, and the district courts of this State are hereby vested with jurisdiction