redemption money and interest as now provided by the laws of this State in case of sales of real estate for taxes.

SEC. 25. Any changes made in the incumbent of the office of the collector during the pendency of any such proceedings shall not · operate to affect or delay the same, but the successor or successors in office of such collector shall be authorized to do all acts necessary to complete such proceedings the same as if his predecessor had continued in office. In case of a vacancy occurring in any such office the proceedings shall be prosecuted by the until such vacancy is filled by election or otherwise.

SEC. 26. All sales of property for the non-payment of taxes and assessments for any improvement of what kind so ever, shall be held at the same time with the general sale of property for non-payment of city taxes in each year, unless in particular cases said sale is stayed or delayed by examination or process of law; the intent hereof being that there shall be but one general collection by sale, of all taxes and assessments whatsoever in each and every year, which sale shall take place in the manner hereinbefore provided, and at the same time in each year; provided, that in all cases where judgment should be delayed in consequence of any appeal, or the delay of any court in rendering its decision, such sales may be made at any time after final judgment shall have been rendered, upon notice to be given as in other cases.

SEC. 27. Any assessor, collector, or other officer, who shall in any case refuse, or knowingly neglect to perform any duty enjoined upon him by this chapter, shall be prevented or hindered, shall for every such neglect or refusal, be liable by said city, individually, and upon his official bond, for double the amount of loss or damage caused by such neglect or refusal to be recovered in an action of debt, in any court having jurisdiction of the amount thereof.

SEC. 28. No assessment of property, or charges for taxes or assessment thereon, shall be considered illegal on account of any. irregularity or informality in the tax lists or assessment rolls, or on account of the assessment rolls or tax lists not being made, completed or returned within the time required by law, or on account of the property having been charged or listed in the assessment or tax list without name or in any other name than that of the rightful owner; and no error or informality in the proceedings of any of the officers entrusted with the levying and collection of taxes or special assessments, not effecting the substantial justice of the tax or assessment itself, shall vitiate, or in any way affect the tax or assessment. SEC. 29. If any purchaser of lands, lots or other property, sold for city taxes or assessments, shall suffer the same to be again sold for like taxes or assessments, before the expiration of two years

from the date of his or hers purchase, such purchaser shall not be entitled to a deed for the property until the expiration of two years from the date of the second sale, during which time the land, lot or other property, shall be subject to redemption, and the person redeeming shall only be required to pay for the use of the purchaser, at the first sale, the amount paid for the property, and double the amount paid by the second purchaser for his use, as in other cases. SEC. 30. All corporations, companies or associations, not incorporated under the laws of this State, engaged in said city in effecting fire, marine or life insurance, shall pay to the city treasurer the sum of two dollars upon the hundred dollars, and at that rate upon the amount of all premiums which, during the half year ending on every first day of July and January, shall have been received or have been agreed to be effected in said city, by or with such corporations, companies or associations, respectively. Every person who shall act in said city as agent or otherwise, for or on behalf of any such corporation, company or association, shall on or before the fifteenth day of July and January in each year, render to the city recorder a full, true and just account, verified by his oath, of all premiums, which, during the half year ending on every first day of July, and January preceding such report, shall have been received by him or any other person for him, or shall have been agreed to be paid for or in behalf of any such corporation, company or association, and shall specify in said account the amounts received from fire, marine and life insurance respectively. Said agents shall also pay over to the city treasurer, at the time of rendering the aforesaid account, the amount of rates for which the company or companies represented by them are severally chargeable by virtue hereof. If such account be not rendered on or before the day herein before designated for that purpose, or if the said rates shall remain unpaid after that day, it shall be unlawful for any corporation, company or association so in default to transact any business of insurance in said city until the said requisitions shall have been fully complied with; but this provision shall not relieve any company from the payment of any risks that may be taken in violation hereof. Any person or persons violating any of the provisions of this section shall be subject to indictment, and upon conviction thereof, in any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of the court. Said rates may also be recovered of such corporations, company or association, or its agents, by action in the name and for the use of said city, as for money had and received for its use.

SEC. 31. The moneys so collected from the insurance companies

shall be used only for the purpose of promoting the efficiency of the fire department of said city, and providing a fund for the relief of disabled firemen.

Fire Department.

The board of aldermen, for the purpose of guarding against the calamities of fire, shall have power to prescribe the limits within which wooden buildings shall not be erected, or placed or repaired, without permission, and to direct that all and any buildings within the limits prescribed shall be made or constructed of fire proof materials, and to prohibit the repairing or rebuilding of wooden buildings within the limits, when the same shall have been damaged to the extent of fifty per cent. of the value thereof and to prescribe the manner of ascertaining such damage.

First-To prevent the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, fire places, hearths, stoves, stove pipes, ovens, boilers, and apparatus used in and about any building or manufactory, and to cause the same to be removed or placed in a safe and secure condition, when considered dangerous.

Second-To prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places, and to cause all such buildings and enclosures, as may be in a dangerous state, to be put in safe condition.

Third--To regulate and prevent the carrying on of manufactories dangerous in causing or promoting fire.

Fourth--To regulate and prevent the use of fire works and fire

arms.

Fifth--To compel the owners or occupants of houses or other buildings to have scuttles in the roofs, and stairs or ladders leading to the same.

Sixth--To authorize the mayor and board of aldermen, police or other officers of said city, to keep away from the vicinity of any fire. all idle and suspicious persons, and to compel all officers of said city and other persons to aid in the extingushment of fires, and in the preservation of property exposed to danger thereat.

Seventh--And generally to establish such regulations for the prevention and extinguishment of fires as the board of aldermen may deem expedient.

SEC. 2. The board of aldermen shall procure fire engines and other apparatus used for the extinguishment of fires, and have the charge and control of the same, and provide, fit and secure engine houses and other places for keeping and preserving the same; and shall have power,

First--To organize fire, hose, hook and ladder and axe companies.

Second-To provide for the appointment of a competent number of able and respectable inhabitants of said city, foremen, to take the care and management of the engines and other apparatus and implements used and provided for the extinguishment of fires.

Third---To prescribe the duties of foremen and their compensation, and to make rules and regulations for their government, and to impose reasonable fines and forfeitures upon them for a violation of the same; and for incapacity, neglect of duty or misconduct, to remove

them.

SEC. 3. The chief and assistant engineers of the fire department, with the other foremen, shall take the care and management of the engines and other apparatus and implements used and provided for the extinguishment of fires, and their duties and powers shall be defined by the board of aldermen.

SEC. 4. The assistant engineers of the fire department shall also act as fire wardens, and it shall be their duty to examine all buildings and enclosures, to discover whether the same are in a dangerous state, and to report to the chief engineer all violations of the charter or ordinances of said city in relation to the prevention or extinguishment of fires.

SEC. 5. The board of aldermen shall have power, in its discretion, to authorize the appointment of a fire marshal, whose duty it shall be to inquire into and investigate the cause of all fires which may occur in the city as soon as may be after they occur, and to keep a record of his proceedings and of the evidence in each case, and to file the same, or a copy thereof, in the office of the city recorder. He shall have power to compel the attendance of any person in said city to testify upon oath concerning any fire in said city, under such penalty as the board of aldermen may provide; and he is hereby authorized to administer oaths to all such witnesses. He shall be required to use his utmost exertions in the discovery, arrest and conviction of all incendiaries, and perform such other duties as the board of aldermen may prescribe. Any or all of the above mentioned duties may be devolved by the board of aldermen upon the chief engineer.

SEC. 6. The members of the board of aldermen and finance shall, during their term of service as such, be exempt from serving on juries in all courts of this State and in the militia. The name of each fireman shall be registered with the recorder of the city, and the evidence to entitle him to the exemption provided in this section shall be the certificate of the recorder, made within the year in which the exemption is claimed.

SEC. 7. One-eighth part of the amount of all fire insurance rates, which shall be annually paid into the city treasury, as herein

before provided, shall be reserved and set apart, to create a fund for the relief of distressed firemen who may become disabled in the service of the city, and shall be used solely for that purpose. Said money shall be disbursed in such sum and under such rules and regulations as the board of aldermen shall prescribe. The remaining seven-eighths of the aforesaid revenue shall be retained by the city for the payment of fire engines that have been or may hereafter be purchased by said city.

All acts and parts of acts passed by the Legislature of the State of Texas, and all ordinances, regulations and resolutions now in force in the city of Jefferson, and not in conflict with this act, shall remain in full force under this act until altered, modified or repealed by the board of aldermen or other competent authority, after this act shall take effect.

SEC. 2. This act shall be deemed a public act, and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved December 1, 1871.

[NOTE BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE.-The foregoing act is enrolled very imperfectly, and differs in many instances very materially from the engrossed bill; a large portion is entirely omitted.]

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION NUMBER EIGHT, OF AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS ONE, TWO, THREE, FIVE, SIX, ELEVEN, TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FIFTEEN, NINETEEN AND TWENTY OF AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE WACO TAP RAILROAD COMPANY.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That section eight of the above entitled act, approved August 6, 1870, shall be so amended as to read as follows:

"Said company shall commence the construction of said road within twelve months after the organization of their company, and shall complete and have in running order that portion of its road commencing at its point of junction at the town of Bremond, in Robertson county, with the road of the Houston and Texas Central Railway Company, and from thence continuing to the town of Marlin, in Falls county, on or before the first day of March, A. D. 1872, and shall complete and have in running order their said road to, or near, the city of Waco,