Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 20.djvu/131

 106 roirrr-mrrn cononnss. sms. 11. on. 180. 1878. reduce the sum of money to be paid therefor to less than one thousand C¤¤fF¤¤t¤- dollars. All contracts for the construction, improvement, alteration, or repairs of the streets, avenues, highways, alleys, gutters, sewers, and all work of like nature shall be made and entered into only by and with the official unanimous consent of the Commissioners of the District, and all contracts shall be copied in a book kept for that purpose and be signed by the said Commissioners, and no contract involving an expenditure of more than one hundred dollars shall be valid until recorded and Puvcments. signed as aforesaid. No pavement shall be accepted nor any pavement laid except that of the best material of its kind known for that purpose, laid in the most substantial manner; and good and sufficient bonds to the United States, in a penal sum not less than the amount of the contract, with sureties to be approved by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, shall be required from all contractors, guaranteeing that the terms of their contracts shall be strictly and faithfully performed to the satisfaction of and acceptance by said Commissioners; and that the contractors shall keep new pavements or other new works in repair for a term of five years from the date of the completion of their contracts; and ten per centum of the cost of all new works shall be retained as an additional security and a guarantee fund to keep the same in repair for said term, which said per centum shall be invested in registered bonds of the United States or of the District of Columbia and the interest Payments f or thereon paid to said contractors. The cost of laying down said pave- P”·“”S· ment, sewers, and other works, or of repairing the same, shall be paid for in the following proportions and manner, to wit: \Vhen any street or avenue through which a street-railway runs shall be paved, such railway company shall bear all of the expense for that portion of the work lying between the exterior rails of the tracks of such roads, and for a distance of two feet from and exterior to such track or tracks on each side thereof, and of keeping the same in repair; but the said railway companies, having conformed to the grades established by the Commissioners, may use such cobblestone or Belgian blocks for paving their tracks, or the space between their tracks, as the Commissioners may direct; the United States shall pay onehalf of the cost of all work done under the provisions of this section, except that done by the railway companies, which payment shall he credited as part of the fifty per centum which the United States contributes toward the expenses of the District of Columbia for that year; and all payments shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury on the warrant or order of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia or a majority thereof, in such amounts and at such times as they may deem safe and proper in view of the progress of the work: _ Railways refus- That if any street railway company shall neglect or refuse to perform mt; *0 Pew- the work required by this act, said pavement shall be laid between the tracks and exterior thereto of such railway by the District of Columbia; and if such company shall fail or refuse to pay the sum due from them in respect of the work done by or under the orders of the proper officials of said District in such case of the neglect or refusal of such railway company to perform the work required as aforesaid, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall issue certificates of indebtedness against the property, real or personal, of such railway company, which certificates shall bear interest at the rate of ten per centum per annum until paid, and which, until they are paid, shall remain and be a lien upon the property on or against which they are issued together with the franchise of said company; and if the said certificates are not paid within one year, the said Commissioners of the District of Columbia may proceed to se.l the property against which they are issued, or so much thereof as may be nect ssary to pay the amount due, such sale to be first duly advertised daily for one week in some newspaper pub- _ lished in the city of Washington, and to be at public auction to the _ RWWRFB °f°¤S· highest bidder. When street railways cross any street or avenue, the mg mw"' pavement between the tracks of such railway shall conform to the pavement used upon such street. or avenue, and the companies owning these