business: in case vacancies shall occur in the council, the chamber in which the same may happen, shall supply the same by an election, by ballot, from the three persons next highest on the list, to those elected at the preceding election; and a majority of the whole number of the chamber in which such vacancy may happen, shall be necessary to make an election.
Powers of the councils enlarged.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the council shall have power to establish and regulate the inspection of flour, tobacco, and salted provisions, the gauging of casks and liquors, the storage of gunpowder, and all naval and military stores, not the property of the United States, to regulate the weight and quality of bread; to tax and license hawkers and pedlers, to restrain or prohibit tippling houses, lotteries, and all kinds of gaming; to superintend the health of the city, to preserve the navigation of the Potomac and Anacosta rivers, adjoining the city; to erect, repair, and regulate public wharves, and to deepen docks and basins; to provide for the establishment and superintendence of public schools; to license and regulate, exclusively, hackney coaches, ordinary keepers, retailers and ferries; to provide for the appointment of inspectors, constables and such other officers as may be necessary to execute the laws of the corporation; and to give such compensation to the mayor of the city as they may deem fit.
Powers of levy court abolished.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the levy court of the county of Washington shall not hereafter possess the power of imposing any tax on the inhabitants of the city of Washington.
Approved, February 24, 1804.
Statute Ⅰ.
Chap. XV.—An Act to amend the Charter of Alexandria.
Charter of Alexandria altered.
Town divided into wards.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the town of Alexandria shall be, and is hereby divided into two districts, by a line running east and west, at an equal distance between King and Prince streets, beginning at the river Potomac and extending to the western boundary of said town; and all that part of the town which is situate north of the said dividing line, shall be called the northern district, and all that part of the town which is situate south of the said dividing line, shall be called the southern district of the town of Alexandria; and where any house or lot shall be sitaute partly in each district, it shall be considered as lying in that district where the greater part of the said house or lot is situate, and shall be assessed accordingly; each of the districts aforesaid shall be divided into two electoral wards, by a line passing from north to south through the middle of Pitt street, to be called the first, second, third and fourth ward;How taxes are to be applied. none of the taxes on the valuation of real property, which shall hereafter be collected in the northern district, shall be expended in the regulating, or filling up, or paving, or repairing of the streets, or sinking of wells, or building of bridges in the southern district; nor shall the taxes on the valuation of real property, which shall hereafter be collected in the southern district, be expended in the regulating, or filling up, or paving, or repairing the streets, or sinking of wells, or building of bridges in the northern district: but all the monies to be expended upon the aforesaid improvements in either district, shall be raised by an assessment on the valuation of real property in each district respectively, at the times and in the manner the said common council shall order and direct.How taxes to be raised. It shall be the duty of the assessors and other public officers to keep the accounts of each district, separate and distinct in regard to the assessments for the aforesaid local purposes, and all other taxes, which are now or shall hereafter be assessed or levied, upon the valuation of real property or other subjects, together with the fines and also the rents issuing from the property belonging to the corporation and all their other
