employer (whether an individual, copartnership or corporation) and his employees, if, at the time, he employs not less than twenty-five persons in the same general line of business in this State, the board shall, upon application as hereinafter provided and as soon as practical thereafter, visit the locality of the dispute and make careful inquiry into the cause thereof, hear all persons interested therein who may come or be subpoenaed before them, advise the respective parties what, if anything, ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust said dispute. The term employer in this act includes several employers cooperating with respect to any such controversy or difference, and the term employees includes aggregations of employees of several employers so cooperating. And where any strike or lockout extends to several counties the expenses incurred under this act not payable out of the State treasury shall be apportioned among and paid by such counties as said board may deem equitable and may direct.

SEC. 13. Whenever it is made to appear to a mayor or probate judge in this State that a strike or lockout is seriously threatened, or has actually occurred, in his vicinity, he shall at once notify the £tate board of the fact, giving the name and location of the employer, the nature of the trouble, and the number of employees involved, so far as his information will enable him to do so. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the State board, either by such notice or otherwise, that a strike or lockout is seriously threatened, or has actually occurred, in this State, involving an employer and his present or past employees, if at the time he is employing, or, up to the occurrence of the strike or lockout, was employing not less than twenty-five persons in the same general line of business in the State, it shall be the duty of the State board to put itself in communication, as soon as may be, with such employer and employees.

SEC. 14. It shall be the duty of the State board in the above-described cases to endeavor, by mediation or conciliation, to affect [effect] an amicable settlement between them, or, if that seems impracticable, to endeavor to persuade them, to submit the matters in dispute to a local board of arbitration and conciliation, as above provided, or to the State board; and said board may, if it deem it advisable, investigate the cause or causes of such controversy and ascertain which party thereto is mainly responsible or blameworthy for the existence or continuance of the same, and may make and publish a report finding such cause or causes, and assigning such responsibility or blame. The board shall have the same powers for the foregoing purposes as are given it by section 9 of this act: Provided, If neither a settlement nor an arbitration be had because of the opposition thereto of one party to the controversy, such investigation and publication shall, at the request of the other party, be had. And the expense of any publication under this act shall be certified and paid as provided therein for payment of fees.

SECTION 2. Said [original] sections 4, 13, and 14 are repealed, and this act shall take effect on its passage.

Passed April 27, 1896.

VIRGINIA.

ACTS OF 1895-96.

CHAPTER 286.-Assignment, etc., of claims to avoid effect of exemption laws as regards wages, unlawful.

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to institute, or permit to be instituted, proceedings in his own name, or in the name of any other person, or to assign or transfer, either for or without value, any claim for debt, or liability of any kind, held by him against a resident of this State, who is a laboring man and a householder, for the purpose of having payment of the same, or any part thereof, enforced out of the wages exempted by section thirty-six hundred and fifty-two of the Code of Virginia, by proceedings in attachment or garnishment, in courts or before justices of the peace in any other State than in the State of Virginia, or to send out of this State by assignment, transfer, or in any other manner whatsoever, either for or without value, any claim or debt against any resident thereof, for the purpose or with the intent of depriving such person of the right to have his wages exempt from distress, levy or garnishment according to the provisions of section thirty-six hundred and fifty-two of the Code of Virginia. And the person instituting such suit, or permitting such suit to be instituted, or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt for the purpose or with the intent aforesaid, shall be liable in an action of debt to the person from whom payment of the same, or of any part thereof, shall have been enforced by attachment or garnishment, or otherwise, elsewhere than in the State of Virginia, for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so enforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment or garnishee proceedings, as well as the costs of said action.

SEC. 2. The amount recovered in such action shall stand on the same footing with the wages of the plaintiff under section thirty-six hundred and fifty-two of the Code, and shall also be exempt and free from any and all liability of the plaintiff to the defendant in the way of set-off or otherwise.

SEC. 3. The fact that the payment of a claim or debt against any person entitled to the exemption provided for by section thirty-six hundred and fifty-two of the Code has been enforced by legal proceedings in some State other than the State of Virginia, in such manner as to deprive such person to any extent of the benefit of such exemption, shall be prima facie evidence that any resident of this State, who may at any time have been owner or holder of said claim or debt, has violated this law.

SEC. 4. This act shall be in force from the date of its passage.
Approved February 11, 1896.

CHAPTER 351.-Protection of debts due laborers on buildings, etc.

SECTION 1. No assignment or transfer of any debt, or any part thereof, due or to become due to a general contractor by the owner for the construction, erection or repairing of any building, structure, or railroad for such owner, shall be valid or enforceable in any court of law or equity by any legal process, or in any other manner, by the assignee of any such debt, unless and until the claims of all subcontractors, supply men and laborers against such general contractor for labor performed and materials furnished in and about the construction, erection and repairing of such building, structure or railroad shall have been satisfied; Provided, That if such subcontractors, supply men and laborers shall give their assent in writing to such assignment, it shall be thereby made valid as to them, but the payment or appropriation of such assignment by the owner without such assent in writing shall not protect such owner from the demands of such subcontractors, supply men and laborers to the extent of such assignment.

SEC. 2. No debt or demand, or any part thereof, due or to become due by the owner of any building, structure or railroad to a general contractor for the construction, erection or repairing of such building, structure or railroad, shall be subject to the payment of any debt or the lien of any judgment, writ of fieri facias or any garnishee proceeding obtained or sued out upon any debt due such general contractor which shall have been contracted in any other manner or for any other purpose than in the construction, erection or repairing of such building, structure or railroad for such owner unless and until the claims due by such general contractor to all subcontractors, supply men and laborers for materials furnished and labor performed in and about the construction, erection or repairing of such building, structure or railroad shall have been paid.

SEC. 3. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. SEC. 4. This act shall be in force from its passage.

Approved February 17, 1896.

RECENT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

[The Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments have consented to furnish statements of all contracts for constructions and repairs entered into by them. These, as received, will appear from time to time in the Bulletin.]

The following contracts have been made by the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury:

OMAHA, NEBR.-October 1, 1896. Contract with J. J. Hanighen for plumbing and gas piping, including marble work, plastering, and partitions in toilet rooms in courthouse, customhouse, and post office, $8,625. Work to be completed within ninety days.

BUFFALO, N. Y.-October 8, 1896. Contract with D. H. Hayes & Co., Chicago, Ill., for erection and completion of extension to post office (old building), $3,900. Work to be completed within seventy-five days.

SIOUX CITY, IOWA.—October 10, 1896. Contract with E. D. Briggs, Aurora, Ill., for the labor and materials for the approaches to courthouse, post office, and customhouse, $7,049. Work to be completed within ninety working days.

ALLEGHENY, PA.-October 24, 1896. Contract with the Pittsburg Heating Supply Company, Pittsburg, Pa., for steam heating and ventilating apparatus for the post office, $3,273. Work to be completed within sixty days.

OMAHA, NEBR.-October 30, 1896. Contract with Mahoney & Stenger for external drainage ditch for courthouse, customhouse, and post office, $4,710.75. Work to be completed within sixty days.

WASHINGTON, D. C.-October 31, 1896. Contract with E. F. Gobel, Chicago, Ill., for interior finish of basement, first, and mezzanine stories, and all outside windows of post office building, $181,167. Work to be completed within eight months.

NEWBERN, N. C.-November 6, 1896. Contract with Chafer & Becker, Cleveland, Ohio, for steam heating and ventilating apparatus for post office, courthouse, and customhouse, $3,190.

NEW YORK CITY.-November 10, 1896. Contract with George Telfer for intermediate floors, etc., in certain court and office rooms in courthouse and post office, $27,490. Work to be completed before January 20, 1897.

NEW LONDON, CONN.-November 13, 1896. Contract with Murdock Campbell Company, Chicago, Ill., for the erection and completion, except heating apparatus, of the post office and customhouse, $34,943. Work to be completed within ten months.

NEW YORK CITY.-November 14, 1896. Contract with D. H. Hayes, Chicago, Ill., for stone and brick work, roof covering, interior finish, etc., of appraiser's warehouse, $322,500. Work to be completed within twelve months.

RICHMOND, KY.-November 25, 1896. Contract with the Pittsburg Heating Supply Company, Pittsburg, Pa., for low-pressure, returncirculation, steam heating, and ventilating apparatus for post office, $3,465. Work to be completed within sixty days.

SAGINAW, MICH.-November 25, 1896. Contract with Charles W. Gindele, Chicago, Ill., for erection and completion of post office, except heating apparatus, $70,900. Work to be completed within twelve months.

NEWBURG, N. Y.-November 25, 1896. Contract with Sproul & McGurrin, Grand Rapids, Mich., for low-pressure, return-circulation, steam heating, and ventilating apparatus for post office, $2,344. Work to be completed within sixty working days.