road and improvement as he may desire, which blank form said county court shall fill out to the best of its ability and return to the chief engineer. If the chief road engineer shall be satisfied that the proposed improvement will be permanent and upon a main traveled road, and that the plans proposed by the local road authorities for such improvement are adequate and practicable, he, or one of his assistants, shall view said road or part thereof, proposed to be improved, and shall carefully prepare plans, specifications and estimates of the cost of its construction, with the materials agreed upon by the chief road engineer. A copy of said plans, specifications and estimates of cost shall be submitted to the county court and a copy filed in the office of said bureau. The expenses incurred by the chief engineer or his assistants in performing the duties required under this section shall be paid by the county whose local road authorities requested the same to be done.

Sec. 13. Whenever any county court shall have decided to construct or improve the said road, or any part thereof, in accordance with the plans and specifications made by the chief road engineer, and shall have agreed with the state road bureau respecting the location, construction and material of such road, which agreement shall be reduced to writing and recorded in the county clerk's office, then such county court may apply to the state board of control to send convicts to such county to be worked upon such road. Such application shall be in form prescribed by the board of control, and shall state the number of convicts desired, which shall not be less than ten, and the length of time for which the county court desires to contract. If the number of prisoners in the penitentiary available shall suffice to meet all the applications which may be before it, the board of control shall grant all of such applications which are satisfactory to the board. If the number of prisoners available shall not be sufficient to fill all such applications, the board of control shall file the applications, and fill them in the order in which they are received. The board shall, however, as far as possible, give equal service to all the counties making applications, subject, however, to the judgment of the board as to the merits of the respective applications. The board of control may, for good cause, refuse any or all such applications, in which event the cause of such refusal shall be specified to the applicant.

Sec. 14. The board of control, with the advice and assistance of the warden of the penitentiary, shall determine what prisoners therein confined may, with safety and convenience, be assigned to such work, selecting preferably such prisoners as are believed to be most trustworthy.

Sec. 15. Whenever any such application shall be granted by the board of control in its original or modified form, a contract in writing, based thereon, shall be entered into between the board of control and the county court making such application, which shall set forth the terms of the agreement based on such application.

Sec. 16. Said state road bureau shall make an annual report to the governor of the conduct and work of its office, and expenses thereof, and may recommend to the governor needed improvements in the public roads; and shall make such other reports as may be required by the governor. Said annual report shall show the quantity of earth and stone removed, and material manufactured and prepared; the number of miles of road under construction, and the number completed; the cost per yard of the construction of such road, and of the material prepared and used therein; and for the purpose of obtaining all necessary detailed information to be used in the preparation of such report, the said bureau may require of the local road authorities, in all counties in which work is done under arrangements with the state road bureau, such monthly reports as may be prescribed by the bureau. Said bureau shall cause to be prepared and filed in the office of the clerk of the county court of such county, and the state department of archives and history, copies of maps showing the location of all public roads and highways in the state; and the report herein provided to be filed with the governor shall be accompanied by a map or maps showing the location and improvements of all roads receiving state aid up to the time of the completion of said report. Copies of all maps and reports made and prepared by the bureau shall be kept in its office for public inspection.

Sec. 17. All county road engineers shall visit the office of the state road bureau at least once in every year, and shall receive instructions in road building for at least ten days; and the bureau may fix the time or times when said annual visits may be made by such county road engineers for the purpose of receiving such instructions; and the actual expenses incurred by said county road engineers in making such visits shall be paid out of the county treasury of each county when allowed by the county court.

Sec. 18. The state road bureau has authority, under proper rules and regulations, to establish and maintain stone quarries, crushers and brick kilns at places in the state where suitable material may be obtained, to be furnished to the counties desiring to use the same in constructing and maintaining public roads and bridges, and to the state and counties for public buildings, and for any other purpose for which

the state or county may desire to use such stone or brick. No brick kilns shall be established until the materials available therefor have been carefully analyzed by the bureau, and approved in writing by the chief engineer, and no material shall be used in the manufacture of brick or the building or improving of roads until after like analysis and approval. In selecting the location for said brick kilns due regard shall be had to transportation facilities. The state convict road force may be employed by said bureau at and about said kilns in the manufacture of brick under the same rules and regulations provided herein for working said force on the public roads.

Sec. 19. The state prison road force shall be guarded when working on the roads of the state, and in making road materials, by guards detailed by the warden of the penitentiary; provided, that the guards so detailed shall not exceed two guards to every twenty convicts so employed on the roads. The wages of every such guard shall be fixed by the warden of the penitentiary but shall not exceed fifty dollars per month and board. The warden of the penitentiary, his assistants or guards, at the request of the state road bureau, may so far as practicable make trusties of the convicts of said state prison road force employed under this act.

Sec. 20. The warden of the penitentiary shall provide suitable and moveable quarters, said quarters to be built, so far as can be, with convict labor; and shall supply all necessary cooking utensils, beds and bedding and wagons for transporting the convicts, and camp fixtures for the camps or stations of said prison and road force.

Sec. 21. All convicts forming the state prison road force shall be transferred to and from the jails and the penitentiary, and the expense of such transfer shall be paid in the same way as is now provided by law for transporting convicts to the penitentiary, except that the prisoners of the state prison road force may be transported anywhere in the state, under the direction of the warden of the penitentiary.

Sec. 22. Said state prison road force shall work under the direction and control of said chief engineer, or such assistant as may be selected by said chief engineer, who shall be a civil engineer or person well versed in road building; and the said road force shall do all such proper and necessary work on such roads as the engineer having direction and control of the same may direct for its proper construction and improvement. Should any question arise as to what work is included in road building improvement, or should be done and performed by

such state prison road force, or the place where the same should be performed, or the number of convicts to be employed, such question shall be decided by the governor.

Sec. 23. The warden of the penitentiary shall provide in the same manner he now provides for convicts in the penitentiary all clothing, food, quarters and guards for the state prison road force when at work on the public roads of any county in the state; provided, that the state road bureau may require any county to pay for the food and quarters for the road force when the work being done by such road force in such county is in the judgment of said board chiefly of local importance.

Sec. 24. Whenever any prisoner working on county roads or bridges shall become sick, or shall be disabled by accident or otherwise, he shall be attended by the physician employed by the county court to take care of the poor in the county, on whose roads the prisoner is working at the time, or by the jail physician in such county, and the fees of such physician shall be paid by the county at such sum as may be agreed by the county court with such physician. In any case of emergency, the physician who can be most conveniently reached shall attend such prisoner until the physician for the poor or the jail physician can attend, and the reasonable fees of the physician first called shall be paid by the county court of such county.

Sec. 25. Any county court desiring to obtain convict labor on its roads, under the provisions of this act, shall agree to supply all necessary material to be approved by said chief road engineer, tools and teams required by the plans and specifications of the chief engineer.

Sec. 26. After the expiration of all contracts now existing between the state and any person, firm or corporation, for the employment of convict labor at the penitentiary, only such contracts shall be renewed or new contracts made under the provisions of law as may be neces sary to employ all convicts not otherwise employed under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 27. If the local road authorities of any county propose to improve permanently any public road or part thereof, and desire to avail of the services of the chief engineer under the terms of this chapter, and to have the benefit of this chapter creating a state convict road force, shall prefer to make such improvements by contract, then the chief engineer may, upon request, furnish such local county road authorities, in advance of the letting of the contract, an estimate of the number of convicts available for use upon such proposed permanent road improvements, providing that such number of convicts, to be so

supplied by the said public highway bureau shall not exceed such number as that, estimating their labor at one dollar per day, per convict, exclusive of Sundays, and a reasonable allowance for bad weather will amount to a contribution on the part of the state of more than forty per cent of the total contract price of such proposed improve

ments.

The convicts so employed upon construction work shall be and remain under the direct supervision and care of the warden of the penitentiary; and may be worked only for such hours and under such humane and reasonable rules, regulations and conditions as may be jointly prescribed and enforced by the warden of the penitentiary and the state public highway bureau, which said hours, rules, regulations and conditions shall be stated and promulgated in advance of the letting of the contract.

Sec. 28. If any convict escape from the state convict road force, he shall be punished as now prescribed by law for convicts escaping from the penitentiary.

Sec. 29. The warden of the penitentiary shall have power to discharge any of said prisoners working on said state convict road force, wherever they may be in the state, when his term shall have expired; and section twenty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty-three of the code of West Virginia shall apply to all convicts working on said state road force.

Sec. 30. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as giving to any county any aid in the location, construction and maintenance of its public roads, except as herein specifically provided.

Sec. 31. It shall be the duty of the governor to designate some competent physician, or physicians, to make monthly inspection of all camps where convict road force is employed; and it shall be the duty of such physician to make monthly, a thorough investigation of the sanitary conditions of such camps, and make a regular report of each inspection to the governor, together with such recommendations as he may deem necessary; and to furnish a copy thereof to the warden of the penitentiary, to the state board of health, and to the local board. of health of the county in which such camp may be located. Said physician for his services shall receive the same allowances, and be paid in the manner as provided in section sixteen of this chapter.

Sec. 32. Wherever, in chapter fifty-two of the acts of one thousand. nine hundred and nine, of the West Virginia legislature, reference is made to, or authority given, or duties required of, the "commis