repre

trustees.

intent of the canons of the Protestant Episcopal Churcn in the United sented by States of America, relating to congregations in foreign lands, and shall elect to avail itself of the benefit of this act and transfer to the said board of trustees any land in any foreign country or other property acquired by such society or congregation for the purpose of maintaining a church in such foreign country in communion with the said "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America," to be by said trustees held in trust for such society or congregation under this act, it shall be entitled to be represented on said board of trustees by two trustees, to be nominated by such society or congregation, and the number of trustees comprising and constituting said board may be increased accordingly; provided, however, that no person shall be eligible to be thus nominated who is not a communicant member of the said Protestant Episcopal Church; and provided, moreover, that it shall always and in each case be optional with the said board of trustees for the time being, in their discretion, to accept or decline the trust of any property which may be tendered them by any society or congregation. All property, whether real or personal, already vested in the said board of trustees shall, on the addition of new trustees to said board, at once vest in the new board so increased, in the same manner and to the same effect as if such new trustees had originally formed part of this board.

Proviso.

Office of railroad commissioner

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately

CHAP. 258.

AN ACT abolishing the office of railroad commissioners in Cobleskill, Schoharie county, and providing for the future safety, custody and sale of the railroad stock belonging to such town, and the disposition and application of the dividends and proceeds which have been, or hereafter shall be, realized and received on such stocks.

PASSED April 19, 1883; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. From and after the thirty-first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, the office of railroad commissioner in the town of Cobleskill, Schoharie county, shall be abolished, abolished. and the term of office of the incumbents thereof shall be ended. And from and after said date the powers and duties conferred by law upon and vested in such commissioners, so far as the same remain to be performed, and unexecuted, shall be vested in and are hereby conferred upon the supervisor of said town, and his successors in office, subject only to the provisions of this act.

Railroad commissioners to file verifled account.

§ 2. On or before the thirty-first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, the railroad commissioners of said town shall prepare and file with the supervisor of said town a full, true and correct verified account of all the moneys, property and stock belonging to said town, received by them, or either of them, as such commissioners, the sources from which the same were derived, the application thereof, and of any balance remaining in their hands. If any balance remains it shall then be paid over to the said supervisor, who

shall execute to them a receipt therefor, indorsed upon their official bond.

to be de

named.

§ 3. The certificate now held by said railroad commissioners for three Certificate hundred and fifty shares of the stock of the Albany and Susquehanna posited in Railroad Company, now belonging to and in the name of the town of bank Cobleskill, of the par value of one hundred dollars per share, shall be by them deposited for safe-keeping in the vault of the First National Bank of Cobleskill, at or before the presentation of such account. They shall take a receipt therefor, providing that such certificate shall Receipt, not be delivered to any person except the supervisor of said town, and etc. upon his written order, upon which shall be indorsed the written approval of at least three of the justices of the peace of said town, in office at the date thereof, consenting to the delivery thereof. Such receipt shall be recorded in the town clerk's office in said town, and by said supervisor be delivered to his successor, and thereafter by each of his successors be delivered to their successor in office, until surrendered to said bank on the receipt of such certificate.

property

§ 4. Such stock shall be and remain the property of said town, in the Stock to name of said town, and the dividends realized therefrom shall be the remain property of said town, and the whole nor any portion of such stocks or of the dividends shall ever be sold, assigned, transferred or hypothecated, by town, any person except the supervisor of said town, and by him only after due authority has been given to him by the legal voters of said town,

when to be

as hereinafter provided. No transfer or other disposition thereof shall Transfer, be valid or effectual unless made under the written approval of at least vailid. three of the justices of the peace of said town in office at the date of such transfer, which shall recite the authority under which such sale or transfer is sought to be made.

ful trans

§ 5. Any officer who in his official capacity shall sell, transfer or Penalty otherwise dispose of the whole or any portion of such stock or of the for unlawdividends therefrom contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be fer. guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof may be punished accordingly. Any officer who in his official capacity shall attempt to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the whole or any portion of such stock or dividends, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof may be punished accordingly.

posited,

§ 6. Any moneys paid over by said commissioners to such supervisor Dividends and the dividends upon the stock belonging to said town falling due to be deon the first day of July next when received shall be deposited by said supervisor, within five days after receipt thereof, in the First National Bank of Cobleskill, or such other national or savings bank as he may select, and take a certificate of deposit therefor, "payable to the order of the supervisor of Cobleskill" on the thirtieth day of January next, with interest at the customary rate of interest paid by such bank on deposits therein. The amount of the principal so deposited, with the Amount interest that shall accrue and be payable thereon, shall be computed to be by such supervisor, and by him deducted from the aggregate amount from tax of taxes to be levied upon and collected out of the real and personal to be property assessed in said town, for the present year, and the balance paid over thereof shall be levied and collected as now provided by law. The treasurer. amount of such principal and interest shall be drawn by said supervisor and by him paid into the treasury of Schoharie county on or before the first day of February next, to the credit of the said town of Cobleskill.

deducted

levied and

§ 7. Until otherwise directed by the legal voters of the town of Ibid Cobleskill, to be taken and ascertained in the manner provided for in

Official bond.

Legal

votes at a

town meeting

may provide for sale of stock.

When

vote to be taken.

Notice to be given

this act, the semi-annual dividends upon the stock belonging to said town, falling due on the first day of January and July in each year, hereafter shall be drawn by the supervisor of said town, and deposited in the manner provided in the last preceding section, and in like manner be deducted from the taxes to be raised and collected in said town for such year, and paid with the interest into the treasury of said county to the credit of said town. After deducting the amount thereof, the balance of the taxes required to be levied and collected in said town shall be levied and collected as now provided by law.

§ 8. The supervisor of the town of Cobleskill for the present year, and each of his successors in office as such, shall before receiving any of the moneys belonging to said town heretofore, or hereafter to be derived from such stock, or the dividends thereon, execute a bond with sureties in the penal sum of five thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful application of all moneys received by him under the provisions of this act. In case a sale of the whole or of any specified portion of such stock shall be authorized as hereinafter provided for, such bond shall be in the penalty of double the amount of moneys to be derived therefrom, and with like conditions and with sureties. Such bond shall be executed and approved in the manner now provided by law for the execution and approval of supervisors' bonds. It shall thereupon be filed with the town clerk of said town, and be by him recorded with the approval and indorsements thereon in a book to be provided and kept in said town clerk's office, which record shall be duly certi fied by him as such town clerk. In case of the loss or destruction of such original bond a duly certified copy of such record shall be and is hereby made legal evidence against the parties therein named in any court of this state, to the same extent as if the original bond was produced.

§ 9. Subject to the provisions of this act, the legal voters of the town of Cobleskill are hereby authorized and empowered at any annual or special town meeting to be called and held for that purpose as hereinafter specified to provide for the sale of the whole, or of any specified portion of the railroad stock now belonging to said town, and for the application and appropriation of the proceeds to be realized and derived therefrom, and of the unapplied and future dividends to be received. therefrom, to a specified object or purpose, which shall be of a general public character, and in and to which all of the citizens of said town shall have and may enjoy a common right and interest.

§ 10. Whenever at least one hundred of the legal voters of said town of Cobleskill shall unite in a petition addressed to the town clerk of said town, containing a request that at the ensuing annual town meeting in said town, or at a special town meeting to be called and held for that purpose as hereinafter specified, a vote shall be taken in respect to a sale of the whole or of any specified portion of the stock belonging to said town, or of the application of any unapplied or future dividends from such stock, and specifying the object and purpose to which the same shall be appropriated and applied, such proposition shall be submitted to a popular vote by ballot as hereinafter prescribed. Such petition shall be so presented at least twenty days prior to the day on which the next annual or such special town meeting is to be held; and proof shall be made by affidavit of the signing thereof, and of the legal right to vote in said town by the persons purporting to have signed the same.

§ 11. The town clerk of said town shall thereupon, and at least fifteen days prior to the day on which such annual or special town

meeting is to be held, cause to be posted printed notices, in plain style of type for convenient reading, stating in a concise manner the proposition contained in such petition, and that a vote by ballot will be taken thereon at the then next ensuing annual or special town meeting, specifying the day of the month and place where such town meeting will be held. A copy of such notice shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the building in which such town meeting is to be held, and in like manner in each of the post-offices in said town, and in such other public places as he may select for that purpose. He shall also procure a copy thereof to be printed and published in each of the newspapers printed and published in said town in the two regular editions of each next preceding the day on which such annual or special town meeting is to be held. Proof of such posting and publication shall be by affidavit, made and filed on or before the day preceding the day on which such town meeting is to be held, in the town clerk's office of said town. The proper expense for such printing, posting and publication shall be a legal charge against said town, and shall be audited and paid as other town charges are by law audited and paid.

be by

etc.

§ 12. If such proofs have been duly made and filed, on the day and Voting to at the place where such annual or special town meeting is held, each ballot, of the legal voters in said town entitled to vote thereat shall have the form of, legal right to present to the officers presiding at and conducting such town meeting, one written or printed, or partly written and partly printed ballot, containing the specified proposition, preceded by the words "in favor of," or the words "against the," and it is hereby made the duty of such officers to receive such ballot and deposit the same in a separate ballot-box, to be provided for that purpose. They shall also keep an accurate list by name of each of the persons voting such ballot. All statutes and provisions of law applicable to persons voting at or entitled to vote at such town meeting for town officers, and statutes in reference to challenges, bribery, illegal voting or other violations of law in respect thereto, shall relate to and is hereby made applicable to each person voting or offering to vote upon such proposition.

§ 13. The officers presiding at such town meeting are hereby required Canvass. to correctly canvass the whole number of ballots cast at such town meeting headed "in favor of" and "against the" proposition voted on, and ascertain and declare the result of such vote, and make and subscribe a certificate thereof, reciting such proposition, and the precise number of votes cast in favor of " and "against the " said proposition. The certificate so made shall be filed and duly recorded. and certified by the clerk of said town in the record of such town meeting, and thereafter shall be conclusive legal evidence of the facts stated therein.

carried

§ 14. If a majority of all the votes cast at such town meeting shall Vote to be be duly certified to have been in favor of such proposition, it shall into effect. thereafter be fully observed and carried into effect by the supervisor of said town until otherwise provided and directed by the legal voters of said town, in the manner and subject to the foregoing provisions in respect to taking a first vote.

can only

third an

§ 15. After a vote has been taken, and the result certified as here- New vote in before provided, no other or succeeding vote shall be taken in respect be taken to a sale of the whole or any portion of the stock owned by said town, on or after or the disposition and appropriation of the dividends therefrom for nual town the specified purpose voted on until on or after the third annual town meeting. meeting succeeding that at which such previous vote was taken. But

nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent a vote being taken as herein before provided for a sale, and disposition of the proceeds, to any other object or purpose.

§ 16. Any officer of said town who shall neglect or refuse to perform any act or discharge any of the duties hereby imposed to carry this act into effect shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof may be punished accordingly.

§ 17. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

§ 18. This act shall be deemed and taken as a public act, and shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 259.

AN ACT to declare the validity of the election of county judge in the county of Rockland.

PASSED April 20, 1883; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The election of county judge in and for the county of Rockland at the general election in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one is hereby declared to be legalized and confirmed for the full term of six years, commencing the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

AN ACT to provide for the election of one overseer of the poor in the town of East Chester, Westchester county, and to fix his compensation.

PASSED April 20, 1883; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. There shall hereafter be chosen, at the annual town meeting in the town of East Chester, county of Westchester, one overseer of the poor for said town, said overseer to serve for the term of two years.

§ 2. The said overseer of the poor shall receive an annual salary of three hundred and fifty dollars as a full compensation for his services as such overseer, and shall not receive or be entitled to any other perquisites or compensation whatever.

§ 3. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.