printed in the county; and a copy of such notice shall be sent to him if his place of residence can be ascertained.

SECT. 3. The court, before hearing the application, shall have satisfactory evidence that notice, as required in the preceding section, has been given. When the owner is a non-resident of the county the court may adjourn the application for such time as may be reasonable, and may direct further notice to be given.

SECT. 4. When satisfied that sufficient notice has been given, the court shall, by entry in its minutes, appoint five disinterested persons as commissioners to ascertain the compensation, specifying in the entry the time and place for the first meeting of the commissioners.

SECT. 5. The commissioners shall be sworn to discharge their duties faithfully and impartially. They shall view the premises, and ascertain and certify the compensation proper to be paid to the owner for the property to be taken, and may in their discretion, assess a reasonable sum to be paid to the owner for costs and expenses. They, or a majority of them, shall make, subscribe and file with the county clerk, a certificate of their assessments. The court, upon such certificate and duc proof that the amount determined has been paid to the party interested or into court, shall cause an entry to be made in its minutes, describing the property, setting forth the ascertainment of compensation and the payment as aforesaid.

SECT. 6. Upon such entry being made, the corporation shall be entitled to use and occupy the property as fully as if conveyed to it by the owner. A certified copy of this entry shall be recorded in the Recorder's office of the county in the like manner and with the like effect as if it were a deed of conveyance from the owner.

SECT. 7. Whenever it is desired by the common council to pave, grade, light, water or otherwise alter or improve any street or lane, they shall first give a notice of ten days thereof to all the owners of the land opposite which the making of the said

alteration or improvement shall be contemplated-and such notice shall be given to said owners in person if they can be found, but if they can not be found, then by posting the same upon a conspicuous part of the said land of such person, and by publishing the said notice in some daily paper for ten successivo days. I£ one-third of all the owners of said land opposite which the alteration or improvement shall be contemplated, shall within the period of notice above required, make to the common council in writing a protest against said alteration or improvement, the same shall not be made again nor again be proposed, for thirty days; and should such protest not be made as above, the commou council may make such contemplated alteration or improvement, and one-third of all the expenses of the same, shall be paid out of the city treasury, and the remaining two-thirds shall be paid in equal proportion by the land on both sides of the street or lanc, and opposite to which such alteration or improvement shall be made. And whenever three-fourths of all the persons owning land in any street or lane, or any section thereof, shall apply to the common council for any alteration or improvement the same shall be made by the common council on the terms above mentioned: Provided, there shall be funds in the city treasury not otherwise appropriated.

ARTICLE V.

Miscellaneous Provisions.

SECT. 1. Upon the passage of all bills appropriating money, imposing taxes, increasing, lessening or abolishing licences, or for borrowing money, the ayes and nays shall be entered on the journals.

SECT. 2. A majority of all the members elected shall be necessary to pass a tax bill, bills appropriating for any purpose the sum of five hundred dollars or upwards, and bills in anywise increasing or diminishing the city revenue.

SECT. 3. The mayor may call special sessions of the common council at any time by proclamation, and he shall state to them

when assembled the cause for which they have been convened. SECT. 4. When two or more persons have an equal and the highest number of votes for the office of mayor, the common council shall decide the election by joint ballot.

SECT. 5. All resolutions and ordinances calling for the appropriation of any sum of money exceeding fifteen thousand dollars shall lay over for the space of ten days, and be published for one week in at least one public daily paper.

SECT. 6. No member of the city council shall, during the period for which he is elected, be interested in any contract, the expenses of which are to be paid out of the public treasury.

SEOT. 7. The Legislature may at any time alter, amend or repeal this charter.

SECT. 8. The city shall not at any time become a subscriber for any stook in any corporation.

SECT. 9. The fiscal year of the city shall terminate on the first day of June in each year.

SECT. 10. The city council shall cause to be published within one month after the end of each fiscal year, a full, complete and detailed statement of all moneys received and expended by the corporation during the preceding fiscal year, and on what account received and expended, classifying each receipt and expenditure under its appropriate head.

SECT. 11. The manner of publishing all ordinances, reports, and all other matters herein required to be published, shall be proscribed by city ordinance.

SECT. 12. All the powers and functions of Prefect, Sub-Prefect, Alcaldes, second Alcaldes, the Ayuntamiento, and of all other officers whatever heretofore exercising authority in the municipal government of the pueblo of Yerba Buena or San Francisco or city of San Francisco shall cease and determine from and after the day on which the officers prescribed by this act shall be duly elected and qualified.

MAYOR'S MESSAGE.

Gentlemen of the Common Council:

Ir is a subject of hearty congratulation to ourselves as well as to every citizen of San Francisco, that we are at length permitted to organize a municipal government under a Charter granted by the Legislature of California, in strict accordance with the Constitution of the State. And it is no less a source of satisfaction that the sphere of our usefulness will not be circumscribed by a code of laws written in a language unknown to the vast majority of the people, and of so complex and imperfect a character, as to be but indifferently understood by those best acquainted with the language in which it is written. We have for our direction and government statutes similar to those under which we have been tutored, and given in terms so full, clear and precise, that the humblest citizen may clearly understand their full intent and meaning.

Being the first officers of the municipality elected under the Charter, the responsibility of its proper government rests upon us; and it is therefore incumbent upon us to unite in the enactment and execution of such ordinances as will be most conducive to the public interest; which, while they will secure to each citizen full protection of life, liberty and property, will esteem all within the just and proper limits of equity, and thus secure and afford to the humblest all the rights and privileges of citizenship which are enjoyed by the most elevated and wealthy.

We have entered upon our duties at a period when much distress and consternation prevail among our citizens occasioned by the destructive fire with which we have been so recently visited. This circumstance suggests the necessity of speedily making every possible provision against the repetition of such disasters. The proper organization of an efficient fire department and the pro

curing of suitable and sufficient fire apparatus, are among the most important means to be adopted. And the construction of buildings in such a manner as most effectually to protect us against the rapid spread of a conflagration when it has commenced, will doubtless claim a share of your attention.

The careful revision of the City Ordinances passed by the late Town Council, and the enactment of such others as in your judgment may be necessary for the proper government of the municipality, is especially recommended as one of your first duties. Some of the ordinances now in force are no doubt inconsistent with the provisions of the Charter; and in some cases they are crude, and bear unequally upon different classes of our citizens. But acting as that Town Council did, without a Charter or any established law for their government; without any practical experience in municipal legislation; and under peculiar circumstances arising from the social and political condition of this country, it would be a matter of wonder if the records of their action did not in some cases bear witness to the fallibility of human judgment. But having been intimately associated with the gentlemen composing that body since their election to power by the people of San Francisco, I feel it to be a duty to myself, and justice to them, to say, that in my opinion they were actuated by an earnest desire to promote the best interests of this city, and have used the power confided to them by their fellow-citizens in the honest performance of the duties imposed upon them by the same authority.

Your legislative duties will be difficult and arduous. You have not only to pass all necessary ordinances for the regulation of each department of the city government, but to fix the salaries or emoluments of the municipal officers, and to provide ways and means for their payment; for the indispensible improvements of the city; and for the payment of all just debts now due by the city.

The power to levy taxes and impose burdens upon the people is one which should be most delicately and carefully exercised. Equal and exact justice should be meted to all, and especial privileges granted to none. And in no case should a greater amount be drawn from the pockets of the people than is absolutely necessary for an economical administration of the government, and for the construction of such public improvements as are