Trustees. tion and rules. § 2. Whenever in forming any corporation under this act a greater number of trustees than nine shall be desired, the number of trustees shall be specified in the articles of incorporation, which shall be not less than nine nor more than twenty-one, and shall specify, in said articles, the names of the persons as trustees to manage the affairs of said corporation until others are elected in their places; said trustees shall be divided by lot into three classes, the first class to hold their office for one year; the second class to hold their office for two years; the third class to hold Constitu- their office for three years. The said corporation, when organized and any camp ground or camp meeting association heretofore organized under the laws of the State of New York, shall have power to adopt a constitution, and to prescribe rules and regulations not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the State or of the United States, for the government thereof and for the election of trustees and its Election of officers. One third of the trustees shall be annually elected and vacancies filled in such manner as the constitution of said corporation shall Non-resi- prescribe. When the camp grounds proposed to be selected by such dent mem- corporation shall be situated upon or near the borders of this State, persons residing out of the jurisdiction of this State may be permitted to join in and become members of said corporation, and shall be Stewards eligible to be elected officers thereof. When the number of trustees do not exceed nine, or no constitution is adopted by the corporation prescribing the mode of elections of its trustees and officers, then the district stewards of any presiding elder's district, at their annual meeting, may appoint, from time to time, trustees for such corporation within their district to supply the places of those whose term of office shall expire and to fill vacancies in the number of trustees. And when two or more districts join in such corporation, then the district stewards of each district at their annual meeting, may appoint their equal proportion of said trustees. But in case the number of trustees cannot be equally divided between the districts, then the districts in which the camp ground is located may appoint such trustees. trustees. bers. to fill vacancies. Real and personal estate. § 2. All restrictions imposed upon such corporations heretofore organized under any law of this State relating to the amount of real or personal estate, or the value thereof, which such corporation may hold, are hereby removed, provided the entire annual income shall not exceed the sum authorized by section three of the act hereby amended, unless by their charters they are empowered to hold a larger amount. Whenever any camp ground association shall own land on any of the navigable waters of the State of New York, to be used for camp situated ground purposes only, the said association shall have authority to reguble stream. late the landing of any person, or vessel on said wharves, piers or shore, during the holding of religious services, and may also regulate or prohibit the use of said wharves and piers, or shore during said services by any person or vessel. When camp ground on naviga § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP. 328. bonds. AN ACT to authorize the payment, in whole or in part, of the Municipal bonded indebtedness of any of the towns in this State created in aid of any railroad therein, and to prescribe the mode in which the people thereof shall determine the time and amount of such payment. PASSED May 14, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: the of bonded towns. SECTION 1. Upon the application in writing of at least twelve citi- Payment zens, tax payers of any town in this State, addressed to the supervisor indebtedof such town, asking for the payment, in whole or in part, of the mess of bonded indebtedness of such town created in aid of any railroad therein, specifying the amount of such indebtedness to be paid, and how much thereof shall be paid annually, and asking also for a vote of the People of such town upon the question, the time and the amount of such payment, the said supervisor shall, at the next annual town meeting to be held in such town, submit such question to the qualified voters of such town and shall take the votes thereof in the manner following, to wit: The said supervisor shall have prepared a suitable book in which shall be transcribed a copy of the aforesaid application, underwritten with the names of the signers thereof, and shall open same, at the time of the opening of the polls of such town meeting, for the signatures of the qualified voters of such town, by reading aloud to the People the said application and the names of its signers. The said voters, together with other individuals paying taxes in said town, who shall favor such application may, during the time the polls of such town meeting are open, subscribe in such book such transcribed application or may authorize the clerk of such town to subscribe the same for him or her. And any solvent moneyed, manufacturing or other corporation or company formed under the laws of this State and being assessed on real or personal property in such town, shall have all the rights and privileges under this act so far as property representation is concerned, as other tax payers, to be exercised by its chief financial officer. County §2. Immediately after the close of the polls at such town meeting, Certificate. the said supervisor shall affix his certificate, next succeeding the last named subscribed in such book to the effect that the persons, whose namies are subscribed in such book, are qualified voters of such town or tax payers therein and assented to the proposition submitted in the said application at such town meeting, and shall, forthwith and within five days after such town meeting, transmit the said books so completed to the county judge of his county; and it shall be the duty of Duty of said judge forthwith and within ten days thereafter to proceed to take judge. proof as to the relative number and assessed property represented by such voters; and if it shall appear satisfactorily to him that the persons who had so signed said application, and such other tax payers of said town as may then and there appear before him and express a desire to subscribe the same, do represent a majority of the tax payers of said town as shown by the last preceding tax list or assessment roll, and do represent a majority of the taxable property upon said list or roll, he shall so adjudge and determine and cause the same to be entered of Taxes to pay bonds. Money, how ap plied. record and shall forthwith certify the same to the board of supervisors of his county, to whom he shall also transmit such book with its contents. § 3. It shall thereupon be the duty of the said supervisors, in accordance with the terms and request of such application, to cause to be assessed, levied and collected, in such town as other taxes in such town are assessed, levied and collected, in each year, as the same is designated in such application, such sum or sums as shall be sufficient to pay off and discharge the said bonded indebtedness, either at one time and by one assessment, or by installments of yearly assessments and payments as may be designated in such application. § 4. The money so assessed, levied and collected shall be sacredly applied to the payment of the bonds of such town so given in aid of railroads as designated in such application and to no other purpose whatever; except, that in case there shall not be, of such bonds, as are then due and payable, sufficient in amount to exhaust the whole sum so collected, and the holders and owners of such other bonds, as may not then have matured, shall not be willing to accept payment thereof, the said supervisor shall cause the residue of said money, so collected, after paying such bonds as he may be able to retire, to be invested in such State, county, town, city or village bonds as may have been issued in pursuance of the laws of this State, or in United States bonds, to be deposited with the treasurer of said county as a sinking fund for the redemption and payment of the bonds of such town created in aid of any railroad therein, and the avails of such sinking fund shall be sacredly applied for the payment and redemption of the bonds of such town as the same become due. § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. Application to apportion taxes. Duty of county court. Duty of collector. CHAP. 331. AN ACT to relieve premises of one person erroneously assessed and taxed in and with the premises of another. PASSED May 14, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. When the premises of one person shall have been wrongfully assessed and taxed in and with the premises of another, the person aggrieved thereby may, upon application to the county court of the county in which the property is situated, on petition duly verified, and on eight days' notice to the assessors of the town in which the premises are situated, and to the party whose premises are included in such wrongful assessment, his executors or administrators, have his taxes or assessments apportioned by such county court, at a regular term thereof, or at chambers, in such manner as to the said court may seem just and proper. § 2. The said county court shall ascertain the boundaries, the premises and the rate of taxation in said town, and shall fix and specify the amount of said tax or assessment properly chargeable to the petitioner's property, and to the other party chargeable therewith; and the collector or receiver of taxes of the town in which the premises are situated, upon receiving a certified copy of said order, shall forthwith change the tax and assessment books of said town to conform to the apportionment made by said order. § 3. The said collector or receiver shall, upon receiving the amount so apportioned upon the premises of said petitioner, receipt for the same in full discharge of the lien thereof upon the property of said petitioner. § 4. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP. 336. AN ACT to confirm the title of certain persons to real estate, questioned by reason of alienage of former owners. PASSED May 14, 1875; by a two-third vote. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The title of any citizen or citizens of this State to any lands within this State, shall not be questioned or impeached by reason of the alienage of any person or persons, from or through whom such title may have been derived. Provided, however, that nothing in this act shall affect the rights of the State, in any case in which proceedings for escheat have been instituted. 2. Nothing in this act shall affect or impair the right of any heir, devisee, mortgagee, or creditor, by judgment or otherwise. § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAP. 339. AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act for the incorporation of villages," passed April twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy. PASSED May 15, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: ch. 291. SECTION 1. Section thirty of title eight of chapter two hundred and Amending ninety-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy, entitled "An Laws 1870, act for the incorporation of villages," passed April twentieth, eighteen 7 Edm. 706. hundred and seventy, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: to deter 30. Any village heretofore incorporated may become a corporation Election under the provisions of this act and possess the powers given thereby, mine ques by a vote in favor thereof, at any annual or special election. Such tion of vote shall be taken on a resolution adopted by the board of trustees, t incorpora submitting the question of incorporation under this act to the qualified electors of the village. All persons, before qualified to vote at an election in such village, may vote at such election. Notice shall be given of such election by the trustees, setting out the resolution to be Voted on, as is required to be given by this act in regard to special elections for extraordinary expenditures. If at such election the majority of the ballots cast shall have thereupon the word "Yes," then the village shall become and be incorporated under this act, and shall succeed to and possess all the property, rights of property and the rights of action existing at the time of incorporation under this act in favor of such village; and all actions, proceedings and suits then existing on the part of such village, or against such village, or rights of action against such village then existing shall, after such vote, be unaffected thereby and be subject to the provisions of law under which they originated. The persons, who had before presided at elections for village officers in such village, or a majority of them, shall preside at the elections directed in this section, and shall count the ballots and declare the result forth with and make return setting out the resolutions voted on the notices of election and the number of ballots cast with "Yes" or with "No" thereon, and shall file such return with the clerk of the county in which the village is located within ten days after the election, and verify such return with the oath of the inspectors. Such return or a copy thereof, certified by such county clerk, with his official seal, shall be final and conclusive evidence of such incorporation and the regularity thereof, in all courts and places and in all actions and proceedings. In case it appears from such return that a majority of the ballots were cast with "Yes" thereon, the board of trustees shall, within ten days after filing such return or within ten days after the passage of this act, appoint a special election in such village, to be held within twenty days, for the purpose of electing the officers provided by this act for such village. They shall give ten days' notice of the time and place of such election, which notice shall be published in all the newspapers printed in such village, and by posting the same in six public places in the village. At such election the same persons who are required to act as inspectors of election, at the election above provided for in this section, shall preside as inspectors of election; and such election shall be conducted and its results certified in all respects as regular annual elections are required to be conducted and the results certified under this act; and the persons elected to office at such election shall qualify and be clothed with the same powers and charged with the same duties as if elected at an annual election. The trustees shall submit at such special election the detailed statement required by section eleven of title three of this act. The trustees and other officers elected under the prior charter shall continue in office and discharge their duties under that charter until the election and qualification of the new officers as above provided for. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Amending ch. 395, Laws 1873, CHAP. 341. AN ACT to amend chapter three hundred and ninety-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, entitled "An act to alter the system of repairing the highways.' PASSED May 15, 1875; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section two of chapter three hundred and ninety-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, entitled "An act to 9 Edm. 601. alter the system of repairing the highways," is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Vote as to highway. § 2. Upon the written request of twenty-five tax payers of any repairing town, it shall be the duty of any justices of the peace, or other officers who preside at the town election of any such town, to submit to the electors at each annual town election, and the electors of any town may vote at the next regular annual town meeting, upon the question of changing the manner of working the highways. Such vote shall |