and, in case of failure of the responsible person to comply with the order of said commissioner within ninety days, to report all cases of such violation to the prosecuting officer having jurisdiction thereof. The commissioner of labor and factory inspection shall, on or before the first day of December of each year, make a report to the governor of the number of such violations and the prosecution instituted thereon. SEC. 4. Any person violating any provision of this act and Penalty. any person writing anything obscene or offensive, or making any obscene or offensive drawing, picture or mark in any such accommodation shall be fined not more than fifty dollars for each offense. SEC. 5. Chapter 273 of the public acts of 1919 is re Repeal. pealed. Approved, June 2, 1921. CHAP. 267 [Senate Bill No. 641.] CHAPTER 267. An Act concerning the Trial of Criminal Cases and Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in to jury in criminal cases. SECTION 1. Section 6641 of the general statutes is Direction of judge amended to read as follows: The court shall decide all issues of law and all questions of law arising in the trial of criminal cases; and in committing the cause to the jury, if in the opinion of the court the evidence is not sufficient to justify the finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, then the court may direct the jury to find a verdict of not guilty; otherwise the court shall submit the facts to the jury without directing how to find their verdict. criminal cases. SEC. 2. In all criminal causes, prosecutions and proceed- Trial by court in ings the party accused may, if he shall so elect when called upon to plead, be tried by the court instead of by the jury; and in such cases the court shall have jurisdiction to hear and try such cause and render judgment and sentence thereon. court. SEC. 3. The superior court having jurisdiction of criminal Dismissal of cases shall at all times have jurisdiction and control over in- informations by formations and criminal cases pending therein and may, at any time upon motion by the defendant, dismiss any information and order such defendant discharged if in the opinion of the court there is not sufficient evidence or cause to justify the bringing or continuing of such information or the placing of the person accused therein on trial. Approved, June 2, 1921. CHAP. 268 Taxes deferred. Payment of annual taxes. Method of computing net income. [Substitute for House Bill No. 992.] CHAPTER 268. An Act deferring Payment of Taxes Due from Electric Street Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in SECTION 1. The collection of any tax due to the state prior to August 1, 1921, from any electric street railway company is deferred, and such taxes shall be paid by any such company pursuant to the terms of this act. SEC. 2. On or before July 15, 1922, and annually thereafter, each such company shall pay to the treasurer of the state, on account of taxes, the collection of which is deferred by the provisions of this act, in addition to the amount to be assessed on the income of each such company annually after the year 1921, one-half of its total net income for the year ending on the thirty-first day of December next preceding. Any such company, which, within six years subsequent to July 25, 1922, liquidates its entire obligations to the state for taxes past due, shall be charged interest at the rate of four and one-half per centum per annum; otherwise, such unpaid taxes shall bear interest at the rate of eight per centum per annum. No such company shall pay any dividends upon its capital stock until each annual tax to be assessed upon the return of such company, as of December 31, 1921, and annually thereafter, and the amount annually due on account of taxes, the payment of which is deferred hereby, shall have been paid to the state. SEC. 3. Net income, as used in this act, shall be computed by deducting from the gross income as defined by the interstate commerce commission in its establishment of a uniform system of accounts for electric street railway corporations, items of operating expenses, expenses of auxiliary operation, expenses of rent of leased roads, miscellaneous rents, taxes paid, interest on funded debt, interest on floating debt and miscellaneous charges for the year next preceding. At the time of making such annual payment to apply on taxes past due, each such company shall file with the state treasurer, on forms to be prescribed by the public utilities commission, a statement under oath of its president and treasurer, or of its receiver, if there be one, showing the amount of each item, of which the gross and net income respectively is made up. If any such company shall make any payment on back taxes under the provisions of this act, or otherwise shall accept the provisions hereof and thereafter shall refuse or be unable to make any payment of annual taxes in full when due, as required by law, or shall fail to make payment of one-half of such net income annually to apply on account of over-due taxes, as required by the provisions of section two, the provisions hereof shall not be construed as creating a contract binding upon the state or in any manner to deprive the state of its right, upon such failure or refusal, to foreclose its lien for such amount of taxes as then remains unpaid and over-due, with interest on any unpaid balance against any such company, as provided by law for foreclosing such lien at the time of the passage of this act. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect from its passage. Approved, June 2, 1921. [Substitute for Senate Bill No. 123.] CHAPTER 269. An Act amending an Act concerning the Licensing of Hunters. CHAP. 269 license prohibited. SECTION 1. Section 3142 of the general statutes is amend- Hunting without ed to read as follows: No person shall hunt, pursue, take or kill any bird or wild animal, or take with any trap or other device any fur-bearing animal, or engage in hunting or trapping, without having first obtained a license as hereinafter provided. A license as provided in section 3143 of the general statutes may be granted, under the conditions prescribed in said section, to any person under sixteen years of age for the purpose of trapping fur-bearing animals only. Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting the right of a bona fide resident of the state, or any lineal dscendant of such resident, to hunt or trap without such license on land owned by him or on land leased by him and on which he is actually domiciled, which land is not used for club or shooting purposes. fees for licenses. SEC. 2. Section 3143 of the genral statutes is amended to Applications and read as follows: Any person over sixteen years of age who is not an alien, may make application to the clerk of the town, city or borough in which such person resides, and such town, city or borough clerk after having satisfied himself that the applicant is a bona fide resident of said town, city or borough, and upon payment by such applicant of a license fee of one dollar and a recording fee of twenty-five cents, shall issue to such applicant a license, in the form prescribed and upon blanks furnished by the board, which license shall bear the name, age, occupation, place of residence and an identifying description of the licensee, and such applicant shall make oath as to the truth of his statement as contained in such license, and such license shall authorize the person so licensed to hunt game birds and quadrupeds during the period when the same may lawfully be killed, and at no other time, and only subject to the restrictions and condi CHAP. 269 Licenses to expire the first of January of each year. Penalty. Returns to be made by license holders. tions provided by law. Any person over sixteen yars of age not a resident of this state and who is not an alien may apply to the clerk of any town, city or borough, and such town, city or borough clerk, upon the payment by such nonresident applicant of a license fee of ten dollars and a recording fee of twenty-five cents, shall issue to such nonresident applicant a license in accordance with the foregoing provisions. Any resident alien over sixteen years of age may apply to the clerk of the town, city or borough in which he resides, or if a nonresident, to the clerk of any town, city or borough and the town, city or borough clerk to whom such application shall be made shall, upon payment by such alien, whether resident or nonresident, of a license fee of fifteen dollars and a recording fee of twenty-five cents, issue to such alien a license in accordance with the foregoing provisions. SEC. 3. Section 3144 of the general statutes is amended to read as follows: Each license issued under the provisions of section 3143 of the genral statutes shall be valid until January first next following the date of issue, shall not be transferable and shall be produced for examination upon demand of any commissioner of fisheries and game, game warden or other officer or the owner or lessee in actual occupancy of any land upon which such licensed person may be found. SEC. 4. Section 3146 of the general statutes is amended to read as follows: Any person who shall violate any provision of this act or any provision of chapter 178 of the general statutes or make any material false statement in procuring a license as provided in section two of this act shall be fined not less than seven nor more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days or both, and be fined not less than one nor more than ten dollars for each bird or quadruped, or part thereof, taken or possessed in violation of any provision of this act or of said chapter 178. The license of any person who shall be convicted of any violation of any provision of this act or of chapter 178 of the general statutes or of any law relating to birds or quadrupeds, shall thereafter be void and such person shall not receive a license during the period of one year from the date of such conviction. Upon the conviction of any person under the provisions of this act, the court shall order the license forfeited and sent to the state board of fisheries and game, provided any person whose license shall bcome void as herein provided may apply to the commissioners of fisheries and game for a renewal of such license and said commissioners may hear such application and may renew such license subect to their discretion. SEC. 5. Each person receiving a license to hunt any game or to trap any animal shall receive from the authority granting such license at the time such license is issued a blank return which shall be provided by said board of fisheries and game, upon which such licensee shall, within thirty days after the close of the hunting season in which such licensee may hunt under such license, or the close of the trapping season in which such licensee may trap under such license, make return to the authority issuing such license of the number and of the several kinds of birds and quadrupeds killed by such licensee during such open hunting season, or of the number and kinds of animals trapped during such trapping season, which return shall be forwarded by said town, city or borough clerk, as the case may be, to the state board of fisheries and game. Approved, June 2, 1921. CHAP. 270 [Substitute for House Bill No. 414.] CHAPTER 270. An Act concerning Evergreen Trees, Foliage and Transportation of the Same. trees or foliage restricted. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened: SECTION 1. Any person who shall take from the land of Taking of evergreen another in this state the whole or part of any pine, spruce, hemlock, fir or other evergreen tree with needle-bearing branches thereon without having in his possession or having filed with the town clerk of the town wherein such land is situated the written permission of the land owner or his agent to take the whole or any part of any such tree, or who shall transport any such tree in such condition which is not marked as provided by section two of this act shall be deemed to have violated the provisions of this act. SEC. 2. Section 6275 of the general statutes as amended by chapter 285 of the public acts of 1919 is amended to read as follows: Any person who shall take any Kalmia latifolia, commonly known as mountain laurel, or any ferns, vines or foilage branches of trees or shrubs from the land of another to be sold or offered for sale as a commodity, without having obtained and filed with the town clerk of the town in which the land is situated, the written permission of the owner or lessee, or his duly authorized agent, of the land whereon the same was taken, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars in each case, and one-half the amount collected as a fine shall be paid to the person upon whose information the proceedings were instituted. The owner, occupant or person in charge of the land as such authorized agent, or such person as he may command to assist him, may arrest any person violating any provision of this section, and forthwith take such person before some proper authority, who shall, upon complaint of Mountain laurel, branches not to be another. ferns, vines or foliage taken from land of |