Semiannual report.

ante,p. 154.

Committee of

trustees to

make examina

36. Every such corporation shall, semi-annually on or before the first day of February and August in each year, make a report in writing to the superintendent of the banking department, and in such form as he shall prescribe, of its conditions on the morning of the first days of January and July preceding.

§ 4. Section forty-five of said act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

§ 45. It shall be the duty of the trustees of every savings bank, by a committee of not less than three of such trustees, on or before the first day of January and July in each year, to thoroughly examine the tion annu- books, vouchers and assets of such savings bank and its affairs genally. erally, and the statement or schedule of assets and liabilities reported Statement to the superintendent of the banking department for the first of Janutendent to ary and July in each year, shall be based upon such examination, and shall be verified by the oath of a majority of the trustees making such examina- examination, but nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the trustees of any savings bank from requiring such examinations at such other times they shall prescribe.

to superin

be based

on such

tion.;

Semiannual

balance

or's ledger.

*

It shall be the duty of the trustees of any such corporation, as often as once in each six months during each year, to cause to be of deposit- taken an accurate balance of their depositors' ledgers, and in their semiannual report to the superintendent of the banking department, they shall state the fact that such balance has been taken, and shall state the discrepancies, if any, existing between the amount due to depositors as shown by such balances, and the amount due to depositors as shown by the general ledger.

§ 5. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven.

CHAP. 261.

AN ACT to punish trespassing on railroads.

PASSED May 10, 1877. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any person who shall willfully place any obstruction upon any railroad, or loosen, tear up or remove any part of a railroad, or displace, tamper or in any way interfere with any switches, frogs, rail, track, or other part of any railroad so as to endanger the safety of any train, or who shall willfully throw any stone or other missile at any train on any railroad, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in a state prison not exceeding ten years, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprison

ment.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

People v. Ling, 16 Hun, 549.

CHAP. 266.

AN ACT to amend chapter two hundred and eighty-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-four, entitled "An act to incorporate societies for the improvement of poultry, small birds, domestic animals, and fish culture."

PASSED May 10, 1877; three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Laws 1874,

SECTION 1. Section one of chapter two hundred and eighty-eight of Amending the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-four, entitled "An act to chap. 288. incorporate the societies for the improvement of poultry, small birds 9 Edm. 893. and domestic animals, and fish culture," is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

for the im

etc.

§ 1. Any number of persons not less than thirteen may associate and Companies form an incorporation or company for the purpose of importing, rais- provement ing and improving and breeding poultry, small birds, domestic and pet of poultry, animals, and fish culture, and collecting and disseminating useful knowledge concerning them, by holding fairs, disbursing awards and premiums, and by publishing debates and transactions, and by such other lawful means as the members of the company may deem expedient, upon filing in the office of the secretary of state, and also in the office of the clerk of the county in which the business of said company is to be conducted, a declaration signed by all the incorporators, and acknowledged before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds in this state, expressing their intention to form such company, together with a copy of the charter proposed to be adopted by them, and shall thereafter be a body corporate and politic by the name designated in said charter.

CHAP. 271.

AN ACT to legalize and confirm the drawing of the names of persons to serve as jurors.

PASSED May 12, 1877; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any drawing heretofore or hereafter made of the names of persons to serve as jurors at any circuit court, court of oyer and terminer, superior court, court of common pleas, county court or court of sessions pursuant to notice heretofore given and as required by the law as it was on the thirtieth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, is hereby legalized and confirmed; and the jurors so

*So in the original.

Clerk may sign and certify records.

Clerk may

issue orders.

Effect of certificate,

etc. Limitation.

drawn and the juries at any of said courts that may be constituted in whole or in part of the persons so drawn are hereby declared to be, are, and shall be legal, effectual, and valid.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 274.

AN ACT conferring certain powers on the clerk of the surrogate's court of the county of New York.

PASSED May 16, 1877; three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The clerk to the surrogate's court of the county of New York may sign and certify any of the records of said court, including the certificate required by law to be indorsed upon last wills and testaments, and also the certificate of the record thereof, and he may also sign and certify all the unsigned records of said surrogate's office in the same manner as the said surrogate is authorized and empowered to sign and certify said records by virtue of chapter nine of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-four.

§ 2. The said clerk may also, under and subject to the direction of the surrogate, issue any order of said surrogate's court to which a party is entitled as of course, including orders to show cause where no injunction or stay of proceedings is granted in said order.

§3. The certificate and signature of said clerk to said records and orders shall be as effectual for all the purposes thereof as if the same had been made by the said surrogate. But nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the said clerk to exercise any of the aforesaid powers, whenever the surrogate shall otherwise direct, or to deprive the surrogate of the power to do the same.

4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Repealed by ch. 245, L. 1880. See Co. Civ. Proc., § 2509.

CHAP. 276.

AN ACT to prohibit the throwing of cinders, ashes, refuse and garbage into the waters of Long Island sound, and into the bays and harbors opening into the same.

PASSED May 17, 1877; three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall not be lawful to throw, or cause to be thrown, from any boat, scow or vessel whatsoever into the waters of Long Island sound, or into the bays and harbors opening into the same east of Throgg's Point or west of a line drawn from the north point of Lloyd's Neck, to the boundary line between the states of Connecticut and New York on Long Island sound, any cinders, ashes, refuse or garbage. Any person or persons offending against the provisions. of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than six months, and to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars in the discretion of the court for each and every offense, and may be arrested by the authorities of either of the counties of Queens or Westchester. The courts in said counties shall have power and jurisdiction to try said offenders, whether the offense was committed within their respective counties or not. Out of any moneys received for fines under this act, such sum or sums shall be allowed and paid for the expenses and disbursements attending the arrest as the court or magistrate may deem reasonable and proper. The remainder shall be paid to the supervisors of the county in which such action is tried, for the benefit of the poor of said county.

$2. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 285.

AN ACT in relation to certain matters and proceedings in Surrogates surrogates' courts in cases of disqualification.

PASSED May 19, 1877.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

courts.

When sur

rogate of

may act.

SECTION 1. Whenever in any county there shall be no officer qualified to act as surrogate in any matter or proceeding therein in the adjoining surrogates' court thereof, it shall be the duty of the surrogate of such county county to make a certificate of such disqualification, specifying the Amended ground thereof and the name of the surrogate of an adjoining county, ch. 311,1879 and file the same in his office and thereupon jurisdiction of such cause shall be vested in the surrogate so specified, and such further proceedings shall be had thereon before him, as might have been had before him the first-mentioned surrogate, but for such disqualification.

Repealed by ch. 245, L. 1880. See Co. Civ. Proc., § 2485.

Eel weir, fish baskets, etc.,

CHAP. 296.

AN ACT to provide for the removal of eel weirs and other devices for taking fish, from the Delaware river, or of any of its tributaries, and to prevent the maintenance of such devices. PASSED May 19, 1877; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to place, build or maintain in any of the waters of the Delaware river, or of any of the tributaries thereof, within the jurisdiction of this state, any fish basket, eel weir, kiddle, brush or fascine net, or any other permaDelaware nently set means of taking fish in the nature of a seine, which are known to be wasteful and extravagant modes of fishing.

not to be maintained in

river.

Duty of sheriffs.

Removal of eel

§2. The sheriffs of the counties having jurisdiction of said streams, or the sheriff of the county in which any such device for taking fish may or shall be placed, in the streams aforesaid, whenever he shall discover or be informed of the existence of any such device or contrivance for the catching of fish, shall give ten days' notice in two newspapers published in said county, that the said contrivances are known to exist and are declared common nuisances, ordering them to be dismantled by their ownerrs* or managers, so as to render them no longer capable of taking or injuring the fishes of the stream of whatever kind; and if, at the expiration of the said ten days, the dismantling weirs, etc. shall not have taken place, then the said sheriff shall proceed, with such force, good men of the county, as shall be necessary for the purpose, and destroy or dismantle the said fish baskets, kiddles, eel weirs, or such other devices contemplated by this section, so that they may Expenses. be no longer capable of taking or injuring fish; and the board of supervisors of said county shall audit and allow to said sheriff his reasonable and necessary expenses in performing the duties required by this act, and a reasonable compensation for the time necessarily emPenalty for ployed in the performance thereof; and if, upon being duly informed sheriff to by a reputable citizen of the county, that said nuisances are in existence and require abatement, the said sheriff shall not proceed as directed in this act, then he, upon conviction of such neglect of duty, shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars for every such neglect; said fines to be collected by civil action upon the complaint of the person so notifying said sheriff of the existence of such contrivance, or of any overseer of the poor of the town in which said contrivance or nuisance* and shall be paid to the county treasurer for the benefit of the poor fund of such county.

neglect of

perform Juty.

Punishment of offenses

act.

§3. Any person or persons who shall, after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, place, build, or maintain in any under this of the waters of the Delaware river, or its branches, as mentioned in the first section of this act and within the jurisdiction of this state, any fish basket, eel weir, kiddle, brush or fascine net, or other permanently set means for taking fish in the nature of a seine, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace, or any court having jurisdiction thereof shall be punished by a fine not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars, said fine, when collected, to be paid to the county treasurer for the benefit of the poor fund of said county. 4. This act shall take effect on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven.

*So in the original.

See § 40, ch. 534, L. 1879, post, p. 831.