Clerk to keep

thereafter, fill such vacancy, unless they shall deem a special town meeting for that purpose advisable, determine upon such place, elect between those having an equal number of votes, and determine the amount or sum to be raised or specified.

5. And be it enacted, That the clerk of the township shall minutes, &c. be the clerk of the town committee, and shall keep a book of minutes of the proceedings of said committee, which shall at all times be open to the inspection of the voters of the township; and when the town committee shall fill a vacancy, or elect in case of a tie between candidates, they shall immediately notify the person or persons so appointed or chosen, and transmit a statement thereof to the clerk of said county.

Overseer of the poor to

statement.

6. And be it enacted, That the overseer of the poor shall, make annual at least ten days before the town meeting, prepare and lay before the town committee his annual report, now required by law to be made to the town meeting, and the town committee shall prepare their annual report, and before the town meeting shall cause the same, together with the reports of the overseer of the poor, to be published in the newspaper printed and circulating in the said township; and in case no newspaper be published in said township, then the town committee shall, at least five days before the town committee meeting, have copies of their annual report and of the reports of the overseer of the poor, posted up in three of the most public places in the township.

Reports of town committees, &c., to be filed.

7. And be it enacted, That the reports of the town committee and the overseer of the poor shall be filed and preserved by the town committee; in posting up the list of officers elected, as required by law, the clerk shall add thereto the results of the election in other particulars; the first election under the act shall be held at the place appointed at the last town meeting, unless otherwise changed, and all special town meetings at the place of holding the last preceding annual town meeting; the same ballot box shall be used at the town meetings, and provided by the clerk, which is used at the state and county elections; the

tion to

election.

judge of election and clerk shall receive the same compen- Compensasation for attending any town meeting as for attending a officers of state or county election, and the town committee shall allow the clerk such compensation, for additional duties required by this act, as they may deem reasonable.

8. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect immediately.

Approved March 16, 1859.

CHAPTER CXLVIII.

SUPPLEMENT to an act entitled "An act to authorize the water commis- . sioners of Hoboken to contract for and introduce water into said city, and provide for the payment thereof," approved March twentieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven.

of water

1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of Assessment the State of New Jersey, That the water commissioners of rents. the city of Hoboken, shall from time to time fix a sum to be assessed annually upon all vacant lots, and lots with buildings thereon, in which Passaic water is not taken, and also upon lots or buildings where the water is taken, if the same are situated upon any road, street, avenue, lane, alley or court in the city of Hoboken, through or in which pipes for distributing the water are laid; which prices and sums so fixed and assessed shall be denominated Water Rents,

of the time of payment of which the commissioners shall give at least thirty days' public notice, by advertisement in a newspaper printed in Hoboken and also the penalties to be incurred for delaying the payments beyond the time so fixed; and the said water rents and penalties shall, until paid, be liens upon the property charged therewith, and on and after the twentieth day of December, in each year, the water commissioners shall deliver to the mayor and council of said city, a certified account of all the water rents and penalties remaining unpaid at that date, and the council shall order the same to be delivered into the hands of the collector of the arrears of taxes of said city, who shall charge interest thereon, at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum, and five per cent. for collections, and is empowered to proceed in the collection of the said rents and penalties in the manner and form prescribed by the charter of the city of Hoboken, for the collection of the arrears of taxes, and the amount of such arrears and interest, when collected, shall be paid to the treasurer of the said water commissioners, by the said collector of arrears; and the said collector of arrears, on the first day of May succeeding the time when the certified list of the rents and penalties, remaining unpaid, shall have been delivered to him by the said council, shall deliver to the city clerk a certified copy of all rents and penalties remaining unpaid at that date, together with the interest and expenses due thereon; and the council of said city shall proceed to advertise and sell the lands and premises liable to such rents and penalties in the manner and under the same terms and conditions as prescribed in section forty-eight of the charter of said city; and in the event of the purchase of any lands or tenements by the treasurer of said city on behalf of the city, then the said treasurer shall immediately pay over to the treasurer of the water commissioners the amount of rents and penalties for which the same may be sold; all moneys received by payments or sales by the said collector of arrears, shall be by him paid over to the treasurer of the water commissioners.

former act annulled.

2. And be it enacted, That the words, "and all chattels," Part of where they occur in section third of said act, are hereby annulled and shall be taken to be of no effect in the collection of the interest of the water bonds of said city.

sioners

to prosecute,

3. And be it enacted, That the said commissioners may Commis prosecute or defend any action or process of law, or in authorized equity, by the name of the water commissioners of Hoboken, &c. against any persons for money due for the water, for the breach of any contract, express or implied, touching the execution or management of the works or the distribution. of the water, or of any promise or contract, made to or with them, and also for any injury or trespass or nuisance done or suffered to the water courses, pipes, machinery, or other apparatus belonging to or connected with any part of the works, or for any improper use or waste of the water.

injuring

4. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons shall Penalty for maliciously or wilfully divert the water, or any portion works. thereof from the said works, or shall corrupt or render the same impure, any pipe, machinery or other property used or required for procuring or distributing the water, such person or persons and their aiders and abettors shall forfeit to the said commissioners, to be recovered in an action of trespass, triple the amount of damages which shall appear on trial to have been sustained, and all such acts are hereby declared to be misdemeanors, and the parties found guilty thereof may be further punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both at the discretion of the court, and nothing in this act or the act to which this is an amendment, shall be construed to exclude any inhabitant of the city of Hoboken from being a witness in any prosecution authorized by this act.

report to be

5. And be it enacted, That the commissioners shall on the Annual first Tuesday in May of every year make a report to the made. mayor and council of the condition of the works under their charge, accompanied by a statement of their receipts and expenditure on account of the same; they shall also publish the same in the newspaper published in the city of

Part of

former act repealed.

Public act.

Hoboken, having the largest bona fide circulation of said. city.

6. And be it enacted, That the powers conferred upon the mayor and council under the eighth section of the act to which this is a supplement, be and the same are hereby repealed, vested in and may be exercised by any justice of the supreme court at chambers, who, for conducting and determining the proceedings, shall be paid by the treasurer, out of the contingent fund of said city, a reasonable compensation.

7. And be it enacted, That this act shall be taken to be a public act, and shall take effect immediately. Approved March 16, 1859.

Names of

CHAPTER CXLIX.

AN ACT to incorporate the South River Bridge Company.

1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of corporators. the State of New Jersey, That Samuel Whitehead, Thomas

Booream, Thomas McDowall, John Whitehead, Thomas Peterson, John R. Reid and John I. Snedeker, and their associates and successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate by the name of "The South River Bridge Company," for the purpose of building a draw or swing bridge over and across South River, at or near the village of Washington, in the county of Middlesex.