above mentioned proceedings, while the said person is acting in the capacity of juror or viewer in any other proceeding. Section 4. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Department, Harrisburg, April 26, 1905. I file herewith, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth with my objections, Senate bill No. 190, entitled "An act to provide for the qualifications of road jurors and viewers in all proceedings for the laying out of roads and highways, and for the assessment of damages and benefits arising out of the opening, widening, narrowing, vacating, or changing of grade of streets, roads and highways; the construction of bridges, sewers, abutments and embankments, and the laying of water-pipes; the condemnation of property for park purposes, reservoirs, school-houses, police and fire-patrol houses, or other public purposes; construction of elevated railroads, steam railroads, subways and pipe-lines, and for all purposes for which jurors or viewers are appointed by the courts to ascertain the damages or benefits caused by the exercise of the power of eminent domain." Under the law, as it exists at present, the road jurors are required to be freeholders. This bill makes the qualification to be that they shall be "citizens of the county." The judgment of freeholders with respect to the values of land is more likely to be correct than that of persons who have no such ownership. Section three of the bill provides, "it shall not be lawful for any court of this Commonwealth to appoint any person as a juror or viewer, in any of the above mentioned proceedings, while the said person is acting in the capacity of juror or viewer in any other proceeding." Road jurors are like other persons, in the fact that they learn by experience. A knowledge of the method in which these proceedings are conducted, of the experts who are likely to be produced as witnesses, of the particular facts which give values to land in different parts of a municipality, is helpful in reaching a correct estimate. This bill, if it became a law, would require courts to be continually seeking for new and inexperienced persons. It is difficult to see how, practically, the plan could be carried into effect. In the city of Philadelphia there are five courts. How is a judge sitting in one of them to know that some other judge in another court may not be appointing a certain person a road juror? This whole question may be safely left to the discretion of the courts. For these reasons the bill is not approved. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 75. Creating the Miners' Relief Association, defining its duties, and providing for the payment of salaries and expenses of the Association. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That within thirty days after this act becomes a law, the Governor shall appoint five persons, citizens of this Commonwealth, one of whom shall be a practical miner actively engaged at the time of his appointment in the bituminous coal region, and another a practical miner similarly engaged in the anthracite coal region, who shall serve for a term of four years, and who are hereby constituted an association by the name and style of the Miners' Relief Association, which association shall organize at Harrisburg, or other convenient place, within thirty days after the appointment of its members, and elect a president and secretary, and adopt such rules as may be necessary for the carrying out the purposes for which they are appointed. Section 2. Each member of the Association shall receive a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, except the secretary, who shall receive one thousand dollars per annum; and in addition thereto they shall each receive actual expenses, incurred in the performance of their duties under this law, which said amounts shall be paid quarterly, by warrant of the Auditor General on the State Treasurer, out of funds not otherwise appropriated. All vacancies occurring in the Association shall be filled by the Governor, as soon as convenient after the occurrence of said vacancies. It Section 3. It shall be the duty of the said Association to keep an accurate record of all accidents occurring in or about the coal mines of the Commonwealth, and in the event of the death or total disablement of any miner, or other person employed in or about the mines, to investigate the facts and keep a record of the same. shall be their further duty to co-operate with the owners or operators of coal mines, and the men employed therein, in all matters looking toward the amelioration of the present condition of the miners, and their relief and assistance in cases of necessity, and adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary to best carry this work into effect. Section 4. The Miners' Relief Association shall also become the custodian of any money specifically appropriated by the State to be used for the payment of relief, pensions or annuitites to miners totally disabled, or to the widows and orphans of miners killed in the course of their employment in and about the mines. Each member of the Association shall give a bond to the Commonwealth, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his duties. Section 5. It shall be the duty of any persons, firm, limited partnership or corporation engaged in mining coal, within the Commonwealth, to give notice to the secretary of the Association immediately upon the happening of any fatal or serious accident, stating the nature and character of the accident, the name or names of the injured or killed, together with such other information relating to the families of the persons so disabled or killed as are necessary to a proper carrying out of the work of the Association. The Association shall also prepare, with the advice and under the direction of the Attorney General and the Governor, a system of relief and granting pensions or annuities to miners or laborers totally disabled from further manual labor by accidents occurring in their employ. ment in or about the mines, and also to the widows and orphans of miners or laborers killed by accident in the course of their employment in and about the mines; the total amount of the said relief, pensions and anuities not to be in excess of the moneys specifically appropriated by the Legislature to the said Association for this pur pose; and the said pensions or annuities not to be a charge upon, or to be paid out of, any fund not thus specifically appropriated by law. The Association shall have no authority to create any pension or annuity which shall or may become an obligation of the State, or which extends for a longer period than from year to year, as the revenues of the Association will justify and warrant. Section 6. The Association shall also prepare a report, which shall be submitted to the Governor and to the next Legislature, setting forth in detail the result of its labors, and the conclusions it has reached through the investigations it has pursued, and the information obtained by it; and shall make such recommendation in said report to the Governor and the Legislature, in regard to the various matters under its control, as the facts seem to them to warrant. Section 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I file herewith, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objections, House bill No. 355, entitled "An act creating the Miners' Relief Association, defining its duties, and providing for the payment of salaries and expenses of the Association." This bill provides for the appointment by the Governor of five persons, citizens of the Commonwealth, who shall constitute an association to be named the Miners' Relief Association. Section two provides that each member of the Association shall receive a salary of $500 per annum, except the secretary, who shall receive $1,000 per annum; and in addition they shall each receive actual expenses, to be paid quarterly. Whatever can be properly done for the relief of injured or disabled miners and their families ought to be done; but, unfortunately, this bill seems to provide for nothing of a definite character to be accomplished by this Association. Section three provides that it shall be the duty of the Association “in the event of the death or total disablement of any miner, or other person employed in or about the mines, to investigate the facts and keep a record of the same." This record would only be a duplication of the work already provided for as one of the duties of the DepartIment of Mines. Section four directs that the Association "shall also become the custodian of any money specifically appropriated by the State to be used for the payment of relief, pensions or annuities to miners totally disabled, or to the widows and orphans of miners killed in the course of their employment in and about the mines." Here is an arrangement for some substantial work to be done; but, unfortunately, no such appropriations have been made by the State, and, therefore, there is nothing of which the Association would be the custodian. There is no other means provided, and no suggestion of any kind in the bill by which other moneys might be secured. In the absence of appropriations for this purpose, to hold out such a hope to the families of dead miners would be only a deception and a delusion. When the Commonwealth is ready to provide means for this purpose it will be time enough to arrange a system for their control. Section six provides for a report to be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature, but with the lack of substance in the other parts of the bill such a report would appear to be unnecessary. There are no other provisions in the bill. For these reasons the bill is not approved. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 76. AN ACT To regulate fishing for sturgeon, carp and suckers in all tide-water streams in the State of Pennsylvania, and their tributaries. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter it shall be lawful to fish for sturgeon in all tide-water streams within the jurisdiction of this State, and their trubtaries, with gill-net or drift-net, the meshes thereof shall not be less than ten inches, except from sunset on Saturday until twelve o'clock on Sunday night, of each and every week: Provided, That no sturgeon under four feet in length shall be taken from the water, killed, had in possession or offered for sale, under a penalty or fine of ten dollars and costs for each and every sturgeon under four feet in length so taken, had in possession, killed, sold or offered for sale. Section 2. If any person or persons or corporation shall fish for sturgeon in any tide-water stream, or its tributaries, as aforesaid, within the jurisdiction of this State, with gill-net or drift-net between sunset on Saturday until twelve o'clock on Sunday night of each and every week, or with a net the mesh thereof less than ten inches, such person or persons, violating this provision, shall forfeit and pay a fine of one hundred dollars, together with costs of suit, for each and every offense. Section 3. That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be lawful to fish for suckers and carp in all tide-water streams within the jurisdiction of this State, and their tributaries, except within a quarter of a mile of any dam-breast, from the fifteenth day of August to the fifteenth day of June, of each and every year, with cast-net, gill-net or seine, the meshes thereof shall not be less than two inches from knot to knot, except from sunset on Saturday night until twelve o'clock on Sunday night, of each and every week. Section 4. If any person, persons or corporation shall violate section three (3) of this act, or any part thereof, such person or persons or corporation, violating the same or any part thereof, shall forfeit and pay a fine of ten dollars ($10.00) for each and every fish so unlawfully caught, together with the forfeiture of nets and other ap plances to the Fish Commissioners. Section 5. The provisions of this act shall be enforced in accord ance with the provisions of an act, entitled "An act to declare the species of fish which are game fish, et cetera, approved the twenty ninth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and one, and the supplements thereto and amendatory thereof. Section 6. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed and this act shall take effect immediately. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Department, Harrisburg, April 26, 1905. I file herewith, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objections, House bill No. 436, entitled "An act to regulate fishing for sturgeon, carp and suckers in all tide-water streams in the State of Pennsylvania, and their tributaries." This bill would make it lawful to fish for sturgeon in all tide-water streams within the jurisdiction of the State, "with gill-net or driftnet, the meshes thereof shall not be less than ten inches," at any time during the year. In the opinion of the Commissioner of Fisheries such permission would be injurious to the interests of the fisheries as well as to the interests of the Commonwealth, since it would result in the entire destruction of the sturgeon. In his opinion the bill ought to have provided for a closed season during the period when the fish are spawning. A proper regard for the fish interest would appear to indicate that it would be wise to adopt some such legislation. For these reasons the bill is not approved. SAML. W. PENNYPACKER. No. 77. AN ACT To provide for the printing and distribution of an increased number of the periodical bulletins of the Division of Zoology, issued from the Department of Agriculture. Whereas, The maximum number of twenty-five thousand copies of the periodical bulletins published by the Division of Zoology, and issued from the Department of Agriculture, has proven to be entirely inadequate to meet the requests that are made for the same, therefore: Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the Department of Agriculture be authorized to publish a sufficient number of copies of each of the periodical bulletins of the Division of Zoology. issued from said Department, to meet the demands of the public: Provided, That the number of any one bulletin shall not exceed fifty thousand. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I file herewith, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. with my objections, House bill No. 375, entitled "An act to provide for the printing and distribution of an increased number of the periodical bulletins of the Division of Zoology, issued from the Department of Agriculture." |