Chap. 438. AN ACT to authorize the owners and holders of certain bonds payable to bearer to render the same payable only to order. PASSED April 27, 1870. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. It shall be lawful for the owners or holders of any bond issued by any village, town, city or county in this State, pursuant to law, and made payable to the bearer thereof, to render such bonds. non-negotiable, except by the owner's indorsement, by indorsing upon the same, and subscribing a statement that said bond is the property of said owner, and thereupon the principal sum of money mentioned in said bond shall only be payable to said owner, or his legal representatives or assigns. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 506. AN ACT to facilitate the payment of taxes by railroad companies. PASSED April 28, 1870; 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 be the duty of the clerk of the board of supervisors of the several counties of this State (except New York and Kings counties), within five days after the making out or issuing of the annual tax warrants by the board of supervisors of their respective counties, to prepare and deliver to the county treasurer a statement showing the title of all railroad corporations in such county, as appears on the last assessment roll of the towns or cities in such county, the valuation of the property, real and personal, of such corporation in each town or city, and the amount of tax assessed or levied on such valuation in each town or city in their county. § 2. Any railroad company heretofore organized under the laws of this State, or that may be hereafter organized, may, within thirty days after the receipt of such statement by the county treasurer, pay the amount of tax so assessed or levied on their property, with one per cent fees on said tax to the county treasurer, who is hereby authorized and directed to receive such amounts and to give proper receipt therefor. § 3. In case any railroad company shall fail to pay such tax within said thirty days, it shall be the duty of the county treasurer to notify the collector of all towns or cities in their county in which said company is assessed, of such failure to pay said tax, and upon receipt of such notice it shall be the duty of such collector to collect said tax in the manner now provided by law, together with five per cent fees; but no town or city collector shall collect any tax levied or assessed upon the property of any railroad company in said county, by the supervisors of the county, until the receipt of such notice from the county treasurer. § 4. The several amounts of tax so received by the county treasurer, of and from railroad companies, shall be placed to the credit of the town or city for or on account of which the same was levied or assessed, and to the credit of the fund or funds to which the same is now or shall be hereafter pledged or appropriated by law, and the one per cent fees also paid shall be placed to the credit of the collector of said city or town; and in case such amounts shall exceed the sum due from said town or city, the surplus shall, on demand, be paid to the supervisor of said town or city, who shall receive, hold and disburse the same as if received from the collector of said town or city. § 5. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any railroad company from paying their tax to the collector of towns or cities as now provided by law; nor shall the provisions of this act be construed to repeal or in any manner interfere with the provisions of chapter nine hundred and seven of the session laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. § 6. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 507. AN ACT to define the powers of commissioners appointed under chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred sixty-nine, bonding municipalities to aid in the construction of railroads. PASSED April 28, 1870, 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 be competent for any corporation, in and to the construction of whose railroad bonds shall have been authorized to be issued by any municipal corporation in this State, to enter into any agreement with the commissioners appointed to issue said bonds, limiting and defining the times when and the proportions in which said bonds or their proceeds shall be delivered to said corporation, and the place or places where and the purposes for which said bonds or their proceeds shall be applied or used, and any such agreement in writing, duly executed by such corporation and a majority of such commissioners, shall in all courts or places be valid and effectual. And such commissioners shall not be compelled by any court to deliver such bonds or their proceeds to such corporation, until such agreement shall be executed if required by them. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 529. AN ACT in relation to mechanics' liens. PASSED May 2, 1870. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The provisions of the laws relating to mechanics' liens heretofore passed shall apply to bridges and trestle work erected for railroads and materials furnished therefor, and labor performed in constructing said bridges, trestle work and other structures connected therewith, and the time within which said liens may be filed shall be extended to ninety days from the time when the last work shall have been performed on said bridges, trestle work and structures connected therewith, or the time from which said materials shall have been delivered. This act shall apply to all uncompleted work commenced previous to the passage of this act. 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 597. AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to vest in the board of supervisors certain legislative powers, and to prescribe their fees for certain services," passed April third, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. PASSED May 3, 1870; 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 an act entitled "An act to vest in the board of supervisors certain legislative powers, and to prescribe their fees for certain services, passed April third, eighteen hundred and fortynine, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 2. Whenever any board of supervisors shall form a new town within its respective county from parts of other towns or town which shall have bonded to aid in the construction of any railroad under any act authorizing the same, and such bonds or any part thereof shall remain unpaid; or when any board of supervisors shall change the line of any town which shall have bonded to aid in the construction of any railroad in this State, and such bonds or any part thereof shall remain unpaid, the new town so formed, and the town to which shall be annexed the part taken from another town, shall pay a proportionate share of such bonds as shall remain unpaid, which share shall be ascertained from the assessed valuation of such town or towns as contained in the last equalized valuation of the assessment roll made prior to the formation of such town or the change of any such town line. § 2. It shall be the duty of the railroad commissioners of a town, any part of whose territory shall have been detached as aforesaid, to render a true statement to the board of supervisors, as now required. by the general railroad act, of the amount necessary to pay the proportionate share belonging to the territory detached from their town which may be then coming due, and the board of supervisors shall add such proportionate share to the sums to be collected from the town so formed, or to which shall have been added the territory detached from the other town or towns, to be collected as heretofore provided for by statute. § 3. Such proportionate share of moneys so collected shall be paid by the supervisors of the town wherein collected to the railroad commissioners of the town or towns from which such territory shall have been detached, and such commissioners shall use such moneys for the payment of the bonds issued in the same manner they are required to use the moneys raised in their own town. 4. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 636. AN ACT to provide for the better protection of life and safety of property transported on the several railroads of this State. PASSED May 5, 1870: three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. No person shall be employed as an engineer by any officer or agent acting for or in behalf of either of the railroads of this State, who cannot read the printed time tables and ordinary handwriting. § 2. No person shall run an engine on a regular or special train upon either of the railroads of this State who cannot read printed time tables and ordinary handwriting. § 3. Any person offending against the provisions of this act shall, upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable for each offense by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or six months' imprisonment in a county jail, in the discretion of the court having cognizance of the offense. § 4. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 789. AN ACT to amend chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations, and to regulate the same,' passed April second, eighteen hundred and fifty, so as to permit municipal corporations to aid in the construction of railroads," passed May eighteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. PASSED May 18, 1870; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section four of chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 4. It shall be the duty of such commissioner, with all reasonable dispatch, to cause to be made and executed the bonds of such municipal corporation, attested by the seal of such corporation affixed |