any clerk or employe of the commissioners or of the board; neither shall the commissioners or either of them, nor their secretary, clerks, agents, employes or experts, accept, receive or request any pass from any railroad in this state, for themselves or for any other person, or any present, gift or gratuity of any kind from any railroad corporation; and the request or acceptance by them, or either of them, of any such place or position, pass, presents, gifts or other gratuity shall work a forfeiture of the office of the commissioner or commissioners, secretary, cerk, or clerks, agent or agents, employe or empolyes, expert or experts, requesting or accepting the same. § 169. Salaries and expenses of members and officers of the board.-The annual salary of each commissioner shall be eight thousand dollars; of the secretary, six thousand dollars; of the marshal, fifteen hundred dollars; of the accountant and of the inspector such sum as the board may fix, not exceeding three thousand dollars each; of the clerical force such sums respectively as the board may fix. In the discharge of their official duties, the commissioners, their officers, clerks and all experts and agents whose services are deemed temporarily of importance, shall be transported over the railroads in this state free of charge upon passes signed by the secretary of state and the commissioners shall have reimbursed to them the necessary traveling expenses and disbursements of themselves, their officers, clerks and experts, not exceeding in the aggregate five hundred dollars per month. All salaries and disbursements shall be audited and allowed by the comptroller, and paid monthly by the state treasurer upon the order of the comptroller out of the funds provided therefor. (Thus amended by chap. 534, Laws 1892.) § 176. Total annual expense to be borne by railroads.— The total annual expense of the board authorized by law, excepting only rent of offices and the cost of printing and binding the annual reports of the board as provided by law, shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars; and shall be borne by the several corporations. owning or operating railroads according to their means, to be apportioned by the comptroller who, on or before July first in each year, shall assess upon each of such corporations its proportion of such expenses, one-half in proportion to its net income for the fiscal year next preceding that in which the assessment is made, and one-half in proportion to the length of its main road and branches, except that each corporation whose line of road lies partly within and partly without the State, shall in respect of its net income be assessed on a part bearing the same proportion to its whole net income that the line of its road within the State bears to the whole length of road, and in respect of its main road and branches shall be assessed only on that part which lies within the State. Such assessment shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon corporations. (Thus amended by chap. 534, Laws 1892.) § 171. Application of this article. The provisions of this article shall apply to all railroads within the State, and the corporations, receivers, trustees, directors or others, owning or operating the same or any of them, and to all sleeping and drawing room car corporations, and to all other associations, partnerships or corporations engaged in transporting passengers or freight upon any such railroad as lessee or otherwise. (Sections 180 to 183, both inclusive, were repealed by chap. 676, Laws 1892.) § 172. The railroad commissioners may in their discretion act as judges to award prizes which may be offered by any responsible person for improvements in machinery or appliances for operating railroads. (This section added by chap. 452, Laws 1894.) GENERAL ACTS RELATING TO RAILROADS ENACTED PRIOR TO MAY 18T, 1891, AND NOT IN TERMS REPEALED BY ANY OF THE PRECEDING LAWS, ALSO ACTS PASSED SINCE 1892. Article VIII, section 1, of the Constitution of the State of New York.- Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation can not be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time. CHAP. 508, LAWS OF 1875. AN ACT to amend section third of title four of chapter eight of part third of the revised statutes. § 3. In suits brought by or against a corporation created by or under any statute of this state, it shall not be necessary to prove on the trial of the cause the existence of such corporation, unless the defendant shall have alleged in the answer in the action that the plaintiffs or defendants, as the case may be, are not a corporation, nor unless the allegations in the answer that the defendant is not a corporation be verified under oath in the manner provided by law for the verification of pleadings in actions in courts of record. CHAP. 311, LAWS OF 1894. AN ACT to authorize certain corporations to construct additional bridges across rivers forming a part of the boundary of this state. SECTION 1. If a domestic corporation has heretofore, in pursuance of express authority of a statute of this state, constructed and is now operating a bridge over a river which for its entire length forms a part of the boundary of this state, and if there be in such river a waterfall more than one hundred feet in height, and if the land of such corporation adjoin a state reservation, such corporation is hereby authorized to establish, construct and maintain another bridge over such river, below such waterfall, at or near such present bridge and not more than five hundred feet northerly therefrom, and the necessary approaches, for the passage of pedestrians and vehicles; and such corporation may lay tracks upon such new bridge and its approaches for the passage of electric, cable or horse cars, and may operate street cars upon the same by electric, cable or horse power, or any other than locomotive steam power, for the conveyance of passengers and property for compensation. Such corporation shall have the power to lease the said bridge and its appurtenances or to enter into any contract or agreement with any person or corporation with reference to operating and using the same. Such corporation may acquire real property for such purposes by purchase or by condemnation, but this act shall not confer upon such corporation any power to infringe upon such state reservation. Such corporation shall not charge greater toll for the passage of pedestrians or passengers in cars or vehicles over such new bridge than it is authorized by law to charge for passage thereof over such existing bridge. Such corporation may, from time to time, increase the amount of its capital stock in the manner provided by the stock corporation law, notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law heretofore passed limiting the amount thereof, but the amount of the capital stock shall not be increased beyond the total amount of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. CHAP. 755, LAWS OF 1894. AN ACT to regulate the use of barbed wire in the construction of division fences. SECTION 1. Barbed wire shall not be used in the construction of any division fence constructed or build after September first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, unless the person, association or corporation desiring to use such material shall first obtain the written consent of the owner of the adjoining property that it may be used. § 2. Any person, association or corporation who shall construct or build a division fence contrary to the provisions of this act, or who shall maintain such fence after so constructing or building the same, shall forfeit and pay to such adjoining property owner, or other person lawfully occupying such adjoining property, treble damages for all injuries occasioned to him thereby. CHAP. 225, LAWS OF 1893. AN ACT to authorize bridge companies to lay tracks and operate a railway upon any bridge connecting any city in the state of New York, of more than one million inhabitants, with any other city in said state. SECTION 1. Any company incorporated for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a bridge or bridges over any river, bay, arm of the sea or other body of water, connecting any city in the state of New York, containing more than one million inhabitants, with any other city in said state, is hereby empowered to lay tracks and operate a railway upon said bridge or bridges. CHAP. 238, LAWS OF 1893. AN ACT in relation to filing amended affidavits to certificates of incorporation of railroad companies. SECTION 1. Where it does not appear by the affidavit indorsed on or annexed to any certificate of incorporation filed under the railroad law, that the amount of capital stock required by the provisions of said law |