bidden.

port and discharge such passengers and property at and from

and to such places on the due payment of the fare or freight Preference legally authorized therefor. No preference for the transacmore com- tion of business shall be granted by said railroad corporation others, for- to any one of two or more companies or associations compet

ing, in the business of transporting property for themselves
or for others, upon the railroad owned or operated by such
corporation, either upon the cars, or in the depots or build-
ings, or upon the grounds of such corporation; and whenever
the railroad of such corporation, at or near the same place,
connects with, or is intersected by any other railroad, such
corporation shall fairly and impartially grant and afford to
each of such competing companies or associations, equal
terms of accommodations, privileges and facilities in the
transportation of property and freight to and upon such con-
necting or intersecting railroad, and shall also grant and
afford to each of such competing companies or associations,
and to the officers, agents and employees thereof equal facili-
ties in the interchange and use of express, freight and other
cars, so far as may be necessary to accommodate the busi-
ness of each of such competing companies or associations,
and every railroad corporation shall be liable to the party
aggrieved in an action for damages for any neglect or refusal
in the premises. The provisions of this section shall apply
to all existing railroad corporations.

Ante, vol. 3, p. 634.
$ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 68
AN ACT to amend chapter seven, title three, article four,

part three, of the Revised Statutes, entitled “Of deposi-
tions taken in this State, to be used in courts of other
States and countries."

Passed March 9, 1867, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections twenty-nine and thirty of article four, title three, chapter seven, part third of the Revised Statutes, are hereby amended so as to read as follows:

$ 29. Any party to a suit depending in any court of any other state of the United States, or of any foreign country, may obtain the testimony of any witness residing in this state, to be used in slich suit.

Ante, vol. 2. p. 414. When indge $30. If a commission to take such testimony shall have Phall issue issued from the court in which such suit is pending, or if any witness to notice to take the testimony of witnesses in this state, shall

811mons to

have been issued in any other state of the United States in appear be-
any suit therein pending, pursuant to the statutes of said missioners.
state, on producing such commission or such notice to a jus-
tice of the supreme court, or the judge of the county court
of any county, and on due proof being made to such officer
that the testimony of any witness residing in this state is
material to the party desiring the same, such officer shall issue
a summons to such witness, requiring him to appear before the
commissioners named in such commission, or before a com-
missioner for the state in which said notice was issued and
said suit is pending, or before any officer designated in said
commission, or in said notice by his title of office, to testify
in said suit.

Ante, vol. 2, p. 414.
$ 2. Section thirty-one of said article is hereby amended to
read as follows:

$ 31. Such summons shall specify the time and place at Contents of which such witness is required to attend; the place shall be within the county in which such witness resides, or within forty miles of his residence if out of his county; and such witness shall be paid the sum of two dollars for each day of his attendance in obedience to said summons, and eight cents per mile for his necessary travel in going to said place.

Ante, vol. 2, p. 414.

1

summons.

CHAP. 71. AN ACT authorizing the Canal Board to appoint a canal boat inspector at Whitehall, in the county of Washington.

Passed March 9, 1567; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follou's :

Section 1. For the purpose of protecting the interests of the state in its property, revenue and tolls, the canal board Grapectorat is hereby authorized to appoint an inspector and measurer of lumber and of boats and their cargoes at Whitehall, in the county of Washington, who shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties now imposed by law upon such officers, and receive such compensation for his services as His duties may be fixed by the canal board. In addition to the foregoing powers and duties, the said inspector shall bave power and it shall be his duty to regulate and station all vessels, boats, rafts and other craft in the harbor of Whitehall, within the corporate limits of the village of Whitehall

, and from time to time to remove such vessels, boats or other craft as may not be employed or detained in discharging or receiving

and powers

cargoes or loading, to accommodate other vessels, boats or other craft to load or unload, and to prevent all vessels, boats, rafts and other craft from obstructing for an unreasonable length of time, the entrance of boats, rafts and other craft into the Champlain canal at Whitehall, aforesaid.

S 2. The said inspector shall have power and it shall be his duty to determine how far and in what instances the masters and others having charge of vessels, boats or rafts shall accommodate each other in their respective situations and

locations in said harbor; and if any master or other person Penalty for having charge or control of any vessels, boats or rafts within inspector. the limits aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to obey the direc

tion of said inspector in matters within his authority, or if any person shall resist or oppose said inspector in the execution of the duties of his office, such person or persons shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of twenty-five dollars, to be recovered with costs in the name of the people of the state of New York, in any court having cognizance of the same, and all money's so collected shall be paid over to the collector of canal tolls at Whitehall aforesaid, who shall account for and pay over the same to the treasurer of this state.

S 3. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 77.
AN ACT to fix the number necessary to form a quorum

of the Board of Excise, in and for the Metropolitan
Police District of the State of New York, excepting and
excluding the county of Westchester.

PASSED Varch 11, 1807. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follou's :

SECTION 1. A majority of the board of excise in and for the Metropolitan Police district of the state of New York, excepting and excluding Westchester county, is hereby declared to be a quorum thereof, with power to do any and all business intrusted to said board. But no action or order shall be had or taken by the said board unless * a meeting thereof, regularly called, there shall have been a vote thereon bad and taken, in which vote a majority of said board shall have concurred.

$ 2. This act shall take eifect immediately.

* So in original.

CHAP, 84.
AN ACT to increase the salary of the office of School

Commissioner.

Passed March 16, 1867; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section seven, title two, chapter five hundred and fifty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the general acts relating to public instruction,” is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Ante, vol. 6, p. 308. § 7. Every school commissioner shall receive an annual salary of eight hundred dollars, payable quarterly, by the treasurer, on the warrant of the comptroller and the certificate of the superintendent of public instruction, out of the income of the United States deposit fund appropriated to this purpose, or to the support of common schools.

S2. Section nine of said act and title is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

$9. The board of supervisors shall annually audit and allow to each commissioner within the county the fixed sum of two hundred dollars for bis expenses, and shall assess and lery that amount annually, by tax, upon the towns composing his district.

Anto, vol. 6, p. 309. 33. In any county of this state, where the salary of the commissioner has been increased by the board of supervisors to an amount exceeding one thousand dollars, including necessary expenses, nothing in this act shall be so construed as to increase the salary of said commissioners.

$ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAP. 91.
AN ACT to authorize Joint Stock Fire and Marine Insur-

ance Companies to reduce their capital stock, and to
amend the act to provide for the incorporation of Fire
Insurance Companies.

Passed March 16, 1867. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :

SECTION 1. Whenever it sball appear to the superintendent when and of the insurance department, from an examination made by condition him in the manner prescribed by law, that the capital stock senetin of any joint stock fire or marine insurance company organize surance ized pursuant to law, is impaired to an amount exceeding may allow twenty-five per cent of such capital, and he shall be of the reduce

capital

duction not

opinion that the interests of the public will not pe prejudiced etück, &c. by permitting such company to continue business with a

reduced capital, it shall be lawful for such company, with the permission of the said superintendent, to reduce its capital stock, and the par value of the shares thereof, to such amount as the said superintendent may, under his hand and official seal, certify to be proper, and as shall, in his opinion, be justified by the assets and property of such company: provided that, in fixing such reduced capital, no sum exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars shall be deducted from the assets and property on hand, which shall be retained as surplus assets, and provided that no part of such assets and property shall be distributed to the stockholders, and provided, further, that the capital stock of any such company shall not be reduced to an amount less than the sum now required by law for the organization of a new company,

under the general insurance laws, for the transaction of busiWhen re

ness at the place where such company is located, and of the to be made. kind which such company is authorized to transact.

S 2. No reduction of the capital of any such company shall be made, except upon a resolution of its board of directors, approved by, at least, two-thirds of the directors, and certified under its corporate seal, signed by the president and, at least, two-thirds of the directors, and proved or acknowledged in the manner required by law for the proof or acknowledgment of conveyances, which certificate shall be filed! ?

in the office of the said superintendent before any action cortificate of superiu- sball be had by him thereon.

S 3. The superintendent of the insurance department, in case he shall permit any such company to reduce its capital in the manner provided in this act, shall execute the certificate required by the first section in duplicate, and deliver one of such certificates to the officers of such company, who shall forth with file the same with the clerk of the county in which such company is located, and the other of such certificates shall be filed in the office of said superintendent.

S 4. Such company, upou filing the certificate with the county clerk, as required by the third section of this act, shall, with such reduced capital, possess the same rights and be subject to the same liabilities that it possessed or was subject to at the time of the reduction of its capital, and

the charter of such company shall be deemed to be amended New certifi- in respect to the amount of capital and the par value of the

shares so as to conform to such reduction.

$ 5. It shall be lawful for the said company to require the return of the original certificate of stock held by each stock. holder, and in lieu thereof to issue new certificates for such number of shares as the said stockholder may be entitled to, in the proportion that the reduced capital may be found to bear to the original capital of the company.

Filing of

tendent.

cates of stock.