Dutchess County.

AN ACT to provide for the presentation of proper bills for the support of indigent insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb or blind persons to the county of Dutchess and the city of Poughkeepsie by institutions for their maintenance in the state of New York, and for the proper commitment of such persons.

Chapter 465, Laws of 1885.

Section 1. All institutions in the state of New York maintaining any insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb or blind persons, whose support is properly chargeable to the county of Dutchess, are hereby required to render to the county treasurer of said county, bills for the support of such persons only as are residents of and properly chargeable to the towns of said county, and to said county and to the city treasurer of the city of Poughkeepsie, bills only for persons residents of and properly charged to said city.

§ 2. The county judge and superintendents of the poor in said county are required to specify in the commitment of any insane, idiotic, deaf and dumb or blind person from said county, the town or ward from which such person is committed.

Erie County.

AN ACT for the support and relief of the poor, and for the gov ernment of the poor department in the county of Erie.*

Chapter 461, Laws of 1867.

Section 1. There shall be elected at the next general election in the county of Erie, and in each third year thereafter, at the general election, one superintendent of the poor, to be chosen in the same manner as other county officers of said county, and whose term of office shall be three years, and shall commence on the first day of January next succeeding his election. The terms of office of the present superintendents of the poor of the said county, shall cease and determine on the first day of January next. The superintendent of the poor of said county shall take and file his oath of office in like manner as other county officers,

See Chapter 293, Laws of 1913, p. 416.

before entering upon the performance of the duties of such office. His salary shall be fixed by the board of supervisors of the said county before his election, and shall not be increased or diminished during his term of office, and the same shall be a county charge. The superintendent of the poor of said county, hereafter to be elected, shall have and possess all the powers and authority and be subject to the same liabilities, pains and penalties as the superintendents of the poor of the said county now have and possess and are subject to under the present law, except as otherwise herein especially provided; and in case of any vacancy occurring in said office by death, resignation or otherwise, the board of supervisors of said county shall fill the vacancy until the next general election, when the vacancy shall be filled by the people choosing, in such election, some person to fill the same, in the same manner as the superintendent is originally chosen.

The

§ 2. There shall be elected at the general election in the county of Erie, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and in each third year thereafter, at the general election, a keeper of the poorhouse of said county, to be chosen in the same manner as other county officers of said county, and whose term of office shall be three years and shall commence on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-three. The term of office of the present keeper of the poorhouse shall cease and determine on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-three. keeper of the poorhouse of said county shall take and file his oath of office in like manner as other county officers, before entering upon the performance of the duties of such office. His salary shall be fixed by the board of supervisors of said county before his election and shall not be increased or diminished during his term of office, and the same shall be a county charge. In case of any vacancy occurring in said office by death, resignation or otherwise, the county judge of said county shall fill the vacancy until the next general election, when the vacancy shall be filled by the people. The said keeper shall have power and it shall be his duty

1. To establish and ordain prudential rules, regulations and by-laws for the government and good order of the poorhouse, the county farm and property connected therewith in said county,

and for the employment, relief, management and government of the persons therein placed; said rules, regulations and by-laws shall be approved and sanctioned by the superintendent in writing, and a copy thereof, with such approval, shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors.

2. The said keeper shall in each and every year, at the first day of the annual session of the board of supervisors, furnish to and file with the said board a full, true, and correct inventory of all the goods, furniture, farming utensils, stock and property of every name, kind and nature belonging to the said county or in its use, on or connected with the poorhouse, or the poorhouse farm, which said inventory shall specify each article and its estimated value, as near as may be, and shall be verified by his oath, and a duplicate thereof shall be kept by him at the poorhouse in a book of invoices, and shall be open for inspection to any taxable inhabitant of said county at all reasonable hours.

3. To purchase the furniture, implements, materials and supplies that shall be necessary, from time to time, for the maintenance of the poor therein, and to employ such help to carry on the business of the poorhouse as shall be necessary in addition to the labor of the paupers.

4. To certify the amount due to any person for bringing paupers to the poorhouse, which amount shall be paid by the county treasurer on the production of such certificate, countersigned and allowed by the superintendent of the poor.

5. To draw on the county treasurer, from time to time, for all necessary expenses incurred by him in the discharge of his duties, to be paid by the treasurer out of any money in his hands for the support of the poor.

6. To keep a book or books, in which shall be entered a correct and full statement of all purchases, contracts, sales and expendi tures made by him as such keeper, which book or books shall be open for the inspection of any taxable inhabitant of the county, at all reasonable hours, and which book or books and the vouchers for such expenditures shall be exhibited by him to the board of supervisors at each annual meeting of the board, and at any special meeting thereof when he shall be called upon by resolution so to do.

7. And the said keeper shall, at each annual meeting of the board of supervisors and whenever called upon so to do, render to the said board a full, just and correct account in writing and in detail, of all expenditures made by him and of his doings as such keeper; the amount and value of the products of the labor of the paupers, and of the produce of the farm, and the name of every person to whom any draft on the county treasurer shall have been given by him, the amount of the same, together with a statement of what the allowance was made for and the price or sum allowed for the service or article for which such allowance was made; which statement shall be verified by the oath of the said keeper, and shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors.

8. He shall also furnish to the board of supervisors, on or before the third week of the annual session of said board, in each year, a detailed statement of all outstanding indebtedness or liability against said poorhouse, belonging to his department, and a failure to furnish such statement or the willful omission of any liability or indebtedness from such statement shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punishable by fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(As amended by chapter 164 of the Laws of 1873, and chapter 363 of the Laws of 1880.)

§ 3. Said keeper before entering upon the duties of his office shall execute to the treasurer of said county, a bond in such penalty and with such sureties to be approved by a judge of the supreme court, as shall be determined by the board of supervisors, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as such keeper, and the proper application of all money and property coming into his custody as such keeper, and for the due accounting for the same, which bond shall be filed with the county treasurer; and in case of default in the conditions thereof, or in any of them, the said treasurer is authorized and required to proscente the same to judgment and execution, and all moneys collected thereon shall be paid into the county treasury for the support of the poor of said county.

§ 4. The present superintendents of the poor of Erie county, shall make or cause to be made, and filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors at the next annual meeting of the said board, and on the first day thereof, a full, just and accurate inventory of all the goods, furniture, farming utensils, stock and property of every name and nature belonging to said county, and connected with the said poorhouse or poorhouse farm at that time in the same manner specified in subdivision second of section second of this act, which shall be in like manner verified by the oath of the said superintendents, and the said superintendents shall in like manner, file with the said board, at the same time a full and detailed account of all expenditures made by the said superintendents during the year next preceding, and shall at the same time exhibit their vouchers for the same, and of all their receipts as such superintendents, with a statement of the sources respectively whence the same were derived, and a statement of the produce of the farm, and of the labor of the inmates of the poorhouse, which account shall be verified by oath in like manner as the inventory last aforesaid.

AN ACT to regulate the commitment of poor persons to the Erie county almshouse.

Chapter 461, Laws of 1896.

Section 1. When any person shall apply for relief to any overseer of the poor in the county of Erie, such overseer shall inquire into the circumstances of the applicant. If it shall appear that the applicant is such an indigent, poor person as to require commitment to the Erie county almshouse, the overseer shall deliver or send said person to the superintendent of the poor of the county of Erie, at his cifice in the city of Buffalo, New York, with a communication in writing stating the facts and circumstances concerning the said applicant, and also giving his reasons why such commitment should be made. Thereupon the superintendent of the poor shall also, upon his part, examine into the facts and circumstances connected with the condition of said applicant, and if in his judgment such commitment is proper, he shall make an order committing said person to the Erie county almshouse. The