nual installments, as above provided in reference to assessments to be paid by a village, town or county; provided, however, that the board of supervisors of any such county, the town board of any such town, the board of trustces of any such village, or any such owner or occupant of lands upon which, or to whom said sum or any part thereof is apportioned, may elect to pay the whole of their said apportionment or the portion thereof at any time remaining unpaid in one assessment instead of in installments as above provided. The several amounts so adjudged shall constitute liens upon the respective tracts until paid or otherwise removed with interest from the service of notice of such decision of said commissioners as hereinafter provided, that no portion of the costs, expenses, land damages and compensation provided for in and by this act as hereby amended shall be assessed to or paid by any incorporated village or villages, town or towns, or county in which the lands so to be drained are situated, unless a majority of the board of trustees in case of a vil lage; a majority of the town board in case of a town; and a majority of the board of supervisors in case of a county shall have joined in the petition required by the first section of said act as hereby amended. Except, however, that in any case where under the provisions of this act a petition shall have heretofore been or hereafter be presented by the supervisor of a town on behalf of such town, as provided in the first section of this act, in which petition no other member of the town board shall have joined, the said commissioners shall, in case they have decided that the public health requires the drainage of the land, upon the consent of a majority of the town board of such town, manifested by the adoption of a resolution to that effect, in such case determine whether any, and if so, how much of said sum so ascertained for costs, expenses, land damages and compensation shall be assessed to and paid by such town, and thereupon the amount so determined to be paid by such town shall be assessed upon and paid by such town in one asscssment or in annual installments as such commissioners shall determine. The said commissioners shall file in each clerk's office in which their determination of the necessity of draining such lands or duplicate thereof, as provided by section five of this act as hereby amended, is required to be filed, a copy of the said statement and of the said determination, as to the village or town or county, in case there be any such, and of the said apportionment, and of the time and manner of pay

ment thereof, certified by them, which, or a duly authenticated copy of which, may be received in evidence in any suit or proceedings in this state. They shall also cause notice, written or printed, to be given to each person whose lands are assessed by them, to pay any part of said sum, and also to the supervisor of any town or the president of any village, or the chairman of any board of supervisors of any county that may be assessed by them, which notice shall state the time and place of filing such statement and determination. The said notice shall be served personally upon such supervisor, president or chairman and also upon each person whose lands are so assessed, when he can be found with due diligence in a county in which such lands or a part thereof are situated, and when not so found, then by delivering such notice to some person of reasonable age and discretion, residing upon said premises, directed to the owner or occupant thereof, or if no such person be found residing upon said premises and such owner or occupant be not found, then by depositing such notice in the post-office duly enveloped and directed to such owner or occupant at his last known place of residence with the postage prepaid. A copy of such notice with the affidavit of the person who served the same, that he delivered the original to the person to whom it was addressed shall be evidence of such service. Any person deeming himself aggrieved thereby, or any such officer deeming his village or town or county aggrieved, may appeal from the decision of the said commissioners to the court in which such proceedings were instituted or are pending, for the correction of such assessment, provided he serves upon said commissioners notice of said appeal within ten days after the service upon him of the notice of filing such statement, and the party making the appeal shall, within ten days from the service of notice thereof on the commissioners, make a full statement of the grounds of his appeal setting forth the points on which he feels aggrieved by the determination of said commissioners, and file a certified copy thereof in the office of the clerk of the county in which such lands or a portion thereof affected by said proceedings are situated, and present the said statement to the court, and the court shall thereupon proceed without further delay than such as is necessary to give proper notice to the parties interested to hear and finally determine the appeal. The courts may award costs to the successful party on such appeal not exceeding fifteen dollars besides his necessary disbursements to be taxed by the clerk of the court.

§ 3. Title sixteen, chapter eight, part three of the revised statutes, known as the drainage law, is hereby amended by adding thereto after section thirty-seven thereof a new section to be section thirty-eight, to read as follows:

§ 38. The owner of any lands lying wholly or partly within an incorporated village and which are subject to easements for the public use for the maintenance of drains, ditches or channels which have been or shall be hereafter constructed under this act or any special act, who shall desire to improve such lands by laying out streets and lots for building purposes may present to the water commissioner having the charge and supervision of such drains, ditches or channels a verified petition for the amendment of the plan according to which said drains, ditches and channels shall have been constructed and a modification of said easements. The said petition shall contain a description of the lands of the petitioner over and upon which easements for the maintenance of ditches and drains have been acquired and shall be accompanied by a map showing the existing drains, ditches and channels upon the petitioner's lands and a second map or plan (hereinafter called the new map) which shall fully show and describe all the ditches, drains and channels which are to be maintained through said lands when the proposed changes shall have been made and shall describe and show the form and manner of construction thereof and the nature and character of materials to be used in any new construction; and all streets or highways existing or to be opened over and upon such lands and said new map shall conform in all particulars to the requirements contained in section six of this act. The said maps shall be prepared by a competent civil engineer upon such data as may be obtained from the maps and plans according to which said existing drains, ditches and channels were or shall have been constructed and such additional surveys and levels to be made or taken by said engineer as may be required and the said engineer shall certify that the proposed changes will not according to his best knowledge and belief impair the existing drainage for the public use. The changes hereby authorized may include the change of the form and manner of construction of any ditch or drain, the substitution of a covered or closed drain for an open ditch or drain, the change of the line or course of any ditch or drain and the abandonment of lateral or subsoil pipes, ditches or drains the necessity for which is to be obviated by filling the lands to a

proper depth. Any drains or ditches intended to be discontinued shall not be shown on said new map. If the water commissioner to whom such petition is presented shall be satisfied that the drainage for the public use will not be impaired by the proposed changes he may approve of such proposed new plan or map and shall in such case certify his approval in writing and file said petition, maps and certificate in the office of the clerk of the county wherein the lands described in the petition are situated; provided, however, that the said water commissioner shall not approve said new map or plan unless the same shall have been previously approved by a majority of the board of trustees of the village in which all or any portion of the said drains, ditches and channels to be affected by the proposed change are located. The petitioner may thereafter proceed to construct at his own cost and expense the new drains and ditches and to fill in the lands in accordance with the new map so approved by the water commissioner and upon the completion of the work and in case the drains and ditches upon the lands of the petitioner and which are shown upon said new map or plan shall then prove to be sufficient and proper for the public use and necessity for which the easements were originally acquired without the continuance of the ditches, drains and pipes intended to be superseded and discontinued by such plan and not shown thereon the petitioner, his heirs and assigns shall be entitled to and the water commissioner shall issue to him or to them a certificate to the foregoing effect and such certificate shall thereupon be filed in the said clerk's office with said petition, maps and certificate of approval. Upon such filing the easements for the public use in all drains, ditches and channels upon the petitioner's said lands now shown upon said new map shall be extinguished and corresponding easements of the same nature, quality and duration shall be acquired for the public use for the maintenance of the new ditches, drains and channels constructed by the petitioner and shown and described on said new map. The petitioner shall be responsible for all damages he may cause by carelessness or negligence in making the changes authorized as above provided and the water commissioner may require reasonable security for the payment of such damages as a condition of his approval of the proposed changes.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 440.

AN ACT authorizing the commissioners of the land office to convey a lot of land forming part of the grounds of the athletic field of the State Normal School at Cortland to the Cortland and Auburn Railroad Company, for railroad purposes.

Became a law, May 20, 1908, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The commissioners of the land office are hereby authorized, upon application therefor being filed with them by the board of directors of the Cortland and Auburn Railroad Company, and with the approval of the commissioner of education to grant and convey to said railroad company, for a consideration to be agreed upon between said railroad company and the said commissioners of the land office, with a provision in said conveyance providing for a reversion of title to the state when the premises hereinafter mentioned shall cease to be used for railroad purposes, all of the right, title and interest of the state in and to all that tract, piece or parcel of land, being a part of the present athletic field of the State Normal School at Cortland, in the city and county of Cortland, and being part of great lot number seventy-four, more particularly described as follows: Beginning at a point on the division line between said great lot number seventy-four and great lot number seventy-five, sixty feet southerly from the southeast corner of land conveyed to David Yates by deed dated the third day of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-two; thence northerly sixty feet to said southeast corner of David Yates' land; thence westwardly along the south side of said Yates' land two hundred and eighty-eight feet to the east side of Owego street; thence southwestwardly along the said east side of Owego street one hundred and seventy-five feet to a point; thence northeastwardly about three hundred and fifty feet to the place of beginning, containing eight thousand two hundred and thirty-six ten thousandths of an acre, more or less.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.