sessments they will require the same to be paid, and order that the assessments as made by them be placed on the duplicate tax list against the lots and lands so assessed.

SEC. 22. [Same-Collection-Lien.]-Where the commissioners make an assessment they shall cause an entry to be made directing the clerk to make and furnish to the treasurer a special duplicate, with the assessment arranged thereon, as required by their order. The clerk shall retain a copy thereof in his office, and all assessments shall be collected and accounted for by the treasurer; and in case such assessments, or any part thereof, are not paid by the party or parties owning or controlling the lots or lands against which such assessments are made in the manner contemplated by this act, such assessments shall be and remain a perpetual lien against the premises so assessed; and the county treasurer shall proceed to advertise and sell said lots and lands, or such portions thereof as shall be necessary to pay said assessments, together with the costs, in the same manner as real estate is now by law advertised and sold by him for the payment of delinquent taxes; Provided, That the commissioners may extend the time of payment (without interest) of said assessments, to correspond with any extension of time that may be granted to any contractor under the provisions of section one of this act, and in case said assessments are not paid when due, they shall draw ten per cent interest until paid: And provided further, That the provisions of this act shall apply to all contracts entered into and assessments made, under the provisions of [the act hereby amended] as well as to such contracts and assessments hereafter to be made. [Amended 1885, chap. 94.]

SEC. 23. [Neglect of officers-Penalty.]-Any officer mentioned in the act who shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty imposed upon him by the provisions of this act, shall forfeit and pay a fine of twenty-five dollars for every such offense, to be recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction in the name of the state of Nebraska, for the benefit of the common school fund of the county, at the suit of any person aggrieved thereby.

SEC. 24. [Ditch in two counties.]-When a ditch is proposed which will require a location in more than one county, application shall be made to the board of commissioners of each county so affected, and the surveyor or engineer shall make a report for each county. Application for damages shall be made, and appeals from the finding of the commissioners in joint session locating and estabfishing such ditch, and from the assessment of damages or compensation shall be taken to the district court in the county in which the lots or lands which are immediately affected are located. A majority of the commissioners of each county, when in joint session, shall be competent to locate and establish such ditch.

SEC. 25. [Same-Tax.]-The commissioners shall, if necessary, annually at their June session, levy a tax not exceeding one mill on the dollar of the assessed valuation of the county, sufficient to pay for the location and construction of such portions of the respective ditches located by them, or by the commissioners of two or more counties, as may be apportioned to the county, and they shall pay out of any fund applicable to such purpose any sum assessed upon land owned by the county.

SEC. 26. [County ditch fund.]-The board of county commissioners of any county in this state are hereby authorized whenever they deem it necessary to create a county ditch fund, to consist of taxes collected on county levies, and all balances remaining unexpended of special ditch funds arising from excess of assessments made on ditch improvements after the expenses thereof have been fully paid, and the commissioners are hereby authorized, whenever necessary, to borrow from the county general fund for the benefit of the above named ditch fund, and all moneys so borrowed shall be, as soon as practicable, returned to the county general fund.

SEC. 27. [Obstructing ditch.]-Whoever wilfully obstructs any ditch shall forfeit to the county in which such ditch is located the sum of twenty-five dollars,

to be recovered before any court having competent jurisdiction in the name of the state, and shall moreover be liable in damages to the party injured.

SEC. 28. [Irregularities-Injunctions.]-The collection of assessments to be levied to pay for the location or construction of any ditch shall not be enjoined nor declared void; nor shall said assessment be set aside in consequence of any error or irregularity committed or appearing in any of the proceedings provided by this act, and no injunction shall be allowed restraining the collection of any assessment until the party complaining shall first pay to the county treasurer the amount of his assessment, which amount so paid may be recovered from the county in an action brought for that purpose in case such injunction is made perpetual.

SEC. 29. [Repealed act of 1873, G. S. 1057.]

ARTICLE II.-DRAINAGE BY INCORPORATED COMPANIES.

SECTION 1. [Drainage companies Organization.]—That any number of persons, not less than three, being owners of lands wet or liable to be overflowed, may organize a company for the purpose of draining, reclaiming and protecting such lands, which shall have power to straighten, widen, deepen and make new channels for the whole or any part of any river, or water course, and to construct any dykes, drains, levees, and breakwaters, and to do everything which they shall deem proper to accomplish the purpose for which the company shall have been organized. [1877 § 1, 160.]

SEC. 2. [Directors.]-Such persons shall sign articles of association, specifying the name and purposes of the company, and shall elect from their number not less than three nor more than seven directors, of the time and place of which election the members shall be notified by notices signed by three members, and posted in three public places near the work five days before the election, but notice may be waived by the members. Vacancies in the offices of directors may be filled by the appointments made by the remaining members.

SEC. 3. [Articles-Corporate powers.]-Said articles of association shall be recorded in the county clerk's office of the several counties in which any part of the work shall be situated, and from the date of filing the same for record in either of such counties, such company shall be a body corporate, with all powers incident to such bodies and to consummate the purposes for which it was organized; and to buy, receive donations of, and hold, and sell and convey any lands benefited, or to be benefited, by the proposed work of the company; and any person owning land supposed to be liable to be affected by said work, may become a member of the company by signing the articles of association. The corporate existence of the company shall be judicially recognized, and the company's records shall be prima facie evidence of its acts.

SEC. 4. [Annual election.]-An annual election shall be held by the company at such time and place as the company shall appoint for the election of directors, of which twenty days notice shall be given by one week's publication in one newspaper of general circulation in each county in which any part of the work shall be situated, if such paper shall be printed and published in such county, and if there be none, then by posting notices in three public places near the work.

SEC. 5. [Officers-Duties.]-A majority of the directors shall form a qucrum, and shall have control and management of the business and affairs of the company. They shall appoint one of their number president, and shall appoint a secretary, treasurer, and such other officers and agents as they may see fit; and all officers and agents shall be entitled to fair compensation for their services. The treasurer shall give bond to the company with proper penalties and sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duties, and the safe keeping and prompt payment, according to the orders of the board of directors, of all moneys that may come

ART. II. "An act to authorize the construction of levees, dykes and drains, and the reclaimation of wet and overflowed lands by incorporated companies." Laws 1877, 160. Took effect June 1, 1877. See 12 Neb. 164.

into his hands. The president, directors, secretary and treasurer shall hold their respective offices for one year, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified, and shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. The secretary may administer all official oaths.

SEC. 6. Appraisers-Appeal.]-The company may apply to the district court, or county court, in term time, or to a judge thereof in vacation, of any county in which any part of the proposed work shall be situated, which court or judge, as the case may be, shall immediately appoint three disinterested appraisers, and such appraisers shall examine all lands, the intrinsic or market value of which may be by them supposed to be liable to be affected by the construction of the proposed work, or by the appropriation of all or any part of it for right of way or other purpose of the company, or of any stone, timber, gravel, or other material required by the company, and shall make out separate schedules in the smallest United States government subdivisons of all such lands situated in each county, and shall assess to each tract the full and entire amount of such benefit which it will, in the opinion of a majority of them, receive, without any regard to the cost of such work, and the injury which in the opinion of a majority of them it will sustain; and append to each schedule their affidavit that the same is a true assessment, and return the same to the secretary of the company, who shall cause it to be filed for record and recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the land therein described shall be situated, and from the date of filing thereof such assessments shall respectively be a lien on the lands upon which they were assessed, for the amount of such assessments of benefits, less the amount of injury assessed. And when, and as often as it shall become necessary or desirable to re-assess any tract of land for the correction of any mistake, or to enable the company to appropriate any part of the same for right of way, or any stone, timber, gravel or other material for construction of the work; and whenever, and as often as it shall be desired by the company to make a re-assessment, of any tract or tracts of land for any purpose, said appraisers shall, upon request of the company, make such re-assessments, and so, from time to time, when, and as often as they shall be requested, and shall make and return schedules of the same, and such schedules shall be filed for record and recorded in the county clerk's office as aforesaid, and shall constitute liens, shall be collected, and shall in all respects be governed by the same rules, and have the same force and effect as the original assessments above provided for; and if any appraiser appointed as aforesaid shall die, resign or fail to act as such, when the interests of the company shall in the opinion of the president require it, his appointment as such appraiser shall thereby be vacated, and upon representation of such vacation to such court or judge by the president such court or judge shall, upon the application of the company, immediately fill such vacancy by the appointment of a like disinterested person, who shall qualify by and in the manner above provided, and the same shall be done when, and as often as the company may request; Provided, That upon filing such schedule for record, the secretary shall give notice thereof by posting a notice in a conspicuous place in the county clerk's office, and any party aggrieved by any such assessment may, within thirty days thereafter, appeal therefrom to the district court, or county court of said county; And provided further, That any person who is under legal disabilities at the time of the making and filing of such schedule, shall have the right of appeal as aforesaid at any time within thirty days after the removal of such disabilities; And provided further, That any two appraisers may perform all the services required by this section, and that all acts concurred in by any two, shall be valid, binding and effectual.

SEC. 7. [Survey-Estimate of cost.]-Before the actual construction of the work shall be begun, surveys of it, and estimates of its costs shall be made, and the appraiser's schedules of assessments returned to the secretary, and if the estimated cost of the work shall exceed the aggregate amounts of the assessments, the work shall not be further prosecuted.

SEC. 8. [Work divided into sections.]-Before the actual construction

of the work shall be begun, the company shall divide the main line of their work into as many sections, of not exceeding six miles in length, as may be convenient, and each of such sections, with its auxilliaries, branches and tributaries, shall form a separate division of the work; and they shall also appropriate and set apart as applicable to, and hold the same inviolate for, the construction of each of such divisions respectively, a portion of their resources bearing the same ratio to the whole of their resources properly applicable to the construction of the work, as the estimated cost of such division shall bear to the estimated cost of the whole work; and so much thereof as shall be necessary shall be applied for the purpose for which it was appropriated and set apart, and the surplus may be applied to other legitimate purposes of the company, and the work of construction shall be prosecuted as simultaneously upon the whole line as may seem to the directors consistent with proper economy.

SEC. 9. [Notice to landowners.]—The owners of land liable to be affected by the work of a company, shall have notice of the time and place, when and where the appraisers will begin the examination of lands and the assessment of benefits and injuries thereto, and of the order in which it shall be intended to proceed with the same, which notice need not specify what lands are to be examined or assessed, but may be general, and addressed to the public, and shall be sufficient if published for three successive weeks in a newspaper published in the county in which the lands are situated, and proof of its publication may be made by affidavit of the printer or publisher of the paper in which it is published, or of the secretary of the company.

SEC. 10. [Assessments, how paid.]-The board of directors may order the payment of said assessments in installments not exceeding ten per centum per month, and payment thereof shall be made to the treasurer in compliance with such order; Provided That no more shall be collected than shall, in the opinion of the directors, be required tor the legitimate purposes of the company in the prosecution of the work; And provided further, That unless the main line of the company's proposed work shall exceed twenty miles in length, no part of the assessments shall be collected by the company until the company shall have given bond, payable to the state of Nebraska, with surety approved by the clerk of the district court, or judge thereof, of a county in which the work, or some part of it, is situated, conditioned for the faithful application to the legitimate purposes of the company of all money which shall be received by them for the construction of the work, which bond shall be filed in the clerk's office of the district court in the county where it was approved and a copy thereof in the clerk's office of such court in each of the other counties in which any part of the work is situated; and any person or persons, aggrieved by any breach of the conditions of said bond shall have an action thereon in any court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of all damages thereby sustained by him or them.

SEC. 11. [Same-How enforced.]-Payment of assessments of benefits may be enforced by foreclosure of the lien in any court of competent jurisdiction, in the same manner as is provided by law for the foreclosure of mortgages, and the sale of mortgaged premises for the collection of debts, and payment of damages assessed for injuries to lands may be enforced by an action in a like

court.

SEO. 12. [Appropriation of property.]-The company may appropriate any land, stone, timber, gravel, or other materials necessary for the right of way, or the construction, maintenance or improvement of their proposed work, by first paying into the county treasury of the county where the land is situated, for the use of the owner of the land, the amount of damages assessed by said appraisers to him therefor.

SEC. 13. [Bonds.]-Any company where work shall be estimated to cost three thousand dollars or more, may issue their bonds, with or without coupons, not exceeding in the aggregate the estimated cost of their work, which bonds may each be of any denomination, and payable at any time and place, and bear any rate

of interest not exceeding ten per centum per annum, payable annually or semiannually, and may secure the payment thereof by pledge or pledges, or mortgage or mortgages, upon said assessments for benefits to lands or any part thereof, or any other property of the company; which pledges and mortgages may each provide for a sinking fund, for the gradual extinguishment of the debts, and such company may, from time to time, negotiate said bonds in any market or place, at any rate of discount not exceeding ten per centum; and after any such bonds shall have been negotiated, no action or proceeding shall be instituted, nor any defense to any action be interposed by the company or any other person or persons, the object or tendency of which shall be to impair the validity or security, or to depress the value of such bonds, any provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 14. [Foreclosure of lien.]-After the expiration of three years from the recording of the appraiser's schedule of assessments in any county, no action shall be instituted to foreclose any lien on land situated in said county, unless the assessments secured by such lien shall have been pledged or mortgaged as security for one or more bonds then outstanding; and in such cases, no tract of land shall, after the lapse of said three years, be liable for more than its fair proportion of the assessments pledged or mortgaged as security for bonds of the company, and required for the extinguishment thereof.

SEC. 15. [Irregularity of proceeding-Effect.]-No informality, irregularity, or omission, which shall have occurred, or which may occur, in the organization or proceedings of any company, or in the appointment or proceedings of any of them, officers, agents, or the appraisers shall affect the rights and privileges of any such company, or invalidate the assessment of the appraisers, nor any sale of land which shall be made under any foreclosure of any lien for the assessment thereon; Provided, The amount of the assessment shall be clearly set forth in the appraiser's schedule, and the schedule shall have been duly recorded, and notice of the recording thereof given as herein before provided,

CHAPTER 89 a.-TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

SECTION 1. [Associations governed by this act.]-That all associations, whether the same shall have been or may hereafter be organized or incorporated under the laws of this state, or by and under authority of any other state or territory, or by authority of the United States, whose object and purpose is the transmission, collection, and distribution of dispatches by telegraph, shall be subject to the regulations and restrictions hereinafter prescribed by this act. [1888, chap. LXXX.]

SEC. 2. [Statement of affairs.]-Every telegraph company and every press association or corporation engaged in the transmission, collection, distribution, or delivery of telegraphic dispatches, either for private use or for publication in newspapers, shall within thirty days after this act goes into effect, file in the office of the secretary of state a statement,certified to under oath by its president and secretary or by two of its officers, embodying the following information, to-wit: The name of the association, amount of capital invested, character of its business, together with a true copy of its articles of incorporation or articles of copartnership, with regulations and by-laws then in force.

SEC. 3. [Certificate of authority.]-It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to issue a certificate to every association or corporation that has filed the statement required by the second section of this act upon payment of five ($5) dollars, which certificate shall convey authority to such association or corporation to conduct its business within this state, under the restrictions and penalties imposed herein.

SEC. 4. [Forfeiture-Penalty.]-Every telegraph company, press association, or corporation engaged in the transmission, collection, and delivery of telegraphic dispatches that shall refuse or fail to comply with the above provisions within the time herein prescribed, shall forfeit its right to carry on the collection, CHAP. 89 a. “An act to prohibit extortion and discrimination in the transmission of telegraph dis

patches."