Validation. Assessment. Lien. Proviso. Filing of llen. Details. Prima facie evidence. Scire facias. other suitable material, any public street or thoroughfare, or part thereof, or is now causing such paving, curbing, or macadamizing, pursuant to such ordinance; but, owing to some defect in the petition or other proceeding necessary under existing law to give jurisdic tion to such council, or for any other reason, the cost of such improvement or a portion thereof cannot be legally assessed upon the property bounding or abutting upon the street or part thereof improved, as was contemplated by the act or acts of the General Assembly under which the improvement was attempted to be made-now, by this act, such improvements are made valid and binding; and the council of such incorporated borough may cause the property bounding or abutting upon the street or part thereof upon which the improvement has been made, or is now be ing made, to be assessed with such a portion of the cost of such improvement as is contemplated by the law under which the improvement was made, or is now being made; such assessment shall be a lien upon the property assessed. The lien shall date from the completion of the improvement for which the assess ment is made, and shall remain a lien until fully paid and satisfied: Provided, That a writ of scire facias is issued to revive the same during every period of five years after a lien is filed, as hereinafter provided. Section 2. The council of any incorporated borough of this State entitled to a lien under this act, shall file a lien therefor in the office of the prothonotary of the county within which the property lies, within six months after the completion of the work where the improvement is now in progress, or within six months. after the approval of this act where the improvement is now completed, and the same shall be entered upon record as other municipal claims. Such lien shall state the name of the party claimant, which shall be the corporate name of the borough making the improvement; the name of the owner or reputed owner of the property assessed; a reasonable description of the property assessed; the amount or sum claimed to be due, which shall include interest on the assessment from the completion of the improvement; for what improvement the claim is made, the date of its com pletion, the date of the assessment for which the lien is filed. Such lien, when so filed, shall be prima facie evidence of all matters therein set forth, and of the right of the borough to recover the amount therein claimed to be due, together with interest from the date of filing the lien, costs, and an attorney's com mission of five per centum for collecting. Section 3. The lien, when so filed, shall be proceeded upon for collection by writ of scire facias. The said writ shall be made returnable to the monthly or other return day in the respective courts; and shall Service. be served upon the owner or reputed owner personally, or by leaving a copy thereof, duly attested, with an adult member of his family or of the family in which he resides, at least ten days before the return day thereof. If the owner of the property cannot be found, or has no residence within the county in which the property lies, the sheriff shall thereupon return the said writ nihil; and thereupon an alias scire facias may Allas scire facias issue, which shall be served by notice posted upon Posting and pubthe premises, stating the substance of the writ, at least ten days prior to the return day, and also by advertisement in at least two newspapers, published in the county in which the premises are located, once a week for three successive weeks. Such posting and publication shall be equivalent to a service. lication. Section 4. If the writ shall have been served, and no appearance entered on or before the return day thereof, the plaintiff therein shall be entitled to judg. Judgment. ment, after the return day thereof, for the debt, interest, costs, and attorney's commission. If an appearance be entered, the plaintiff shall also be entitled to judgment, unless a sufficient affidavit of defense be filed, within fifteen days after the return day. If such affidavit be filed, the cause shall be proceeded with in accordance with the rules of law and the practice of the courts. Section 5. When final judgment shall have been entered upon such lien, the plaintiff therein may have a writ of levari facias; and upon the same the sheriff Levari facias. shall cause the said property to be advertised for sale, in at least two newspapers of the proper county, once a week for three weeks, before the day of sale, and shall also give notice, by at least ten handbills posted in conspicuous places, one of which shall be posted upon the property, of the time and place of sale, and thereupon shall proceed to sell the same. of sale shall be the sheriff's office. The proceeds of Distribution. The place sale shall be distributed according to law. Sale. Section 6. The term "owner or reputed owner," as Definition. used in this act, shall mean any person or persons in open, peaceable, and notorious possession of property. Remaindermen, or other persons interested in expectancy, not having been heard, and aggrieved by such final judgment, upon petition presented in the proper court, may have the judgment opened, at any Opening of judgtime before the sale of the property, and they allowed to defend, when, in the judgment of the court, such opening is necessary to secure justice to all parties. Sale of the property shall preclude all persons from setting up anything contrary to the record. Section 7. Nothing in this act shall be taken to restrict the right of either plaintiff or defendant, in proceeding under it, to appeal as in other cases. Section 8. Any person owning property against ment. Appeals. Petition of owner. which a lien is filed under this act, may at any time present a petition to the proper court, praying that the claimant in such lien be compelled to proceed for the collection thereof, and thereupon the court shall make such order as the justice of the case may require. APPROVED-The 15th day of April, A. D. 1907. EDWIN S. STUART. Department of Public Instruction. Salary of Superintendent. No. 71. AN ACT Fixing the salary of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and of the Deputy Superintendents of Public Instruction. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the first day of April, Anno Domini one thousand nine hundred and nine, the salary of the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be five thousand dollars per annum. Section 2. That from and after the passage of this Salary of Deputy act, the salary of the Deputy Superintendents of Public Instruction shall be two thousand dollars per annum. APPROVED-The 15th day of April, A. D. 1907. EDWIN S. STUART. Cities of the first class, rural dis tricts of. No. 72. AN ACT To regulate the paving of sidewalks and setting curbstones in the rural districts of cities of the first class. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That when a majority of the property owners, or the owners of a majority of the feet frontage for a continuous distance of five hundred feet or more, on any one or both sides of any street, road, or lane used as a public highway, in cities of the first class, shali petition councils of said cities for a paved footway along the same, they shall state in their petition the kind of pavement wanted by them; and council shall, when said petition is received, diNotice to owners. rect the highway department of said city to notify the owner of property on said street, or such part thereof as may have been included in the petition, to have such footway paved in front of their respective premises, in the manner indicated in the petition, within sixty days after receiving said notice. Sidewalks. Section 2. Should any of the property owners refuse or neglect to make said pavement for sixty days after notice has been given, the highway department shall proceed, without delay, to have it made, and charge the cost thereof to the property in front of which it is made; and if said cost is not paid within sixty days after a bill for the same has been presented, a claim shall be filed, in the proper court, for the amount thereof, which claim shall be a lien against the property, and shall be collected in the same manner as other municipal claims are now by law collected. Section 3. When said pavement requires repairing, and the owner or owners of property, in front of which the repairs are needed, neglect or refuse after ten days' notice to make such repairs, it shall be the duty of the highway department to have them made, without delay, and the costs thereof shall be collected in the same manner as the cost is ordered to be collected by the second section of this act. Curbstones and Section 4. Nothing in this act shall prevent councils of the cities of the first class from directing the curbstones to be set and brick pavements laid on the brick footways of any of the streets of the cities of the first class, whenever said streets are opened and graded according to confirmed surveys, and the advance of improvements may demand the same. APPROVED-The 15th day of April, A. D. 1907. EDWIN S. STUART. pavements. No. 73. AN ACT To amend section eight of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the protection of trees, shrubs, vines, and plants against destructive insects and diseases; providing for the enforcement of this act, and the expenses connected therewith, and fixing penalties for its violation," approved the thirty-first day of March, Anno Domini one thousand nine hundred and five, by authorizing the Economic Zoologist to acquire and disseminate knowledge of all kinds of insects and their enemies, and the means of suppressing injurious species and maintaining beneficial kinds, and increasing the annual allowance necessary to comply with the requirements of said act, and making an appropriation therefor. Trees, vines, tection of. plants, etc., pro Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That section eight of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the protection of trees, shrubs, vines, and plants against destructive. insects and diseases; providing for the enforcement of this act, and the expenses connected therewith, and fixing penalties for its violation," which provides: "Section 8. Any person violating the provisions of March 31, 1905. this act, or offering any hindrance to the carrying out of this act, shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, Section 8, act of cited for amendment. Violation of act. Fine and, upon conviction before a magistrate or justice of the peace, shall be fined not less than ten dollars and not more than one hundred dollars for each and every offense, together with all the costs of the prosecution. and shall stand committed until the same is paid. All necessary expenses under the provision of this act, shall, after approval in writing by the Secretary of Agriculture and Auditor General, be paid by the State Treasurer upon warrant of the Auditor General, in the manner now provided by law: Provided, That not more than thirty thousand dollars shall be so expended, for this purpose, in any one year," be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 8. Any person violating the provisions of this act, or offering any hindrance to the carrying out of this act, shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction before a magistrate or justice of the peace, shall be fined not less than ten dollars and not more than one hundred dollars for each and every offense, together with all costs of the prosecution, and shall stand committed until the same is paid. The Economic Zoologist is hereby authorized to acgist may acquire quire and disseminate knowledge of both beneficial and obnoxious insects of all kinds, and of their enemies, and of the means of suppressing all kinds of insect pests and encouraging and increasing the natural enemies of such pests. Economic Zoolo and disseminate knowledge as insects. Appropriation. to Section 2. That the sum of eighty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and the same is hereby specifically appropriated for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act, and the act to which it is an amendment: Provided, however, That not more than forty thousand dollars shall be expended in any one year. APPROVED-The 15th day of April, A. D. 1907. EDWIN S. STUART. Representative districts. No. 74. AN ACT To amend section one of an act, approved the fifteenth day of February, one thousand nine hundred and six, entitled "An act to fix the number of Representatives in the General Assembly of the State, and to apportion the State into Representative Districts, as provided by the Constitution," so as to include McAdoo, Landingville, and Tower City in their respective contiguous districts, in the county of Schuylkill. Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That section one of an act, entitled "An act to fix the number of Representatives in the General Assembly of the State, and to apportion the State into Representative districts, as |