from and after the time of the confirmation of the apportionment and assessment thereof. No such improvement shall be made or contracted for until the estimated or ascertained expense thereof shall have been apportioned and assessed upon the property benefited thereby, and such apportionments and assessments shall have been confirmed according to the provisions of this act.

But the common council may authorize the making of any of the improvements mentioned in the preceding section at the expense of the city at large, in cases where the expense thereof, estimated at hereinafter provided, shall not exceed three hundred dollars.

§ 227. Petition to common council for street improvements.Whenever a petition for the laying out, opening, widening, narrowing, altering, construction or making of any street, public ground, square, park, culvert, arch or bridge, signed by three or more freeholders of said city, shall be presented to the common council, the said common council, if it shall deem the same worthy of consideration, shall proceed as follows:

Such petition shall be entered at length in the minutes of the common council, and be referred to a proper committee. The com.mittee shall examine the subject, and if the proposed improvement is deemed proper and expedient, the committee shall cause the city engineer to make a map and survey, showing the location of such proposed improvement, and the particular lots or parcels of lands, if any, required therefor, and the names of the owners or occupants thereof, so far as the same can be ascertained. Such committee shall report in writing to the common council, stating its opinion as to the propriety of the proposed improvement, with an estimate, in items, of the probable cost and expense thereof, including the amount of damages which, in its judgment, will be sustained in consequence thereof, by the owners and occupants of lands, and buildings if any, required to be taken for such improvement. Such report shall also designate the district of assessment, including that portion of the city which, in its judgment, will be benefited by such improvement, and should be assessed for the cost and expense thereof. survey and map shall be presented with such report.

Such

§ 228. Notice of proposed improvement; hearing and action thereon by common council. The common council, upon the presentation of such report, unless it shall determine to deny the petition for such improvement, shall direct the city clerk to give notice by publication thereof, for at least two successive days, in the official newspaper, of the time and place at which the common council will consider the

matter of such proposed improvement, which time shall be not less than six days from the first publication of such notice. At the time and place mentioned in such notice, the common council shall meet, and then, or at such other time as a majority of its members then present may appoint, shall hear all persons desiring to be heard upon the matter of said proposed improvement, or with reference to the district of assessment, and shall take such action thereon as it shall deem proper. No such improvement shall be ordered except by an ordinance, adopted by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members of the common council. The ordinance directing such improvement shall require and direct that the cost and expense thereof shall be defrayed by local assessment, and shall designate that portion of the city which shall be assessed therefor; such ordinance shall also contain a description of the lots or parcels of land, if any, required for such improvement.

§ 229. Acquisition of land by contract.-After the adoption of such ordinance, the commissioner of public works may contract with the owner or owners of any of the lands required for said improvement for the sale thereof, to said city, at a price, to be stated in said contract, which price shall be approved by the board of estimate and apportionment, and shall be payable at some time after the final confirmation of the apportionment and assessment of the probable cost and expense of said improvement, as hereinafter provided, and upon the delivery of a good and sufficient deed or deeds of the lands so contracted for, conveying to the said city in fee the lands so purchased, free and clear of all liens or encumbrances.

§ 230. Acquisition of land by legal proceedings. Whenever any lands are acquired for such improvement, for the purchase of which no contract shall be made, as provided for in the last preceding section, the commissioner of public works shall apply to the Schenectady county court, or to the supreme court at a special term thereof, held in the judicial district embracing the county of Schenectady, or in any county adjoining said county of Schenectady, for the appointment of three or more commissioners to inquire into and appraise the damages and compensation to be paid for the property to be taken for such improvement.

§ 231. Notice of application for commissioners; when jurisdiction required. Notice of the application, and of the time and place thereof, signed by the corporation counsel, shall be served upon the owners or occupants and the parties interested in the lands to be taken for such improvement, by publishing the same in the official

newspaper at least eight days prior to the time named therein for the making of such obligation. The corporation counsel shall cause a copy of such notice to be served at least eight days prior to the time named therein for the making of such application, upon the owner or occupant of every lot or building, any part of which is to be taken for such improvement, personally, or by leaving the same at the residence, within said city, of such owner or occupant, or in charge of some person of suitable age and discretion; or if said lot or building so to be taken, or a part of which is so to be taken, shall be vacant or unoccupied, then such notice shall be affixed conspicuously upon some part of said lot or building, at least eight days prior to the time of such application.

The court to which such application shall be made shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction of the matter of such proceedings, and of all persons interested therein, by the publication of such notice, as provided in this section, and the directions contained in this section for the service upon the owner or occupant personally, or by leaving the same at the residence of such owner or occupant, or by affixing the same upon the lot or building to be taken, shall be regarded as directory only.

§ 232. Hearing; appointment of commissioners; guardian; filing order. At the time and place specified in the notice, or at such other time to which the court may adjourn, the commissioner of public works, by the corporation counsel, shall make application to said court for the appointment of three or more commissioners; and upon proof, by affidavit being filed of the publication of such notice, as required by the last preceding section, and upon hearing the corporation counsel on behalf of the city and also the parties interested, who appear and desire to be heard, the court shall, by its order, appoint three or more freeholders of said city, who are not interested in any of the land required for such improvement, nor of kin to any owner or occupant thereof, as commissioners to inquire into and appraise the damages and compensation to be paid for the parcel or parcels of land to be taken for such improvement.

If it shall appear on such hearing that any owner or party interested in any of the lands proposed to be taken for such improvement is an infant, or has been judicially declared to be incompetent to manage his affairs, and has no general guardian or committee, the court shall appoint a guardian or committee, as the case may be, to attend to the interests of such person in such proceeding. The corporation counsel shall, forthwith, file with the city clerk copies of all orders made under this section, certified by the clerk of said court.

§ 233. Oath of commissioners; duties. The commissioners so appointed shall thereupon each take and subscribe an oath that he is not interested in any of the property to be taken for the purpose of such improvement, nor of kin to any person so interested, and that he will discharge the duties imposed upon him as such commissioner without favor or partiality.

The commissioners shall thereupon cause a notice of the time and place at which they will meet to enter upon their duties, to be published for at least five successive business days in the official newspaper. At the time and place specified in the notice, or subsequently at an adjourned meeting, the said commissioners shall view the premises proposed to be taken, and shall receive and hear any legal evidence that may be offered by any party interested. After hearing the evidence and allegations of the several parties interested, they shall ascertain and award to the respective owners of the property to be taken, and to all other persons interested in said property, such damages therefor as in their opinion will be a just compensation for them respectively. If there shall be a building or buildings situated wholly or partly upon any of the lands so to be taken, the commissioners shall also determine the value for removal of such building, or buildings; or if such building is only in part upon the land so to be taken, then of the value for removal of that part so upon the land to be taken.

§ 234. Vacancies.- If any of the commissioners so appointed decline to serve, or be or become incapable of acting by reason of absence, death, sickness or other disability or incapacity, the court so appointing such commissioners may, upon the application of any party interested, and upon five days' notice to all parties who have appeared in the proceeding, appoint a commissioner or commissioners in place of those declining or unable to serve.

§ 235. Report of commissioners. The said commissioners or a majority of them shall, as soon as may be, make their written report upon the matters so referred to them, in which they shall describe with all practicable certainty the several parcels of land and the buildings, when the buildings are owned separately from the land, to be taken for such improvement, and the names and residences of the owners thereof, and of all other persons having a legal interest therein, so far as the same have been ascertained by the commissioners, and the particular rights and interests respectively of such owners or other persons so far as can be ascertained, and the amount of compensation to be paid to such respective owners or other persons,

interested in the property so to be taken. If any of the owners or other persons interested in the property are unknown, that fact shall be stated in said report. Such report, with all the evidence, if any, taken before such commissioners, shall be by them delivered to the corporation counsel.

§ 236. Notice of filing report; motion for confirmation. Upon the receipt of such report and evidence, the corporation counsel shall file the same with the clerk of Schenectady county, and give notice that such report is so filed, and that the commissioner of public works, at a time and place to be stated in such notice, will apply to the court for the confirmation of said report, which notice shall be published at least five successive business days, in the official newspaper, and a copy thereof served personally, or by mail upon all the parties interested in the property so to be taken, who have appeared in the proceeding, at least five days before the time stated in said notice for said application.

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§ 237. Hearing of motion for confirmation; order of court. At the time and place designated in the notice, or at such other time. and place to which the said court shall adjourn the matter, the said court, upon proof of service and publication of said notice as required by the last preceding section, and after hearing the corporation counsel and all parties interested, who shall desire to be heard upon such hearing, and who shall file with said court written objections to said report, or any part thereof, may by its order confirm the same, or so much thereof as relates to any of the separate pieces or parcels of land referred to therein, if such report shall embrace more than one parcel of land, without alteration; or with such alteration, except as to the amount of compensation, as it shall deem proper; or may set the said report aside as to all or any of the parcels of land. embraced therein.

§ 238. Reappraisals. If the said report be so set aside, either in whole or in part, so far as relates to any of the several pieces or parcels of land embraced therein, it shall be referred by the said court to the same commissioners, or to new commissioners to be appointed by said court, to inquire into and appraise the damages and compensation to be paid for the parcel or parcels of land as to which said report shall have been set aside. The said commissioners shall thereupon proceed to inquire into and appraise the damages and compensation to be paid for such parcel or parcels in the same manner, and shall make a like report thereon, and the same proceeding shall be had for the confirmation of such report, as herein before provided for the original appraisal.