4. For a third and final period of ten years, a sum equal to fifty per centum of the said taxes, or so much of the said fifty per centum as shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five cents per acre. 5. It shall be lawful for the owner or owners of the said land, after the same has been so planted for at least ten years, to thin out and reduce the number of trees growing thereon to not less than six hundred to the acre, so long as no portion of the said land shall be absolutely cleared of the said trees. 6. The benefits of this act shall not be extended to nurserymen or others growing trees for sale for future planting. 1 June 1887 1. P. L. 287. During the third and final ten years. Ibid. Thinning out. Ibid. Not to apply to Number of trees 7. The owner or owners of forest or timber land in this commonwealth, which nurserymen. has been cleared of merchantable timber, who shall, within one year after the Ibid. 2. said land has been so cleared, have given notice to the commissioners of their Notice to commisrespective counties that the said land is to be maintained in timber, and who sioners. shall maintain upon the said land young forest or timber trees in sound condition, in number at least twelve hundred to the acre, shall, on making due proof per acre. thereof, be entitled to receive annually from the commissioners of their respective counties the sums of money mentioned in the first section of this act: Provided, That the first period of ten years shall be counted from the time that the Computation of said land has been cleared of merchantable timber, and, that after the said first period of ten years, the number of trees upon the said land may be reduced as in the said first section is provided. time. Ibid. 2 3. 8. Any person or persons, who shall wilfully or carelessly cut bark from or otherwise cut, burn or injure any tree, plant, shrub or sprout, planted, growing Penalty for cutor being on any land of this commonwealth, without the consent of the owner or ting, burning or owners thereof, first had and obtained, or who, without such consent, shall kindle injuring. or cause to be kindled, a fire on any forest or timber land in this commonwealth, Firing timber or who shall carry into or over any forest or timber land any lighted candle, lamp lands. or torch, or other fire without having the same secured in a lantern or other closed vessel, or who shall discharge or set off fire-works of any kind on said land or among the trees thereon, or who shall wilfully or carelessly burn or fire upon his or their own land, or that of others, any tree, brush, stubble or other combustible material, whereby fire shall be communicated to the leaves, brush or timber upon any forest or timber lands belonging to other parties, shall be subject to a penalty of fifty dollars for each offence committed, with cost of suit, one-half to go to the party or parties injured, and the other half to the school fund of the district in which said offence was committed: Provided, That if the defendant or defendants neglect or refuse to pay at once the penalty imposed and costs, or shall not enter sufficient bail for the payment of the same within ten days, he or Imprisonment. they shall be committed to the common jail of said county for a period of not less than one day for each dollar of the penalty imposed: And provided, When the penalty imposed is above five dollars, the defendant or defendants may enter Security. into a recognisance, with good security, to answer said complaint on a charge of misdemeanor, before the court of quarter sessions of the peace of the county, in which the offence is committed, which court, on conviction of the defendant or defendants of the offence so charged and failure to pay the penalty imposed by conviction by the this act, with costs, shall commit said defendant or defendants to the commen jail of the county for a period of not less than one day for each dollar of penalty imposed. Punishment on court. Ibid. 9. Any justice of the peace or alderman, upon information or complaint made before him by the affidavit of one or more persons of the violation of this act, by. Jurisdiction of jusany person or persons, shall issue his warrant, to any constable or police officer, tices. to cause such person or persons to be arrested and brought before the said justice of the peace or alderman, who shall hear and determine the guilt or innocence of the person or persons so charged, who, if convicted of the said offence, shall be sentenced to pay the penalty aforesaid. 10. The commissioners of each county shall, within one month after the passage Ibid. of this act, cause the same to be published, one or more times, in one newspaper Publication of this of general circulation in their respective counties. act. Game. 1. When web-footed wild fowl may be shot. 16 April 1885, P. L. 8. Web-footed wild fowl. 23 May 1887. P. L. 169. Quail. Penalty. 2. When quail may be killed. Penalty. 1. It shall be lawful to hunt, shoot, kill or destroy any web-footed wild fowl, only from the first day of September, to the first day of May in each year.(a) 2. No person shall kill or expose for sale, or have in his or her possession after the same has been killed, any quail or Virginia partridge, between the fifteenth day of December in any year and the fifteenth day of October next following, under a penalty of ten dollars for each bird so killed, exposed for sale or had in possession.(b) (a) This is an amendment of the act 17 May 1883, § 1, P. L. 34, ante, vol. I., p. 836, pl. 26. Gas, Light, Heat and Fuel Companies. 1. Powers of. 2. Authority to supply heat, light and fuel. To but one county. Eminent domain. Erect buildings, &c. And enter upon and use streets. Subject to councils. 3. Consent of councils to be first obtained. 4. Exercise of eminent domain. Distribution of gas. 2 June 1887 1. P. L. 310. Powers of. Ibid. 2. To supply heat, light and fuel to the public. 1. Companies incorporated under the provisions of this statute for the supply of water to the public, or for the manufacture and supply of light, heat and fuel, or any of them, by any process of manufacture, shall, unless otherwise provided by this act, from the date of the letters-patent creating the same, have the powers and be managed, governed and controlled as hereinafter provided.(a) 2. Where any such company shall be incorporated for the supply of heat, light and fuel, or any of them, by any process of manufacture, it shall have authority to supply such heat, light and fuel, or any of them, to the territory named in its articles of association (which shall never cover more than a single To but one county. county), and to such persons, partnerships and corporations residing therein, or Right to erect buildings, &c. adjacent thereto, as may desire the same, at such prices as may be agreed upon; Eminent domain. and shall have the power of eminent domain to appropriate property, so far as may be necessary to enable it to acquire that which is necessary for its plant (whether the same be in the county named in its article of association or elsewhere), and for its lines of distribution; and the power also to make, erect and maintain the necessary building, machinery and apparatus for producing heat, light and fuel, or any of them, and to distribute the same; with the right to enter upon any public street, lane, alley or highway, for such purpose, to alter, inspect and repair its system of distribution, doing as little damage to said streets, lanes, alleys and highways, and impairing the free use thereof as little as pracSubject to councils. ticable, and subject to such regulations as the councils of any borough or city whose highways may be occupied, shall adopt in regard to grades or for the protection and convenience of public travel over the same. And enter upon and use streets. Ibid. Consent of councils 3. No company which may now or hereafter be incorporated under the provisions of this act, shall enter upon any street in any city or borough of this to be first obtained. commonwealth, until after the consent to such entry of the councils of the city or borough in which such street may be located shall have been obtained. Ibid. Exercise of right 4. The said right of eminent domain shall be exercised in the mode prescribed and according to the provisions of the forty-first section of the act, with this proviso, of eminent domain. however, that where any such company shall use its system of distribution for Distribution of gas the conveyance of gas for any of the purposes aforesaid, at a greater pressure than four ounces per square inch of pressure, or where the gas manufactured shall contain more than ten per cent. of carbonic oxide, such system of distribu regulated. (a) This is an amendment of the first paragraph of the act 29th April 1874, 34, P. L. 93. See ante, vol. I., page 852, pl. 1. tion shall be provided with suitable appliances for preventing or taking up any leakage, so that danger to life, property and vegetation may be avoided.(a) 2 June 1887 2. P. L. 310. Ibid. 3. Franchises for the 5. The right to have and enjoy the franchise and privileges of such corporation for the manufacture of gas for light only, shall be an exclusive one within the district or locality covered by its charter; and no other company shall be manufacture of incorporated for the manufacture of gas to supply light only to the public, until gas, for light only, the said corporation shall have, from its earnings, realized and divided among its When other comstockholders, during five years, a dividend equal to eight per centum per annum pany may be inupon its capital stock. to be exclusive. corporated. 6. Said corporations shall at all times furnish pure gas and water, and any Ibid. citizen using the same may make complaint of impurity or deficiency in quantity, Jurisdiction of the or both, to the court of common pleas of the proper county, by bill filed; and courts. after hearing the parties touching the same, the said court shall have power to make order in the premises as may seem just and equitable, and may dismiss the complaints or compel the corporation to correct the evil complained of.(b) 7. Corporations of the character provided for herein shall be entitled to have a capital stock, not exceeding five million dollars. Ibid, ? 4. Capital stock. (c) This is an amendment of clause 3 of same section. See pl. 4. 1. How abandoned wells to be plugged. 2. Penalty. Gas-Wells. 3. Owners of adjacent lands may enter and plug. . P. L. 145. wells are to be 1. Whenever any well shall have been put down on lands of any person, or 23 June 1885 2. corporation, for the purpose of exploring for or producing gas, upon abandoning or ceasing to operate the same, the person, or corporation, drilling or owning the How abandoned well, shall, before drawing the casing, fill up the well with sand, or rock sediment, plugged, &c. to the depth of at least twenty feet above the gas bearing rock, and drive a round seasoned wooden plug, at least two feet in length. equal in diameter to the diameter of the well below the casing, to a point at least five feet below the bottom of the casing, and, immediately after the drawing of the casing, shall drive a round wooden plug into the well, at the point just below where the lower end of the casing shall have rested, which plug shall be at least three feet in length, tapering in form, and to be of the same diameter at the distance of eighteen inches from the smaller end of the diameter of the well below the point at which it is to be driven. After the plug has been properly driven, there shall be filled in Description of fillon the top of the same, sand or rock sediment, to the depth of at least five ing, &c. feet. 2. Any person who shall violate the provisions of the preceding section, shall be liable to a penalty of two hundred dollars, to be recovered as debts of like amount are by law recoverable. Ibid. 2 3. Penalty. Ibid. 4. Owners of lands 3. Whenever any person shall neglect, or refuse to comply with the provisions of this act, with regard to plugging wells, any owner of lands adjacent, or in the neighborhood of such unplugged well, may enter and take possession of said adjacent may enter abandoned well, and plug the same, as provided by this act, at the expense of the and plug. person, or company, whose duty it may have been to plug the same.(a) (a) These three sections are a re-enactment "as to any person or corporation" of the 20, 21 and 22 sections of the act 29 May 1885, P. L. 29, infra, title "Natural Gas Companies." 3 July 18851. P. L. 256. Distribution of volumes now printed. Ibid. 22. Volumes hereafter published. Ibid. § 3. Repeal. 1. The board of commissioners of the geological survey are hereby authorized and directed to distribute the remaining copies of said reports as follows: fifty copies of each report to the state librarian for distribution and exchange with other states and territories, and of the balance, an equal number of volumes to each member of the present senate and house of representatives, making the sets complete as far as practicable. 2. Of each report hereafter published, three thousand five hundred copies shall be printed, which shall be distributed by the board of commissioners as follows: five hundred copies to the senate, two thousand copies to the house of representatives, one hundred and fifty copies to the state geologist, out of which he shall donate copies to authors and to members of survey corps as heretofore granted, six hundred copies to the board of commissioners for distribution to public libraries, universities and colleges in the state, to parties rendering material assistance to the survey, and for exchange with foreign societies and geologists, and fifty copies thereof to the members of the board, one hundred copies to the secretary of internal affairs for distribution by him, one hundred copies to the governor for distribution by him, and fifty copies to the state librarian for distribution and exchange with other states and territories. 3. So much of the act of May fourteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy four, recited in the preamble, as requires the reports to be sold, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. (a) (a) See ante, vol. I., page 855, pl. 10 and 11. Ground-Rents. 1. Irredeemable ground-rents prohibited. Payment not to be postponed more than twenty-one years. 24 June 1885 1. P. L. 161. Irredeemable ground-rents prohibited. 1. No irredeemable or non-extinguishable ground-rent shall be charged upon, or be reserved out of, or for any land within this commonwealth. Nor shall any omission to provide for the redemption of any ground-rent, or rent-charge, nor any option, agreement, contract, covenant or condition contained in any deed hereafter to be made, charging or reserving ground-rent, be in anywise construed or interpreted to make such ground-rent irredeemable, or prevent the extinguishment thereof; nor shall any ground-rent or rent-charge, hereafter to be charged or reserved as aforesaid, be construed or interpreted to be, or became irredeemPayment not to be able or non-extinguishable, by reason of any failure to pay the sum of money, postponed for more mentioned in the deed to be paid for the extinguishment of the rent, within the time fixed by the deed, nor shall the period for the extinguishment of any such rent be postponed longer than twenty-one years, or a life, or lives in being. And it shall be lawful for the owner or owners of the real estate, upon or out of which any such rent shall hereafter be charged or reserved, to pay at the time fixed by deed, or by this act, or at any time thereafter, the full amount of the principal of said rent with all arrearages of the said rent to the time of such payment. than twenty-one years, &c. Ibid. When no principal deed. 2. In case there shall not be any principal sum fixed for the extinguishment of the ground-rent, in the deed charging or reserving the same, then said groundsum is fixed in the rent may be redeemed or extinguished by the payment of such sum, as will produce a yearly interest, equal in amount to the said annual rent, at the legal rate of interest in force at the time of the reservation of the said ground-rent, together with all arrearages of rent to the time of payment. Which said payment shall be a complete discharge of such real estate, from the said rent and the principal thereof and the incumbrance thereof, and the same shall thereafter cease and be forever extinguished, and the covenant for the payment of said rent shall thereupon become void, and such owner or owners of said real estate shall thereupon be entitled to receive at the cost of such owner or owners, a sufficient release and discharge of such rent so extinguished as aforesaid. 3 June 1885 1. P. L. 56. point state board of health. Qualifications. Terms. 1. The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint six persons, a majority of whom shall be physicians, of good standing, graduates of regularly chartered and legally constituted medical colleges, and Governor to apof not less than ten years experience in the practice of their profession, and one of whom shall be a civil engineer, who, together with the secretary, the mode of whose appointment is hereinafter provided for, shall constitute and be designated as the state board of health and vital statistics of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Of the six persons first appointed, two shall serve for two years, two for four years, and two for six years from the first day of July next following their confirmation; and the governor shall thereafter biennially appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, two persons of the same professions as those whose terms of office have just expired, to be members of said board, to hold their offices for six years from the first day of July next following their confirmation, and until their successors are appointed, excepting the secretary who shall continue in office as hereinafter provided, but any member may be re-appointed. Any vacancy occurring in said board during a recess of the Vacancies during legislature shall be filled by the governor until the next regular session of the by the governor. same. recess to be filled Ibid. § 2. Terms to be deter 2. As soon as possible after the appointment of the first six persons as aforesaid they shall meet in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth and shall proceed, under the direction of the latter officer, to determine by lot which of mined by lot. them shall serve for the respective terms of two, four and six years. Before entering upon the duties of the office they shall take the oath prescribed for state To be sworn. officers by the constitution of the state, and shall file the same in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, who, upon receiving the said oath of office, shall issue to each a certificate of appointment for his respective term of office deter- Certificate. mined as aforesaid, upon receiving which they shall possess and exercise the powers and perform the duties of said board as defined in this act. Immediately after having taken the oath of office they shall organize by electing one of their Organization. number to be president, and by appointing a proper person who shall be a physician of good standing, of not less than ten years' professional experience, and a graduate of a legally constituted medical college, to be secretary of said board, Secretary. who shall hold his appointment until removed by the appointment of his successor or otherwise. The board may elect one of its own members secretary, in which case the vacancy thus created shall be filled by the governor in the same manner as a vacancy caused in any other way. The president shall be elected President. annually. No member of the board, except the secretary, shall, as such, receive Serve without comany salary; but the actual travelling and other expenses of any member, while pensation. engaged on the actual duties of the board, shall be allowed and paid on presentation to and approval of the auditor-general of an itemized account with vouchers annexed. Ibid. 3. 3. The secretary shall be the executive officer of the board and shall have all the powers and privileges of a member of said board, except in regard to voting Secretary shall be upon matters relating to his own office and duties as secretary. He shall receive the executive offan annual salary of two thousand dollars, which shall be paid him in the same Powers. manner that salaries of other state officers are paid, and such necessary expenses Salary. cer. |