Mayor and City Council of Baltimore may, if the public service permits, assign the duties to be performed by this Section to be performed by the Collector of Water Rents and Licenses, to some other municipal official, and when so done by ordinance this office may be abolished.

Department of Law.

60. There shall be a Department of Law of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore; the head of said department shall be the City Solicitor.

61. The City Solicitor shall be appointed by the Mayor in the mode prescribed in section 25 of this Article, and hold his office as therein provided. He shall be a member of the Baltimore Bar, who has practiced his profession for not less than ten years in Baltimore City, and he shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly.

62. The City Solicitor shall be the legal adviser of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and its several departments, and special commissions or boards, and shall have general supervision and direction of all legal business of the City. He shall have charge of the preparation and trial of all suits, actions and proceedings of every kind to which the City shall be a party in any Court, local, State or Federal, and he shall personally participate in the trial of all such suits in any of the Federal Courts, and in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and of all such suits in other Courts which the Mayor may request him in writing to try, and shall discharge such other duties as may from time to time be prescribed by ordinances, not inconsistent with this Article. He shall appoint in writing three assistants, to be known as the First, Second and Third Assistant City Solicitors, all of whom shall be members of the Baltimore Bar, and shall hold their respective positions during the pleasure of the City Solicitor, at salaries, payable monthly, of three thousand dollars per annum for the First Assistant, and twentyfive hundred dollars per annum for the Second Assistant, and

eighteen hundred dollars per annum for the Third Assistant. The City Solicitor is authorized to assign to his assistants such duties in addition to those hereby assigned to them as he shall deem most conducive to the efficient discharge of the business of the Law Department. The First Assistant shall aid the City Solicitor in the discharge of his court duties, and shall try all cases in which the City is interested in any court in the State of Maryland, and he shall act as junior counsel to the City Solicitor in any court in which his services may be required. He shall act as prosecuting attorney on behalf of the City to assist the State's Attorney in the prosecution of all violations of City ordinances, subject to the direction and control of the City Solicitor, and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him by the City Solicitor. The Second Assistant to the City Solicitor shall have charge, subject to the control and direction of the City Solicitor, of the examination of all titles on behalf of the City, and shall discharge such other duties as may be assigned to him by the City Solicitor. The Third Assistant to the City Solicitor shall, subject to the control and direction of the City Solicitor, try all cases in which the City is interested before any Justice of the Peace, and in all cases in the City Court of appeals from Justices of the Peace. He shall file, subject to the direction and control of the City Solicitor, all reports of sales for taxes by the City Collector, and shall discharge such other duties as may be assigned to him by the City Solicitor. He shall have his office in the permanent offices of the Law Department, and shall remain there from 11 A. M. to 2 P. M. daily, Sunday and legal holidays excepted, when not elsewhere engaged on the business of the City, or unless temporarily absent by leave of the City Solicitor.

63. The City Solicitor shall give advice and opinions in writing upon any legal questions affecting the interest of the City which may be submitted to him in writing by the Mayor or either Branch of the City Council, or any committee thereof, or the head of any department, or a special commission or board. All deeds, bonds, contracts and other legal instruments involving the interest of the City or to be executed by or

passed to the Mayor or other officer of the City shall, before they are executed or accepted, be submitted to the City Solicitor and have endorsed upon them his opinion as to their sufficiency and their compliance in terms and conditions with the laws. or ordinances under which they are executed. It shall be the duty of all officers and departments of the City to submit all such bonds, contracts or other written instruments to the City Solicitor for his approval before executing or accepting the

same.

64. The Law Department shall have its offices and headquarters in such rooms in the City Hall, or elsewhere, as the Mayor may designate, to be provided and furnished at the expense of the City, which shall be open on all business days between the hours of 9 A. M. and 3 P. M. All papers and documents relating to the legal business of the City shall be permanently filed in said office.

65. The City Solicitor is authorized to employ, at a total cost not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, a clerk, stenographer and typewriter, and such other assistants as he may require, who shall at all times be subject to his orders. The said clerk shall, subject to the direction of the City Solicitor, have charge and custody of the office and papers of the Law Department, which shall be arranged and indexed by him in such convenient and orderly manner as to be at all times readily accessible. He shall also keep in said office a complete docket and duplicate pleadings of all suits, actions or proceedings in which the City or any department or official thereof is interested, pending in any court or tribunal, upon which docket such appropriate entries shall be made as to show at all times the condition of each one of such cases. He shall also keep and record in a book to be provided for that purpose, the original or duplicate copies of all written opinions furnished by the Law Department to the City, or to any department or official thereof, and also of all abstracts of titles furnished to the City by the Law Department. He shall also procure, as far as possible, all legal opinions and abstracts of title which

have heretofore been furnished to the City, or any department or official thereof, and shall file and arrange such opinions and abstracts in such manner and order as to be at all times readily accessible, and shall make and preserve an index thereof. He shall also procure all law books heretofore purchased by the City and in the possession of any law officer or ex-law officer of the City, and arrange them in a proper bookcase.

66. The City Solicitor shall have authority, with the written approval of the Mayor, to institute on behalf of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, any suit, action or proceeding in any court, or tribunal, local, State or Federal. All appeals on behalf of the City to the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals or to any other Court shall be taken upon the written order of the City Solicitor, approved by the Mayor.

67. The City Solicitor and his Assistants shall be allowed reasonable traveling expenses outside of the City, to be audited by the Comptroller, when on business connected with the Law Department.

ers.

Department of Public Safety.

68. There shall be a Department of Public Safety of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, which shall consist of the Board of Fire Commissioners, Commissioner of Health, Inspector of Buildings and Commissioners of Street Cleaning, and ex officio the President of the Board of Police CommissionThe head of said department shall consist of a Board of Public Safety, composed of the President of the Board of Fire Commissioners, who shall be President of said Board, Commissioner of Health, Inspector of Buildings, Commissioner of Street Cleaning, and the President of the Board of Police Commissioners. This Board shall be for consultation and advice, and it shall have no power to direct or control the duties or the work of any sub-department. It shall perform such other duties as may be required of it by ordinances not inconsistent with this Article.

69.

The Board of Fire Commissioners shall be the head of the first sub-department of Public Safety, and shall consist of a Board of three persons appointed by the Mayor in the manner prescribed in section 25 of this Article, and hold their offices as therein provided, and they shall have control, regulation and supervision of the Fire Department and matters relating to the same, and shall perform such other duties as may be required by ordinances not inconsistent with this Article. One of said three persons shall be designated by the Mayor as the President of said Board. Each member of said Board shall be paid a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly. They shall have power to appoint all subordinates in their subdepartment, and fix their compensation, not, however, to exceed in number of employees or aggregate amount of compensation the limits fixed by ordinance.

70. The Board of Fire Commissioners of the City of Baltimore may retire from office in the Fire Department any permanent or call member thereof who has become permanently disabled while in the actual performance of duty, or who has performed faithful service in the department for a period of not less than twenty' consecutive years, or who may become unable to perform further service by reason of age or other physical or mental disabilities, and place the member so retired upon a pension roll. And said Board may also provide for the relief of the widows and children of firemen who may be killed in the discharge of duty. The amount of such annual pension to be allowed by said Board of Fire Commissioners to each pensioner shall be equal to one-half the yearly amount then being re'ceived by him, for service in said department at the time of such retirement, per annum, payable in monthly installments.

71. The Commissioner of Health shall be the head of the second sub-department of Public Safety. He shall be appointed by the Mayor, in the mode prescribed in section 25 of this Article, and hold his office as therein provided. It shall be his duty to cause all ordinances now in existence or which may hereafter be enacted for the preservation of the health of the City of Baltimore, not inconsistent with this Article, to be faithfully executed and strictly observed; and all power and au