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The district clerk of each school district in the State, is hereby required within ten days after each annual or special meeting for the election of officers in his district, to forward to the town clerk the names of the several officers elected at such meeting, and the offices to which they were respectively elected.

In pursuance of section thirty second, of the act of 1841, (No. ) the District School Journal will hereafter be forwarded by mail, for the clerk of each district by the number of said district, whose duty it is, by that section, to cause each volume to be bound at the expense of the district, and to deposite the same in the District Library. He or one of the trustees is therefore bound to take the paper from the post-office, punctually, paying the postage quarterly in advance; and the amount so paid, being an expenditure authorised by law, may be added by the trustees to any tax list thereafter made out for district purposes, and refunded to the clerk or trustee paying it. Great care should be taken to secure the regular receipt, and careful preservation of the numbers, which will be sent on the 1st of each month; and with this view, the clerk should stitch them together in covers, as soon as they arrive; and in no case permit them to be taken out of his custody, although any inhabitant of the district should be allowed free access to them, for the purpose of perusal, at all proper hours. The same precaution should be observed, and the same freedom of access and perusal allowed, in respect to the present volume of Laws and Instructions, the volume of Common School Decisions and Laws heretofore published, and all other books, papers and documents belonging to the district, and placed under his official control.

They will observe that heavy penalties and forfeitures are incurred by them, under section 145 of the act of 1847, (No. 173,) for neglect of any duty devolved upon them by law; and that they are made individually responsible for any loss that may accrue to their district, in consequence of such neglect or omission.

For an exposition of the duties devolving on them in relation to the district library, their attention is directed to the subsequent instructions under that head; and for the manner in which records of the proceedings of the several school meetings should be kept, to the subsequent instructions under the head of Annual and Special Meetings.

COLLECTORS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

It is the duty of the collector of each district" to collect and pay over to the trustees of his district, some or one of them, all moneys which he shall be required by law to collect, within the time limited by such warrant for its return, and to take the receipt of such trustee or trustees, for such payment." $100, (No. 125.)

When required by the trustees, such collector is to execute a bond, with one or more sureties, to be approved by one or more of the trustees, in double the amount for any tax list, (or rate bill,) to be collected, and conditioned for the due and faithful performance of his duty. § 103, (No. 128.)

In case such bond is not executed within the time allowed by the trustees for that purpose, which shall not be less than ten days, the office of the collector is vacated, and the trustees may appoint any other person to supply the vacancy.

The form of the bond thus required to be executed, will be found at page 149.

1. Jurisdiction of the Collector.

By § 103, (No. 128,) the jurisdiction of the collector, in the execution of his warrant, is unlimited; and extends to any other district or town, in the same manner and with the like authority, as in the district for which he was chosen or appointed."

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2. Mode of proceeding in the collection of taxes and rate bills. This is specifically pointed out by the extracts from the 13th chapter of the 1st volume of the Revised Statutes, page 82.

3. What property liable to be taken on Collector's Warrants.

In the case of Keeler and others vs. Chichester, 13 Wendell, 629, the supreme court held "that any property found in the possession of the person liable to pay the tax, might be taken and applied to the payment of such tax, and that the collectors of school districts had the same powers as collectors of towns in collecting town and county taxes. This decision has reference to the ownership of the property, and shows that possession renders it liable to distress, whe

ther owned by the party or not. It does not refer to the kind of property liable. The property which may be levied upon is specifically defined by section 2, of chapter 13, 1 Revised Statutes. No property is exempt from the operation of such warrants, except the arms and accoutrements particularly mentioned in the act of Congress referred to, and quoted in the note at the bottom of page 82.

The designation of the owner of a farm in a tax list and warrant, as "the widow and heirs of A. B. deceased," is a sufficient compliance with the statute, to justify the collector in executing the warWheeler vs. Anthony, 10 Wendell, 346.

rant.

By $101, (No. 126,) the collector forfeits to his district, the full amount of any money which may be lost by his neglect, and which might have been collected by him within the time limited in his

warrant.

DISTRICT LIBRARIES.

By § 133, (No. 158,) the inhabitants of the several school districts are authorized, when lawfully assembled at any district meeting specially notified for that purpose, to impose a tax not exceeding ten dollars in any one year, "for the purchase of a district library consisting of such books as they shall in their district meeting direct, and such further sum as they may deem necessary for the purchase of a book case." By the 134th section of that act, (No. 159,) the district clerk, or such other person as the inhabitants should designate and appoint by a majority of votes, is declared to be librarian, and to be vested with the care and custody of the library, under such regulations as the inhabitants should adopt.

These provisions afford the only authority for raising by tax upon the district, any money for the purchase of books, or a book case. The books thus to be purchased must be directed by the inhabitants in district meeting; and this direction may be either general, as to purchase any given series or numbers of the Harper Library, the Family Library, &c. or special, designating the particular books, or the trustees may be authorized to procure such books as they think proper.

By 136, (No. 161,) the sum of fifty-five thousand dollars, together with an equal sum to be raised in the towns, and directed to be distributed to the several school districts of this state, by the fourth section of chapter two hundred and thirty-seven, of the laws of eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall continue to be applied to the purchase of books for a district library, until otherwise directed; but whenever the number of volumes in the district library of any disdrict, numbering over fifty children between the ages of five and sixteen years, shall exceed one hundred and twenty-five; or of any district numbering fifty children or less, between the said ages, shall exceed one hundred volumes, the inhabitants of the district qualified to vote therein, may, at a special or annual meeting duly notified for that purpose, by a majority of votes, appropriate the whole, or any part of the library money belonging to the district for the current year, to the purchase of maps, globes, black-boards, or other scientific apparatus, for the use of the school: And in every district having the required number of volumes in the district library, and the maps, globes, black-boards, and other apparatus aforesaid, the said moneys, with the approbation of the state superintendent, may be applied to the payment of teachers' wages.

Trustees, are by this provision, authorized to make the selection of the books for the library, as the application of the money is to be made by them. To promote uniformity in the loan and return of books, it is recommended that but one librarian be appointed; and that the inhabitants adopt the rules and regulations hereinafter prescribed by the superintendent, for the government of the libraries procured under both acts.

Inhabitants of districts have no authority to sell, exchange, or in any manner dispose of the books constituting the district library; whether such books are purchased from the library fund, or from the funds raised by the district.

By 139, (No. 164,) the Superintendent of Common Schools, is directed to prepare general regulations for the preservation of the libraries, the delivering of them by librarians and trustees to their successors in office, and respecting the use of the books, &c. In pursuance of these provisions, the subjoined regulations have been prepared. No. I. relates to the preservation of the libraries, the delivery of the books by the officers charged with their keeping, to their successors, and their duties in respect to them. No. II. relates to the use of the books by the inhabitants, the number to be taken out, the fines to be imposed, &c.

As these regulations may appear minute to some, it is proper to remark, that they were intended for the organization of a new and entire system, upon a subject not well understood, and in which directions cannot be too full or too plain. Thousands upon thousands of our citizens are and will be charged with the duties to which these regulations refer, and it is by no means a depreciation of their intelligence to remark, that very many of them have probably never had any connexion with circulating libraries, and are not aware of the absolute necessity of strict rules, and a firm adherence to them, to prevent the total destruction of their books in a few years. Complaints had already been made that in several districts, which had procured libraries, many of the books were injured, and others lost, for the want of some system in their management. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon trustees and librarians, that the best system which human ingenuity can devise, will be of no avail unless it is fully and thoroughly executed. These invaluable store houses of knowledge, the solace of age, the guide of youth, the stay of manhood, the source of so much happiness to parents and their children,— will depend for their existence upon the vigilance of those who have accepted the sacred trust of watching and preserving them. Heavy, indeed, will be the responsibility for a neglect of those duties upon which so much depends.

DISTRICT LIBRARY REGULATIONS, No. I.

Regulations respecting District Libraries, their preservation, and the delivery of them to Librarians and Trustees to their successors in office; pursuant to § 139 of the act intended for the government of the officers having charge of such Libraries.

I. In respect to the selection of books for district libraries. The Snperintendent has no authority to make such selections, unless requested by the trustees of a district pursuant to a vote of its inhabitants. He is prepared to act on the subject as prescribed by the statute, whenever requested; but he desires it to be distinctly understood that he does not proffer his services; much preferring that the inhabitants of a district should consult their own tastes and judgment. At the same time, he is bound to see the law faithfully executed;

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