118. Almshouse construction and administration.

119. Duties of the attorney-general and district attor

neys.

120. State, nonresident and alien poor.

121. Visits by the State Charities Aid Association.

Section 115. Duties of the State Board of Charities relating to the poor.-The State Board of Charities shall:

1. Investigate the condition of the poor seeking public aid and devise measures for their relief.

2. Administer the laws providing for the care, support and removal of state and alien poor and the support of Indian poor persons.

3. Advise the officers of almshouses in the performance of their official duties.

4. Collect statistical information in respect to the property, receipts and expenditures of all almshouses, and the number and condition of the inmates thereof.

§ 116. Visitation and inspection of almshouses.-Any commissioner or officer of the State Board of Charities, or any inspector duly appointed by it for that purpose, may visit and inspect any almshouse in this state. On such visits inquiry shall be made to ascertain:

1. Whether the rules and regulations of the board, in respect to such almshouse, are fully complied with.

2. Its methods of industrial, educational and moral training, if any, and whether the same are best adapted to the needs of its inmates.

3. The condition of its finances generally.

4. The methods of government and discipline of its inmates. 5. The qualifications and general conduct of its officers and employes.

6. The condition of its grounds, buildings and other property. 7. Any other matter connected with, or pertinent to, its usefulness and good management.

Any commissioner or officer of the board, or inspector duly appointed by it, shall have free access to the grounds, buildings, books and papers relating to such almshouse, and may require from the officers and persons in charge, any information it may

deem necessary.

Such board may prepare regulations according to *age, and provide blanks and forms upon which such informa tion shall be furnished, in a clear uniform and prompt manner for the use of the board; any such officer or inspector who shall divulge or communicate to any person without the knowledge and consent of such board, any facts or information obtained in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall at once be removed from office. The annual reports of each year shall give the results of such inquiry, with the opinion and conclusions of the board relating to the same. Any officer, superintendent or employe of any such almshouse who shall wilfully refuse to admit any member, officer or inspector of the board, for the purpose of visitation and inspection, and who shall refuse or neglect to furnish the opinion required by the board, or any of its members, officers or inspectors, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of one hundred dollars for each such refusal or neglect. The rights and powers hereby conferred may be enforced by an order of the supreme court after such notice as the court may prescribe, and an opportunity to be heard thereon, or by indictment by the grand jury of the county, or both.

§ 117. Investigations by board of committee; orders thereon.The board may, by order, direct an investigation by a committee of one or more of its members, of the officers and managers of any almshouse, or of the conduct of its officers and employes; and the commissioner or commissioners so designated to make such investigation may issue compulsory process for the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers, administer oaths, examine persons under oath, and exercise the same powers in respect to such proceedings as belong to referees appointed by the supreme court.

If it shall appear, after such investigation, that the inmates of the almshouse are cruelly, negligently or improperly treated, or inadequate provision is made for their sustenance, clothing, care and supervision, or other condition necessary to their comfort and well being, such board may issue an order in the name of the people, and under its official seal, directed to the proper officer of such almshouse, requiring him to modify such treatment or apply

*So in original.

such remedy, or both, as shall therein be specified. Before such order is issued it must be approved by a justice of the supreme court, after such notice as he may subscribe, and an opportunity to be heard thereon, and any person to whom such an order is directed who shall wilfully refuse to obey the same shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 118. Almshouse construction and administration. - No almshouse shall be built or reconstructed, in whole or in part, except on plans and designs approved in writing by the state board of charities. It shall be the duty of such board to call the attention, in writing or otherwise, of the board of supervisors and the superintendent of the poor, or other proper officer, in any county, of any abuses, defects or evils, which, on inspection, it may find in the almshouse of such county, or in the administration thereof, and such county officer shall take proper action thereon, with a view to proper remedies, in accordance with the advice of such board.

§ 119. Duties of the attorney-general and district attorneys.-If, in the opinion of the state board of charities, or any three members thereof, any matter in regard to the management or affairs of any such almshouse, or any inmate or person in any way connected therewith, require legal investigation or action of any kind, notice thereof may be given by the board, or any three members thereof, to the attorney-general, who shall thereupon make inquiry and take such proceedings in the premises as he may deem necessary and proper. It shall be the duty of the attorney-general and of every district attorney when so required to furnish such legal assistance, counsel or advice as the board may require in the discharge of its duties under this chapter.

§ 120. State, nonresident and alien poor.-The state board of charities, and any of its members or officers, may, at any time, visit and inspect any almshouse to ascertain if any inmates are state charges, nonresidents, or alien poor; and it may cause to be removed to the state or country from which he came, any such nonresident or alien poor found in any such almshouse.

§ 121. Visit by the State Charities Aid Association.-Any justice of the supreme court, on written application of the state charities aid association, through its president or other officer

designated by its board of managers, may grant to such persons as may be named in such application, orders to enable such persons, or any of them, as visitors of such association, to visit, inspect and examine, in behalf of such association, any almshouse within the state. The person so appointed to visit, inspect and examine such almshouse and almshouses, shall reside in the county or counties from which such almshouse or almshouses receive their or some of their inmates, and such appointment shall be made by a justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which such visitors reside. Each order shall specify the almshouse to be visited, inspected and examined, and the name of each person by whom such visitation, inspection and examination shall be made, and shall be in force for one year from the date on which it shall have been granted, unless sooner revoked.

All persons in charge of any such almshouse shall admit each person named in any such order into every part of such almshouse, and render to such person every possible facility to enable him to make in a thorough manner such visit, inspection and examination, which are hereby declared to be for a public purpose and to be made with a view to public benefit. Obedience to the orders herein authorized shall be enforced in the same manner as obedience is enforced to an order or mandate of a court of record.

Such association shall make an annual report to the state board of charities upon matters relating to the almshouse subject to its visitation. Such reports shall be made on or before the first day of November for each preceding fiscal year.

ARTICLE VIII.

Section 130.

131.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

Superintendents and overseers may redeem on sheriff's sale.

Redemption, how made.

132. Moneys therefor, and how paid.

133.

When warrant of seizure may be discharged.

134.

Boards of supervisors may abolish or revive dis

tinction between town and county poor.

Overseers, when to pay money to county treasurer.
Invested town money.

135.

136.

137.

Report by supervisors.

138.

139.

140.

141.

Register of sex and age.

Care of poor persons not to be put up at auction.
Reports of certain other officers.

Almshouse commissioners to report.

141-a. Reports with relation to children placed in family homes.

142.

143.

Report of state board of charities.

Supervisors may accept deed or conveyance.

Section 130. Superintendents and overseers may redeem on sheriff's sale. County superintendents and overseers of the poor may redeem real property, which may have been seized by them pursuant to sections nine hundred and twenty-one to nine hundred and twenty-six of the code of criminal procedure, the same as judgment-creditors under sections fourteen hundred and thirty to fourteen hundred and seventy-eight of the code of civil procedure. No such redemption shall be made, unless at the time of such redemption the seizure of the property sought to be redeemed, shall have been confirmed by the county court of the county where the premises may be situated, nor unless such property shall, at the time of making such redemption, be held by the superintendents or overseers, under and by virtue of such seizure.

§ 131. Redemption, how made. To entitle such superintendents or overseers to acquire the title of the original purchaser, or to be substituted as purchaser from any other creditor, they shall present to and leave with such purchaser or creditor, or the officer who made the sale, the following evidence of their right:

1. A copy of the order of the county court, confirming the warrant and seizure of such property, duly verified by the clerk of the court:

2. An affidavit of one of the superintendents or overseers that such property is held by them under such warrant and seizure, and that the same have not been discharged, but are then in full force.