one alderman, the term of office of whom shall be two years, and whose annual salary shall be three hundred dollars; one supervisor, whose term of office shall be two years, and who shall receive the same compensation for his services that a supervisor of a town of Montgomery county is entitled to receive for like services. There shall be also elected ten members of the board of education, whose term of office shall be three years and who shall be elected in the manner hereinafter provided. § 2. Section thirty-six of title three of said chapter is hereby 36 amended to read as follows: 36. Recorder; general power and duties. No person shall be eligible to the office of recorder unless he be an attorney and counselor at law, entitled to practice in the supreme court of the state of New York. The recorder shall, except in case of his absence from the city, or inability from sickness or from any other cause, have jurisdiction in said city, exclusive of any justice of the peace or other officer except judges of courts of record, of all crimes committed in said city, and to issue all criminal process and all processes, other than in civil actions and proceedings, except process in bastardy cases which a single justice, or two justices of the peace in towns, are empowered or directed by law. to issue; to hear and entertain all complaints and conduct all examinations in criminal cases; to hold courts of special sessions with all the powers and jurisdiction of such courts as regulated by statute; to try, convict and sentence all persons who may be guilty of any offenses which are or may be triable by courts of special sessions, and to commit for trial persons who shall be guilty of offenses not triable in said courts. The court of special sessions held by said recorder shall have jurisdiction of, and power to hear and determine charges for every misdemeanor committed, or charged to have been committed, within said city, for which the accused shall elect to be tried before said court. Whenever a defendant, tried before a court of special session held by said recorder, for any offense, jurisdiction of which is not conferred upon courts of special sessions by law, shall be convicted, said court shall render judgment thereupon, and inflict such punishment by fine or imprisonment, or both, as any other court having jurisdiction of the offense could inflict, as provided by statute, and shall have the same jurisdiction to sentence and punish the person so convicted, as the county court of Montgomery county would have for the same offense. The recorder may sentence any amended. person convicted of a criminal offense before him directly to imprisonment in the Albany penitentiary in cases where the sentence is for sixty days or longer. The said recorder shall not be required to take the examination of any person charged with a misdemeanor who shall elect to be tried, nor to try any person after an examination which he has claimed; but such persons, if held for trial, shall be bailed or committed. Said recorder shall have power to let to bail persons charged with crime before him in all cases of misdemeanor, and in all cases of felony, when the imprisonment in the state prison cannot exceed five years. The recorder may hear, try and determine in a summary way, any complaint for any violation of the laws of this state or of the ordinances of the city, in any case where the right to a trial by jury is not guaranteed by the constitution or provided for by law; but in all cases where such right is guaranteed or provided for, he shall sit as a court of special sessions, and whenever said recorder, sitting as a court of special sessions or otherwise, shall try, convict and sentence to the jail of Montgomery county or other place provided by law, he shall file with the clerk of Montgomery county a record of such conviction as prescribed by law. It shall be the duty of the recorder to attend at his office at all reasonable hours of the day. He shall not receive for his own benefit any fee for services under this act; but he shall demand and receive in all proceedings before him and for all services rendered by him as such recorder, the fees provided by law, and all fees and charges which may be legally payable whenever any suit or proceeding before him shall be settled or dismissed by consent, including fees of constables or policemen. He shall keep an account of all costs, fees and fines imposed, collected or received by him, belonging to the city, and shall pay the same to the treasurer once in every month. He shall also keep an account of all criminal business done by him, which may be a county charge, and shall at the time for the presentation of claims against the county of Montgomery, make out and verify the account thereof, payable to the city, and present the same to the board of supervisors of said county for audit. The docket of said recorder shall contain a record or brief statement of all proceedings, convictions and judgments before him and shall be open to public inspection during office hours. The recorder shall be entitled to a vacation for a period not exceeding one month in any calendar year. The present recorder of the city of Amsterdam shall con tinue to act as such until the expiration of the term of his office and the election and qualification of his successor. After the expiration of the term of office of the present incumbent, the recorder of said city shall, during sickness, absence from the city, disability of the city judge to act, or during a vacancy in the office of city judge, exercise in his place and stead all the powers of said judge, including jurisdiction in cases then pending before the said city judge. The said recorder shall receive no additional compensation for his services while acting as said city judge. Whenever the recorder shall act as city judge, he shall add to his official title "Acting as city judge." "The common council of said city shall provide a suitable court room and chambers and proper accommodations and supplies for the said recorder. The recorder shall have power to employ a stenographer at such times as he may deem necessary and proper to assist him in criminal actions and proceedings pending before him, and the fair and reasonable compensation of such stenographer shall be a city charge. amended by 3. Section one hundred and ten of title nine of said chapter, § 110, as as amended by chapter seventy-eight of the laws of nineteen hun-L dred and sixteen, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 110. Maximum amount of the annual city tax levy. The amount of the annual city tax levy as finally made up, adopted and ordered levied, as provided in the preceding section, after deducting therefrom the amounts required by the board of education, the board of health, the amount voted for a taxpayers' election, the city's portion of all paving and grading, the amount determined necessary to retire any maturing water bonds for the payment of which no sufficient sinking fund has been provided, the amount necessary to pay the interest on all outstanding sewer bonds and obligations, and the principal of such bonds and obligations as mature during the fiscal year, and the amount remaining unpaid on all judgments against the city, shall not in any one year exceed in the aggregate the sum of two hundred and twentyfive thousand dollars, from which said sum of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars there shall be deducted the estimated revenues of the city from all sources for the fiscal year. 5 1916, ch. 78, amended. recorder, 4. The salary provided for in section eight of this act for salary of the recorder of the city of Amsterdam shall take effect upon the when in + Remainder of section new. Words "the amount necessary to pay the interest on all outstanding sewer bonds and obligations, and the principal of such bonds and obligations as mature during the fiscal year," new. effect. $ 321a added to L. 1911, ch. 647. § 2496 amended. expiration of the term of the present incumbent, and antil the expiration of such term said recorder shall receive the salary authorized by law on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen. § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 170. AN ACT to amend the conservation law, in relation to restricting the taking of crabs. Became a law April 10, 1918, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Chapter six hundred and forty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred and eleven, entitled "An act relating to conservation of land, forests, waters, parks, hydraulic power, fish and game, constituting chapter sixty-five of the consolidated laws," is hereby amended by adding thereto after section three hundred and twenty-one a new section to be section three hundred and twenty-one-a, and to read as follows: § 321-a. Taking of crabs restricted. No person shall catch, offer for sale or have in his possession at any time any female crabs bearing eggs (sponge crabs) visible thereon. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 171. AN ACT to amend the code of civil procedure, in relation to the stenographer for the surrogate's court in Madison county. Became a law April 10, 1918, with the approval of the Governor. three-fifths being present. Passed, The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Section twenty-four hundred and ninety-six of the code of civil procedure is hereby amended to read as follows: $2496. Id.; in other counties. The surrogate of each county, except New York, Kings, Bronx, Albany, West chester, Hamilton, Queens, Richmond, and Erie may, in his discretion, appoint, and at pleasure remove, a stenographer for his court, who, except in Sullivan county, shall receive a salary to be fixed by such surrogate, not exceeding in counties having a population less than thirty thousand, eight hundred dollars per annum; in counties having a population of thirty thousand and not more than fifty thousand, not exceeding one thousand dollars per annum, and in counties having a population exceeding fifty thousand, not exceeding twelve hundred dollars per annum, except that in Madison county or in1 counties in which are located cities of the second class, or in counties in which are located three cities of the third class, such salary shall not exceed eighteen hundred dollars per annum; and in any county wholly containing a city of the first class, such salaries shall not exceed two thousand dollars per annum. The population of the several counties shall be determined by the last preceding census. If a regular stenographer is appointed in Sullivan county, his salary shall be five hundred dollars per annum. The board of supervisors shall provide for the payment of such salary in the same manner as other county salaries are paid. When not actually engaged in the discharge of his duties as stenographer, he shall perform such clerical duties in connection with the surrogate's court as the surrogate directs. In counties wherein the surrogate is also county judge, the stenographer so appointed shall be the stenographer of the county court, and shall perform the duties pertaining to a stenographer of the county court without additional compensation. In counties where, for any cause, a regular stenographer for his court has not been appointed, as provided by this section, the surrogate may, in individual proceedings requiring the services of a stenographer, appoint a stenographer who shall be paid a reasonable compensation, certified by the surrogate in every case in which he takes notes of testimony, from the estate or matter in which such services are rendered. When the regular stenographer appointed under this or the last section is sick, absent, on his vacation, or unable to act for other good cause, the surrogate may designate a stenographer to act temporarily in his place, who shall be paid by the county a reasonable compensation certified by the surrogate. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. |