(LAWS 1883, CHAPTER 244, PAGE 729.) Superintendent's annual report.-SECTION 1. The superintendent of public works shall hereafter annually, on or before the fifteenth day of February in each year, report to the legislature the trade and tonnage carried or transported upon the canals of this state during the preceding season of navigation. Id. page 729, section 9 of Revision. Master of boat to deliver statement as to lading; penalty for refusal; proviso as to weighing boat.-- § 2. It shall be the duty of every master of any boat or float, or of the person or persons in charge of the same, upon the request of any person designated by said superintendent of public works, to gather the statistics required to be reported by this act, to deliver to such person a true bill of the quantity and description of the lading of such boat or float, specifying the place from which it departed and to which it is destined. In case of refusal or violation of the provisions of this section, a penalty of twenty-five dollars is imposed, to be collected in the name of the state of New York, by the persons designated to gather statistics, to be accounted for and paid over to the state treasurer. Provided, that the master or person in charge of any canal boat may require that such boat and its load be weighed, at some weigh-lock, to be fixed by the superintendent of public works, and to receive duplicate certificates of the weight thereof, on payment of such reasonable fee, to be fixed by said superintendent, as will reimburse the state for the actual expense thereof; and provided further, that said superintendent may, at any time, require any such boat or boats and load to be so weighed. § 3. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. (REVISED STATUTES 730, PART I, CHAPTER 9, TITLE 9, ARTICLE 3.) Omitted. § 45. There shall continue to be appointed two officers, by the name of canal appraisers, who being associated with any acting canal commissioner, shall be the appraisers of damages, in the cases hereinafter specified. The oath or affirmation of office, taken by the canal appraisers, shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state. § 46. When any lands, waters or streams, appropriated by the canal commissioners, to the use of the public, shall not be given or granted to the state, it shall be the duty of the appraisers to make a just and equitable estimate and appraisement of the damages and benefits, resulting to the persons interested in the premises so appropriated, from the construction of the work for the purpose of making which, such premises shall have been taken. § 47. It shall be their duty for that purpose, to meet at such times and places as they may deem necessary, and as nearly in the vicinity of the premises, as conveniently may be, and hear such proper and relevant evidence as shall be offered; and they are, for that purpose, empowered to administer oaths to witnesses. § 48. Every person interested in premises so appropriated, and every person who shall claim to have sustained damages by reason of the temporary appropriation of his lands or waters, or any injury caused by the canals of this state or the works connected therewith, if he intend to claim such damages, shall within one year after such premises, lands or waters have been taken permanently, appropriated or temporarily occupied, and within one year after jurisdiction shall be conferred upon the canal appraisers by the legislature to hear such other injury, file in the office of the canal appraisers a detailed statement of his claim in writing, signed by himself, his guardian or his agent, specifying in as particular a manner as the nature of the case will admit, the extent of his interest in the premises appropriated, and the nature and amount of damages, which claim shall be verified in the same manner as pleadings are now required by law to be verified. (Thus amended by L. 1866, chap. 836, sub. nom., § 84.) § 49. No claim for damages, for premises that shall have been appropriated to the use of a canal, at any time before this chapter shall be in force, shall be received by the appraisers, unless it shall be exhibited within one year after this chapter shall become a law; and the premises so appropriated shall be deemed the property of the state; and no claims, other than those so exhibited, shall be paid without the special direction of the legislature. § 50. A regular entry of every determination and appraisement made by the appraisers, certified and signed by the appraisers making it, and containing an apt and sufficient description of the premises so appropriated, the names of the persons interested, and the sums estimated to each for benefits and damages, shall be made in a book kept for that purpose by the canal commissioners. § 51. A transcript of every such entry, signed by the appraisers, shall be recorded in the clerk's office of each county in which the premises appropriated shall, in whole or in part, be situated. (Thus amended by L. 1855, chap. 535.) § 52. The fee-simple of all premises so appropriated, in relation to which such estimate and appraisement shall have been made and recorded, shall be vested in the people of this state. § 53. If the damages so estimated and appraised shall exceed the benefits, it shall be the duty of the canal commissioners to pay the amount of such excess of the damages to the persons appearing, by the determination of the appraisers, to be thereto entitled; but no such payment shall be made, where an appeal or writ of error shall be prosecuted by the canal commissioners, until a final decision on the appraisement shall have been had. § 54. Each appraiser, for each day's actual attendance in the discharge of the duties of his office, shall receive the sum of three dollars, to be paid out of the treasury and charged to the canal fund. § 55. Every person having exhibited a claim for damages to the appraisers, and the canal commissioners where they shall deem the interests of the state to require it, may enter an appeal from the decision of the appraisers to the supreme court, who shall proceed to reverse, affirm or modify the appraisement, as in their opinion justice shall require; but in no case shall they allow a larger sum for damages, than shall have been demanded by the party entitled thereto, in his claim exhibited to the appraisers. § 56. Every such appeal shall be made in writing, stating briefly the grounds on which the appeal is made; if made by the canal commissioners, one copy of the appeal shall be served on the canal appraisers and another on the party claiming damages, his guardian or agent, either personally or by leaving the same at its usual place of abode; if made by the party claiming damages, one copy of the appeal shall be served on the appraisers, or one of them, and another on the canal commissioners. In all cases the appeal must be made and the proper copies served within three months from the time that the decision appealed from shall have been made and entered. § 57. The appraisers shall make a return in writing to every appeal so served on them, and shall insert and state therein a copy of the claim for damages exhibited to them, the evidence produced or offered before them, and the grounds and reasons of their determination. § 58. When damages shall be claimed by the owner of any land which the land commissioners shall have occupied for temporary purposes, or on which they shall have entered for the purpose of obtaining materials for repairs, the acting commissioner on the line of the canal nearest to which the land shall be situate, or any engineer or superintendent of repairs authorised by him, may fix by agreement the amount of damages which such owner ought to receive. § 59. If an agreement can not be made, the owner shall select one discreet freeholder of the county in which the land is situate, having no interest, direct or indirect, in the damages claimed, and the canal commissioner, engineer or superintendent, another; and the two thus chosen shall select a third to act with them in appraising the damages so claimed. § 60. If the owner shall refuse or neglect to appoint an appraiser, such canal commissioner, engineer or superintendent shall serve upon him a notice, stating the name of the appraiser appointed by himself, and requiring such owner to make a similar appointment within two days thereafter, and if within that time no such appointment shall be made and signified, such commissioner, engineer or superintendent shall apply to a judge of the county court of the county where the lands are situate, to appoint an appraiser in behalf of such owner. § 61. The judge to whom such application shall be made, upon due proof of the service of such notice, shall, in writing, appoint an appraiser in behalf of the owner, who shall have the same powers as if appointed by the owner himself. § 62. The two last preceding sections shall be construed as also prescribing the course to be pursued by the owner of the lands, where the refusal or neglect to appoint an appraiser, shall proceed from such canal commissioner, engineer or superintendent. § 63. The appraisers shall, before they enter on the duties of their trust, take the oath prescribed by the Constitution of this state, before any person authorised to administer oaths; they shall then proceed to enquire into and assess the damages so claimed, and their determination, or that of any two of them, as to the amount of damages that ought to be paid, shall be conclusive. § 64. The appraisers making such determination, shall make a certificate thereof, under their hands and seals, and the amount of damages thus certified, (the costs, when not payable by the canal commissioners being deducted,) shall be paid by the canal commissioners to the person appearing by such certificate to be entitled. thereto, within ten days after such certificate shall have been received by the canal commissioners, or as soon thereafter as they shall be in funds. $65. Proof of such payment, or of the offer thereof, in case the party entitled thereto, shall decline to receive the same, shall forever discharge the canal commissioners and all persons employed by them, from all claims for entering upon and occupying such lands, and for taking and using the materials procured therefrom. § 66. If the amount of damages so certified shall, in any case, not exceed the sum offered for such damages by such acting canal commissioner, engineer or superintendent, before the appointment of the appraisers, then the costs of all the proceedings after such offer, shall be deducted by the canal commissioners from the amount of damages certified; but if such amount shall exceed such previous offer, then all such costs shall be paid by the commissioners, in addition to the damages certified. § 67. Each of such appraisers shall be entitled for his services, to the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day. (LAWS 1829, CHAPTER 368, Page 734.) Powers and duties of appraisers.-SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the canal appraisers personally to view the premises on which damages shall be claimed, and to meet at such time and places as they may deem necessary, and as nearly in the vicinity of the premises as conveniently may be, and hear such proper and relevant evidence as shall be offered, and direct the attendance of witnesses in behalf of the state, if in their opinion the interest of the state shall require it; and they are for that purpose empowered to administer oaths to witnesses; and wilful false swearing before the said appraisers, is hereby declared perjury. Claims to be entered in a book.—§ 2. It shall be their duty to enter in a book to be kept for that purpose, the nature and extent of all claims on which they shall pass, the items on which allowances are made, and the several amounts allowed, and the items on which no allowance is made; and they shall enter at length the testimony taken, and the grounds and reason for their decision. (LAWS 1830, CHAPTER 293, PAGE 734.) Section 63 of Revision. Lands overflowed.- SECTION 1. When any lands are overflowed by the erection of any dam by the canal commissioners on any river or stream connected with the public works, it shall be the duty of the canal appraisers to make a just and equitable appraisement of the damages sustained by the owners of such lands. Id. page 734, section 63 of Revision. Lands used for public purposes.-§ 2. The existing laws in relation to the appraisement and payment of damages, where lands are appropriated by the canal commissioners to the use of the public, shall apply to the appraisement of damages sustained by the owners of the lands mentioned in the foregoing section. |