going statement as to the towns in the county of

..... which have adopted the money system, and the amount of tax, and the value of the taxable property of such towns is correctly stated therein as appears by the certificates of the town boards and commissioners of highways of such towns and the other records and papers submitted to the board of supervisors of such county.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this

... day of

....

19....

I, C. D., clerk of the board of supervisors of the county of

have read the foregoing statement, and have compared the certificates submitted to the board of supervisors of the county of

... by

the commissioners of highways and town boards of the above towns with the amounts stated in the above list, and certify that the same is in all respects true and correct.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand, and the official seal of the board of supervisors of the county of

............. on this

19....

C. D., Clerk of Board of Supervisors of the County of

FORM NO 41.

Undertaking of Supervisor.

...........

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that we, A. B., Supervisor of the Town of

............,

in the County of

and State of

New York, as principal, and C. D. and D. E., as sureties, of the same town, are held and firmly bound unto the town of in the sum of

.... dollars, (the amount of the bond to be fixed by the town board), to be paid to the said town, for which payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents.

The condition of this obligation is such that if the above named A. B., as supervisor of such town, shall safely keep, faithfully disburse and fully and justly account for and pay over all the moneys received by him as supervisor of such town from highway taxes raised therein, and from moneys received by him from the county treasurer on account of the apportionment to such town of moneys appropriated by the state, pursuant to and under the provisions of section 53 of the Highway Law, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.

(Signed) A. B.,

C. D., D. E. ante. p.-.

Acknowledgment and justification as in Form No. County of ..... ...., 98.:

The undersigned, members of the town board of the town of hereby approve of the within bond as to the amount thereof, its form and manner of execution, and of the sufficiency of the sureties therein. Dated

......

day of

19....

(Signed by Members of Town Board.)

or order, from highway moneys collected and received by you under section 53 of the Highway Law:

... dollars for labor and material, furnished for repair and permanent improvement of the highways of the town, as heretofore determined and directed by the Commissioner of Highways and the Town Board of said town.

Dated....

19....

Commissioner of Highways.

853-a. Duty of highway commissioners in certain towns.In towns where the money system of taxation has been adopted for working highways, it shall be the duty of each owner of lands and occupant of lands owned by nonresidents, situated along the highway, to cut the noxious weeds and brush growing within the bounds of the highway fronting such lands at least twice in each year, once before the first day of July and again before the first day of September, and also to remove all fences, brush, shrubbery or other obstruction causing the drifting of snow upon said highway before the first day of November in each year. If the owner or occupant fails to cut such weeds or brush and remove such fences, brush, shrubbery or. other obstruction causing the drifting of snow as provided in this section, the commissioner of highways of the town in which such lands are situated shall cause the same to be done, and shall give such owner notice in writing served personally or by mailing to his post office address, if the commissioner can with due diligence ascertain the same, stating that at a specified time and place the commissioner will assess the cost thereof against such owner so neglecting, and return the same to the town board of his town at the meeting held on the Thursday next preceding the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, stat

ing the name of each owner, and the amount assessed against him. The time so fixed shall not be less than eight days after the personal service or the mailing of such notice. The town board shall certify the amount of the assessment made by the highway commissioner to the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors shall cause the amount so returned to them by the town board to be levied against such delinquent owner and added to his highway tax for the next ensuing year. (Added by L. 1900, chap. 516, and amended by L. 1903, chap. 136 and L. 1904, chap. 478.)

Removal of noxious weeds. It is made the duty of overseers of highways to cause noxious weeds within the bounds of the highways within his district to be cut down or destroyed twice in each year, once before July 1st, and again before September 1st. The owners of lands adjoining highways are required to cut the weeds, brier and brush within the bounds of the highway between the 15th day of June and the 1st of July, and between the 15th of August and the 1st of September (Highway Law, § 70); and overseers or commissioners, in case there be no overseers, must notify the owners or occupants of such lands to cut such weeds, brier and brush, and if they are not cut within ten days after receiving the notice, the overseer or commissioner may do the work and the expense thereof may be charged against the land. Highway Law, § 71.

The amendment of 1904, ch. 478, authorizes commissioners of highways in towns which have adopted the money system to direct the removal of fences, brush, shrubbery, or other ob structions causing the drifting of snow upon highways. Section 72 of the Highway Law provides for the abatement of tax for the removal of a fence for the purpose of preventing the drifting of snow. By L. 1890, chap. 291, ante p. 82, a town may vote at a town meeting to raise money for the purchase of wire fences to be erected at places where the highways are obstructed by existing fences. The above section apparently authorizes a commissioner to summarily remove a fence which causes the drifting of snow upon a highway. In case of the failure of the owner to remove such fence after being notified by the commissioner, the expense of such removal may be charged against the owner of the land. This will probably not be deemed to modify the provisions of § 72, authorizing an

abatement of highway tax where fences are voluntarily removed by the owner of the lands.

The amendment of 1904 seems to radically modify the former theory as to the existence of such fences. The former statute apparently recognized the right of an owner of adjoining land to erect and maintain a fence regardless of the fact that it caused the drifting of snow, but in order to encourage the removal of such fences or the using of fences which were not likely to produce such drifting the law granted to the owner for the removal of such fence an abatement of his highway tax, and also furnished him free of charge wire fencing in place of the fence taken down, in case the town should vote a tax therefor.

§ 53-b. State to share expense of maintaining certain county roads. Whenever any county has heretofore constructed, in pursuance of this chapter, or of any other general or special law, a county road or roads, without expense to the state, the state shall be liable to annually contribute toward the expense of maintaining such road or roads fifty per centum of the amount appropriated by such county for the maintenance of such road or roads during the preceding year. The clerk of the board of supervisors of a county entitled to a contribution from the state toward the maintenance of its roads under this section shall annually, on or before the first day of January, transmit to the state comptroller a statement certified by him and signed and verified by the chairman of such board, stating the amount appropriated by the board of supervisors of such county for the maintenance of such county road or roads during the preceding year. The comptroller shall draw his warrant upon the state treasurer in favor of the treasurer of such county, for an amount equal to fifty per centum of the amount so appropriated. Such money shall be applicable to the repair and permanent improvement of such county road or roads, and shall be expended in the same manner as money appropriated by the county for such purpose. The sum paid by the state to any

county by virtue of this section shall not exceed in any one year, one-tenth of one per centum of the taxable property of such county. (Added by L. 1903, chap. 269.)

§ 54. Adoption of county road system.-The board of supervisors of any county may, by a vote of a majority of the members thereof, by resolution, adopt the county road system, and shall as soon as practicable after the adoption of such resolution, cause to be designated as county roads, such portions of the public highways in such county as they shall deem advisable, outside of the limits of any city in such county, and shall cause such designation and a map of such county roads to be filed in the clerk's office of such county; the roads so designated shall, so far as practicable, be leading market roads in such county. (Added by L. 1893, chap. 333, and amended by L. 1895, chap. 375.)

The above section authorizes the adoption of what is called the county road system. The evident object of the section was to enable a board of supervisors to designate certain leading highways in the county as county roads, to be constructed, repaired and maintained at the expense of the county, leaving all other roads than those so designated as town roads to be constructed and maintained as formerly at the expense of the several towns.

Laying out county highways by board of supervisors.-A board of supervisors is authorized upon the application of twenty five resident taxpayers to lay out, open, alter or discontinue a county highway therein, and to construct, repair or abandon a county bridge. See County Law, § 61, post.

County supervision.-L. 1902, ch. 396, added article 8 to the Highway Law, post, which authorizes a board of supervisors of any county to adopt a resolution providing that on and after such adoption the highways in the county shall be under the supervision of the county engineer. When such resolution is adopted the highways in the county become subject to the general supervision of a county engineer, although the powers and duties of the commissioners of highways remain the same, to be exercised and performed as directed by such engineer.