tract the proposals of contractors shall be submitted to the board of railroad commissioners, and if the board shall determine that the bids are excessive it shall have the power to require the submission of new proposals. The board of railroad commissioners may employ temporarily such experts and engineers as may be necessary to properly supervise any work that may be undertaken under sections sixty, sixty-one or sixty-two of this act, the expense thereof to be paid by the comptroller upon the requisition and certificate of the said board, said expense to be included in the cost of the particular change in grade on account of which it is incurred and finally apportioned in the manner provided in this section. Upon the completion of the work and its approval by the board of railroad commissioners an accounting shall be had between the railroad corporation and the municipal corporation, of the amounts expended by each with interest, and if it shall appear that the railroad corporation or the municipal corporation have expended more than their proportion of the expense of the crossing as herein provided, a settlement shall be forthwith made in accordance with the provisions of this section. All items of expenditure shall be verified under oath, and, in case of a dispute between the railroad corporation and the municipal corporation as to the amount expended, any judge of the supreme court in the judicial district in which the municipality is situated, may appoint a referee to take testimony as to the amount expended, and the confirmation of the report of the referee shall be final. In the event of the failure or refusal of the railroad corporation to pay its proportion of the expense, the same, with interest from the date of such accounting, may be levied and assessed upon the railroad corporation and collected in the same manner that taxes and assessments are now collected by the municipal corporation within which the work is done; and in the event of the failure or refusal of the municipal corporation to pay its proportion of the expense, suit may be instituted by the railroad corporation for the collection of the same with interest from the date of such accounting, or the railroad corporation may offset such amount with interest against any taxes levied or assessed against it or its property by such municipal corporation. The

legislature shall annually appropriate out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of paying the state's proportion of the expense of a change in an existing grade crossing. If, in any year, any less sum than one hundred thousand dollars is expended by the state for the purpose aforesaid, the balance remaining unexpended shall be applied to reduce the amount appropriated by the state in the next succeeding year, except that no such deduction shall be made in case there are outstanding and unadjusted obligations on account of a change in an existing grade crossing for a proportion of which the state is liable under the provisions of this section. In the event of the appropriation made by the state in any one year being insufficient to pay the state's proportion of the expense of any change that may be ordered, the first payment from the appropriation of the succeeding year shall be on account of said change, and no payment shall be made on account of any subsequent change that may be ordered, nor shall any subsequent change be ordered until the obligation of the state on account of the first named change in grade has been fully discharged, unless the same shall be provided for by an additional appropriation to be made by the legislature. The state's proportion of the expense of changing any existing grade crossing shall be paid by the state treasurer on the warrant of the comptroller, to which shall be appended the certificate of the board of railroad commissioners to the effect that the work has been properly performed and a statement showing the situation of the crossing that has been changed, the total cost and the proportionate expense thereof, and the money shall be paid in whole or in part to the railroad corporation or to the municipal corporation as the board of railroad commissioners may direct, subject, however, to the rights of the respective parties as they appear from the accounting to be had as hereinbefore provided for. No claim for damages to property on account of the change or abolishment of any crossing under the provisions of this act shall be allowed unless notice of such claim is filed with the board of railroad commissioners within six months after completion of the work necessary for such change or abolishment. (Railroad Law,

§ 65, as added by L. 1897, chap. 754, and amended by L. 1898, chap. 520, and L 1900, chap. 517.)

g. Railroad commissioners may institute proceedings to alter grade-crossings.-The railroad commissioners may, in the absence of any application therefor, when, in their opinion, public safety requires an alteration in an existing grade crossing, institute proceedings on their own motion for an alteration in such grade crossing, upon such notice as they shall deem reasonable, of not less than ten days, however, to the railroad company, the municipal corporation and the person or persons interested, and proceedings shall be conducted as provided in section sixty-two of this act. The changes in existing grade crossings authorized or required by the board of railroad commissioners in any one year shall be so distributed and apportioned over and among the railroads and the municipalities of the state as to produce such equality of burden upon them for their proportionate part of the expenses as herein provided for as the nature and circumstances of the cases before them will permit. (Railroad Law, § 66, as added by L. 1897, chap 754.)

h. Proceedings to enforce compliance with recommendations of board. It shall be the duty of the corporation, municipality or person or persons to whom the decisions or recommendations of the board of railroad commissioners are directed, as provided in sections sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two and sixty-six of this act, to comply with such decisions and recommendations, and in case of their failure so to do, the board shall present the facts in the case to the attorney-general, who shall thereupon take proceedings to compel obedience to the decisions and recommendations of the board of railroad commissioners. The supreme court at a special term shall have the power in all cases of such decisions and recommendations by the board of railroad commissioners to compel compliance therewith by mandamus, subject to appeal to the appellate division of the supreme court and the court of appeals, in the same manner, and with like effect, as is provided in case of appeals from any order of the supreme court. (Railroad Law, § 67, as added by L. 1897, chap. 754.)

i. Town may borrow money and issue bonds.-Whenever in carrying out any of the provisions of sections sixty, sixty-one, sixtytwo, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five, sixty-six, or sixty-seven of this act, any municipality shall incur any expense or become liable for the payment of any moneys, it shall be lawful for such municipality to temporarily borrow such moneys on the notes or certificates of such municipality, and to include the amount of outstanding notes or certificates, or any part thereof, in its next annual tax levy for municipal purposes, or in the discretion of the common council in case of a city, the board of trustees in case of a village or the town board in case of a town, to borrow the same, or any part thereof, on the credit of the municipality, and to issue bonds therefor, which bonds shall be signed by the mayor and clerk in case of a city, the president and clerk in case of a village and the town board in case of a town,and shall be in such form and for such sums and be payable at such times and places with interest not exceeding four per centum per annum, as the common council in case of a city, the board of trustees in case of a village, and the town board in case of a town, shall direct. (Railroad Law, § 67a, as added by L. 1899, chap. 541 and amended by L. 1902, chap. 198.)

4. Ringing bells and blowing whistles at crossings; obstruction of crossings.-Section 421 of the Penal Code provides as follows: "A person acting as engineer, driving a locomotive on any railway in this State, who fails to ring the bell, or sound the whistle, upon such locomotive, or cause the same to be rung or sounded, at least eighty rods from any place where such railway crosses a traveled road or street on the same level (except in cities), or to continue the ringing of such bell or sounding such whistle at intervals, until such locomotive and the train to which the locomotive is attached shall have completely crossed such road or street, or any officer or employe of a corporation in charge of a locomotive, train or car, who shall wilfully obstruct, or cause to be obstructed, any farm or highway crossing with any locomotive, train or car for a longer period than five consecutive minutes, is guilty of a misdemeanor."

5. Sign boards and flagmen at crossings.-Every railroad corporation shall cause a sign board to be placed, well supported

and constantly maintained, at every crossing where its road is crossed by a public highway at grade. Such sign board shall be of a shape and design to be approved by the board of railroad commissioners, and shall have suitable words painted thereon to warn travelers of the existence of such grade crossing. The board of railroad commissioners shall have power to prescribe the location and elevation of such sign and the words of warning thereon. The commission may dispense with the use of such sign boards at such crossings as they may designate in cities and villages. At any point where a railroad crosses a street, highway, turnpike, plank-road, or traveled way at grade, or where a steam railroad crosses a horse railroad at grade, and the corporation owning or operating such railroad, refuses, upon request of the local authorities, to station a flagman or erect gates, to be opened and closed when an engine or train passes, the supreme court or the county court, may upon the application of the local authorities and upon ten days' notice to the corporation, order that a flagman be stationed at such point, or that gates shall be erected thereat, and that a person be stationed to open and close them when an engine or train passes, or may make such other order respecting the same as it deems proper. Whenever the crossing by a railroad at grade of the streets, highways, turnpike, plank roads, or traveled ways of any village or city, having a population by the last state or federal enumeration of less than fifty thousand, shall be protected by gates with persons to open and close the same, when an engine or train passes, the local authorities of the city or village shall not impose any limitation, less than forty miles an hour, on the rate of speed at which such engine or train shall be run, or enforce any existing limitation upon such rate of speed, less than forty miles an hour. (Railroad Law, § 33, as amended by L. 1892, chap. 676, and L. 1901, chap. 301.)