Strays and Chattels Doing Damage. §§ 140-143 may be, by a verified petition stating the facts, for an order authorizing such sale; if the court shall be satisfied that a sale of the property would be most beneficial to the parties interested, it shall make the order so applied for, and the officer having custody of the property, shall sell the same at public auction, at the time and in the manner specified in the order, and the proceeds of such sale, deducting the expenses allowed by the court, shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the property shall have been found. § 140. Delivery of wreck or proceeds to claimant.—If, within a year after such wrecked property shall have been found and saved, any person shall claim the same or the proceeds thereof, as owner or consignee, or the agent of the owner or consignee, and shall establish his claim by evidence, such court shall make an order directing the officer, in whose possession the property, or its proceeds shall be, to deliver or pay the same to the claimant, upon the payment by him of a reasonable salvage, and all necessary expenses incurred in the preservation and keeping of the property. § 141. Claimant's undertaking.-No such order shall, however, be made unless the claimant shall deliver to such court an undertaking with one or more sufficient sureties to be approved by the court, to the effect that he will pay all damages recovered against such claimant or his representatives, within two years after the date of the undertaking, by any person establishing his title as owner of such property or proceeds. The undertaking shall be filed in the clerk's office of the county in which it shall be taken. § 142. When owner may sue.-The rejection by the court of any claim for wrecked property, shall not preclude the claimant from maintaining an action for the recovery of such property or its proceeds, against the officer in whose hands the same shall be; but if the plaintiff in any such action shall prevail, there shall be deducted, in addition to the salvage and expenses charged on the property, from the damages recovered, the costs of the defense. § 143. Claim for salvage.-Every officer to whom any order duly made, for the delivery of the wrecked property, or its proceeds, shall be directed, shall present to the claimant exhibiting such order, a written statement of the claims for salvage and expenses on such property, and proceeds. If the claimant shall refuse to allow such claims, the amount of such salvage and expenses shall be adjusted in the manner hereinafter provided, and after the payment or tender of the payment of such salvage and expenses, as agreed to or adjusted, the officer, in whose custody such property or proceeds shall be, shall deliver or pay the same, according to the terms of the order directed to him. § 144. Duties of wreck-masters.-Wreck-masters in the several counties, shall give all possible aid and assistance to all vessels stranded on the coasts of their respective counties, and to the persons on board the same, and use their utmost endeavors to save and preserve snch vessels and their cargoes, and all goods and merchandise which may be cast by the sea upon the land; and in the performance of these duties they shall employ such men as they may respectively think proper; and all magistrates, constables and citizens shall aid and assist the wreck-masters, when required in the discharge of their duties. § 145. Detention of wreck.-All sheriffs, coroners and wreckmasters, and all persons employed by them, and all other persons aiding and assisting in the recovery and preservation of wrecked property, shall be entitled to a reasonable allowance as salvage for their services, and to all expenses incurred by them in the performance of such services, out of the property saved, and the officer having the custody of such property shall detain the same until such salvage and expenses shall be paid, and the salvage claimed in any case shall not exceed one-half of the value of the property or proceeds, and every agreement, order or adjustment allowing a greater salvage shall be void. § 146. Appointment of appraisers. If the amount of salvage and expenses on property saved shall not be adjusted by agreement of the parties, the owner or consignee of such property, or the master or supercargo having charge thereof at the time the same was wrecked, or a claimant having an order for its delivery, may apply to the county court of the county or the city court of a city in which such property shall be, for the appointment of suitable persons as appraisers, to adjust the amount of such salvage and expenses; and such court shall, by an order, appoint three disinterested freeholders of the county, not inhabitants of the town in which the property shall have been saved, to adjust such salvage and expenses, who, before they shall enter upon the performance of their duties, shall be sworn to perform faithfully and impartially the duties of their trust. They shall have power to issue compulsory process for the attendance of witnesses, and to administer oaths to all witnesses who shall attend Strays and Chattels Doing Damage. SS 147-149 or be produced; and the written decision of the appraisers, or any two of them, as to the amount of salvage and expenses, and the sums to he paid to each person entitled to share in such salvage, or claiming such expenses shall be final and conclusive. The fees and expenses of the appraisers shall be paid by the per.. son upon whose application they shall have been appointed, and shall be a charge upon the property saved. Each appraiser shall be entitled to five dollars for each day's necessary attendance and expenses. § 147. Sale and disposition of property.-If within a year after wrecked property shall have been saved, no person shall have appeared to claim the same, or if the salvage and expenses on such property shall have been paid within three months after the same shall have been adjusted, or an action for the recovery of the property have been commenced, the officer in whose custody the property shall be shall sell the same at public auction, and pay the proceeds of such sale, deducting salvage and expenses, into the treasury of this state, for the benefit of the parties interested; but in no case shall any deduction of salvage or expenses be made unless the amount thereof shall have been adjusted upon due proof, by an order of such county or city court, a copy of which order and of the evidence in support thereof, shall be transmitted by the court making it to the comptroller. If the property has been sold as perishable, the balance of the proceeds, after the salvage and expenses as adjusted, shall be paid by the county treasurer into the treasury of this state. § 148. Publication of notices of sale.-Public notice of every sale to be made of wrecked property, under the provisions of this article, shall be published by the officer making the sale, for at least two weeks in succession, in one or more of the newspapers published in the county where the property shall have been saved. Every such notice shall state the time and place of the sale, and shall contain a particular description of the property intended to be sold. § 149. Publication of notice of wrecked property.—Every sheriff, coroner, or wreck-master, into whose possession any wrecked property shall come, shall immediately thereafter publish a notice directed to all parties interested, for at least four weeks in succession, in one or more of the newspapers published in the county where the property shall have been saved. Every such notice shall contain a minute description of such wrecked property, and every bale, bag, box, cask, piece or parcel thereof, and of the marks, brands, letters and figures on each, and shall state where such wrecked property then is, and its actual condition, and the name, if known, of the vessel from which it was taken or cast on shore, and the master and supercargo of such vessel, and the place where such vessel then is, and its actual condition. The expense of publishing every notice required to be published relating to wrecks, shall be charged on the property or proceeds to which it relates. § 150. Appointment of wreck-masters.-There shall continue to be fifteen wreck-masters for the county of Suffolk, twelve in the county of Queens, three in the county of Kings, two in the county of Richmond and two in the county of Westchester, who shall hold their office for two years, and be appointed by the governor. ARTICLE VII. THE TOWN Board. BECTION 160. Constitution and regular meetings of the town board. 161. Meeting of town board for receiving accounts of town officers, 162. Meeting of town board for auditing accounts. 163. Appeal from town board, to board of supervisors. 164. Accounts of justices in criminal matters. 165. Fees of officers in criminal proceedings. 166. Pay of town officers. 167. Accounts to be made in items. 168. Saving clause. 169. Traveling fees. 170. Abstract for board of supervisors. 171. Town fire companies. 172. Electing town auditors. 173. Board to be elected. 174. Powers conferred upon town auditors. 175. Town board to appoint temporary board of town auditors. 176. Compensation of town auditors; vacancies, how filled. 177. Town meeting may vote to discontinue. 178. Compensation of town officers. 179. Pound-masters' fees. 180. What deemed town charges. 181. Excise moneys, how disposed of. 182. How towns to sue and be sued, and make contracts. 183. Actions for trespass on town lands. 184. Town board may borrow money after appropriation voted. 184. Town board may prohibit hawking and peddling without license. §§ 160-162 The Town Board. SECTION 185. Issuance of licenses. 186. Penalties. 187. Unlawful hawking or peddling or refusal to produce a license 188. Niagara and Orleans counties excepted. 188. Town board may establish water supply districts. § 160. Constitution and regular meetings of the town board. -The supervisor, town clerk and the justices of the peace, or any two of such justices shall constitute the town board of each town, and shall hold at least two meetings annually at the office of the town clerk, one on the Tuesday preceding the biennial town meeting, and on the corresponding date in each alternate year, and the other on the Thursday next preceding the annual meeting of the board of supervisors. If the biennial town meeting in any town is held at the time of a general election, the first meeting shall be held on the third Tuesday of December in each year. (As amended by chap. 481 of 1897, § 19; chap. 363 of 1898, 8.) § 161. Meeting of town board for receiving accounts of town A 190 C-204" officers. At the meeting of the town board held on the Tuesday preceding the biennial town meeting and on the corresponding date in each alternate year, or on the third Tuesday of December in each year, all town officers who receive or disburse any moneys of the town, shall account with the board for all such moneys received and disbursed by them by virtue of their office, but no member of the board shall sit as a member of the board when any account in which he is interested is being audited by the board. The board shall make a statement of such accounts, and append thereto a certificate signed by at least a majority of them, showing the state of the accounts of each officer at the date of the certificate, which statement and certificate shall be filed with the town clerk of the town, and be open to public inspection during the office hours of such town clerk. (As amended by chap. 481 of 1897, § 19, and chap. 363 of 1898, § 8.) § 162. Meeting of town board for auditing accounts.-The meeting of the town board held on the Thursday preceding the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, shall be for the pur pose of auditing accounts and allowing or rejecting all charges, claims and demands against the town. If any account is wholly rejected, the board shall make a certificate to that effect, signed by at least a majority of them, and file the same in the office of |