Tax Rate and Following is a summary of the most important laws passed by the New-York Legislature in 1903: The legislature imposed a tax rate of thirteen-hundredths of a mill for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1903, for the purpose of making an annual contribution to the Canal Debt Sinking Fund required by the constitution. This State tax of thirteen-hundredths of a mill, on a valuation of the property within the State subject to taxation of $5,854,500,121, amounted to the sum of $761,085 02. The total of all appropriation acts sent to Governor Odell by the legislature of 1903 was $25,652,061 70. The Governor disapproved of items of direct appropriation amounting to $2.057,913 93, and disallowed reappropriated items amounting to $96,705 28, making the gross amount of disapproved items $2,154,619 21, and leaving the total net appropriations $23,497,442 49. Indirect taxes mainly met the appropriations made by the legislature and rendered unnecessary the imposition of any direct tax other than that already referred to, amounting to $761,085 02. An amendment made to the Liquor Tax law by which the taxes imposed by that law were increased 50 per cent and the State's proportion of the amount collected was increased, it was estimated, would increase the State's revenue from that source $5,000,000. Another indirect taxation law passed by the legislature of 1903 imposed a tax upon the heirs of persons owning real estate of more than $10,000 in value. It was estimated that this act would bring $500,000 into the State treasury. Chapter 115 of the Laws of 1903, increasing the liquor taxes 50 per cent, increased the taxation of each liquor store in the Borough of Manhattan, New-York, from $800 to $1,200; in the Borough of Brooklyn from $650 to Increase of $975; in cities and boroughs having a population of less than 500,000, but more than 50,000, from $500 to $750, and in cities and villages having a population of less than 50,000, but more than 10,000, from $350 to $525. The law was also changed so as to give the State one-half instead of one-third of the revenues resulting from the taxation of the traffic in liquors. Indirect Taxation. Chapter 41 amends the taxation laws by providing that if real or personal property of the value of $10,000 is transferred by the death of its owner the persons to whom it comes shall pay a tax of 1 per cent upon the market value of the property. The chief legislative measure of the year 1903, other than those already referred to, was an act submitting to the people at the November election a law to expend One Hundred $101,000,000 in the improvement of the Erie Canal, the Champlain Canal and the Oswego Canal, by enlarging them so as to permit of their being navigated by bargès of 1,000 tons capacity. The act provided for the issuing of bonds of the State to the amount of $101,000,000 if a majority of the people should vote affirmatively upon the law. Under Chapter 486 the State Commissioner of Excise may, upon the request of the district attorney of any county, designate an attorney to act with or for or in the place of the district attorney in the trial of any person charged with a violation of the Liquor Tax law. General Chapter 632 authorized the Governor to appoint a board of barber examiners, and declared that no person should hereafter practise the occupation of a barber unless such person should have first received a certificate of qualification from the board of examiners. Chapter 141 provided that at the request of the presiding justice of any judicial department the presiding justice of any of the other departments of the State may consent to the assignment from among the trial justices of any judicial district in his department of such justices as in his opinion may be spared from said district to hold trial or special terms in the department whence the request may come. Chapter 283 authorizes any councils of the Knights of Columbus to form a corporation for the construction of a hall or to create and maintain a library. Chapter 544 appropriates $245,000 to pay judgments made by the Court of Claims on account of the canals of the State.. Chapter 350 permits of the investment of the common school and literature funds of the State in the judgments or awards of the Court of Claims. Chapter 326 makes criminal the action of a junk dealer who receives wire or cable belonging to a railroad without ascertaining that the person who makes the sale has a legal right to do so. Chapter 308 made it unlawful after July 1, 1903, to buy or sell old metal without obtaining a license so to do from the mayor of the city or the president of the village in which the business was to be transacted. Chapter 333 makes it a misdemeanor to give any information to the inmate of a State prison or jail unless with the consent of the officials having charge of these institutions. Chapter 619 provides that manufacturers of thread shall put upon every spool of thread a label designating its weight in pounds and ounces and length in yards, under penalty, if convicted, of a forfeit of $20 for each spool sold without such label. Chapter 526 says the extent of the examination of a witness in proceedings brought by the executor of a will shall be in the discretion of a surrogate. Chapter 521 provides that no justice of a town adjoining an incorporated city shall have jurisdiction of any action brought against a resident of such adjoining city unless one of the parties plaintiff in such action is a resident of such town. Chapter 367 says that when the estate of an intestate is distributed, if there be no widow and no children and no representatives of a child, the whole surplus shall be distributed to all the brothers and sisters of the intestate if they be living, or, if any of them be living and any be dead, to the brothers and sisters living and the descendants in whatever degree of those dead. Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Chapter 546 appropriated $200,000, and reappropriated $100,000 for the State's exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis and the construction of the State building at the same exposition. Chapter 189 appropriated $50,000 for the transportation of soldiers of the State to St. Louis who were to be in attendance at the ceremonies attending the dedication of the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Chapter 638 provides that no hospital, camp or other establishment for the treatment of patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis shall be established in any town unless the board of supervisors of the county and the town board of the town shall each adopt a resolution authorizing the establishment thereof. Chapter 628 legalized the acts of notaries public performed since March, 1902, so far as such acts might be affected by change of residence. Chapter 623 amends Section 6 of Chapter 319 of the Laws of 1848, "An act for the incorporation of benevolent, charitable, scientific and missionary societies,' by providing that any corporation formed under that act may receive property bequeathed to it, provided that no person leaving a wife or child or parent shall devise or bequeath to such institution or corporation more than one-half of his or her estate. Chapter 540 appropriates $870,000 for the construction of buildings and repairs at the State hospitals for the insane. Chapter 950 amends the Navigation law generally, one of the amendments providing that State inspectors shall examine the boilers of all steam vessels carrying passengers or freight for hire before they shall be used. Chapter 473 provides that all purchases for the use of the State charitable institutions shall be made for cash or on credit or time not exceeding thirty days. Chapter 468 says that no person, corporation or municipality shall place or cause to be placed, or discharge or cause to be discharged, into any of the waters of this State, unless the same shall have been permitted by the State Commissioner of Health, any sewage" from any shop. Chapter 383 provides that in all buildings owned by the State the plans for water supply and sewage disposal shall be subject to the approval of the State Commissioner of Health. Chapter 370 authorizes the courts to appoint successors to executors of wills where these persons die or become insane. Chapter 368 gives committees the right to apply for the release of an inchoate right of dower in certain cases. Chapter 293 authorized the Board of Regents to appoint a board of five examiners of persons seeking a certificate of his or her qualifications to practise as a registered nurse. Chapter 221 authorizes the State Commission in Lunacy to appoint a medical. inspector for the purpose of having him visit and inspect the several State hospitals for the insane and other institutions for the insane' subject to the inspection of the Commission. Chapter 85 provides that the decision of the court or the report of a referee upon the trial of whole issues of fact must state separately the facts found and the conclusions of law. Chapter 576 authorized the Governor to appoint a commission to investigate the condition of the adult blind in the State. Chapter 289 authorizes the courts, in the case of any educational corporation whose dissolution has been decreed by the Regents, and upon the application of the trustees of such corporation, to appoint a receiver for the property. Chapter 272 makes guilty of a misdemeanor any person convicted of mutilating any flag of the United States. Chapter 239 provides that the State Controller and the president of the State Board of Charities shall from time to time classify into grades the officers and employes of the various charitable and reformatory instiClassification of tutions required by law to report to the Fiscal Supervisor, Charities Employes. and in the month of September of each year recommend to the Governor such changes in the salaries or wages of such officers and employes for the ensuing fiscal year as may seem proper. Chapter 238 provides that the execrtion of a judgment for the recovery of money only shall not be stayed without security for more than thirty days after the service upon the attorney for the appellant of a copy of the judgment. Chapter 137 provides that a sentence of imprisonment in a State prison for a definite, fixed period of time is a definite sentence, and that a sentence to imprisonment in a State prison having minimum and maximum limits fixed by a court is an indeterminate sentence. Chapter 96 authorizes the burial of the widow of any soldier of the United States, married to him previous to 1890, at the expense of a county, the expense not to exceed $35. Chapter 62 makes eligible for instruction as a State pupil in one of the deaf and dumb institutions of the State any deaf and dumb person over twelve years of age who has been a resident of this State for one year. Chapter 568 appropriates the sum of $3,000 toward the erection of a monument to Brevet Major General George Sears Greene, deceased, on the battlefield of Gettysburg. Chapter 494 provides that it shall be a misdemeanor for any person to distribute "trial samples" of any medicine in a letter box or in any other manner that children may become possessed of the same. Chapter 188 says that the interlocutory judgment in a suit for divorce may, in the discretion of the court, provide for the payment of alimony until the entry of final judgment. Chapter 461 provides that where a judgment has been recovered wholly for necessaries sold, and where an execution has been returned wholly or partly unsatisfied, the judgment creditor may apply to the court in which said judgment was recovered, and upon satisfactory proof of such facts by affidavit the court must grant an order directing that an execution issue against the pronts of such judgment debtor. Portraits as Chapter 132 makes it a misdemeanor to use for advertising purposes the name, portrait or picture of any living person without having first obtained the written consent of such person. Chapter 328 authorizes the officers of savings banks to invest the funds of these Institutions in the bonds of any town or village in the State. Chapter 225 provides that the child of a marriage which is annulled on the ground that one or both of the parties had not attained the age of legal consent is deemed for all purposes the legitimate child of both parents. Chapter 216 declares that a justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court shall not be disqualified from taking part in the decision of an action in which an insurance company is a party by reason of his being a policy holder therein. Chapter 204 exempts from taxation the real property of any fraternal corporation created to build and maintain a building for its meeting, the entire net income of which real property is used to maintain an asylum for the care of worthy members of the fraternity. Chapter 160 declares that the capital of a trust company shall be invested in bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real property in this State to the extent of 60 per centum of the value thereof, in stocks and bonds of this State or of the United States, or of any county or incorporated city of this State, duly authorized by law to be issued. Chapter 146 authorizes the immediate committal of a person believed to be insane to a State hospital, but declares that within five days an order for his commitment to the institution must be obtained in a manner otherwise prescribed. Chapter 447 provides that all articles manufactured in the State prisons, reformatories and penitentiaries shall be of the styles, patterns, designs and qualities fixed by the Board of Classification. Chapter 129 provides that the Governor may remove any county treasurer, after giving such officer a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity to be heard in his defence. Chapter 84 provides that a co-operative savings and loan association, a building and mutual loan association, a building, mutual lean and accumulation fund association or a building and lot association shall not make deductions from stock payments for running expenses. Laws Relating to Labor. Chapter 151 provides that no male child under ten years of age and no girl under sixteen years of age shall in any city of the State of the first class sell or vend newspapers. Chapter 184 declares that no child under the age of fourteen years shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in or in connection with any factory in the State. Chapter 255 provides that no child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in or in connection with any mercantile establishment. business office or telegraph office, restaurant, hotel, apartment house, or in the distribution or transmission of merchandise or messages, more than fifty-four hours in any one week. or more than nine hours in any day, or before 7 o'clock in the morning or after 10 o'clock in the evening of any day. Chapter 380 declares that "any person who knowingly makes a false statement in relation to any application made for an employment certificate as to any matter required by Articles 6 and 11 of the Labor law to appear in any affidavit, record or certificate therein provided for is guilty of a misdemeanor." Chapter 561 says that no male child under the age of eighteen years nor any female shall be employed in any factory in this State in operating or using any emery, tripoll, rouge, corundum, stone, carborundum or any abrasive. Chapter 349 declares that any one is guilty of a misdemeanor who either by himself or with another wilfully deprives a member of the National Guard of his employment, "or prevents his being employed by himself or The National Guard. another, or obstructs or annoys said member of said National Guard, or his employer in respect of his trajë, business or employment, because said member of said National Guard is such member, or dissuades any person from enlistment in the said National Guard by threat of injury to him in case he shall so enlist in respect of his employment, trade or business. Chapter 74 provides that the Adjutant General shall biennially advertise for bids for the furnishing and making of the uniforms and equipments of the National Guard Chapter 15 provides a certain rate for "duty pay for members of the Nationa Guard of various ranks. Chapter 76 makes eligible for appointment as a brigadier general a man who has been in active service in the National Guard as a commissioned officer for a period of fifteen years, ten of which were as a field or general officer, or both combined. Chapter 77 provides that the Governor, or commanding officer of the National Guard, with the approval of the Governor, may relieve any organization of the militia on active duty from the further performance of sucl duty and may order any other organization to perform such duty. Chapter 135 provides that when the Governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the State in time of war, at the head of the military force thereof, he shall continue commander in chief of all the military force of the State. Chapter 435 provides that the Governor may, upon the recommendation of the commanding officer of the National Guard or of the Naval Militia, respectively, detail supernumerary or retired officers for active duty. Chapter 633 appropriates $25,000 for the purchase of additional land for the rifle range at Creedmoor. Chapter 213 provides that the staff of the Governor shall have sixteen aidesde-camp. Chapter 347 provides that every city of the second and third class shall annually within sixty days after the close of its fiscal year make a report of its financial condition to the Secretary of State. Financial Reports. Chapter 450 provides that no fraternal beneficiary society shall hereafter make any promise with its members for the payment of money Insurance Laws. upon the expiration of a fixed period in case a death loss has not been incurred before the expiration of such period, except certain specified societies. Chapter 106 provides that it shall not be lawful for any association of individual underwriters known as Lloyds to stamp, print or write, or otherwise cause or permit to be stamped, written or printed, upon any fire insurance policy issued by it, any words which may in any way tend to convey the impression that such policy is in form or substance the standard form of policy prescribed by Chapter 690 of the Laws of 1892 for the use of corporations authorized by law to transact the business of fire insurance within this State. Chapter 294 provides for the payment of a tax by persons who have procured any policy of insurance from a foreign fire insurance corporation not authorized to transact business in this State by the Superintendent of the Insurance Department, under the provisions of Article III of Chapter 690 of the Laws of 1892. Chapter 471 says that the associations of underwriters known as Lloyds shall yearly file with the Superintendent of the Insurance Department a statement of their affairs. Chapter 530 provides that foreign fire insurance companies not authorized to do business in this State by the Superintendent of the Insurance Department under the provisions of Chapter 690 of the Laws of 1892, which shall insure any property in this State against loss or injury by fire, shall annually on or before the first day of July pay a tax of 1 per centum on all premiums or assessments collected or received by it for such insurance to the Superintendent of the Insurance Department. Chapter 566 amends the Insurance law in relation to the assets and liabilities of casualty insurance corporations by providing that there shall also be charged, as a liability to each company which undertakes or writes insurance under Subdivision 3 of Section 70 of Chapter 690 of the Laws of 1892, whether organized under this or any other State or country, a further reserve, which is described in detail. Chapter 135 provides that the president of a title and guarantee corporation must be elected from among the directors. Chapter 537 provides that in villages the board of trustees shall have authority to grant consent to the construction of a street surface railLaws Concerning road, "except that in villages where the control of the Railroads. streets is vested in any other board or authorities such other board or authorities shall be the local authorities referred to, and the consent of such other board or authorities hereafter or heretofore obtained shall be sufficient." Chapter 121 makes it the duty of the owners of steamboats, except ferryboats on the Hudson River, to transport the bicycle of any passenger as ordinary baggage. Chapter 325 provides that after December 1, 1904, the cars of street railway companies operated outside of city limits, except those of the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, during the months of December, January, February and March, except cars attached to the rear of other cars, shall have th fronts of their platforms to the front of their hoods inclosed; and except also that where the cars of any corporation are operated wholly in cities other than the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn such corporations need inclose only one-third of the front platforms of their cars prior to December 1, 1904. Chapter 30 provides that the consolidation of a domestic with a foreign railroad corporation shall not be deemed invalid because such roads at the time of the consolidation did not form a connected and continuous line if when the consolidation was effected or thereafter an intermediate line by purchase or by a lease became with the consolidated roads a continuous line of railroad, Chapter 311 says personal service of a summons upon a defendant, if a foreign corporation, may be made by delivering a copy of it to certain of its officials, who are named. Chapter 597 extends for three years from January 1, 1904. the time for the completion of street surface railroads which have acquired one-third of their right of way. Chapter 626 suspends the limitation of time for the beginning of the construction of railroads while in the hands of receivers. Chapter 267 says, after prescribing the method of assessing bank shares of solvent Assessment of banks, that in assessing bank shares the value of each share of stock in each bank or banking association in liquidation shall be ascertained and fixed by dividing the actual assets of such bank or banking association by the number of outstanding shares of such bank or banking association. Corporation Law Chapter 320 provides that the number of directors of any stock corporation may be increased or reduced, but not below the minimum number prescribed by law. Chapter 384 says that the admission of a member of ar. aggregate corporation who is not a party shall not be received as evidence against the corporation unless it was made while a member of such corporation and testifying as a witness concerning a transaction of the corporation. Chapter 290 provides that a receiver of the property of a corporation can be appointed only by a court and in one of several cases, one being upon the application of the Regents of the University in aid of the liquidation of a corporation whose dissolution they contemplate or have decreed. Foreign Wills. Chapter 472 provides that a will made in a foreign land must be authenticated by a certificate of a judge of a court of record of such foreign country. Chapter 13 authorizes a magistrate of a criminal court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the father of an abandoned child when the child has been committed to a charitable institution the court may then require the Relating to Children, payment by him of a weekly sum toward the support of the child. Chapter 331 provides that all cases involving the commitment or trial of children actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years for any violation of law in any court shall be heard and determined by such court at suitable times separate and apart from the trial of other criminal cases. Chapter 329 provides that when a child under the age of sixteen years is arrested in New-York or Buffalo a police officer may accept the personal recognizance of a parent or other custodian of such a child to produce such child before the proper court on the following day. Chapter 309 makes it a misdemeanor for the proprietor of a junk shop to buy any goods of a child under the age of sixteen years. Chapter 613 provides that when practicable any child under the age of sixteen years arrested for a criminal offence and then placed on probation shall be placed with a probation officer of the same religious faith as that of the child's parents. Chapter 376 provides that a parent or other person having the care or custody, "for nurture or education, of a child under the age of fourteen years, who deserts the child in any place, with intent wholly to abandon it. is punishable by imprisonment in a State prison for not more than seven years." Rural Legislation. Chapter 27 exempts from assessments for highway labor all honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who have lost an arm or a leg in the military or naval service of the United States. Chapter 542 provides that no fruit shall be sold in packages unless the package contains a label stating the State where the fruit was grown. Chapter 492 provides that in a town which has adopted the money system of taxation for highway purposes the town board may at a regular meeting fix the compensation of the commissioner of highways of such town at a sum of not less than $2 nor more than $3 a day. Chapter 465 authorizes the board of supervisors of each county to raise by tax on real and personal property not more than $5,000, to be expended in the repair and construction of sidepaths in such county. Chapter 339 provides that the board of supervisors of any county may by resolution fix a time when the biennial town meetings in such county shall be held, which shall be either on some day between the first day of February and the first day of May, inclusive, or on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of an odd numbered year. Chapter 610 provides that in any town in which a highway has been or may be graded under certain enumerated laws the owner of the land adjacent shall be entitled to recover from the town the damage resulting from any change of grade. Chapter 305 provides that if a farm is divided by a line between two or more tax districts it shall be assessed in the tax district in which the dwelling house or other principal buildings are located. Chapter 324 authorizes the town board of any town to fix the compensation of the assessors in their town, not to exceed $3 a day each. Chapter 222 says that whenever a town board of health shall certify to the board of trustees of a town that there is need of more sewers the latter board shall consider such recommendations and, if it approves of them, certify the fact to the State Department of Health for its approval, and that if the State Department of Health approves of the recommendations the work shall be undertaken. Chapter 196 provides that the fire commissioners in any fire district may expend $100 annually in the purchase of fire apparatus without any appropriation voted therefor by the taxpayers of such district. Chapter 313 provides that if a village constitutes only one election district the trustees, president and clerk of the village, after the first election of village officers. shall be inspectors of election for the village. Chapter 469 authorizes towns to borrow money for constructing highways. Chapter 275 provides that the provisions of any special or local law or municipal ordinance requiring the payment of a license fee for exhibitions or entertainments |