ors of each town, ward, city or district in this State for which a supervisor is elected shall, on or before the first day of May in each year, make an accurate list of every corporation, joint-stock company and association incorporated by this or any other State or country, located or doing business in such town, ward, city or district for which such supervisor has been elected, and shall forthwith forward the same to the comptroller of this State, verified by their oath before some magistrate or person authorized to administer oaths, to the effect that such list is full and complete to the best of their knowledge, information and belief. The comptroller of this State shall, on or before the fifteenth day of April in each year, forward to the said supervisors suitable forms for making up the said lists so required to be sent to him. Chap. 166, Laws of 1881; 1 R. S. 865. - § 69. All Suits Against the Town. To the Town Meeting. — In all legal proceedings against towns by name, the first process and all other proceedings required to be served shall be served on the supervisor of the town; and whenever any such suit or proceeding shall be commenced, it shall be the duty of the supervisor to attend to the defense thereof, and to lay before the electors of the town, at their first town meeting, a full statement of such suit or proceeding for their direction in regard to the defense thereof. 1 R. S. 840, § 3. § 70. As to Town Debt. The report mentioned at section 59 is also to be made to the town meeting, See ante, 59. and add to it, the amount of bonds issued, and the amounts and interest paid since said report, up to the day and date of his term of office, duly attested before a justice of the peace. The forms for the more important reports, etc., are set forth ante. AS TO COMMON SCHOOLS, SCHOOL DISTRICTS. § 71. In 1864, by chapter 555, the several statutes in relation to common schools were consolidated, and, so far as they pertain to the duties of the supervisor, are as follows: GOSPEL AND SCHOOL LOTS. § 72. Supervisor's Duties in Relation to.The supervisor, by virtue of his office, is trustee for the gospel and school lot funds, lands, etc., and vested with the following powers and duties: 1. To take and hold possession of the gospel and school lots of their town. 2. To lease the same for such time, not exceeding twenty-one years, and upon such conditions as they shall deem expedient. 3. To sell the same, with the advice and consent of the inhabitants of the town, in town meeting assembled, for such price and upon such terms of credit as shall appear to them most advantageous. 4. To invest the proceeds of such sales in loans, secured by bond and mortgage upon unincumbered real property of the value of double the amount loaned. 5. To purchase the property so mortgaged upon a foreclosure, and to hold and convey the property so purchased whenever it shall become necessary. 6. To re-loan the amount of such loans repaid to them, upon the like security. 7. To apply the rents and profits of such lots, and the interest of the money arising from the sale thereof, to the support of the gospel and schools, or either, as may be provided by law, in such manner as shall be thus provided. 8. To render a just and true account of the proceeds of the sales and the interest on the loans thereof, and of the rents and profits of such gospel and school lots, and of the expenditure and appropriation thereof, on the last Tuesday next preceding the annual town meeting in each year, to the board of auditors of the accounts of other town officers. 9. To deliver over to their successors in office all books, papers and securities relating to the same, at the expiration of their respective offices; and, 10. To take therefor a receipt which shall be filed in the clerk's office of the town. 2 R. S. 1202. § 73. When Town Divided.-Whenever a town, having lands assigned to it for the support of the gospel or of schools, shall be divided into two or more towns, or shall be altered in its limits by the annexing of a part of its territory to another town or towns, such lands shall be sold by the trustees of the town in which such lands were included immediately before such division or alteration, and the proceeds thereof shall be apportioned between the towns interested therein, in the same manner as the other public moneys of towns, so divided or altered, are apportioned. The shares of such moneys, to which the towns shall be respectively entitled, shall be paid to the trustees of the gospel and school lots of the respective towns, and shall thereafter be subject to the provisions of this title. Whenever the "trustees of the gospel and school lots" are spoken of above it now means the supervisor of the town. 2 R. S. 1154; Taylor v. Gurnee, 26 Hun, 624. § 74. Moneys in the Hands of the Overseers of the Poor. — In 1829, by chapter 287 of the Laws of 1829, the right was given to towns, in counties that had abolished, or should thereafter abolish, the distinction between county and town paupers, to appropriate the moneys and funds remaining in the hands of the overseers of the poor of such town to such objects and for such purposes as shall be determined at a town meeting. If the town meeting determined to appropriate the moneys and funds for the benefit of common schools in the town, such moneys were denominated "the common-school fund of such town," and were placed under the care and superintendence of the commissioners of common schools of said town. Afterward, the office of commissioners of common schools in towns was abolished, and their powers vested in the supervisor. The act of 1829 is given herewith, and wherever the commissioners of common schools are mentioned therein the supervisor now acts in their place and is vested with their powers. The following is the act of 1829 (chap. 287) above referred to: $1. It shall be lawful for the inhabitants of any town, in such counties as have abolished the distinction between county and town paupers, and in such counties as may hereafter abolish such distinctions, at any annual or special town meeting, to appropriate all or any part of the moneys and funds remaining in the hands of the overseers of the poor of such town, after such abolition, to such objects and for such purposes as shall be determined on at such meeting. 2. If any such meeting shall appropriate such money or funds for the benefit of common schools in their town, the money so appropriated shall be denomi nated the common-school fund of such town," and shall be under the care and superintendence of the commissioners of common schools of said town. 3. If any such meeting shall appropriate such money or funds for the benefit. of common schools, after such appropriation shall have been made, and after the commissioners of common schools shall have taken the oath of office, the overseers of the poor of such town shall then pay over and deliver to the said com. missioners such moneys, bonds, mortgages, notes and other securities remaining in their hands as such overseers of the poor as will comport with the appropria tion made for the benefit of common schools of their town. § 4. The said commissioners may sue for and collect in their name of office the money due or to become due on such bonds, mortgages, notes or other securi ties, and also all other securities by them taken under the provisions of this act. § 5. The moneys, bonds, mortgages, notes and other securities aforesaid shall continue and be a permanent fund, to be denominated the common-school fund of the town appropriating the same, the annual interest of which shall be applied to the support of common schools in such towns, unless the inhabitants of such town, in annual town meeting, shall make a different disposition of the whole of the principal and interest, or any part thereof, for the benefit of the common schools of such town. $6. The said commissioners of common schools, whenever the whole or any part of the principal of said fund shall come to their hands, shall loan the same on bond, secured by mortgage on real estate of double the value of the moneys so loaned, exclusive of buildings or artificial erections thereon. 7. The said commissioners of common schools may purchase in the estate on which the fund shall have been secured, upon the foreclosure of any mortgage, and may hold and convey the same for the use of said fund. § 8. The said commissioners of common schools shall retain the interest of said common-school fund, which shall be distributed and applied to the support of common schools of such town, in like manner as the public money for the sup. port of common schools shall be distributed by law. 9. The said commissioners of common schools shall account annually, in such manner and at such time as town officers are required by law to account, and shall deliver to their successors in office all moneys, books, securities and papers whatsoever relating to said fund, and shall take a receipt therefor and file the same with the town clerk. 2 R. S. 1154, note 1. § 75. Disbursing of, and Accounts for School Moneys, see §§ 38 and 39, ante. § 76. Alteration of School District. The school commissioner has power, with the consent of the trustees of all districts affected thereby, to make an order altering the same, but if the trustees of any such district refuse to consent to the alteration of a district, the commissioner may make and file, with the town clerk, his order making the alteration, but reciting the refusal, and directing that the order shall not take effect, as to the dissenting district or districts, until a day therein to be named and not less than three months after the notice in the next section mentioned. §3, chap. 555, Laws of 1864, as amended by chap. 406, Laws of 1867; 2 R. S. 1157. Within ten days after making and filing such order he shall give at least a week's notice in writing to one or more of the assenting and dissenting trustees of any district or districts to be affected by the proposed alterations, that at a specified time and at a named place within the town, in which either of the districts to be affected lies, he will hear the objections to the alteration. The trustees of any district to be affected by such order may request the supervisor and town clerk of the town or towns within which such district or districts shall wholly or partly lie, to be associated with the commissioner. At the time and place mentioned in the notice the commis sioner or commissioners, with the supervisors and town clerks, if they shall attend and act, shall hear and decide the matter; and the decision shall be final unless duly appealed from. Such decision must either confirm or vacate the order of the commissioner, and must be filed with and recorded by the town clerk of the town or towns in which the district or districts affected shall lie. Id., as amended by chap. 647, Laws of 1865; People v. Hooper, 13 Hun, 639. § 77. Form of Order Altering or Forming a District. It is hereby ordered, by the undersigned school commissioner for commissioner district No. 1 of the county of consist of part of district No. No. in the town of that a new school district be formed, to in the town of and part of district which new district is hereby numbered twelve and is bounded as follows: Beginning on the east bank of Allen's creek, at the point where the same is intersected by the north line of the highway leading from B. to P.; thence north-easterly along said creek to its junction with I. creek; thence south-easterly along I. creek to the west line of the town of B.; thence south along the boundary line between the towns of B. and P. to the north line of P.; thence west on said north line to the State road; thence north along the State road to its intersection with the highway first above mentioned; thence north-westerly along said highway to the place of beginning.* This order is made with the consent of all of the trustees of each of said districts affected thereby, which consent is hereto annexed and to be recorded herewith† and shall take effect on ( Dated June 1, 1886. ). W. D. BIDDLECOM, SCHOOL COMMISSIONER. If majority of the trustees of any district affected thereby refuse their consent, the order should recite that fact and that it will not take effect until after three months' notice in writing to some The order should recite that trustees consent. The consent of a district meeting is not a compliance with the statute. In re Appeal of Charles Anderson, p. 121 of Rept. of Supt. Pub. Inst. for 1889. Under this, two weak districts may be consolidated. Id. See, also, In re Appeal Ling, id. 136; In re Chubbuck, id. 145. But changes from a weak to a strong district will not be upheld. In re Parks, id. 153. Changes to better accommodate school patrons, which do not materially affect the size or assessable valuation of a district, will be upheld. In re Cady, id. 65. |