education other than the secretary and treasurer shall be two dollars for attendance at each regular meeting of the board. The secretary and treasurer of said board shall receive such compensation for their services as the board of education may determine, not exceeding one hundred dollars for the treasurer and one hundred twenty-five dollars for the secretary per annum. The amount of money necessary for the services of district officers shall be included in the regular budget voted by the board of education and shall be paid from the general fund.

SEC. 21. The several township officers shall be ineligible to Board, township election as members of the board of education during the term officers for which they were elected and any votes cast for such town- ineligible. ship officers for members of the board of education shall be void. It shall be illegal for any member of the board of edu- Member not to cation to act as agent for any author, publisher or seller of act as agent. school books or school apparatus, or to receive any gift or reward for his influence in recommending the purchase or use of any school book or apparatus in the State of Michigan.

contract.

It shall be illegal for any member of the board of education Interest in to perform any labor except as provided in this act, or furnish any material or supplies for the school district in which he is an officer, and he shall not be personally interested in any way whatever, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the district in which he holds office. Any act herein prohibited, if Penalty. performed by any such school officer, shall be deemed a misdemeanor and he shall be liable to the punishment provided for such offense in accordance with the provisions of the statute in such case made and provided.

accept office

SEC. 22. Any person duly elected to the office of trustee Refusal to of any township district, who shall neglect or refuse without or perform sufficient cause to accept such office and serve therein, or who duty. having entered upon the duties of his office shall neglect or refuse to perform any duty required of him by virtue of his office, shall, upon conviction in any court of competent jurisdiction, be fined not less than ten dollars in the discretion of the court, and if he shall still continue to neglect or refuse to perform the duties he shall be liable for a similar forfeiture for each such offense; or any such officer may be removed from office in the manner provided in this act.

from office.

SEC. 23. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall Removal have power and is hereby required to remove from office, upon satisfactory proof and after at least ten days' notice to the party implicated, any trustee of any township school district who shall have illegally used or disposed of any of the public moneys entrusted to his charge, or who shall persistently and without sufficient cause refuse or neglect to discharge any of the duties of his office, and in case of such removal it shall be the duty of the said State superintendent to record in the office of the township clerk of such township the resolution or order for such removal, and such record of

Proviso, when order to stand.

Consolidation of townships,

Joint session

such resolution or order so entered, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of jurisdiction of the regularity of such proceedings for removal, and said State superintendent shall file a similar copy of the proceedings in the records of his office: Provided, That if the party so removed shall, within thirty days after such removal, institute proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction for the setting aside of such order for removal from office, or if after said thirty days such proceedings to obtain such removal shall be discontinued or dismissed, the said order for removal from office shall stand and not be subject to attack by any legal proceedings thereafter.

SEC. 24. When any township district comprising one townboard to act. ship shall be divided into two or more townships or when any two townships are consolidated for school purposes, the existing board or boards of trustees shall continue to act for all the townships until the same shall have been organized and the township boards of trustees duly elected and qualified therein. Immediately after such organization the township appraisal, etc. boards of education of each of the townships shall meet in joint session and direct an appraisal of all the school property of the former township to be made. When such appraisal has been made said township boards of education shall make an equitable division of the existing assets and liabilities of the school districts of such former township, basing their apportionment upon the amount of taxable property in the township divided, as shown by the last assessment roll of such Alteration of former township. When a township district shall be altered in its limits by annexing a portion of its territory to another township or townships, the township boards of education of such townships shall, immediately after such alteration, meet in joint session and make an equitable division of the assets and liabilities of the school districts of the township from which the territory has been detached, basing their division upon the amount of taxable property as the same shall appear upon the last assessment roll of such township.

district.

Appeal from action of board.

Supt. of public instruction, duty of.

SEC. 25. When any ten or more qualified voters in any township district shall feel themselves aggrieved by any action, order or decision of the board of education with reference to the formation of any school, the division or arrangement of any territory, or location of the schools, or the maintaining of school in any part of said district, they may, at any time within ninety days from the time of such action on the part of said board of education, appeal from such action, order or decision of said board of education to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and notice of such appeal shall be served on the secretary of the board of educaThe Superintendent of Public Instruction, upon the receipt of such appeal, shall have power to entertain such appeal, and review, confirm, set aside or amend the action, order or decision of the board of education thus appealed

from, or if in his opinion the appeal is frivolous or without sufficient cause, he may summarily dismiss the same. Said State Superintendent of Public Instruction, before acting upon such appeal, may visit the locality or appoint some one to do so, and investigate carefully the action, order or decision and its effect upon the district and the conditions surrounding the same, and he or his appointee shall give a hearing at some place within the county where such township district may be located and to such hearing he may summon the board of education, the complainants and any persons who may have knowledge of the matter at issue. After the hearing and due consideration, said superintendent shall render his decision which shall be final.

Approved May 19, 1909.

[No. 118.]

AN ACT to amend sections one and two of chapter two, section two of chapter three, section one of chapter six, sections one, two, three, five and six of chapter nine, of act number two hundred fifty-four of the public acts of eighteen hundred ninety-seven, entitled "An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of drains and the assessment and collection of taxes therefor, and to repeal all other laws relative thereto," as amended, being sections four thousand three hundred ten, four thousand three hundred eleven, four thousand three hundred twenty, four thousand three hundred fifty-four, four thousand three hundred eighty-six, four thousand three hundred eighty-seven, four thousand three hundred eighty-eight, four thousand three hundred ninety and four thousand three hundred ninetyone, respectively, of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

amended.

SECTION 1. Sections one and two of chapter two, section Sections two of chapter three, section one of chapter six, sections one, two, three, five and six of chapter nine, of act number two hundred fifty-four of the public acts of eighteen hundred ninety-seven, entitled "An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of drains and the assessment and collection of taxes therefor, and to repeal all other laws relative thereto," as amended, being sections four thousand three hundred ten, four thousand three hundred eleven, four thousand three hundred twenty, four thousand three hundred fifty four, four thousand three hundred eighty-six, four

thousand three hundred eighty-seven, four thousand three hundred eighty-eight, four thousand three hundred ninety and four thousand three hundred ninety-one, respectively, of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven, are hereby amended to read as follows:

County drain

election of.

Term of office.

Vacancy, how filled.

CHAPTER II.

SEC. 1. At the regular biennial election to be held on commissioner, the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November, nineteen hundred ten, and every second year thereafter, one county drain commissioner shall be elected in every organized county in this State by the qualified electors thereof. The term of office of such county drain commissioner shall begin on the first day of January next succeeding his election and continue for a period of four years thereafter and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, and who shall be incapable of holding the office of county drain commissioner longer than four years in any period of eight years. In case of a vacancy occurring in the office of county drain commissioner for any cause, the same shall be filled as soon as practicable thereafter by the appointment by majority vote of the county clerk, prosecuting attorney and judge of probate of the county, of which appointment they will file their certificate under their hands and seals in the office of said county clerk; and it shall be the duty of the county clerk to make report to the Secretary of State of the appointment and qualification of said county drain commissioner. Such county drain commissioner, whether elected or appointed to fill a vacancy, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take, subscribe and file with the county clerk the constitutional oath of office, and shall also within the same time execute and file with such county clerk a bond to the people of the State of Michigan in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars with two or more sufficient sureties, to be approved before filing by the county clerk, county treasurer and judge of probate, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.

Oath and bond.

Present incumbents.

SEC. 2. All county drain commissioners holding such office on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred nine, shall continue to be such commissioners until their respective successors are elected and qualified in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing section.

Commissioner to notify township clerk.

CHAPTER III.

SEC. 2. Upon the filing of such application, the county drain commissioner authorized to act thereon shall as soon as practicable thereafter notify the township clerk or clerks of the township or townships through which the proposed drain

clerk.

board.

passes of the filing of such petition, giving a copy or copies thereof. Upon the receipt of such notice or notices it shall Duty of be the duty of the clerk or clerks so notified to call a meeting or joint meeting of the township board or boards, as the case may be, giving notice of the time and place of such meeting and causing a notice of such meeting to be published for not less than one week in a newspaper published and in general circulation in the county. At the time and place fixed in Meeting of said notice the township board or boards shall meet, and if township more than one township be affected, then the board shall meet in joint session to determine the necessity of said drain and whether the same is necessary and conducive to public health, convenience and welfare. At such meeting all Hearing. persons owning lands liable to assessments for benefits, or whose lands would be crossed by said drain, may appear for or against said drain proceedings. After hearing the Determinaevidence so offered as herein provided by all persons appearing for or against the drain proceeding, the board or boards, as the case may be, shall make their determination upon the necessity of said drain and whether the same is necessary and conducive to public health, convenience and welfare. If the board or boards shall find by a majority vote that the said drain is not necessary or conducive to the public health, convenience and welfare, they shall dismiss the petition and no further petition for said drain shall be legal if made within one year after such determination. If said board or Petition, disboards by a majority vote shall find said drain so proposed missal of. to be necessary and conducive to the public health, convenience

and welfare, they shall make their order to that effect and file

tion.

the same with the said county drain commissioner. The Compensation. members of the township board or boards for their services under this section shall be compensated at the rate provided by act number ninety-eight of the public acts of nineteen hundred seven, to be paid from the general fund of township or townships, when the proposed drain is found by them to be necessary and conducive to the public health, convenience and welfare. Said commissioner shall, as a means of deter Survey, etc. mining the practicability thereof, make a survey and measurement of the line of the proposed drain, or cause the same to be made by a competent surveyor. If upon such survey he shall find such drain to be practicable he shall within ninety days make his first order of determination in writing in accordance therewith, therein particularly naming such drain, by which it shall thereafter be known, and shall establish the commencement, route and terminus of such drain, and the width, length and depth thereof, and shall set survey or grade stakes not more than eight rods apart. For such purposes he shall have the right to enter upon any such lands traversed by the route of the proposed drain or otherwise connected with the purpose of the proceeding. In locating such drain. the county drain commissioner shall not be limited or con