and holden for that purpose, said company may reduce its capital stock by reducing the par value of its shares to any amount not less than twenty-five dollars per share by calling in and canceling all the outstanding certificates of shares of the capital stock of said company, and issuing in lieu thereof to each stockholder of record one share of the new stock for each share of the old stock held by him.

SEC. 2. Said company shall not pay out or distribute to any of its stockholders any money or assets of said company on account of the shares of said stock which may be called in and decreased in par value pursuant to the provisions of section one of this resolution.

SEC. 3. Upon vote of the stockholders of said The Etna Indemnity Company holding at least a majority of the entire capital stock of said company at any regular or special meeting duly warned and holden for that purpose, the capital stock of said corporation may be increased from time to time to any amount not exceeding in the aggregate of stock outstanding at any one time the total amount of five million dollars, the par value of which shall be the same as is authorized for the stock now outstanding or as the par value may be reduced as provided in section one of this resolution.

SEC. 4. The board of directors of said company is hereby authorized to fix the price for which said increased stock shall be sold at not less than one hundred and ten dollars per share, and the terms of payment therefor; and all stockholders of record shall have the right to subscribe for said increased stock pro rata according to the amount of stock which they hold at the time such increase is made; but in the event that any of the stockholders entitled to subscribe for such stock shall omit or decline so to do within the time limited by the board of directors, then the board of directors of said company is hereby authorized to cause said increased capital stock not subscribed for by the stockholders of record to be issued and paid for at such time and times and in such manner as the board of directors may prescribe, and at such price as the board of directors may fix, to be not less than one hundred and ten dollars per share.

SEC. 5. This resolution shall take effect when approved by a majority vote of the stockholders of said The 'Etna Indemnity Company, and a certified copy of such approval and vote lodged on file in the office of the secretary of state.

Approved, May 4, 1903.

[Substitute for House Joint Resolution No. 223.]

[192.]

INCORPORATING THE FRATERNAL BENEFIT LEAGUE.

Resolved by this Assembly: SECTION 1. That John Mackrille, James P. Glynn, Frank P. Tyler, Edwin C. M. Hall, William G. Redfield, George D. Liddell, Charles E. Roath, Philip V. Fennelly,

Arthur H. Tyrrell, Thomas R. Magee, G. Herbert Bishop, and Walter S. Welton, and all other persons now associated with them under and by the name of The Fraternal Benefit League, together with all such persons as may hereafter become associated with them, with their successors, be and they are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic by the name of The Fraternal Benefit League, for the following purposes: To unite fraternally all acceptable white persons; to create and maintain a benefit fund for the payment of such benefits to its members and their beneficiaries as may be prescribed by its laws; to render mutual and financial aid and assistance to its sick and disabled members; and to promote the social and intellectual welfare of its members.

SEC. 2. Said corporation by its corporate name, The Fraternal Benefit League, shall have perpetual succession, and may purchase, receive, hold, and convey all kinds of property, real and personal, requisite or convenient for the purposes of said corporation, and may have a common seal, which it may change or renew at pleasure, and may adopt a constitution, by-laws, rules, and regulations for the admission, government, suspension, punishment, and expulsion of its members, the election and appointment of its officers and their duties, the management and protection of its property and funds, and any and all other matters appertaining to the well-being and conduct of said corporation.

SEC. 3. Said corporation shall have its office and principal place of business in the city and county of New Haven in this state. Approved, May 4, 1903.

[Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution No. 22.]

[193.]

AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE TORRINGTON TRUST COMPANY AND EXTENDING THE TIME FOR ITS ORGANIZATION.

Resolved by this Assembly: SECTION 1. That section one of the charter of The Torrington Trust Company, approved June 10, 1901, is hereby amended to read as follows: That George D. Workman, Henry J. Hendey, Frederick F. Fuessenich, William W. Bierce, and Hosea Mann, and such other persons as are or may be hereafter associated with them, their successors and assigns, be and hereby are constituted a corporation under the name of The Torrington Trust Company, with its principal office at Torrington, with power under that name to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in this state or elsewhere, to adopt and have a common seal and alter and renew the same at pleasure, and by that name shall be capable in law, upon such terms as may be agreed upon, to purchase and hold all kinds of property, and the same at pleasure to improve, sell, lease, convey, mortgage, pledge, or otherwise dispose of; to receive money in trust and

on deposit, and to loan the same at interest; to receive on deposit or for safe keeping bonds, plate, jewelry, stock, and other valuable property; to accept and execute such trusts, whether fiduciary or otherwise, as shall be committed to said corporation by any person, persons, or corporation, or by order of any court, or otherwise; to issue, register, or countersign certificates of stock, bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness of any corporation, association, municipality, or public authority, and to receive and make payments on account of the same, or dividends declared on the same, and to receive and manage any sinking fund therefor, all upon such terms as may be agreed upon; to take charge of and manage any property belonging to others, collecting the rents and income thereof, and generally to do all things pertaining to the care, management, increase, and development of the same; to discount or purchase choses in action of all kinds, including notes, bills of exchange, policies of insurance, and warehouse receipts; to own and make loans upon choses in action, bonds, stocks, personal property, mortgages, and deeds of trust, or real estate, wherever located; to sell notes or bonds so secured by mortgages or trust deeds of real estate; and to obtain loans upon any property owned by said corporation.

SEC. 2. Sections six and seven of the charter of said corporation are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. The time for the organization of said corporation is hereby extended to July 1, 1905. Approved, May 4, 1903.

[House Joint Resolution No. 158.]

[194.]

AMENDING A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF WINCHESTER TO APPROPRIATE MONEY TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE BEARDSLEY LIBRARY.

Resolved by this Assembly: That the resolution authorizing the town of Winchester to appropriate money to the trustees of the Beardsley Library, approved April 18, 1899, be and the same is hereby amended by adding in the last line thereof after the word "inhabitants" the words " and taxpayers," so that said resolution when amended shall read as follows: That the town of Winchester be and is hereby authorized and empowered to fix by a proper by-law an amount not to exceed one-third of one mill upon the grand list of said town, which shall be annually paid to the trustees of the Beardsley Library for the purpose of supporting and maintaining said Beardsley Library as a public library free to all the inhabitants and taxpayers of said

town.

Approved, May 4, 1903.

[Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution No. 148.]

[195.]

CONCERNING FUNDS CONTRIBUTED FOR A SOLDIERS' MONUMENT IN THE TOWN OF PLAINVILLE.

Resolved by this Assembly: That the selectmen of the town of Plainville, and their successors in office, be and they are hereby made the custodians of the fund contributed by the citizens of Plainville for the purpose of erecting a soldiers' monument in said town, and now on deposit in the Farmington Savings Bank in the name of Theodore P. Strong, trustee. And said selectmen are hereby authorized and empowered to receive the said fund and to expend the same in the erection of a soldiers' monument in the town of Plainville in such manner as said town may by vote direct. Approved, May 4, 1903.

[House Joint Resolution No. 35.]
[196.]

AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE NEW MILFORD FIRE ASSOCIATION.

Resolved by this Assembly: That the charter of the New Milford Fire Association, approved June 25, 1863, be and the same is hereby amended as follows:

SECTION 1. Said association shall have power to assess and tax, for the purposes conferred upon it by law, all taxable property situated within its corporate limits, and no real estate situated in said corporate limits shall be exempt from taxation on account of the purpose for which it is used, or because it is owned by persons or corporations otherwise exempted from taxation, either in whole or in part, the basis of such taxation to be the grand list of said town next completed before the making of such assessment; provided, however, that no person shall be taxed under the provisions of this charter unless such person's taxable property, as shown by such next before completed grand list of said town, shall equal or exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, and provided, also, that for good cause shown the assessors of said association. may add to or take from the assessed valuation of any item of property situated in said district, and said association may by vote at any meeting duly called for that purpose appoint a board of relief, which, as to taxation within the limits of said association, shall have all the powers of boards of relief of towns, and said association may make by-laws regulating the procedure of such board of relief, and appeals therefrom, which appeals may be taken in the manner provided by law for appeals from the board of relief of a town.

SEC. 2. Said association may, provided a majority of those present and voting at a meeting duly warned for that purpose so decide, take, have, and exercise any or all of the additional powers mentioned in sections 1999 to 2004 inclusive of the general statutes.

SEC. 3. The provisions of section 1998 of the general statutes shall not apply to the territorial limits of said association.

SEC. 4. In case said association shall hereafter assume any or all of the additional powers enumerated in section two hereof, it may pass all reasonable and proper by-laws convenient and necessary for the purpose of carrying out and exercising such powers or any of them; provided, however, that any by-law passed by said association shall be subject to be altered, modified, or repealed by the superior court at any session thereof held in and for Litchfield county if, on complaint of any person aggrieved, it shall be found arbitrary or unjust. Approved, May 4, 1903.

[Substitute for House Joint Resolution No. 246.]
[197.]

VALIDATING CERTAIN ACTS OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF STAMFORD.

Resolved by this Assembly: That a certain note given by the city of Stamford to the Stamford Savings Bank for the sum of one thousand three hundred and sixty-four dollars and two cents, for the purpose of borrowing money to provide for certain expenses of said city incidental to cases of infectious and contagious diseases arising in said city in the year 1902, and certain obligations amounting to two thousand eight bundred and eighty-seven dollars and eighty-nine cents ordered to be paid by the common council of said city on the twenty-sixth day of January, 1903, and approved by the mayor, be and the same are hereby validated, and the action of said mayor and common council in obtaining the money upon said note and in paying said obligations is hereby confirmed.

Approved, May 4, 1903.

[Senate Joint Resolution, Substitute for Senate Bill No. 92.]

[198.]

PROVIDING FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ADVISABILITY OF MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE BURIAL LOT AND MONU

MENT OF GENERAL NATHANIEL LYON.

Resolved by this Assembly: That the governor be and he is hereby authorized to appoint a commission of three persons, who shall serve without compensation, and whose duty it shall be to investigate the advisability of making an appropriation for the improvement and beautifying of the burial place and monument of General Nathaniel Lyon in the town of Eastford; to inquire into the probable cost of such improvement; and to report the result of their investigations to the next general assembly. The necessary expenses of said commissioners shall be paid by the state.

Approved, May 4, 1903.