such new or altered line; and all lands acquired by any railroad company by appraisal, for passenger and freight depots, shall be held by such company in fee; but no new line or route of road can be laid out and established, as contemplated in this section, in any city or village, unless the same be sanctioned by a vote of two-thirds of the common council of said city, or trustees of said village, nor shall any railroad company be compelled to abandon any existing line of road in consequence of establishing such new line of road.

§ 18. Section thirty-nine of the act hereby amended is repealed, but this repeal shall not affect any action or proceeding heretofore commenced under said section.

19. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 302.

AN ACT in relation to railroads held under lease.

Passed April 12, 1855, three-fifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Any railroad corporation created by the laws of this state, or its successors, now being the lessee of the road of any other railroad corporation, may take, surrender, or transfer of the capital stock of the stockholders, or any of them, in the corporation whose road is held under lease, and issue in exchange therefor the like additional amount of its own capital stock at par, or on such other terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the two corporations; and whenever the greater part of the capital stock of any such corporation shall have been so surrendered or transferred, the directors of the corporations taking such surrender or transfer, shall thereafter, on a resolution electing so to do, to be entered on their minutes, become ex officio the directors of the corporation whose road is so held under lease, and shall manage and conduct the affairs thereof, as provided by law; and whenever the whole of the said capital stock shall have been so surrendered or transferred, and a certificate thereof filed in the office of the secretary of state, under the common seal of the corporation to whom such surrender or transfer shall have been made, the estate, property, rights, privileges and franchises of the said corporation, whose stock shall have been so surrendered or transferred, shall thereupon vest in, and be held and enjoyed by the said corporation to

whom such surrender or transfer shall have been made, as fully and entirely, and without change or diminution, as the same were before held and enjoyed, and be managed and controlled by the board of directors of the said corporation to whom such surrender or transfer of the said stock shall have been made, and in the corporate name of such corporation. The rights of any stockholder, not so surrendering or transferring his stock, shall not be in any way affected hereby; nor shall existing liabilities, or the rights of creditors of the corporation, whose stock shall have been so surrendered, be in any way affected or impaired by this act.

§2. This act shall not be construed as applying to or embracing the Rochester and Genesee Valley railroad, nor any part thereof, and said road is hereby expressly excepted from the operation of the same. §3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 474.

AN ACT for the protection of immigrants, second class, steerage and deck passengers.

Passed April 13, 1855, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of all companies, associations and persons, hereafter undertaking to transport or convey, or engaged in transporting or conveying by railroad, steamboat, canal boat or propeller, any immigrant, second class, steerage, or deck passenger, from the city, bay or harbor of New York, to any point or place, distant more than ten miles therefrom, or from the cities of Albany, Troy and Buffalo, the town or harbor of Dunkirk, or the Suspension Bridge, to any other place or places, to deliver to the mayors of the city of New York, Albany, Troy and Buffalo, on or before the first day of April in each and every year, a written or printed statement of the price or rates of fare, to be charged by such company, association or person, for the conveyance of such immigrant, second class, steerage and deck passengers respectively, and the price per hundred pounds for the carriage of the luggage, and the weight of luggage to be carried free of such passengers from and to each and every place, from and to which any such company, association or person, shall undertake to transport and convey such passengers; and such prices or rates shall not exceed

the prices and rates charged by the company, association or person, after the time of delivering such statement to the said mayors; and such statement shall also contain a particular description of the mode and route by which such passengers are to be transported and conveyed, specifying whether it is to be by railroad, steamboat, canal boat or propeller, and what part of the route is by each, and also the class of passage, whether by immigrant trains, second class, steerage or deck passage. In case such companies, association or person, shall desire thereafter to make any change or alteration in the rates or prices of such transportation and conveyance, they shall deliver to the said mayors respectively a similar statement of the prices and rates as altered and changed by them; but the rates and prices so changed and altered, shall not be charged or received until five days after the delivery of the statement thereof, to the said mayors respectively.

§ 2. Every ticket, receipt or certificate which shall be made or issued by any company, association or person, for the conveyance of any immigrant, second class, steerage or deck passengers, or as evidence of their having paid for a passage, or being entitled to be conveyed from either or any of the points or places in the first section of this act mentioned to any other place or places, shall contain or have indorsed thereon, a printed statement of the names of the particular railroad or railroads, and of the line or lines of steamboats, canal boats and propellers, or of the particular boats or propellers, as the case may be, which are to be used in the transportation and conveyance of such passengers, and also the price or rate of fare charged or received for the transportation and conveyance of any such passenger or passengers with his or their luggage.

§ 3. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to demand or receive, or bargain for the receipt of any greater or higher price or rate of fare for the transportation and conveyance of any such immigrant, second class, steerage, or deck passengers with their luggage, or either, from either or any of the points or places in the first section of this act mentioned, to any other point or place, than the prices or rates contained in the statements, which shall be delivered to the mayors of the cities of New York, Albany, Troy and Buffalo, and said commissioners respectively, as in the said first section provided for, or the price or rates which shall be established and fixed for the transportation and conveyance of such passengers and their luggage, or either by the proprietors or agents of the line or lines, or means of conveyance by which such passenger or passengers and their luggage are to be transported or conveyed. In all cases each immigrant over

four years of age conveyed by railroad, shall be furnished with a seat. with permanent back to the same, and when conveyed by steamboat, propeller or canal boat, shall be allowed at least two and one-half feet square in the clear on deck. Such deck shall be covered and made water-tight over head, and shall be properly protected at the outsides either by curtains or partitions, and shall be properly ventilated.

§ 4. Any company, association, person or persons violating or neglecting to comply with any of the provisions of the first or second sections of this act, shall be liable to a penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars for each and every offense, to be sued for and recovered in the name of the people of this state; and every person violating any of the provisions of the third section of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, the person offending may be punished by a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court; one-half of which fines when recovered shall be paid to the informer and the other half into the county treasury where the action shall be tried or the conviction had.

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§ 5. It shall be the duty of every magistrate who shall issue a warrant for the apprehension of any person or persons for violating the provisions of the third section of this act, within twenty-four hours after such son or persons shall have been taken and brought before him, to take the testimony of any witness who may be offered to prove the offense charged, in the presence of the accused, who may, in person or by counsel, cross-examine such witness. The testimony so taken shall be signed by the witness, and be certified by the magistrate, and in case such magistrate shall commit the accused to answer the charge, he shall immediately thereafter file the testimony so taken with the district attorney of the county in which the offense was committed, to be used on the trial of or any further proceedings against the accused; and the testimony so taken shall be deemed valid and competent for that purpose, and be read and used with the like effect as if such witness were orally examined on such trial or proceedings. After the testimony of any witness shall be so taken, he shall not be detained, nor be imprisoned, or compelled to give any recognizance for his future appearance as a witness on any trial or proceeding thereafter to be had in the premises.

§ 6. The commissioners of emigration shall, from time to time, designate some one place in the city of New York, as they shall deem proper for the landing of emigrant passengers, and it shall be lawful

for such passengers to be landed at such place so designated by the commissioners of emigration.

§ 7. The commissioners of emigration shall have authority to purchase, lease, construct and occupy such wharves, piers, and other accommodations in the city of New York, as may be necessary for the accommodation of emigrant passengers for the purposes mentioned in the last preceding section.

§ 8. Whenever the health officer shall give notice in writing to the owner or owners, consignee or consignees, master, commander or persons having charge of any vessel having emigrant passengers on board such vessel, to land such passengers at any pier or place in the city of New York designated specially by the commissioners of emigration for the landing of emigrant passengers, it shall not be lawful to land such passengers at any other pier or place, and the owners and master of any vessel from which passengers shall be landed, in violation of the provisions of this section, shall be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars for each and every violation thereof, to be sued for and recovered, with costs of suit, in the name of the commissioners of emigration, in any court having cognizance thereof; the said penalty when recovered to be applied and used by the said commissioners for the purposes for which said commissioners are constituted.

§ 9. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

10. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 478.

AN ACT authorizing a change of the grade of railroads in certain cases.

Passed April 14, 1855.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever the grade of any railroad shall be changed under the direction of the canal commissioners, at any point where such road crosses, or shall cross any canal, or canal feeder, except in the city of Buffalo, it shall be lawful for the directors of the company owning such railroads to alter the grade of such road, on each, or either side of the place where such change shall have been so made by order of the canal commissioners, for such distance and in such