Jurisdiction to hear claims. Award or judgment. Chap. 589. AN ACT to confer jurisdiction upon the court of claims to hear, audit and determine the alleged claim of Charles D. Thomas as administrator of the goods, chattels and credits of Jennie M. Thomas, deceased, against the state of New York for damages for the death of the said Jennie M. Thomas, deceased. Became a law, April 27, 1901, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the court of claims to hear, audit and determine the alleged claim of Charles D. Thomas as administrator of the goods, chattels and credits of Jennie M. Thomas, deceased, against the state of New York for alleged damages on account of the death of said Jennie M. Thomas, at Herkimer county in the state of New York on the nineteenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and to make an award and to render judgment therefor and against the state and in favor of the said claimant. § 2. No award shall be made or judgment rendered herein against the state unless the facts proven shall make out a claim against the state which would create a liability were the same established in evidence in a court of law or equity against an individual or corporation, and in case such liability shall be satisfactorily established then the court of claims shall award to and render judgment for the claimant for such sum as shall be just and equitable, notwithstanding the lapse of time since the accruing of damages, provided the claim hereunder is filed with the court of claims within one year after the passage of this act. § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 590. AN ACT to amend chapter seven hundred and sixty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred, entitled "An act providing for the opening, extending, laying out and improving of Bedford avenue, in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York," relative to the apportionment of the cost thereof. Passed, without the acceptance of the city. Became a law, April 27, 1901, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: amended Section 1. Sections four, six and seven of chapter seven hun- a dred and sixty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred, entitled "An act providing for the opening, extending, laying out and improving of Bedford avenue, in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York," are hereby amended so as to read as follows: Proceedings title to § 4. The proceedings to acquire the title in fee to the lands to acquire taken and to improve Bedford avenue, as herein provided, shall landa be the same as those prescribed by law in the matter of opening and improving streets in the city of New York (except as herein otherwise provided), and the department of highways, by the officer at the head of such department, shall make application in the name of the city of New York, to the supreme court of the state of New York, in the second judicial department, for the appointment of three commissioners of appraisal, estimate and as sessment, to ascertain and appraise the compensation to be made the owners of or persons interested in the real estate or improve ments within the lines of said street or avenue laid out as provided by this act, and upon the confirmation of the report of said commissioners the title to the lands taken for the said Bedford avenue extension shall vest in the city of New York, as provided for in section six of this act. bonds or stocks. § 6. In order to provide the means to pay for the land and Issue of other improvements taken for said Bedford avenue extension, the opening expenses, and all expenses for grading, paving and otherwise improving same, the mayor and comptroller of the city of New York shall be directed by the board of estimate to issue, and shall issue, from time to time, as may be required by said depart Proceeds of sale. District of assessment. Levy and collection of tax. Effect of amendments to act. ment of highways, for these matters and purposes, bonds or stock of the said city to an amount equal to the cost or estimated cost of said work and improvements and compensation to be paid to owners for real estate taken for opening said avenue, which bonds shall bear interest at a rate not to exceed four per centum per annum and be issued in such periods as the mayor and comptroller may determine, and be paid as hereinafter provided. The proceeds from the sale of said bonds shall be paid into the treasury of the said city of New York to the credit of said improvement, and shall be paid out from time to time for the purposes herein provided upon vouchers certified by the officer at the head of the department having charge of the work. § 7. To provide for the payment of the said bonds the said commissioners of appraisal, estimate and assessment shall fix a district of assessment, according to benefit, upon which shall be levied and collected from, in twenty annual instalments, one-third of the entire amount of said bonds, together with the interest thereon; and the remaining two-thirds of the amount of said bonds shall be divided into a like number of parts or instalments, and one of such parts or instalments, with the interest thereon, shall be inserted in the annual tax budget of the city in which said street or avenue is situated, each year, for twenty successive years, and be levied upon and collected from all the real and personal property situated in said city, and subject to taxation, so that one-third of the total cost of opening and improving said Bedford avenue shall be borne by the property owners within said district of assessment, and two-thirds of said cost shall be borne by the city at large; said assessment of one-third of said total cost shall be made and levied upon said district of assessment by the board of assessors of the city of New York, one-twentieth thereof annually, in the manner now provided by law for making and levying assessments for local improvements. § 2. The foregoing amendments to said chapter seven hundred and sixty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred, and this act, shall be without prejudice to anything done or any proceedings had or action taken for the opening and improvement of Bedford avenue, so far as the same have progressed under said chapter seven hundred and sixty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred, and are now unrescinded, and the proper persons and authorities under this Completion ment forth act, and under the charter of the city of New York (except as of improve herein otherwise provided), shall, upon the passage and approval with. of this act, forth with and with all convenient speed take up, proceed with and finish the opening and improvement of Bedford avenue, as hereby, and by said chapter seven hundred and sixtyfour of the laws of nineteen hundred, was, and is provided and intended. § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. Chap. 591. AN ACT dividing the state into congressional districts. Became a law, April 27, 1901, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. For the election of representatives in congress of the United States this state shall be and is hereby divided into thirty-seven districts, namely: First district. The counties of Suffolk, Nassau and the third. fourth and fifth wards of the borough of Queens, county of Queens, shall compose the first district. Second district. The fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth wards of the borough of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and also that portion of the twenty-seventh ward bounded on the north by the line dividing Kings and Queens counties from Flushing avenue to Jefferson street, Jefferson street south to Evergreen avenue, west to Noll street, south to Bushwick avenue, east to Arion place, south to Broadway, west to Flushing avenue, and north to point of beginning, shall compose the second district. Third district. The thirteenth, nineteenth and twenty-first wards of the borough of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and also that portion of the twenty-seventh ward bounded on the north by the line dividing Kings and Queens counties from Jefferson street to Stockholm street, south to Bushwick avenue, east to Kosciusko street, south to Broadway, west to Arion place, north to Bushwick avenue, west to Noll street, north to Evergreen avenue, east to Jefferson street, and north to point of beginning; and also that part of the twenty-third ward bounded on the north by Lafayette avenue, from Bedford avenue to Stuyvesant avenue, south to Bainbridge street, west to Sumner avenue, north to McDonough street, west to Tompkins avenue, south to Fulton street, west to New York avenue, south to Atlantic avenue, west to Franklin avenue, north to Brevoort place, east to Bedford avenue and north to point of beginning, shall compose the third district. Fourth district.-The twenty-sixth, twenty-eighth, thirty-first and thirty-second wards of the borough of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and also that portion of the twenty-fifth ward bounded on the north by Broadway, from Howard avenue to boundary line of the twenty-sixth ward, south to Atlantic avenue, west to Howard avenue, north to Fulton street, west to Howard avenue and north to point of beginning, shall compose the fourth district. Fifth district.-The eighth, twenty-fourth, twenty-ninth and thirtieth wards of the borough of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and also that portion of the twenty-third ward bounded on the north by Lafayette avenue, from Stuyvesant avenue east to Reid avenue, south to Fulton street, west to Utica avenue, south to Atlantic avenue, west to New York avenue, north to Fulton street, east to Tompkins avenue, north to McDonough street, east to Sumner avenue, south to Bainbridge street, east to Stuyvesant avenue and north to the point of beginning; and also that portion of the twenty-fifth ward bounded on the north by La. fayette avenue, from Reid avenue east to Broadway, southeast to Howard avenue, south to Fulton street, east to Howard avenue, south to Atlantic avenue, west to Utica avenue, north to Fulton street, east to Reid avenue and north to the point of beginning, shall compose the fifth district. Sixth district.-The seventh, ninth, twentieth and twentysecond wards of the borough of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and also that portion of the eleventh ward bounded on the north by Johnson street, from Bridge street east to Hudson avenue, south to Myrtle avenue, east to Navy street, south to Bolivar street, west to Hudson avenue, south to Willoughby street, east to Navy street, south to DeKalb avenue, east to South Portland avenue, south to Atlantic avenue, west to Flatbush avenue, north |