on to the court of common pleas of the county where the work was done or being performed under such contract, upon filing in such court an affidavit upon oath or affirmation, stating that such appeal was not intended for delay, but because he or they firmly believe injustice has been done. SECTION 2. That upon the appeal being entered, either party to said contract and proceedings may serve a notice upon the other party or parties, his or their agent or attorney, to appear upon a day named at the office of the prothonotary of said court to select arbitrators to settle and adjust any questions or matters in dispute in reference to such contract. At which time it shall be lawful for the parties to such contract and proceedings to each select an arbitrator, to whose decision all such questions and matters in dispute shall be submitted and whose decision thereon shall be final and conclusive between the parties, and in case the two arbitrators so chosen cannot agree, it shall be lawful for the two so chosen to select a third person to act with them, and a decision of a majority of the arbitrators thus chosen shall be final and conclusive, and such award, when entered in said court shall have the effect of a final judgment in said court and may be proceeded upon as other judgments therein: Provided, That if at the time fixed for the selection of arbitrators either party shall fail to appear to make selection the prothonotary of the said court shall nominate an arbitrator for the absent party, with like effect as if both parties had been present and participated in the selection. AMOS H. MYLIN, President pro tem. of the Senate. JAMES L. GRAHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, OFFICE OF THE Governor, I herewith file in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with my objections, Senate Bill No. 155, entitled "An act to provide for the settlement of disputes arising upon contracts with corporations by arbitration." This bill provides that where a contract has been made "between any party or parties of the one part and a railroad company, municipal, or other corporation of this Commonwealth, or firm or construction company doing business therein of the other part, wherein the chief engineer of such company, corporation, or firm, or other person named therein is made final arbiter," between the parties as to any dispute arising thereon, either of said parties considering themselves aggrieved by any award or decision of such arbiter may appeal therefrom to the court of common pleas. This, it seems to me, is an exceedingly unwise and may be a very unjust bill. When parties have by contract agreed to submit any dispute as to said contract to a final arbiter, why should the finality of his finding be disturbed? Ought a railroad or other corporation to be allowed to vex an employé or other person with whom it has dealings by litigation upon a decision which it has agreed shall be final? Is not this bill destructive of the very purpose of such contract and against the interests of the parties least able to bear the cost and trouble of litigation? It seems to me that all the benefits of such contracts would be abrogated by such a bill as the present, and that its effect might be very injurious to some of the parties. Besides, the act promotes litigation, and for that reason is against sound policy. I therefore decline to give the measure my approval. ROBT. E. PATTISON. No. 10. AN ACT For the draining of Pymatuning marsh, in the county of Crawford, Pennsylvania. SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That Thomas Glenn, of Pine township, G. T. Rankin, of Linesville, and David Barickman, of North Shenango township, or any of them, be and they are hereby authorized to hold an election between the hours of ten, ante meridian, and five, post meridian, of the first Monday in July next, at the town hall in the borough of Linesville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, to select three commissioners and a treasurer for the purpose hereinafter mentioned, at which all the owners of the lands within the limits of Pymatuning marsh, situate within the said Commonwealth, in the county of Crawford, Pennsylvania, in the township within which it lies from the borough of Hartstown to a point on the Shenango creek necessary to carry off the water, shall be entitled to vote by ballot, and the person receiving the highest number of votes for treasurer shall serve as treasurer for one year, and the person receiving the highest number of votes for commissioner shall serve as commissioner for three years, the next highest for two years, and the third for one year, and if there should be a tie between two or more, they shall determine by lot the period for which each shall serve. SECTION 2. The commissioners, or any two of them, shall hold an election annually thereafter on the same day and at the place mentioned in the preceding section to select a commissioner to serve for three years, and if there should be a vacancy in the board, also to select another for the unexpired time of the former one, and shall give notice thereof by posting three hand-bills in each township in the most public places thereof not less than fifteen days before the day of the election. SECTION 3. Should there be a failure of an election after the first required one, the court of quarter sessions of the county, on the application of the continuing commissioners, or of two or more of the land-owners, shall appoint a commissioner to serve until the next regular election, and should there be a vacancy of the entire board, the court shall, on the application of twenty or more of the land-owners, appoint persons thereto, and direct when and by whom an election shall be held and how the persons elected shall serve, and if a vacancy in the board occurs at any time, the other commissioners shall fill the same by a new appointment, and every commissioner shall be duly qualified before a magistrate, or before each other, to an honest and faithful discharge of his duties, both as an officer of the election he may preside over and as a commissioner of the work contemplated by this act, of which proper notice shall be taken in the minutes to be kept by the commissioners of their doings. SECTION 4. The commissioners shall, within ten days after an election has been held, make return thereof to the clerk of the sessions, with the name of the persons voted for and of those voting, with their certificate, that none but land-owners within the limits of the swamp were allowed to vote, and the same shall be filed as election returns in other cases. SECTION 5. The first elected commissioners, or a majority of them, with the commissioners of the county, shall appoint a practical surveyor to make a full and accurate survey of the lands within the limits of the marsh and of those contiguous thereto that shall be benefited by the drainage, and designate the quantity belonging to each owner, and make two diagrams thereof, one to be filed in the office of the county commissioners and the other to be delivered to the other commissioners, and the artists shall be paid such sum as he and the commissioners may agree upon out of the funds hereinafter provided for. SECTION 6. The commissioners shall annually assess each owner of land surveyed and returned with a sum not over forty cents the acre until the work herein contemplated is completed, and shall collect the same in person or by another on a warrant issued to him, and if the assessment is not paid, the commissioners shall return the land with the amount owing to the county commissioners to be advertised and sold as unseated lands are sold, and subject to all the provisions for redemption, interests and costs in such cases, and the commissioners shall make proper compensation to a collector for services. SECTION 7. That when two or more of the land-owners adjoining each other in the section to be drained cannot agree as to the proper place for the lateral ditches, it shall be left to the commissioners to locate and describe the same and their action shall be final. SECTION 8. The moneys to be raised shall be expended by the commissioners in the draining of the swamp land so as to place them in condition that they may be cultivated, and to make Shenango creek accessible and of easy navigation so far as the same is practicable, and in furtherance of their work they may lower the bed of Shenango creek and remove all obstructions in it by which the waters thereof are thrown back. SECTION 9. The commissioners shall be allowed two dollars the day for each day actually spent by them in their duties as such, and on the day of election in each year shall make a full exhibit under oath to the land owners attending the election of their receipts and expenditures and of the work done, and the electors may select a committee of three persons to examine and audit the account, and if the commissioners are dissatisfied therewith, they may enter their appeal to the next or subsequent court of quarter sessions of the county, who shall hear and determine the same in such way and manner as may be thought best and enforce obedience to all orders and decrees in relation thereto. JAMES L. GRAHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AMOS H. MYLIN, President pro tem. of the Senate. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, OFFICE OF THE Governor, I herewith file, with my objections, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, House bill, No. 200 entitled "An act for the draining of Pymatuning marsh, in the county of Crawford, Pennsylvania." This is a cumbrous bill which, without discussing its details, it is suffi cient to say cannot lawfully be passed, as it is clearly prohibited by the clause of section 7, of Article III, of the Constitution, which provides that the General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law regulating the affairs of counties. ROBT. E. PATTISON. No. 11. To authorize any veteran, soldier or sailor to bring suit against any county, borough, or township in this Commonwealth to recover the amount of money to which he became entitled by reason of his being accredited to such county, borough, or township on his re-enlistment to fill the quota of men then or afterwards called for from such county, borough, or township. SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That any sailor or soldier who reënlisted while in the service of the United States during the war of the Rebellion and was accredited to any county, borough, or township in this Commonwealth to fill the quota of men then or afterwards called for from the same, or when such soldier or sailor by agreement made with any agent of such county, borough, or township, or other person acting for the same, to assist in filling said quota was to have been so accredited on condition that the soldier or sailor so reenlisting and being accredited, or agreeing to be so accredited, should receive the county, borough, or township bounty then offered to veterans by such county, borough, or township, and where such county, borough, or township has failed to pay the amount of money then agreed upon to any soldier or sailor, such soldier or sailor may now bring suit against such county, borough, or township in an action of assumpsit to recover the amount of money which became due and payable by reason of the accredit or agreement to be so accredited as aforesaid. Any law or limitation of time within which actions must be commenced shall be no bar to the commencement or prosecution of the action hereinbefore provided, but any suit for the recovery of the money claimed to be due must be brought within two years from the date of the approval of this act. JAMES L. GRAHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AMOS H. MYLIN, President pro tem. of the Senate. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, HARRISBURG, June 30, 1885. I herewith file, with my objections, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, House bill, No. 222, entitled "An act to authorize any vet eran soldier or sailor to bring suit against any county, borough, or township in this Commonwealth to recover the amount of money to which he became entitled by reason of his being accredited to such county, borough, or township on his reënlistment to fill the quota of men then or afterwards called for from such county, borough, or township." This bill removes the bar of the statute of limitations as to any claim of any soldier or sailor against any county, borough, or township for bounty by reason of his being accredited to any such county, borough, or township, or by reason of agreement made by any agent that they should be so accredited. Twenty years have elapsed since the war closed; these claims have been long barred by statute; many witnesses whose testimony might be vital as a defense to such claims are dead; and now to open the door to innumerable suits against counties, boroughs, and townships would be unwise and liable to much abuse. The courts were open to these suitors as to all others who had any cause of action for six years after their right of action accrued. I see no reason for now changing the general law affecting such claims. No. 12. ROBT. E. PATTISON. AN ACT Regulating the amendment of and proceedings upon municipal claims in cities of the first class. SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That wherever a municipal claim in any city of the first class has heretofore been filed or hereafter may be filed, and it shall at any time before or on the trial of such claim be made to appear to the court by affidavit or otherwise that a mistake has been made in the claim in regard to the description or location of the property or any other essential matter or thing, it shall be the duty of the court on motion or rule to permit the claim, and all the proceedings thereon to be amended so as to conform to what was intended. SECTION 2. That in all cases in any city of the first class where suit has been or hereafter may be commenced on any municipal claim, and final judgment within five years from the time of the commencement of such suit has been delayed or prevented by reason of the defendant or others making defense therein, such suit shall not abate or be defeated by reason of the lapse of time, but the same may be prosecuted to final judgment and the property taken in execution the same as if said judgment had been obtained within five years from the time of the commencement of the suit : Provided, That this act shall not apply to or be of any avail as against bona fide purchasers for value, or the owner or owners of any other interest or interests acquired bona fide therein, without notice of the claim or any proceedings thereon. JAMES L. GRAHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AMOS H. MYLIN, President pro tem. of the Senate. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, OFFICE OF The Governor, HARRISBURG, June 30, 1885. I herewith file, with my objections, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, House bill No. 224, entitled "An act regulating the amendment of and proceedings upon municipal claims in cities of the first class." The first section of this bill allows any municipal claim which has here |