respectively, which order the said overseers are hereby enjoined and required to comply with, otherwise to forfeit the cost of all future maintenance, except in cases when by sickness, or other sufficient cause, any poor person cannot be removed, in which case the said overseers shall represent the same to the nearest justice of peace, who, being satisfied with the truth thereof, shall certify the same to the said directors, and at the same time issue an order, under his hand and seal, to the said overseers, directing them to maintain such poor, until such time as he or she shall be in situation to be removed, then to convey the said pauper, and deliver him or her to the steward or keeper of the said house of employment, together with the said order, and the charge and expense of such temporary relief, and of such removal shall be paid by the said directors at a reasonable allowance. [Section VIII.] (Section VIII, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said directors, respectively, shall, from time to time, receive, provide for and employ, according to the true intent and meaning of this [act], all such poor and indigent persons, as shall be entitled to relief, or shall have gained a legal settlement in the said county of Chester, or in the said county of Lancaster, and shall be sent there by an order or warrant for that purpose, under the hands and seals of any two justices of the peace, directed to any constable of the said county of Chester or Lancaster, or to the overseers of the proper townships, in any other county of this commonwealth, and to the said directors of the poor and of the house of employment of the said county of Chester or Lancaster; and the said directors, respectively, are hereby authorized, when they shall deem it proper and convenient so to do, to permit any poor person or persons to be maintained elsewhere, and if the pauper be married, and the person to whom he or she is married is not supported at the county expense, it shall be the duty of the said directors to place the said pauper with the person to whom he or she is married, if required, provided the expense of such maintenance doth not exceed that of the house of employment. [Section IX.] (Section IX. P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said directors, or any four of them, who shall be a quorum in all cases to do business with in their respective counties, shall have full power to make and ordain all such ordinances, rules and regulations, as they shall think proper, convenient and necessary, for the direction, government and support of the poor and houses of employment aforesaid, and of the revenues thereunto respectively belonging, and of such persons as shall come under their care or cognizance, provided the same be not repugnant to this law, or any other of the laws of this state or of the United States, and provided also, that the same shall not have any force or effect until they shall have been submitted to the president and asociate judges of the court of common pleas, for the time being, for the district within which the said county of Chester or Lancaster shall be, and shall have received the approbation of said court. [Section X.] (Section X, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That a committee consisting of at least two of the said directors, shall, and they are hereby enjoined and required to meet at the said houses of employment, in their respective counties, at least once in every month, and visit the apartments, and see that the poor are comfortably supported, and hear all complaints, and redress, or cause to be redressed, all grievances, which may happen by the neglect or misconduct of their servants, or others in their employment, or otherwise. [Section XI.] (Section XI, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said directors shall each of them receive for their services twenty dollars per annum, to defray the expense of their necessary attendance on the duties of their offices. [Section XII.] (Section XII, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case of any vacancy or vacancies, by death, resignation, removal, neglect, refusal, or otherwise, of any of the said directors, a majority of the remaining directors shall fill such vacancy or vacancies, by appointment of one or more citizens of their said counties, respectively, as the case may require, to serve until the next general election, when another director or dirctors shall be elected, to serve for the period or periods which such director or directors were to have served, if no such vacancy or vacancies had happened. [Section XIII.] (Section XIII, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all the moneys which shall be remaining in the hands of the overseers of the poor of the several townships of Chester and Lancaster counties, respectively, at the time when the first county poor tax shall be assessed, levied and collected, shall be paid over the said overseers to the supervisors of the highways of their respective townships, to be by them applied towards the repairing of the roads therein. [Section XIV.] (Section XIV, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That as soon as the poor of the counties of Chester and Lancaster shall be removed to the respective houses of employment of the said counties, the office of overseer of the poor within the said counties shall from thenceforth be abolished. [Sections XV.] (Section XV, P. L.) And it be further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That for the services enjoined on the clerk of the courts of quarter sessions and of common pleas of the counties of Chester and Lancaster by this act, he shall be entitled to exhibit his accounts to the county commissioners of the said counties, respectively, who shall examine and allow the same, and draw on the county treasurer for the amount thereof, as in usual in the case of other accounts. [Section XVI.] (Section XVI, P. L.) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That so much of the laws of this commonwealth, relating to the poor of the counties of Chester and Lancaster, as is by this act altered or supplied, and no more, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Passed February 27, 1798. Recorded L. B. No. 6, p. 218, etc. CHAPTER MCMLXXII. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR SETTLING THE COMPENSATIONS OF SUNDRY MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE AT THE LATE SESSION, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE SPEAKERS OF THE RESPECTIVE HOUSES TO DRAW WARRANTS IN THEIR FAVOR, FOR THE SUMS FOUND DUE. Whereas sundry members of the legislature of this state came to, and others made progress on their journey towards Philadelphia, to attend the late session in August last, but were prevented from taking their seats, or having the accounts of their compensation settled, owing to the sudden rising of the legislature, occasioned by the then prevailing calamitous sickness in the city of Philadelphia. [Section I.] (Section I, P. L.) Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the present committees of accounts of the senate and house of representatives shall and may, respectively, proceed to examine and state to their houses the accounts of all such members of the senate, and late house of representatives, as came to or made progress towards the city of Philadelphia, in order to take their seats at the late session and who have not hitherto received any compensation for the same, and upon such statements being approved by the respective houses, the speakers thereof shall and may draw warrants on the state treasurer, in favor of the different members, for the sums so found due to them, to be paid out of the funds for the support of government. Passed February 27, 1798. Recorded L. B. No. 6, p. 214, etc. CHAPTER MCMLXXIII. ΤΟ AN ACT TO ENABLE THE GOVERNOR OF THIS COMMONWEALTH INCORPORATE A COMPANY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING THE NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER LEHIGH. [Section I.] (Section I, P. L.) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That William Tilghman, Godfrey Haga, and John M. Taylor, of the city of Philadelphia, John Barnet, Joseph Horsefield, and Nicholas Kern, of the county of Northampton, and Matthias Hollenback, Rosewell Welles, and Lord Butler, of the county of Luzenne, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to do and perform the several duties hereinafter mentioned, that is to say; they shall and may, on or before the first day of June next, procure a book or books, and therein enter as follows: "We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do promise to pay to the president and managers of the Lehigh Navigation Company the sum of one hundred dollars for every share of stock in the said company set opposite to our respective names, in such manner and proportions, and at such times, as shall be determined by the said president and managers, in pursuance of an act of the general assembly of this commonwealth, entitled, "An act to enable the governor of this commonwealth to incorporate a company, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river Lehigh," and shall thereupon give notice in one of the public newspaper printed in Philadelphia, in the public newspaper printed at Easton, and in the public newspaper printed at Wilkes-Barre, for one calendar month at least, of the time and place when and where the said book or books will be open to receive subscriptions of stock for the said company, at which time and place the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall attend, and shall permit and suffer all persons, who shall offer to subscribe in the said |