the first assessment the commissioners shall have reported to the court a smaller sum than is needed to complete the work of construction or repair, or if, in any year an additional sum is required to pay the interest on lawful indebtedness of the said drainage district, a further assessment on the lands benefited, proportioned on the first, shall be made under the order of the court or the presiding judge thereof without notice, to be collected in the same manner as the original assessment. Drainage laws, how to be construed; defects in organization no bar to collection of assessments. SECTION 7. Section 1379-31 of the revised statutes of 1898 is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Section 1379-31. The provisions of section 1379-11 to section 1379-31 inclusive shall be liberally construed to promote the public health and welfare by reclaiming wet or overflowed lands, building embankments or levees and the preservation of any system of drainage heretofore constructed according to law. The collection of any assessments of benefits made by the commissioners and confirmed by the court shall not be restrained or obstructed by reason of any omission, imperfection or defect in the organization of any district or in any proceedings occurring prior to the order confirming the assessments of benefits, but such order shall be conclusive as to the regularity of all proceedings relating to the assessments of benefits unless appealed from within thirty days after the entry of such order, or within thirty days after this act shall take effect. Nothing in said sections shall be construed as repealing or modifying any general or private law relating to the drainage or reclamation of swamp, wet or overflowed lands or any law relating to the preservation of any work thereunder or as affecting any proceedings had or to be had thereunder. The provisions of 3187a of the revised statutes of 1898 are declared not to apply to proceedings regulating the organization and powers of drainage districts. SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 11, 1901. No. 71, S.] [Published March 12, 1901. CHAPTER 44. AN ACT relating to the cancellation of void tax deeds by county boards. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: County clerk to furnish certificate of cancellation; recording of. SECTION 1. A new section is hereby added to the statutes of 1898, to be known as section 1184a, as follows: Section 1184a. Whenever the county board shall order the cancellation of any tax deed, the county clerk shall furnish to the owner of the lands described in such deed, upon request therefor, a certificate in writing, executed under his hand and official seal, stating the fact of such cancellation, the date thereof, the description of the lands as to which such deed is cancelled, the date of such deed, the date of the sale upon which such deed is based and the reason for such cancellation. Such certificate may be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the lands therein described are located, and such record shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated and of the cancellation of the tax deed therein mentioned as to the lands therein described. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 11, 1901. No. 330, A.] [Published March 12, 1901. CHAPTER 45. AN ACT to authorize the commissioners of public lands to loan a portion of the trust funds of the state, to Portage county, and authorizing the county of Portage to borrow said funds. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: Loan of not to exceed $80,000 authorized. SECTION 1. The commissioners of public lands are hereby authorized to loan a portion of the trust funds of this state, not exceeding eighty thousand dollars, to the county of Portage, state of Wisconsin; and the said county is hereby authorized to borrow of said commissioners the said amount, and to issue to said commissioners, certificates of the indebtedness so contracted. The said indebtedness shall bear interest at the rate of three and one-half per cent. per annum payable annually, and the said indebtedness shall be paid in eight equal annual payments; the first payment falling due on the first day of July of the next succeeding year after said indebtedness shall have been created. Duty of secretary of state. SECTION 2. Each and every year, until the entire loan is repaid, the secretary of state shall, when he apportions the state tax among the several counties of the state, and certifies the same to the county clerk, add to the state tax which would be properly chargeable to the county of Portage, the annual interest due the state on such loan, together with the amount of the principal sum so loaned falling due on the first day of the following July. It shall be the duty of the county clerk of said county of Portage, on receiving a certified statement of the amount so due from the county of Portage, to include said amounts in his apportionment of the state taxes to said county, and the same shall be levied and collected out of the taxable property of said county, and paid over to the county treasurer of the county of Poratge, and by him to the state treasurer, in the same way and at the same time as other state taxes are collected and paid. Limitations as to indebtedness of county during life of loan. SECTION 3. It is hereby provided that said county of Portage shall never, during the period for which said loan shall remain unpaid, become indebted or contract debts for a greater amount, including debts heretofore contracted, as well as that herein authorized, than five per centum on the value of all taxable property in said county, to be ascertained by the last assessment for the state and county taxes previous to incurring the indebtedness authorized by this act. County board to ratify provision of act. SECTION 4. Before contracting any indebtedness hereunder, and before any of said trust funds shall be delivered to the said county of Portage, in exchange for said certificates of indebtedness, the county board of said county, at a regular or special meeting, shall by resolutions accept the provisions of this act, and the terms and limitations herein provided, and shall file with the secretary of state, copies of said resolutions, certified by the clerk of said county. The certificates of indebtedness herein provided for shall be made payable to the commissioners of public lands, and shall be signed by the chairman of said county board, and countersigned by the county clerk of said county. SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force, from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 9, 1901. No. 142, S.] [Published March 12, 1901. CHAPTER 46. AN ACT relating to the sale of lands by executors, administrators and guardians and to amend section 3913 of the Wisconsin statutes of 1898. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: §I C 46 '01 §1 C 146 '03 Section 3913 of §1 C 46 '01 §1 C 442 '03 Appraisal and sale, how made. SECTION 1. the Wisconsin statutes of 1898 is hereby amended by striking out the words "not less than the appraised value" in the eleventh line of said section and inserting in lieu thereof the following words, to be approved by the court licensing said sale, so that said section as amended shall read as follows: Section 3913. The county court may, in its discretion, authorize an executor, administrator or guardian to have the lands which he may be licensed by said court to sell appraised by three disinterested freeholders of the county in which the lands or some part thereof lie. Such appraisal shall be under oath, which oath and appraisal shall be certified in the usual form and filed in the court from which said license was issued. The executor, administrator or guardian so licensed shall offer the lands at public auction in the manner provided by law; and if at public auction no bid shall be made of a greater sum than the appraised value such executor, administrator or guardian may sell such lands at private sale at a price to be approved by the court licensing said sale, and if not sold within one year they may be sold at public auction. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 11, 1901. No. 5, A.] [Published March 12, 1901. CHAPTER 47. AN ACT to amend section 1729a of chapter 83, of the Wisconsin statutes of 1898, relating to the assignment of written evidences of indebtedness from employer to employe for wages. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: Wages, how paid; to whom law not applicable; written evidence of indebtedness negotiable. SECTION 1. Section 1729a, chapter 83, of the Wisconsin statutes of 1898, is hereby amended by striking out the word "assignable" where the same appears in the thirteenth line of said section and by inserting in lieu thereof the word "negotiable," so that said section when so amended shall read as follows: "Section 1729a. All wages or compensation for labor or service, unless there shall be a written contract to the contrary, shall be paid weekly or bi-weekly in cash; provided, that this section shall not apply to agricultural laborers, commercial travelers, persons employed on commission, traveling employes of railway or express companies, per |