ditch, levee or other work across the lands of others for the promotion of the public health or welfare, or to maintain and keep in repair any such drain, ditch or levee heretofore constructed under any law of this state, such owners may file in the circuit court of any county in which the lands, or if they lie in more than one county, in that in which the greater part of the lands to be affected by said drain, ditch, levee or other work proposed to be constructed, maintained or repaired shall lie, a petition signed by them setting forth the proposed name of said drainage district, the necessity of the same, with a general description of its proposed starting point, route and terminus, and a general description of the lands proposed to be affected, with the names of the owners when known; and if the purpose of said petitioners is the repair and maintenance of a ditch, levee or other work heretofore constructed under any law of this state said petition shall give a general description of the same, with such particulars as may be deemed important and may apply for the organization of a drainage district by the name and with the boundaries proposed, and for the appointment of commissioners for the execution of such proposed work according to the provisions of this and the following sections; provided, that the lands embraced in such drainage district shall be liable for any and all damages resulting to lands, lying outside of its boundaries because of the proposed work and that the organization of such district shall in no manner interfere with any other drainage district above or below it; and if through the construction of any proposed ditch, drain, or levee increased cost shall be entailed upon a lower district in providing means to carry off the water flowing from the higher district, the lands in the higher district shall be liable for such cost. No petition having the requisite number of signers required by this section shall be declared void; but the court may permit the petition to be amended at any time to substantially conform to the requirements of these provisions. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 13, 1901. No. 32, S.] [Published March 19, 1901. CHAPTER 51. AN ACT to amend section 1480a of the Wisconsin statutes of 1898 relating to commissioners of weeds. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Sec Appointment, duties of; in towns; in cities. tion 1480a of chapter 61 of the Wisconsin statutes of 1898 is hereby amended by adding thereto the following: "This section shall not apply to cities of the first class, but in such cities the ward superintendents shall perform the duties of commissioners of weeds," so that said section when so amended shall read as follows: "Section 1480a. The chairman of each town board, the president of each village board and the mayor of each city, | shall appoint some competent person or persons as commissioner or commissioners of noxious weeds therein; such person shall take an oath to faithfully perform the duties imposed upon him, which oath shall be filed in the office of the town clerk, and shall hold his office for one year and until his successor has qualified unless he is sooner removed for good cause by the officer who appointed him, in which case his successor shall be appointed for the unexpired portion of the term; provided, that the presiding officer at each annual town meeting shall put to the qualified voters present at such meeting the following proposition for their decision, to-wit: "Shall the superintendent or superintendents of highways be ex-officio commissioners of noxious weeds in their respective districts?" If answered by the majority of the voters present in the affirmative the chairman of such town shall appoint such superintendent or superintendents as commissioners of noxious weeds, and no others; but if such question shall not receive a majority of such votes the chairman shall appoint a commissioner as hereinbefore provided. If more than one commissioner is appointed under the first method the town, city or village shall be divided into districts by the officer making the appointment, and each person appointed shall be assigned to one such district; and if there are two or more superintendents of highways in any town which shall vote to make such officers the commissioners of noxious weeds each shall be such within his highway districts, and shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same liabilities and entitled to the same compensation, rights and privileges as commissoners in other towns. This sec tion shall not apply to cities of the first class, but in such cities the ward superintendents shall perform the duties of commissioners of weeds." SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 16, 1901. No. 155, S.] [Published March 19, 1901. CHAPTER 52. AN ACT to regulate the matter of fixing the compensation of county superintendents in counties containing two superintendent districts, and amendatory of section 461d of the statutes of 1898. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: Limit to expenditure; more than one superintendent. SECTION 1. Section 461d of the statutes of 1898 is hereby amended so as to read as follows: The county board shall allow the county superintendent such sum over and above his salary as he shall certify he has actually expended in traveling expenses in the discharge of his official duties, not exceeding two hundred dollars in any one year; and such expenses shall be audited and allowed by the county board at its annual meeting in November. In a county where there is more than one superintendent district the vote of the members of the board representing each such district shall be taken separately. Any sum of money so voted and allowed to any such superintendent shall be charged and assessed against and upon the district for whose superintendent the same is appropriated. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 16, 1901. §1 C 53 '01 $16 C 437 '03 No. 22, S.] [Published March 19, 1901. CHAPTER 53. AN ACT to amend the statutes of 1898 relating to the protec tion of fish and game, as amended by chapter 311 laws of 1899. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: Fishing through ice; lakes affected. SECTION 1. Section 5 of chapter 311, laws of 1899, is hereby amended by inserting in the tenth line, after the word "river" the words "and the lakes of Waukesha county except (Pewaukee Lake)." So that said section when so amended shall read as follows: Section 5. Section 4560g of the statutes of 1898 is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 4560g. Any person who shall fish through the ice on any of the inland waters of this state with more than five lines to each person, and with more than one hook to any line, or who shall construct upon the ice of said waters, except Sturgeon bay, Geneva lake in Walworth county, and Winnebago lake, and the Mississippi river, and the lakes of Waukesha county except (Pewaukee lake), any building or enclosure of any nature whatsoever which shall conceal the person of the occupant while engaged in fishing through the ice, or who shall occupy any building or enclosure while engaged in so fishing, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not more than thirty days. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 16, 1901. No. 430, A.] [Published March 21, 1901. CHAPTER 54. AN ACT to detach certain territory from the town of Howe in Oconto county, and to create the town of Breed. The people of the state of Wisconsin represented in senate and assembly do enact as follows: Town of Breed defined. SECTION 1. All that portion of the town of Howe, in Oconto county, comprised in township number thirty north, range seventeen east, is hereby set off and detached from the said town of Howe and is hereby created and constituted a separate town to be known and designated as the town of Breed in said Oconto county. SECTION 2. The as Apportionment of assets and liabilities. sets and liabilities of the said existing town of Howe to be apportioned to the said towns of Howe and Breed shall bear the same ratio to the whole of said assets and liabilities of said existing town of Howe as the assessed valuation for the year 1900 of the taxable property of the above described detached territory from the existing town of Howe respectively bears to that of the assessed valuation for the year 1900 of the whole of the taxable property of said existing town of Howe as shown by the assessment rolls for the year 1900. SECTION 3. First meeting, when held. The first town meeting of the town of Breed shall be held in the Breed school house located on section number twenty-two, in said township number thirty north, range seventeen east, on the first Tuesday of April, A. D., 1901. Election of town officers; judicial election. SECTION 4. The qualified electors of said town of Breed shall at such town meeting in the manner provided by law elect town officers for the said. town, and for the purpose of such election the qualified electors shall between the hours of nine and eleven o'clock in the forenoon of said day choose three of their number to act as inspectors of the election, and such inspectors shall before entering on their respective duties severally take the usual oath of office and file the same with their returns; and such inspectors shall respec tively canvass and return the votes cast at such election in all re spects as provided by law for inspectors at annual town meetings. And the qualified electors so assembled at the respective |