Judge and inspectors of

elections.

Mode of ap

pointing certain township

officers in each ward.

Mode of electing chosen freeholders, surveyors of highways,

poor, and one or more pound masters; each of which officers, when thus chosen, shall perform the same services within their respective wards, and be subject to the same duties and penalties, as the overseers of the highways, the overseers of the poor, and the pound masters of the township of Newark are or may be by law required to perform, or made subject to, except so far as shall be otherwise directed or provided for by

this act.

SEC. 8. And be it enacted, That each of the said wards, at their annual meetings, shall elect, by ballot, one judge and two inspectors of elections, who shall preside at and conduct the next succeeding ward elections for ward and township officers, and such other elections as, by this act, shall be directed to be held in the said wards.

SEC. 9. And be it enacted, That the inhabitants of the said wards, at their respective meetings to be held on the second Monday in April next, and every annual meeting thereafter, shall elect, by ballot, two persons to be members of the township committee; which committec, in the said township of Newark, after the second Monday in April next, shall consist of eight members, instead of five, as now required by law; and one person to be street commissioner, and one person to be commissioner of appeals, so that after the second Monday in April next, there may be four street commissioners and four commissioners of appeals in the said township of Newark, instead of three of each, as now required by law: and the said inhabitants, at their said meetings respectively, shall, in like manner, elect one assessor, who shall assess, and one collector, who shall collect, all taxes that may be lawfully assessed and raised within their respective wards; which collectors and assessors shall, within their respective wards, perform the same duties, be entitled to the same compensation, and subject to the same penalties, as are or may be by law required of, provided for, and imposed upon the assessors and collectors of the several townships in this state, except so far as is otherwise directed or provided for by this act; and the collectors to be chosen in pursuance of this act shall pay over the moneys by them collected to the township treasurer, if any shall be appointed, when required by the township committee so to do; and if no such treasurer shall be appointed, then the said ward collectors shall disburse and account for all moneys collected

by them, as the law directs; and each of the said collectors shall annually give bond, with security, for the faithful performance of his duties, as township collectors are or may be required to do.

SEC. 10. And be it enacted, That on the second Monday in April next, and annually on the same day thereafter, an election shall be held in each of the said wards, by ballot, for two chosen freeholders, two surveyors of the highways, and five school committeemen, for the said township of Newark; that

the number of votes given at each ward meeting for such free- and school holders, surveyors, and school committeemen, shall be canvass- committee of the township. ed by the judge and inspectors of elections of the respective wards; and the result of such election shall, within two days thereafter, be certified by them to the town committee, which committee shall add up and count all the votes that have been given in the several wards for the said officers; and shall thereupon ascertain and declare who have been elected, by the greatest number of votes, chosen freeholders, surveyors of the highways, and school committeemen, for the township of Newark, for the year then next ensuing, and cause notice thereof to be given in one or more of the newspapers published in the said town: and in case any vacancy or vacancies shall happen, by the resignation, death, removal, or other disqualification to act of any of the officers mentioned and provided for in this and in the last preceding section of this act, the township committee may, if they think proper, order a new election to be held in the several wards, or in the ward in which such vacancy has taken place, giving at least ten days' notice of the time of holding such election or elections.

SEC. 11. And be it enacted, That for the orderly conducting of such elections, as aforesaid, at the ward meetings to be held on the second Monday in April next, the said ward meetings, immediately after the appointment of a moderator and clerk, shall proceed to appoint, upon the nomination of the modera- Ward inspectors to certify tor, or otherwise as the meeting shall direct, three persons to result to clerk be inspectors of the elections to be held at that meeting, who of township shall thereupon, at such hour of that day as the meeting shall committee. appoint, and, at the place of holding such ward meeting, open an election for all such officers as aforesaid, and receive the ballots of every person offering to vote, residing in such ward, and who would be qualified to vote at townmeeting: and the said inspectors, after the poll shall be closed, shall count the votes given for the several candidates, and certify the result under their hands, and deliver such certificate to the clerk of the ward, who shall file and preserve the same, and, within five days thereafter, deliver a copy thereof to the clerk of the township committee; and the persons having the greatest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected to the offices for which they shall have been voted for respectively.

SEC. 12. And be it enacted, That the said ward meetings, as Moderator soon as they are organized as aforesaid, may, if they think pro- and clerk may per, order and direct that, in addition to the officers so as afore- be chosen by ballot. said directed to be elected by ballot, an election shall also be held, in like manner, for a moderator and for a clerk of the ward; and in that case the persons so elected shall be the moderator and clerk of the ward, and shall preside and act at all subsequent meetings of the ward which may be held during that year and at the next annual ward meetings; but in case of the absence of the said moderator or clerk, the meeting may

appoint a moderator or clerk pro tempore: and the said ward meetings shall fix the time of opening and closing the polls in their respective wards; provided the same shall not be contiTime of keepnued open after the hour of nine o'clock at night; but ing open polls the meeting so direct, be opened again at eight or nine o'clock may, if the next morning, and continued open until nine o'clock in the evening of the second day, and no longer.

Ballots printed or written.

SEC. 13. And be it enacted, That the ballots may be written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, and the voter shall put the names of all the candidates he intends to vote for on one ballot.

SEC. 14. And be it enacted, That all the officers to be voted Qualification for at such ward meetings, shall be persons qualified to vote at town.neeting, and shall all, except the chosen freeholders and surveyors of the highways, and school committee, reside within the wards in which they are voted for respectively.

of officers elected.

SEC. 15. And be it enacted, That the clerks of the several wards shall, within their respective wards, perform all the duWard clerks. ties incident to the office of town clerk, and be subject to the same penalties, and entitled to the same compensation, as are or may be by law imposed upon or provided for town clerks, except as is herein otherwise prescribed or provided for.

Officers

sated.

may

SEC. 16. And be it enacted, That the inhabitants of the said wards may, at their annual meetings, vote and order such combe compen- pensation as they may think proper to the several officers so to be elected, for their respective services, where the laws of this state make no provision for such compensation; which shall be paid to them by the ward collector, upon the order or certificate of the two town committeemen appointed in such ward; but the amount of such compensation, so voted by any ward, shall be exclusively assessed and collected in such ward.

General pow

ers and duties

of ward meet

ings.

SEC. 17. And be it enacted, That all the provisions, regulations, and enactments contained in the act entitled, "An act incorporating the inhabitants of townships, designating their powers and regulating their meetings," passed the twenty-first of February, in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and ninety-eight, and in the supplement thereto, passed the twentysecond of May, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and twenty, shall be applicable to the said ward meetings, and to the manner of conducting the same, and to the officers thereof, and to the persons to be appointed to office at any and every such ward meetings, in as full and ample a manner as if those provisions, regulations, and enactments were herein repeated and re-enacted in reference to the said ward meetings, except so far as such provisions, regulations, and enactments shall be contrary to, and incompatible with the provisions of this act; and except, also, so far as additional or other powers shall be given, duties prescribed, and regulations made, for the organization and government of the said ward meetings, and of the officers to be appointed by them, by the provisions of this act.

commission

ers, &c.

SEC. 18. And be it enacted, That the street commissioners Powers and who may hereafter be elected at the said ward meetings, shall duties of street be rested with the same powers, and perform the same duties, as were vested in, and imposed upon them by the act creating those officers, together with such other powers and duties as are given to, or required of them by this act; and, in like manner, the freeholders, surveyors of the highways, school committee, and commissioners of appeal and other officers, elected in pursuance of this act, shall, respectively, perform the same duties, and be liable to the same penalties, as if they had severally been elected at an annual townmecting, unless otherwise directed and provided for by this act.

SEC. 19. And be it enacted, That the several town commit- Organization teemen elected in the said wards, shall constitute the township of township committee of the said township of Newark; and, in addition committee. to the powers and duties heretofore vested in and required of that committee, they shall, at their first or second meeting, choose one of their own number to be chairman of the committee, who shall act as such, and preside at all their meetings, until the committee shall choose another chairman in his place: they may also elect some suitable person to be clerk of the town committee, and allow him a reasonable compensation for his services: and it shall be the duty of the said clerk to attend the meetings of the said committee, when required, and to keep a record of the votes and proceedings of the said committee, and perform such other services as may be by them required of him: and the said town committee may also, if they think pro- May appoint per so to do, appoint annually, or oftener, some suitable person clerk and trea to be the township treasurer; and if they make such appoint- surer. ment, they shall fix his compensation or salary, and shall require him to enter into a bond to the inhabitants of the township of Newark, in the county of Essex, with at least two freeholders as sureties, in such penalty as the said committee shall think proper, for the faithful discharge of all his duties as treasurer, and for the safe keeping and accounting for all the moneys that shall come into his hands as such treasurer.

SEC. 20. And be it enacted, That the town committee, in Annual readdition to the duties now required of them by law, shall make port of disa yearly report, in writing, of all the disbursements of the town-bursements to be made by ship, a copy of which shall be delivered, by their clerk, to the committee. clerks of the several wards, previous to the second Monday in April in every year; which report shall be publicly read at each annual ward meeting: and the said committee shall also cause the same to be published, in at least one of the newspapers that may be published in the said town of Newark, previous to such meetings.

Estimate of

expenses of

ensuing year

SEC. 21. And be it enacted, That it shall also be the duty of the said town committee, annually, to prepare an estimate (a to be publishcopy of which shall be furnished to the clerk of each ward, to ed by commitbe laid before the annual meetings) of the amount of moneys tee.

necessary to be raised for the following purposes, or for such of them as the said committee may think proper to recommend or submit to the consideration of the several ward meetings, viz: for the support of the poor; the education of the children of poor and indigent parents, and poor orphan children; the improving and repairing the streets and highways; the support of a night watch; lighting the town at night, by lamps or otherwise; the purchase of town burying grounds; the erection of a market house or market houses; the building, or otherwise providing suitable places for holding the ward meetings; for the erection of a town house; for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; for contingent and incidental expenses; and for such other purposes and improvements as the said committee shall think proper; which estimate the said committee shall cause to be published, in at least one newspaper published in the said town of Newark, for the space of one week, at least, before the annual ward meetings: but no money shall be raised by tax in the said township, unless three of the said wards, at their annual meetings, shall concur therein: Provided always, that if any three of the said wards, or if all of them, shall vote to raise money for any of the purposes aforesaid, but it shall so happen that they do not all vote to raise the same amount of money, then the town committee shall ascertain the mean sum voted for by the several wards, and direct that amount to be assessed and raised, by tax, in the said township of Newark, for the purpose or purposes for which the same was so voted by the said wards: and the said ward assessors shall meet and apportion the sum to be raised among their respective wards; and the sums so apportioned shall be assessed by the assessors, and collected by the collectors, of the respective wards, and, by such collectors, paid over to the township treasurer, if any, within such time after the day fixed by law for the payment of taxes, as the town committee shall direct: and in case any of the said collectors shall fail so to pay over the moneys by them collected, they and their securities may be prosecuted therefor, on the bonds given by such collectors: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent either of the said wards, at any annual or other meeting thereof, from voting and raising money by tax, within the ward, for any purpose exclusively for the benefit or convenience of the ward: and if either or any of the said wards shall vote to raise money for any such local and exclusive purpose, the same shall be assessed by the assessor of the said ward on persons and property within the same, and the collector of the said ward shall collect the same, and pay over or apply the moneys so collected, as the ward meeting shall direct or appoint.

SEC. 22. And be it enacted, That the inhabitants of each or any of the said wards, at their annual or other legal meetings, may make and ordain all such regulations and by-laws as town