SEC. 2. [Amended June 27, 1857.]

That the administration of all the fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs of said city and the government thereof, shall be vested in one principal officer, to be styled the Mayor, who shall be chosen by the inhabitants of said city at large voting in their respective wards: one council of seven, to be denominated the Board of Aldermen, who shall also be chosen by wards: wards numbered one and three shall elect two each, and ward numbered two shall elect three; one council of twenty-one, to be denominated the Common Council; which boards shall, in their joint capacity, be denominated the City Council. A majority of each board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. No member shall receive any compensation for his services.

SEC. 3. [Repealed June 27. 1857.]

SEC. 4. Each of the city wards shall be a town for the purpose of the election of governor, councillors, senators, representatives to the general court, all county officers, representatives in congress and electors of president and vice president of the United States.

SEC. 5. Three selectmen, a moderator, and town clerk shall be elected in each of said towns, who shall have the powers, perform the duties, and be subject to the liabilities. of those officers in other towns, so far as relates to warning meetings, regulating, correcting, and posting up check lists, deciding upon the qualifications of voters, conducting elections, declaring the votes, and recording the same, returning votes to the Secretary of State, or other officer to whom returns are by law to be made, making certificates of elections, and all other matters relating to elections, as

fully as if the same were herein specifically enumerated, and shall also perform and discharge all the duties of wardens, inspectors, and ward clerks.

SEC. 6. [Amended June 26, 1858.]

The annual meeting of the inhabitants for the choice of city and ward officers, shall be holden on the second Tuesday of March; and all city, ward and town officers who are chosen by the people shall be chosen by ballot, and shall hold their respective offices for one year from the fourth Tuesday of March, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead. Provided, however, that the check-list shall be used at all such ballotings.

The clerk shall record the votes and proceedings of all ward or town meetings, shall enter on the records the names of all persons voted for, and the number of votes given for each, in words at length. The clerk shall deliver to his successor in office all the records, record-books, journals, documents, and other things held by him in his capacity of 'clerk.

SEC. 7. [Amended July 12, 1850; June 27, 1857.]

The first and third wards shall each, at the annual meeting, choose six members of the Common Council, and the second shall choose nine; but if the choice of common councilmen or aldermen cannot conveniently be made or completed on that day, the meeting shall be adjourned from day to day to complete a choice. Provided, however, that no balloting shall be commenced after sunset and before sunrise. The clerk shall, within twenty-four hours after such choice, deliver to each person chosen common councilman and alderman, a certificate of election, signed by himself, the moderator, and a majority of the selectmen present at said meeting.

SEC. 8. The qualified voters in each ward shall, at the annual meeting for the choice of city and ward officers, give in to the moderator their votes for a mayor, which shall be received, sorted, counted and declared, and a record thereof made, in the same manner as votes for senators, a copy of which record shall be delivered to the city clerk within twenty-four hours after every and each meeting. The city clerk shall, immediately after receiving said copies, enter the same on the city records, and then lay the said copies before the mayor and aldermen, who shall thereupon examine the same, and cause the person who has been chosen mayor, by a majority of votes in all the wards, to be noti fied in writing of his election.

SEC. 9. [Repealed July 12, 1850.]

SEC. 10. [Time of organization altered June 26, 1858 ] The mayor, aldermen, and common council shall, before entering on the duties of their offices, be sworn, or af firmed, to the faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices; and for that purpose shall meet in convention on the fourth Tuesday of March, in each year, at ten of the clock in the forenoon; when such cath or affirmation may be administered to the mayor elect, if present, by any Justice of the Peace for the county of Rockingham; and to the aldermen and common councilmen, by the mayor, he being first qualified as aforesaid, or by such Justice of the Peace.

A certificate that such oath or affirmation has been taken, shall be entered in the journal of the mayor and aldermen, and of the common council, by their respective clerks. If from any cause the mayor, or any one or more of the aldermen, or common councilmen, shall not be present on the fourth Tuesday of March, to take the oath required of

them, the same may be administered to them at any time thereafter, before entering on the duties of their respective offices.

SEC. 11. The mayor, thus chosen and qualified, shall be the chief executive officer of the city, and for the preservation of the peace, shall have all the powers of sheriff and conservator of the peace. He shall cause the laws and regulations of the city to be executed and enforced. He shall exercise a general supervision over the conduct of all subordinate officers, and cause their violation or neglect of duty to be punished. He may call special meetings of the board of aldermen aud common council, or either of them, when in his opinion the interests of the city require it, by causing a notification to be left at the usual dwelling-place of each member of the board or boards to be convened. He shall, from time to time, communicate to said boards respectively, such information and recommend such measures, as the interests of the city shall, in his judgment, require. He shall preside in the board of aldermen, and in joint meeting of the two boards, but shall have a casting vote only. He shall be, ex-officio, chairman of the board of overseers of the poor. He shall receive for his services during the first year the sum of five hundred dollars; and after that time, such sum as the city council shall determine, payable at stated periods, and shall receive no other compensation; but his salary shall not be increased or diminished during his continuance in office. Provided, that the city council may appoint him commissioner of streets and highways, and allow him a suitable compensation therefor.

SEC. 12. The mayor and aldermen shall compose one. board, and shall sit and act together as one body; at all meetings of which the mayor shall preside, if present; but

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in his absence the board may choose a chairman for the time being. They may make, alter, amend or repeal any rules and orders for the government of said board, not repugnant to the provisions of this act. Whenever a vacancy in said board shall occur, they may order a new election, if they shall deem it expedient, and shall be final judges of such elections.

All their meetings shall be public, when not engaged in executive business, and upon request of any member the yeas and nays shall be taken and recorded.

They shall issue their warrant for a legal meeting of the inhabitants, qualified to vote, whenever requested so to do, in writing, by fifty legal voters.

SEC. 13. [Manner of appointment of City officers amended July 12, 1850; June 27, 1857; July 4, 1860.]

The executive power of the city, and the administration of the police, with all the powers heretofore vested by law in the selectmen of Portsmouth, shall be vested in the mayor and aldermen, except where it is herein otherwise provided, as fully as if the same were herein specifically enumerated. They shall have full and exclusive power to appoint a city marshal and assistants, constables, and all other police officers, whose powers and duties shall extend to and over each and every of said towns or wards; also a collector of taxes; and to remove the same from office for sufficient cause; the Mayor and aldermen each having a negative on the other, both in the appointment and removal of officers. They may require the marshal and constables, and collector of taxes, before entering on the duties of their office, to give bonds with sufficient sureties, to any reason able amount; upon which the like proceedings and remedies may be had, as are by law provided, in case of constables'