upon the certificate of assessment for damages, referred to in the eighty-second section of said act. to be paid for of certiorari. 6. And be it enacted, That in all cases in which persons Compensation bring writs of certiorari directed to the mayor and common return to writ council, or any officer of the city of Rahway, it shall be lawful for the officer required to make a return thereto, to demand and receive compensation from the parties bringing such certiorari at the rate of ten cents per folio for the necessary returns thereto, to be paid before such returns are made. when asses3ment is set aside. 7. And be it enacted, That whenever by reason of any in- Proceedings formality or illegality in any proceedings of the said common council, or of the commissioners of assessment, surveyor or other agent of the common council or officers of the city, in laying out, opening, altering, widening or closing streets, avenues or public squares, or in grading, altering the grade, paving, curbing, guttering and flagging the sidewalks of any street or avenue, or constructing any sewer or drain, any assessment shall be set aside by judicial authority, it shall be lawful for the common council to re-institute the proceedings set aside upon the same basis upon which the original proceeding were based, or otherwise, if they see fit so to do, and lawfully proceed therein, the same as though the former proceedings had not been had; or the said common council may reinstitute said proceedings from the point where such informality or illegality may have been so decreed; and whenever the common council shall discover that any such proceedings are liable to be set aside by judicial authority, they may reinstitute said proceedings from the point where such informality or illegality commences, and no assessment shall be deemed invalid in consequence thereof; but no writ of certiorari shall be allowed or issue to remove any assessment made upon the owner or owners of lands and real estate for any work or improvement made or to be made, unless the same be applied for within six months after the confirmation of such assessment by the common council of said city. 8. And be it enacted, That where a lien for any street Lien for street improvement attaches to the real estate of any owner whose improvement. land extends not less than two hundred feet in depth, to and including the frontage on the adjacent street or avenue, such lien shall attach to the land one hundred feet in depth from the frontage improved or assessed. 9. And be it enacted, That all assessments against any Assessment not invalid by ing unknown. owner or owners of lands shall be made in the names of such reason of own- Owner or owners at the time when the improvements therein ers' name be- become a lien, if such names can be found by due diligence; but no assessment shall be considered invalid by reason of any mistake in the name of any owner, or because of the owner being unknown; and in case of the change in the ownership of any land after any improvement is completed, and the assuming of any assessment therefor by the purchaser, it shall be lawful for the commissioner of assessment, or surveyor, or city treasurer, to substitute the name of such purchaser in place of the original owner. Assessment not to be 10. And be it enacted, That no assessment heretofore or deemed illegal hereafter made by virtue of the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement, or any supplement thereto, shall be considered illegal by reason of any commissioner not being a freeholder at the time of his appointment; nor shall any assessment be considered illegal by reason of any commissioner after his appointment ceasing to be a freeholder, or removing from the ward in which he resided when appointed, or because the common council fail to attempt to make agreements for the purchase of lands required to be taken for any improvement; and whenever, heretofore or hereafter, a majority of the commissioners signing any report were or shall be competent or disinterested, such report shall not be considered illegal in consequence of any disability on the part of the other commissioners. Council shall appoint com grade streets, &c. 11. And be it enacted, That the common council of said missioners to city shall have authority to appoint, from time to time, three commissioners to establish the grade of such of the streets and avenues of said city as have not been graded; and said commissioners shall be empowered when any street or avenue, or section thereof, is ordered to be graded, and while the work of grading is in progress, to alter and change the said grade, if they deem the same necessary and beneficial; and the change or alteration so made shall not vitiate the ordinance authorizing the grading of such street or avenue, nor nullify in any way the proceedings had under and by virtue of the same; and where such alteration involves damage to any house or other building which was erected previous to such alteration, damages to the extent of the injury sustained by the owner of such house or building shall be awarded to such owner, and the measure of such damage shall be ascertained and estimated by said commissioners, and the amount thereof and all costs and expenses incident thereto shall be added to the costs and expenses of grading such street or avenue; the said commissioners shall continue in office for one year or until their successors are appointed and qualified; in case of the death, resignation or disqualification of any commissioner appointed under this section, the common council may fill such vacancy by appointment for the unexpired term. on line of a dered to be 12. And be it enacted, That when by the opening, widening Proceedings or alteration of any street or avenue in said city, any build when building ing shall extend upon the lines of any such street or avenue street is ornot over one-third the width of the sidewalk, the common removed. council may permit said building to remain unremoved for such time as they may think proper, and when such permit is granted the commissioners appointed to assess damages to the owners of lands and real estate taken for the opening, widening or alteration of such street or avenue shall not assess damages to the owner of such building for the removal thereof; and when the common council orders such building to be removed, the same proceedings shall be taken for the assessment of damages to the owner thereof as is required to be taken for the assessment of damages for lands taken for the opening of streets in said city; and the costs, damages and expenses of such removal shall be assessed upon the owners of lands intended to be benefited thereby, the same as in cases of street openings aforesaid. 13. And be it enacted, That the eightieth section of the Amendment. act to which this is a further supplement be amended by adding the following, to come at the end of said section; "and the commissioners appointed to make any such assessment may assess such portion of the costs, damages and expenses upon the city of Rahway as they may deem proper." tracks. 14. And be it enacted, That the common council of said Railroad city shall have power to grant to corporations or persons the right to lay down railroad tracks in the streets and avenues in said city, and to regulate the running of cars thereon; provided, that a majority in interest of the owners of the Proviso. lands fronting thereon consent thereto. 15. And be it enacted, That whenever the common council Proceedings for the taking of said city shall determine by ordinance to take, purchase of land for the or build a city hall, or other public buildings, or to acquire erecting pub lands for a suitable site or sites for the erection of such build- lic buildings. ings, they are hereby authorized to treat with the owner or Proviso. Certificates and declara owners thereof for the same, and they may purchase such lands and real estate of the owner or owners thereof, and make such compensation therefor as they shall judge reasonable; and in case no agreement for such purchase can be made, it shall be lawful for the common council to appoint three disinterested freeholders of said city commissioners to make an assessment of the damages that any such owner or owners will sustain by taking and appropriating, in the manner aforesaid, such lands and real estate; provided, that said commissioners proceed in the same manner as in the case of taking and appropriating lands for opening streets, as directed by the seventy sixth section of the act to which this is a further supplement; and any person or persons conceiving himself or themselves aggrieved by the proceedings of said common council or of said commissioners, may appeal therefrom in the manner authorized by the said seventy-sixth section. 16. And be it enacted, That the proceedings authorized tions of sale. in sections sixty-one to sixty nine inclusive, of the act to which this is a further supplement, in reference to sales cf lands and real estate by the receiver of taxes for nonpayment of taxes, shall apply to the proceedings of the city treasurer in making sales for lands and real estate for unpaid assessments; and all certificates of such sales shall be signed by the treasurer, and all declarations of sale signed by the mayor and clerk. Commission 17. And be it enacted, That there shall be three commisers of appeal. sioners of appeal in cases of taxation; one of said commissioners shall be appointed by the common council and two of them shall be elected at the annual charter election; provided, that not more than one name for commissioner shall be voted for on the same ticket, and when more than one name appears on a ticket for said office, both names shall be rejected. Proviso. Amendment. Proviso. 6. 18. And be it enacted, That the thirtieth section of the act to which this is a further supplement be amended by substituting one hundred" in the place of "fifty," where it occurs in said section; and that said section be further amended by adding the following, to come in at the end of the section: provided further, that if any interest remains unpaid on any such assessment or assessments for one month after the same is due and payable, the city treasurer shall be authorized to borrow the money necessary to pay such in " terest and add the discount and interest on such loans to the principal sum due from those who were thus in arrears." 19. And be it enacted, That all acts or parts of acts in- Repealer. consistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed, and that this act shall take effect immediately. Approved March 17, 1870. CHAPTER CCCCXXVIII. A Supplement to the act entitled "An Act to incorporate the town of Phillipsburg, in the township of Phillipsburg, in the county of Warren," approved March eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of Boundaries. the State of New Jersey, That the town of Phillipsburg shall be divided into three wards, the boundaries of which shall be described as follows: I. All that part of the said town bounded as follows: be. First ward. ginning at a point where the Central Railroad of New Jersey strikes the line between the township of Lopatcong, and the town of Phillipsburg; thence a southwesterly course along said line to the river Delaware; thence up said river a northwesterly course to a point opposite the centre of River street; thence an easterly course to the centre of River street; thence the same course along the centre of River street to the centre of Main street; thence along the centre of Main street a northerly course to a point opposite an alley between Hagerty's row, and house of Edward Gibney; thence an easterly course in a straight line through the centre of said alley to the main track of the Central Railroad of New Jersey; and thence a southerly course along said railroad to the place of beginning, shall constitute the first ward of said town. II. All that part of the said town bounded as follows: be. Second ward. ginning at the beginning corner of the first ward, thence an easterly course along the line of said town to a corner be |