as often as the same may be necessary: Provided, That the said com- Proviso.
pany shall fill up the said trenches, and restore the said streets, lanes,
Mileys, and side-walks, and the private property as aforesaid, to as good
a condition as they were respectively in before the said trenches were
lug, at the proper cost and expense of the said company.

opening a com

SECTION 13. That if any person or persons shall open a communication into the street gas main, or other gas pipe of the said company, with- Penalty for out authority from the inspector or authorized agents of the said com- munication into pany, or shall let on the gas after it has been stopped by order of the the street gas said inspector or other authorized agent of the said company, for repairs, main, or other or any other cause or purpose, or shall put up any pipes or burners in gas-pipe. addition to the pipes or burners originally put up and inspected, and introduce the gas into them without authority as aforesaid, he, she, or they shall be subject to a penalty of not less than ten, nor more than fty dollars for each and every such offence, to be recovered as debts of like amount are recoverable in law, one-half to be paid to the informer and the other half to the said company.

to company's

works.

SECTION 14. That if any person shall wilfully do, or cause to be done, Punishment for any act or acts whatever, whereby any building, construction, or works wil ul or malif said company, or any gas pipe, gas post, or lamp, burner, or reflector, cious injuries any matter or thing appertaining to the same shall be stopped, structed, injured, or destroyed, the person or persons so offending hall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being thereof indicted and conreted in the Court of Quarter Sessions, shall be punished by fine not rceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That such criminal rosecution shall not in anywise impair the right of action for damages ya civil suit hereby authorized to be brought for any such injury as aforesaid, by and in the name of the said corporation, in any court in is State having cognizance of the same.

SECTION 15. That the managers shall annually elect a secretary and Election of Sectreasurer, the latter of whom shall be a stockholder of the company, said retary and treasurer shall give a bond to the said corporation, with sufficient sureties Treasurer. to the satisfaction of the managers of said company, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, for a just account of all oneys that may come into his hands by virtue thereof, and for the delivery to his successor in office of all books, papers, documents, money, and other things held in right of his office.

SECTION 16. That if the said company shall not carry into operation Time for carrythe objects of their charter within three years from the passage of this ing into operation the objects act, then the said charter shall become null and void. of charter.

JOHN S. RHEY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

JOHN. H. WALKER.

Speaker of the Senate.

APPROVED-The seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight

Lundred and fifty-two.

WM. BIGLER.

64

Ohio township,
Allegheny co.

Hopewell township, Washing

ton county.

Borough of
Meadville,
Crawford co.

elections.

No. 55.

AN ACT

Regulating certain election districts; to authorize the school directors of the borough of Birmingham, Allegheny county, to borrow money; to incorporate the Pennsylvania association and reading room; and relative to the claim of Frederick Kreiser, of Lebanon county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all township, general, and special elections in Ohio township, Allegheny county, shall be held at school house, number ten, in said township, until the first of January next, and after that time to be held at the town hall in said township.

SECTION 2. That the qualified electors of Hopewell township, Washington county, from and after the passage of this act, shall hold their general and township elections at the house of James Thompson, in the borough of West Middletown, in said township.

SECTION 3. That the citizens of the borough of Meadville, in the county of Crawford, and State of Pennsylvania, be authorized to hold two separate and distinct elections in said borough, for all purposes, in the boundaries known as the North and South wards; the election for the North ward to be held at the Prothonatory's office, in the court house, in said borough and county, and the election for the South ward to be held at the Commissioners' office, in the court house as aforesaid.

SECTION 4. That at the regular Spring election, in the month of Officers of the March, William Davis, Jr., of the North ward, shall act as judge of said election, and William McCabe and James Steward, of the said ward, shall act as inspectors thereof; and that David McFadden, of the South ward, shall act as judge of the election in the South ward, at the said Spring election, and Samuel A. Torbett and James H. Gibson shall act as inspectors thereof: Provided, That the said elections shall be subject to all the regulations of the general election laws of this Commonwealth.

of Birmingham,

SECTION 5. That the school directors of the borough of BirmingSchool directors ham, in the county of Allegheny, be, and they are hereby authorized of the borough to borrow a sum of money, not exceeding eight thousand dollars, for Allegheny co., the payment of the debts of said school district, and it shall and may authorized to be lawful for the board of directors of said school district to secure the borrow money. money so borrowed by bond of said directors and mortgage upon the real estate of said school district, or otherwise, as the said directors may deem proper.

Kingsessing
township Phila-

delphia county
Corporators.

Style.

SECTION 6. That on the third Friday of March next, and annually thereafter, the qualified voters of the township of Kingsessing, in the county of Philadelphia, shall vote for, on one ticket, all township officers to be elected, marked on the outside township officers.

SECTION 7. That John Maitland, Edwin T. Chase, John Hill Martin, George Kern, Charles E. Robb, and their associates, be, and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, with the name, style, and title of the Pennsylvania association and reading room, with

authority to elect officers, to establish by-laws for their government, Powers.
and to hold real estate, the yearly value of which shall not exceed
three thousand dollars: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall Proviso.
be so construed as to authorize said Pennsylvania association and read-
ing room to do any other act or acts in their corporate capacity than
are herein expressed.

Jacob Weidle,

SECTION 8. That John Harper, Jacob Weidle, and Joseph Reinhard, are hereby appointed, having first been duly sworn or affirmed John Harper, to discharge the duties of this appointment with fidelity, to investigate the losses sustained by Frederick Kreiser, in and about the construc- hard, appointed Joseph Reintion of the county bridge across the Swatara creek, at Mount Union, to investigate in Lebanon county, and report to the county commissioners of Lebanon losses sustained county what amount they believe to be due, in equity and justice, to by Frederick Kreiser by the the said Frederick Kreiser, by reason of his losses and services in and erection of a about the construction of the bridge aforesaid; and on the said report certain bridge. being approved by the commissioners aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the commissioners aforesaid to draw their warrant on the county trea surer of said county, in favor of said Frederick Kreiser, for the amount thereof.

JOHN S. RHEY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

JOHN H. WALKER,

Speaker of the Senate.

APPROVED-The seventeenth day of February, A. D., one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

WM. BIGLER.

No. 56.

AN ACT

Authorizing the establishment of a public park and parade ground in the city of Reading.

WHEREAS, When the town of Reading was originally laid out by the proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, a certain lot of ground, now known as "the commons," situate at the foot of Penn's mount, in the said town, was reserved by the said proprietaries, as a free and public commons for the dwellers in said town, and was so known and used,, from the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, notwithstanding which, the heirs of the said proprietaries, after the close of the revolutionary war, claimed the same as their private property, there being no legal evidence on record of said grant having been made by Thomas and Richard Penn:

And whereas, In view of the circumstances aforesaid, on the nineteenth day of November, A. D., one thousand eight hundred, Peter Feather, Jr., Jacob Roads, and Jacob Epler, then commissioners of Berks county, purchased from John Penn and Richard Penn, late pro

Preamble.

prietaries of Pennsylvania, the aforesaid lot of ground, in the borough, now city of Reading, marked number sixty, in the plan of out-lots attached to said borough, containing as per recital in said deed, fiftyfive and a half acres, but in reality about eighty-five acres, with the intention of appropriating said lot of ground to the use of the citizens of Reading as a public commons, for which purpose the said lot of ground has been used from that time to the present, with the exception of about thirty-five acres sold by the commissioners of said county, under the authority of an act of the General Assembly, approved February twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine:

And whereas, The sale of the thirty-five acres aforesaid, has more than repaid to the said county of Berks, the principal and interest of the original purchase money for said lot of ground:

And whereas, The increase of population in the said city of Reading, has now became so great that some place to be used as a public park and parade ground has become absolutely necessary, as well for the convenience of the citizens as for the public health, which experience has shown is always improved by the establishment of such public parks, squares and gardens in large towns:

And whereas, The proper enclosing, laying out, and embellishment of the aforesaid lot of ground, more properly belongs to the mayor and councils of the city of Reading, than to the commissioners of Berks county, it being more equitable that the former should defray the expense arising from an improvement made more particularly for the benefit of its own citizens; therefore,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly Commissioners met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That of Berks county, it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the county of Berks, and authorized to they are hereby authorized and required to convey in fee, to the mayor, ground in Read- aldermen, and citizens of Reading, in trust for the use of said citiing, known as zens, for the sole purpose of establishing a public park and parade the "public

convey a lot of

commons."

Proviso.

Said lot to be

ground forever, and for no other purpose, object, or design, whatsoever; all their right, title, and interest, of, in and to a certain lot of ground situate in the city of Reading, known as the "public commons," bounded on the north by Walnut street, on the west by Eleventh street, on the south by the Reading and Perkiomen turnpike, the extension of Bingaman street and land of M. S. Richards, and on the east by land now or late of John Miller, containing forty-nine acres one hundred and thirty-four perches, strict measure, it being part of a larger lot of ground marked in the general plot of said city, with number sixty, which was conveyed by Edmund Physick, attorney in fact for John Penn and Richard Penn, to the commissioners of Berks county, by deed dated November nineteenth, A. D., one thousand eight hundred, recorded in the office for recording deeds, et cetera, in and for Berks county, in deed book A., vol. seventeen, page three hundred and three: Provided, That nothing herein contained, shall be construed to require the conveyance of any land within the above described tract, now occupied by the county prison and its appendages, the prison grave yard, or the public reservoirs, the title to which shall remain as heretofore: And provided further, That the county of Berks, shall at any future time have the right to occupy so much of said ground as may be necessary for the extension of the present or the erection of any new county buildings.

SECTION 2. That immediately upon the conveyance aforesaid being enclosed for cer- made, it shall be the duty of the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Readtain purposes. ing, to cause the whole of the aforesaid lot of ground to be enclosed for

the purpose of a public park and parade ground, to fill up the water gullies, and otherwise level the surface of the ground, so far as may be necessary, to cause walks to be laid out, trees planted, and such other steps to be taken, as will best carry out the true intent and meaning of this act, always, however, reserving a sufficiently large space of clear ground to enable any portion or the whole of the volunteers of Berks county, to use the same as a parade ground, which may also be used for the celebrations of the agricultural society, for public meetings and other similar purposes.

SECTION 3. That the select and common councils of said city shall

have power to make all necessary rules and regulations for the better Rules and reggovernment and preservation of the said public park and parade ground, ulations. and to impose a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, for any injury done to the fences, trees, shrubs, or other ornaments of said park, which fine, after the amount thereof is fixed, by a city ordinance, shall be imposed by any alderman of said city, and said alderman shall have summary jurisdiction of all such offences.

APPROVED-The seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight

Lundred and fifty-two.

WM. BIGLER.

No. 57.

AN ACT

Vacating a portion of Ferry lane and Back lane, in Allegheny county, and relative to certain election districts, and to vacate a portion of Meredith street, in Philadelphia county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That

cated.

so much of Ferry lane, in the township of Reserve and county of Alle- Portion of Ferry gheny, as extends from the intersection of Strawberry lane to the south- lane in Allegheerly line of out-lot number two hundred and seven, in the reserved ney county, vatract opposite Pittsburg, and also, so much of said Ferry lane as lies between out-lots, numbers seven and two hundred and eleven, be and the same is hereby vacated, and that the title to the soil over which the same passes be, and the same is hereby vested in fee simple, in the several owners of the ground adjoining and fronting on the same respectively, the owner of each lot, fronting and adjoining on the portion of said lane hereby vacated, to have and enjoy the same from the ine of his respective lot or lots to the centre of said vacated lane, so far as his respective lot or lots adjoins and fronts on said vacated lane.