vidual or society in his or its name shall be paid to the board of commissioners to be by it disposed of in the same manner as other moneys received by it, and it shall be the duty of the person in whose hands such moneys shall come to pay over the same, and in case of failure so to do such moneys may be recovered from the person receiving the same in an action brought in the name of the people under the direction of the chief fish and game protector and forester or the commissioners. Id., § 239. 240 One-half of recovery to go to protector. The commissioners shall dispose of the fines and penalties received by them as follows: They shall deduct all the expenses incurred in the inquisition or collection of such fines or penalties and shall pay one-half of the remainder to the protector and forester or special protector and forester upon whose information the action was brought. Such payment shall be made on the certificate of the chief fish and game protector or forester that such protector and forester is entitled thereto, and the certificate of the chief protector and forester shall be final. Id., § 240. 241 Expenses of actions by people, how paid. The remaining money received by the board of commissioners shall be applied to the payment of the expenses of actions for violation of this act on the certificate of the chief protector and forester. Id., § 241. 242 Report of commissioners to legislature. The board of commissioners shall include in their annual report to the legislature a detailed report of their receipts and disbursements under this article. Id., § 242. 243 Arrest of offenders by fish and game protectors and foresters and trial thereof. Any protector or peace officer may, without warrant, arrest any person committing a misdemeanor under the provisions of this act, in his presence, and take such person immediately before a justice of the peace or police justice, or other magistrate, having jurisdiction, who shall, after giving defendant reasonable time to prepare for trial, proceed without delay to hear, try and determine the matter, and give and enforce judgment according to the allegations and proofs. Id., § 243. 244 Jurisdiction of courts. Courts of special sessions in towns and villages, and the several courts in cities having jurisdiction to try misdemeanors, as provided by section fifty-six of the code of criminal procedure, shall have jurisdiction to try offenders in all cases occurring under this act, in the same manner as in other cases where they now have jurisdiction, and to render and enforce judgment to the extent herein provided, and said courts shall have jurisdiction of all said offenses committed within the county where said courts are held, in the same manner as though the defendant had been taken before a magistrate of the town where the offense was committed. Id., § 244. 245 Punishment for misdemeanor. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under the provisions of this act shall be punished except as otherwise provided by this act by a fine of not less than ten dollars, nor more than at the rate of one dollar for every dollar of the penalty provided by the section so violated under which he is convicted, or be imprisoned in the county jail or penitentiary for a period of not less than one day, nor more than at the rate of one day for every dollar of such fine, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Id., § 245. 246 Issue of warrants of arrest. Any justice of the peace, police justice, county judge, judge of any city court, or magistrate having criminal jurisdiction, on sufficient proof by affidavit that any of the provisions of this chapter have been violated by any person temporarily within his jurisdiction, but not residing there permanently, or by any person whose name and residence are unknown, shall issue his warrant for the arrest of such offender and cause him to be committed or held to bail to answer the charge against him. Id., § 246. 247 Search warrant; when issued. Any justice of the peace, police justice, county judge, judge of any city court, or magistrate having criminal jurisdiction, upon receiving proof of probable cause for believing in the concealment of any game or fish taken or possessed contrary to the provisions of this act, shall issue his search warrant and cause a search to be made in any place and to that end may cause any building or inclosure to be entered and may cause any apartment, chest, box, locker, crate, basket or package to be broken open and the contents examined. L. 1892, c. 488, § 247. 248 Witnesses. No person shall be excused from giving evidence in any civil or criminal action, prosecution, or proceeding, under or authorized by this act, on the ground that the evidence might tend to convict such witness of a crime, or misdemeanor, or to establish the liability of such witness under any of the provisions thereof; but such evidence shall not be received against such witness in any civil or criminal action, prosecution or proceeding. Id., § 248. 249 Game from without the state; how to be marked and transported. No person or persons shall be deemed to have violated any law or ordinance by reason of his or their selling, exposing for sale, transporting or possessing, or attempting so to do, the body or a part of the body of any wild animal or bird in the close season for such animal or bird, provided it be proved by him or them by production of proper invoices and freight or express receipts, that such wild animal or bird was shipped from a point at least three hundred miles distant from the state of New York. For the purpose of the proper enforcement of this section the package containing this wild animal or bird shall be marked plainly "game," and the place of shipment and destination shall also be plainly marked. All transportation companies which shall transport the same shall keep books plainly showing the receipt and delivery of such packages of game, and dealers in the same shall keep books of account showing the number of birds or animals received, sold or delivered by them, and shall, at all times, permit any authorized agent of the commissioners of fisheries, game and forest to examine their books of record for purpose of establishing the right of such possession or transportation in close season. Id., § 249. ARTICLE XI, as Am'd L. 1895, c. 974. Fishways. § 260. Commissioners to be Notified of Construction of Dam. 260 Commissioners to be notified of construction of dam. No dam shall be constructed by the state or any person upon any stream more than six miles in length inhabited by fish protected by this act, until the person about to construct, or the officers having charge of the construction of the same shall give written notice. to the commissioners of such intention, together with a statement of the name, length and location of said stream, and the size and general description of such dam, and the purposes for which it is to be erected,together with a diagram thereof. Id., § 260. 261 Authority of commissioners to direct fishways. The commissioners are authorized in such cases to direct the construction of suitable fishways by an entry on their minutes and service of a copy of such order on the person constructing or officers having charge of the construction of such dam, and the person so constructing shall at his own expense, or the officers having charge of the construction shall out of the funds appropriated for the construction of such dam comply with such directions, subject, on application on notice as on a motion, to the right of the supreme court to affirm, reverse, modify or alter such directions. Id., § 261. 262 Owner to comply with directions of commissioners. Such fishways shall be properly maintained by the owner or persons in possession of such dam, and shall be subject to examination and inspection on behalf of commissioners, who may direct such repairs and alterations as they may deem necessary, subject to the order of the supreme court, as in case of construction. Id., § 262. 263 Commissioners to recover for construction and penalty. In case of failure, refusal or neglect on the part of any person to comply with the directions of the commissioners as to building and repairing fishways, the commissioners may cause such fishways to be constructed or repaired, and the expense thereof may be recovered by the commissioners in an action against the owner or person in possession, or both, in the name of the people, and shall, in addition to the personal liability of such owner or person in possession, be a lien upon the premises upon which such dam is situated. The person refusing or neglecting to comply with such directions of the commissioners as to construction or repairs shall also be liable to a penalty of ten dollars for each day during which they neglect to obey such directions, which penalty may be recovered in like manner in the same or a separate action. Id., § 263. ARTICLE XII, Added by L. 1895, c. 395. § 270. Forest Preserve. 271. Powers and Duties. Forest Preserve. 272. Accounts and Annual Report of Board of Fisheries, Game and Forest Relative to the Forest Preserve. 273. Partition of Lands. 274. Taxation of Forest Preserve. 275. Duties of Railroad Companies. 276. Appointment of Firewardens. 277. Supervisors to be Town Protectors of Land. 278. Supervisors Ex Officio, Firewardens. 279. Supervisors to Report Fires. 280. Actions for Trespass upon Forest Preserve. 281. Penalty for Setting Fire to Forest Lands. 282. Arrest of Offenders without Warrant. 283. Deer Parks in the Catskill Region. 270 Forest preserve. The forest preserve shall include the lands owned or hereafter acquired by the state within the counties of Clinton, except the towns of Altona and Dannemora, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Warren, Washington, Greene, Ulster and Sullivan, except 1. Lands within the limits of any village or city and 2. Lands, not wild lands, acquired by the state on foreclosure of mortgages made to the commissioners for loaning certain moneys of the United States, usually called the United States deposit fund. Id., § 270. 271 Powers and duties. The board of fisheries, game and forest, shall: 1. Have the care, custody, control and superintendence of the forest preserve. 2. Maintain and protect the forests in the forest preserve, and promote as far as practicable the further growth of the forest therein. 3. Have charge of the public interests of the state with regard to forestry and tree planting, and especially with reference to forest fires in every part of the state. 4. Possess all the powers relating to forest preserve which were vested in the commissioners of the land office, and in the comptroller on May fifteen, eighteen hundred and eighty-five. 5. Prescribe rules and regulations affecting the whole or any part of the forest preserve and for its use care and administration and alter or amend the same; but neither such rules or regulations nor anything contained in this article shall prevent or operate to prevent the free use of any road, stream or water as the same may have been heretofore used, or as may be reasonably required in the prosecution of any lawful business. 6. Take such measures as in the judgment of the commissioners may be proper, and the state superintendent of public instruction and the regents of the university may approve, for awakening an interest in behalf of forestry in the common schools, academies and colleges of the state and of imparting elementary instruction on such subject therein; and prepare and distribute the tracts and circulars of information, giving plain and concise instructions for the care of private wood lands and for the growth of new forests upon lands that have been denuded, exhausted by cultivation, eroded by torrents, or injured by fire, or that are sandy, marshy, broken, sterile, or waste and unfit for other use. These publications shall be furnished without cost to any citizen of the state on application, and proper measures may be taken for bringing them to the notice of persons who would be benefited thereby. 7. Cause rules for the prevention and suppression of forest fires to be printed for posting in schoolhouses, inns, saw-mills and other wood-working establishments, lumber camps and other places in such portions of the state as they may deem necessary. Forest inspectors, foresters, firewardens, supervisors and school trustees shall cause these rules when received by them, to be properly posted and replaced when lost or destroyed. Any person maliciously or wantonly defacing or destroying any such notice shall forfeit to the people of the state, the sum of five dollars for every such offense. L. 1892, c. 488, § 271. 272 Accounts and annual report of the board of fisheries, game and forest, relative to the forest preserve. All income from state forest lands, including receipts for trespasses, shall be paid over by the board of fisheries, game and forest to the state treasurer, by whom it shall be placed to the credit of the special fund established for the purchase of lands within the Adirondack park, and a strict account shall be kept of all receipts and expenses of the commission, which account shall be audited by the comptroller. The commission shall, annually, in the month of January, make a written report to the legislature of their receipts and expenses, and of all their proceedings, with such recommendations of further legislative or official action as they may deem proper. Id., § 272. 69 N. Y. St. R. 94-96; 89 Hun, 165. 273 Partition of lands. Whenever the state owns an undivided interest with any person in lands of the forest preserve or holds and is in possession of such lands as joint tenant or tenant in common with any person who has a freehold estate therein, the attorney-general shall on the request of the board of fisheries, game and forest, bring an action in the name of the people of the state, for the actual partition of such land; and on the written consent of the board such person may maintain an action for the actual partition of such land in the same manner as if the state were not entitled to exemption from legal proceedings, and service of process in such action upon the attorney-general shall be deemed service upon the state. Such actions, the proceedings and judgment therein and the proceedings under the judgment shall be according to the practice at the time prevailing in actions of partition, and shall have the same force and effect as in other actions, except that no costs against the state shall be allowed in such actions and no sale of such lands shall be adjudged therein. The board of fisheries game and forest may without action, but with the consent of the comptroller, agree with any person or persons owning lands within the forest preserve jointly or as tenants in common, with the state for the partition of such lands, and on such agreement and consent, the comptroller shall make on behalf of the people of the state, any conveyance necessary or proper in such partition, and such conveyance shall be forthwith recorded as now provided by law as to conveyances made by the commissioners of the land office. Id., § 273. 69 N. Y. St. R. 94-96; 89 Hun, 165. § 274 repealed by L. 1896, c. 908. 275 Duties of railroad companies. Every railroad company whose road passes through waste or forest lands or lands liable to be overrun by fires within the state, shall twice in each year cut and remove from its right of way all grass, brush or other inflammable materials, but under proper care and at proper times when fire, if set, can be kept under control. All locomotives which run through forest lands shall be provided with approved and sufficient arrangements for preventing the escape of fires from their furnaces or ashpans, and with netting of steel or iron wire upon their smoke stacks to prevent the escape of sparks of fire, and every engineer and fireman employed upon a locomotive shall see that the appliances to prevent the escape of fire are in use and applied as far as it can be reasonably and practically done. No railroad company shall permit its employes to deposit fire coals or ashes upon their track in the immediate vicinity of woodlands, or lands liable to be overrun by fires, and where any engineers, conductors or trainmen discover that fences or other material or substances along the right of way upon woodlands adjacent to the railroad are burning, or in danger from fire, they shall report the same at their next stopping place, and the person in charge of such station shall take prompt measures to extinguish such fires, and shall immediately notify the nearest fire warden or fish and game protector and forester. In seasons of drought and especially during the first dry time in the spring after the snows have gone, and before vegetation has revived, railroad companies shall employ a sufficient number of trackmen for the prompt extinguishment of fires; and where a forest fire is raging near the line of their road they shall concentrate such help and adopt such measures as shall most effectually arrest its progress. If any railroad company or any of its employes violate any provision of this section the company shall forfeit to the people of the state the sum of one hundred dollars for every such violation. Id., § 275. 4 App. Div. 470. 276 Appointment of firewardens. The board of fisheries, game and forests shall appoint a firewarden in each town within the counties mentioned in section two hundred and seventy of this chapter who shall act during the pleasure of such board. In such of these towns as are particularly exposed to forest fires, or in which there is a large proportion of woodlands, or which may be specified by the fisheries, game and forest commission, the firewarden thus appointed shall divide the town into two or more districts, bounded as far as may be by roads, streams of water, dividing ridges of land, or lot lines, and appoint, in writing, one resident citizen in each district as district firewarden therein. A description of these districts and the names of the district firewardens thus appointed shall be recorded in the office of the town clerk. The firewarden shall also cause a map of the fire districts of his town to be posted in some public place together with the names of the district firewardens appointed. The cost of such map, not exceeding ten dollars, shall be a town charge. Id., § 276, as am'd L. 1896, c. 655. 277 Duties and powers of firewardens. On the discovery of a forest fire, or a fire in or near any woods, the firewarden of the district shall repair immediately to the place where the fire is burning, and shall take such measures as shall be necessary for its extinction or to prevent it from spreading. For this purpose he may call on any person in his district, or adjoining district or town, to go to the fire and render assistance in extinguishing it or controlling its progress, and any person refusing to act or assist when so called on or warned out shall forfeit to the people of the state the sum of ten dollars. The firewarden, where acting in general charge, may cause fences to be destroyed or furrows to be ploughed to check the running of fire; or, in case of great danger, back-fires may be set along a road or stream or other line of defense to clear off the combustible material before an advancing fire. No action for trespass shall be brought by any owner of lands for entry made upon his premises by persons going to assist in extinguishing a forest fire, although such fire may not be upon his land. The firewarden of every town in which a forest fire of more than one acre in extent has occurred within a year, shall report to the board of fisheries, game and forests, the extent of area burned over, to the best of his information, together with the probable amount of property destroyed, specifying the value of timber, as near as may be, and amount of cordwood, logs, bark, or other forest products, and of fences, bridges and buildings that have been burned. He shall make inquiries and report as to the causes of such fires, if ascertainable, and as to the measures employed and found most effectual in checking their progress. A consolidated summary of these returns by counties, |