ances, or makes them his legatees to an amount exceeding the commissions or allowances prescribed by law for an executor or trustee, the excess in value of the property so bequeathed or devised, above the amount of commissions or allowances prescribed by law in similar cases shall be taxable under this act. $9. Liability of certain corporations to tax. If a foreign executor, administrator or trustee shall assign or transfer any stock or obligations in this state standing in the name of a decedent, or in trust for a decedent, liable to any such tax, the tax shall be paid to the treasurer of the proper county or the comptroller of the city of New York on the transfer thereof. No safe deposit company, bank or other institution, person or persons holding securities or assets of a decedent, shall deliver or transfer the same to the executors, administrators or legal representatives of said decedent unless notice of the time and place of such intended transfer be served upon the county treas urer or comptroller at least five days prior to the said transfer, And it shall be lawful for the said county treasurer or comptroller, personally or by representative, to examine said securities or assets at the time of such delivery or transfer. Failure to serve such notice or to allow such examination shall render said safe deposit company, trust company, bank or other institution, person or persons liable to the payment of the tax due upon said securities or assets in pursuance of the provisions of this act.

$10. Jurisdiction of the surrogate.-The surrogate's court of every county of the state having jurisdiction to grant letters testamentary or of administration upon the estate of a decedent whose property is chargeable with any tax under this act, or to appoint a trustee of such estate or any part thereof, or to give ancillary letters thereon, shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all questions arising under the provisions of this act, and to do any act in relation thereto authorized by law to be done by a surrogate in cther matters or proceedings coming within his jurisdiction; and if two or more surrogate's courts shall be entitled to exercise any such jurisdiction, the surrogate first acquiring jurisdiction hereunder shall retain the same to the exclusion of every other surrogate. Every petition for ancillary letters testamentary or cancillary letters of administration made in pursuance of the provisions of article seven, titie three, chapter eighteen of the Code of Civil Procedure shall set forth the name

of the county treasurer or comptroller as a person to be cited as therein prescribed, and a true and correct statement of all the decedent's property in this state and the value thereof; and upon the presentation thereof the surrogate shall issue a citation directed to such county treasurer or comptroller; and upon the return of the citation the surrogate shall determine the amount of the tax which may be or become due under the provisions of this act and his decree awarding the letters may contain any provision for the payment of such tax or the giving of security therefor which might be made by such surrogat if the county treasurer or comptroller were a creditor of the decedent.

§ 11. Appointment of appraisers.-The surrogate, upon the application of any interested party, including county treasurers, or the comptroller of New York city, or upon his own motion, shall, as often as and whenever occasion may require, appoint a competent person as appraiser, to fix the fair market value, at the time of the transfer thereof, of property of persons whose estates shall be subject to the payment of any tax imposed by this act. If the property upon the transfer of which a tax is imposed shall be an estate, income or interest for a term of years, or for life, or determinable upon any future or contingent estate, or shall be a remainder or reversion or other expectancy, real or personal, the entire property or fund by which such estate, income or interest is supported, or of which it is a part, shall be appraised immediately after such transfer, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, at the fair and clear market value thereof at that time, provided, however, that when such estate, income or interest shall be of such a nature that its fair and clear market value can not be ascertained at such time, it shall be appraised în like manner at the time when such value first became ascertainable. The value of every future, or contingent or limited estate, income, interest or annuity dependent upon any life or lives in being shall be determined by the rule, method and standard of mortality and value employed by the superintendent of insurance in ascertaining the value of policies of life insurance and annuities for the determination of liabilities of life insurance companies; except that the rate of interest for computing the present value of all future and contingent interests or estates shall be five per centum per annum.

12. Proceedings by appraisers. Every such appraiser shall forthwith give notice by mail to all persons known to have a

claim or interest in the property to be appraised, including the county treasurer or comptroller, and to such persons as the surrogate may by order direct, of the time and place when he will appraise such property. He shall, at such time and place, appraise the same at its fair market value, as herein prescribed, and for that purpose the said appraiser is authorized to issue subpoenas and to compel the attendance of witnesses before him and to take the evidence of such witnesses under oath concerning such property and the value thereof; and he shall make report thereof and of such value in writing, to the said surrogate, together with the depositions of the witnesses examined, and such other facts in relation thereto and to the said matter as said surrogate may order or require. Every appraiser shall be paid on the certificate of the surrogate at the rate of three dollars per day for every day actually and necessarily employed in such appraisal, and his actual and necessary traveling expenses and the fees paid such witnesses, which fees shall be the same as those now paid to witnesses subpoenaed to attend in courts of record by the county treasurer or comptroller out of any funds he may have in his hands on account of any tax imposed under the provisions of this act.

§ 13. Determination by surrogate. The report of the appraiser shall be filed in the office of the surrogate, and from such report and other proof relating to any such estate before the surrogate, the surrogate shall forthwith as of course determine the cash value of all estates and the amount of tax to which the same are liable; or, the surrogate may so determine the cash value of all such estates and the amount of tax to which the same are liable without appointing an appraiser. The superintendent of insurance shall, on the application of any surrogate, determine the value of any such future or contingent estates, income or interest limited, contingent, dependent or determinable upon the life or lives of persons in being, upon the facts contained in any such appraiser's report, and certify the same to the surrogate, and his certificate shall be conclusive evidence that the method of computation adopted therein is correct. Any person dissatisfied with the appraisement or assessment and determination of tax may appeal therefrom to the surrogate within sixty days from the fixing, assessing and determination of tax by the surrogate as herein provided, upon filing in the office of the surrogate a written notice of appeal, which shall state the grounds upon

which the appeal is taken. The surrogate shall immediately give notice, upon the determination by him as to the value of any estate which is taxable under this act, and of the tax to which it is liable, to all parties known to be interested therein.

§ 14. Surrogate's and district attorney's assistants in New York city. The comptroller of the city and county of New York shall retain out of any funds he may have in his hands on account of said tax, a sum of money sufficient to provide the surrogate in the city and county of New York with an assistant, appointed by said surrogate, who shall be known as the transfer tax assistant, whose salary shall be three thousand dollars a year; a transfer tax clerk, whose salary shall be two thousand four hundred dollars a year; an assistant clerk, whose salary shall be one thousand eight hundred dollars a year, and a recording clerk, whose salary shall be one thousand three hundred dollars a year, said salaries to be payable monthly; and a further sum of money, not exceeding five hundred dollars a year, to be used to pay the expenses of the said surrogate necessarily incurred in the assessment and collection of said tax, said amounts to be paid upon the certificates and requisitions of said surrogate respectively. The comptroller of the city and county of New York shall also retain, out of any funds he may have in his hands on account of said tax, a sum of money sufficient to provide the district attorney in the city and county of New York with an assistant, appointed by said district attorney, who shall be known as the transfer tax assistant, whose salary shall be three thousand dollars a year; a transfer tax clerk, whose salary shall be two thousand four hundred dollars a year, and a surrogate's process server, whose salary shall be one thousand two hundred dollars a year, said salaries to be payable monthly; and a further sum of money, not exceeding five hundred dollars a year, to be used to pay the expenses of the said district attorney for the conduct and prosecution of the proceedings mentioned in section fifteen of this act, said amounts to be paid upon the certificate and requisition of said district attorney. [1m. by ch. 767 of 1894. Took effect May 24, 1894.]

$15. Proceedings for the collection of taxes.- If the treasurer or comptroller of any county shall have reason to believe that any tax is due and unpaid under this act, after the refusal or neglect of the persons liable therefor to pay the same, he shall notify the district attorney of the county, in writing, of

such failure or neglect, and such district attorney, if he have probable cause to believe that such tax is due and unpaid, shall apply to the surrogate's court for a citation, citing the persons liable to pay such tax to appear before the court on the day specified, not more than three months after the date of such citation, and show cause why the tax should not be paid. The surrogate upon such application, and whenever it shall appear to him that any such tax accruing, under this act has not been paid as required by law, shall issue such citation and the ser vice of such citation, and the time, manner and proof thereof, and the hearing and determination thereon and the enforcement of the determination or order made by the surrogate shall conform to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure for the service of citations out of the surrogate's court, and the hearing and determination thereon and its enforcement so far as the same may be applicable. The surrogate or his clerk shall upon request of the district attorney, treasurer or comptroller of the county, furnish without fee one or more transcripts of such decree, which shall be docketed and filed by the county clerk of any county of the state without fee, in the same manner and with the same effect as provided by law for filing and docketing transcripts of decrees of the surrogate's court. The costs awarded by any such decree after the collection and payment of the tax to the treasurer or comptroller may be retained by the district attorney for his own use. Such costs shall be fixed by the surrogate in his discretion, but shall not exceed in any case where there has not been a contest the sum of one hundred dollars, or where there has been a contest the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars. Whenever the surrogate shall certify that there was probable cause for issuing a citation and taking the proceedings specified in this section, the state treasurer shall pay or allow to the treasurer or the comptroller of the County all expenses incurred for the service of citations and other lawful disbursements not otherwise paid. In proceedings to which any county treasurer or comptroller is cited as a party under sections eleven and twelve of this act, the state comptroller is authorized to designate and retain counsel to represent such county treasurer or comptroller therein, and to direct such county treasurer or comptroller to pay the expenses thereby incurred, out of the funds which may be in his hands on account of this tax.