be deemed just. The court shall allow the commissioners a reasonable allowance for their services which shall be taxed as costs in the proceedings.

SEC. 8. Upon the payment to the clerk of said court of the amount so assessed or if a verdict of a jury shall have been rendered of the amount awarded by such jury for the party in whose favor the same have been assessed or awarded, the city may proceed to use such natural course of drainage or water course and construct such sewer and appurtenances and to take possession of such lands, and all further and subsequent proceedings shall only affect the amount of compensation to be allowed.

SEC. 9. The whole cost of acquiring such lands and the use of such course of drainage or water course and of such rightof-way, less such sum as may have been appropriated by the city for that purpose or otherwise paid as aforesaid, shall constitute a lien on all the lands within said district or districts exclusive of public highways, streets and alleys so declared to be deemed benefited in proportion to the area of each tract and shall be collected by a special tax. Such cost shall be computed and apportioned by the board of public works and set down in a book provided for that purpose and by said board certified to be correct, and such book and certificate or a copy thereof or of any part thereof certified by said board shall be received in all courts in this state as prima facie evidence of the validity and equality of such special tax and of all steps and proceedings necessary to the validity and collection of such special tax. Said book, when so certified, shall be forthwith turned over to the city treasurer, whose duty it shall be to collect such special tax at the same time the general city taxes are collected. Such special tax shall bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum from the date of such certificate, unless paid within thirty days after such date, and such special tax may be paid to the city treasurer at any time. The city may also collect such special tax by suit foreclosing the lien thereof, before any justice of the peace or other court having jurisdiction of the amount sued for, and in any such suit it shall only be necessary for the plaintiff to allege the certification and delivery of such book and the amount and non-payment of the special tax sued for, together with a description of the particular tract of land charged therewith.

SEC. 10.

It shall be lawful for any person to advance to

the city for the use and benefit of such district or districts so declared to be deemed benefited, the whole or any part of such special tax, the amount advanced to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum until collected from such special tax. A certificate of such advance shall be issued to such person by the mayor and comptroller, and all sums thereafter collected. on such special tax shall be paid over to such person on demand as of the day on which the same was collected until the whole amount so advanced and interest as aforesaid shall have been fully paid; but the city shall in no event be liable to such person in any manner whatever for the amount so advanced or any part thereof, but the collections from such special tax shall constitute the only resource for the payment of the same.

SEC. II. The cost of constructing any outlet sewer, appurtenances and works in connection therewith or to be used in connection therewith on or along said right of way, course of drainage or water course or on said land or any part thereof, less such sum as may have been appropriated by the city for that purpose or otherwise paid as aforesaid, shall be paid for wholly in special tax bills against all lands embraced within said district or districts exclusive of public highways, streets and alleys, in proportion to the area of each tract, the work to be done and the special tax bills to be issued in accordance with the provisions of this charter concerning the construction of district sewers and the issuing of special tax bills therefor so far as the same may be applicable.

SEC. 12. The common council shall have power to appropriate money for the purposes aforesaid and to pass all ordinances not inconsistent with this charter or the constitution and laws of the state which may be deemed necessary or expedient to further carry out the purpose and intent of this article.

SEC. 13. In all cases where the city shall provide by ordinance for the condemnation of land beyond the city limits in the State of Missouri for any of the purposes specified in this charter where the same is to be paid for by the city out of the general fund or by the sale of bonds or in any manner except the assessment of benefits, the proceedings for the condemnation of such land shall be begun and conducted in the circuit court of the county where said land to be acquired is situated, and the compensation or damages for the taking of said land shall be ascertained in the manner provided for acquiring land in Jackson County as set forth in sections three, four, five, six, seven and eight of this article.

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ARTICLE X.

Vacating Highways and Public Places.

SECTION I. The city shall have exclusive control of all its public highways, streets, avenues, alleys and public places, and shall have exclusive power to vacate or abandon any public highway, street, avenue, alley or public place, or any part thereof, and to vacate any platted addition or subdivision of land or part thereof, within the corporate boundaries of the city, but no such vacation or abandonment shall take place except by ordinance.

SEC. 2. Any person or corporation owning any property fronting on any public highway, street, avenue, alley or public place, or part thereof, proposed to be vacated, may petition the common council therefor. Such petition must give a distinct description of the part of the public highway, street, avenue, alley or public place to be vacated, and also the names of the persons or corporations owning or claiming to own the property fronting thereon and be verified by affidavit. Said petition shall be filed with the city clerk at least twenty days previous to any action being taken thereon by the common council, and notice of the pendency of said petition shall be given for the same length of time in the newspaper then doing the city printing.

SEC. 3. If opposition be made in writing to such petition within said twenty days by any person or corporation interested in the vacation of such property no action shall be taken by the common council on such petition before the expiration of an additional twenty days. The common council may, by ordinance, vacate the property mentioned and described in said petition as aforesaid, with such restrictions as it may deem for the public good; but no such ordinance shall be passed unless the consent in writing of the persons or corporations owning a majority in front feet of the property fronting on the part of the public highway, street, avenue, alley or public place to be vacated, acknowledged as deeds conveying real estate in this state are required to be acknowledged in order to entitle them to be recorded, shall have been obtained to such vacation and filed with said petition in the city clerk's office.

SEC. 4. The property or part thereof so vacated, if it be a lot or public square, shall belong to the persons or corporations who may have the title thereof according to law; and if the same be a public highway, street, avenue or alley, the same shall be attached to the land bordering thereon and all title thereto shall vest in the persons or corporations owning the property on each side thereof in equal proportions according to the length or breadth of such land as the same may border thereon and as the titles to such bordering lands may be held by the said owners thereof respectively.

SEC. 5. The owner of any lot in any platted addition or subdivision of land within the corporate boundaries of the city may petition the common council for the vacation of the said platted addition or subdivision or any part thereof. Said petition must give a distinct description of the part of the addition or subdivision to be vacated and also the names of all legal owners of all lots contained in such addition or subdivision and be verified by affidavit. Said petition shall be filed with the city clerk at least twenty days previous to any action being taken thereon 'by the common council, and notice of the pendency of said petition shall be given for the same length of time in the newspaper then doing the city printing.

SEC. 6. If opposition be made in writing to such petition within said twenty days by any person or corporation interested in such vacation, no action shall be taken by the common council on such petition before the expiration of an additional twenty days. The common council may, by ordinance, upon satisfactory proof of ownership of such lands, vacate such platted addition or subdivision, or part thereof, and upon such vacation being made such plat and all dedications to public use made by or consequent upon such plat shall within and as to the part of such addition or subdivision so vacated ipso facto cease and determine, and become and be of none effect, but no such ordinance shall be passed unless the consent in writing of the legal owners of all lots contained in such addition or subdivision acknowledged as deeds conveying real estate in this state are required to be acknowledged in order to entitle them to be recorded, shall have been obtained to such vacation and filed with said petition in the city clerk's office.

SEC. 7. No ordinance vacating any public highway, street, avenue, alley, public place, or platted addition or subdivision, or part thereof, shall be passed except by at least two-thirds affirma

tive vote of the full authorized membership of each house of the common council. If any such ordinance be returned without the approval of the mayor and with his objections, an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the authorized membership' of each house of the common council shall be necessary to the passage of such ordinance notwithstanding the objections of the mayor thereto.

SEC. 8. Every ordinance vacating any public highway, street, avenue, alley, public place, or platted addition or subdivision, or part thereof, shall be acknowledged by the city clerk as deeds are acknowledged as aforesaid, and such ordinance so acknowledged and the consents of property owners herein required shall be filed for record in the recorder's office in Jackson County, Missouri.