Offices, etc., who to furnish. Oath of office. Powers and fer of. state treasury in the same manner as the salaries of other state officers and employes are paid. It shall be the duty of the Board of State Auditors to furnish suitable offices and office equipment, at the city of Lansing, for the use of the Conservation Department. Each member of the commission and the Director of Conservation shall qualify by taking and subscribing the constitutional oath of office, and filing same in the office of the Secretary of State. SEC. 2. The powers and duties now vested by law in the duties, trans- Public Domain Commission, the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner, the State Board of Fish Commissioners, the Geological Survey, and the Michigan State Park Commission are hereby transferred to and vested in the Department of Conservation. Whenever, in any law of the state, reference is made to any board, commission or officer whose powers and duties are thus transferred, reference shall be Commissions, deemed to be made to the Department of Conservation. On etc.; abolished. the taking effect of this act the Public Domain Commission, the State Board of Fish Commissioners, the Geological Survey, the Michigan State Park Commission, and the office of State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Warden shall be abolished; and all records, files and papers of every nature pertaining to the functions thereof shall be turned over to the Department of Conservation, to be preserved as a part of the records Hearings, etc., and files of the department hereby created. Any hearing or other proceeding pending before any commission or board hereby abolished shall not be abated but shall be carried on and determined by the Commission of Conservation in accordance with the provisions of the law governing such hearing and proceeding. The commission hereby created may adopt such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, governing its organization and procedure, and the administration of the provisions of this act, as may be deemed expedient. pending. Rules and regulations. Natural re- sources, conservation of, etc, Pollution of streams, etc. May accept gifts, etc. SEC. 3. It is hereby made the duty of the Department of Conservation to protect and conserve the natural resources of the state of Michigan; to prevent the destruction of timber Reforestation. by fire or otherwise; to promote the re-foresting of non-agricultural lands belonging to the state; to guard against the pollution of lakes and streams within the state; and to foster and encourage the protecting and propagation of game and fish. On behalf of the people of the state the Commission of Conservation may accept gifts and grants of land and other property for any of the purposes contemplated by this act. It shall also be the duty of said department to make an inand report of. Vestigation of the natural water power of the state, that is as yet undeveloped, and to report to the Governor and legislature with reference thereto before the fifteenth of January, nineteen hundred twenty-three. Such report shall specify the location and extent of such power, its availability for use, and such other matters affecting the same as may be deemed expedient. Water power, investigation SEC. 4. On or before the fifteenth day of January of each Biennial year in which a regular session of the legislature is held, the report. Director of Conservation shall make to the Governor and legislature, a report covering the operation of his department for the preceding biennial period. Such report shall, if So When printed. ordered by the Board of State Auditors, be printed and shall be distributed in such manner and to such persons, organizations, institutions and officials as said board may direct. SEC. 5. All acts or parts of acts in contravention of the provisions hereof are hereby repealed as of said date. SEC. 6. This act is hereby declared to be immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. [No. 18.] AN ACT to regulate the number and the salaries of deputy circuit court clerks, counter clerks and other clerks and employes of the county clerks in the several counties of the state, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts, whether general, local or special, contravening the provisions of this act. The People of the State of Michigan enact: clerks, ap etc. SECTION 1. In counties having a population of more than Deputy circuit five hundred thousand, the county clerk shall appoint a chief court, etc., deputy circuit court clerk, one deputy circuit court clerk for pointment, each acting circuit judge in said county, four counter clerks and such number of deputy county clerks, and other clerks. and employes as may be fixed by the board of supervisors. The salary of said chief deputy circuit court clerk and chief Salary of. deputy counter clerk shall be three thousand dollars per year; of the deputy circuit court clerks and counter clerks, shall be two thousand five hundred dollars per year, and such salaries shall be payable in the same manner and at the same time that other county employes are paid, and shall be in lieu of all fees or other compensation. The number and the Salaries, etc., salaries of the other deputies, clerks, and employes shall be who to fix.. fixed by resolution of the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors in said counties, may, by resolution, provide for increase in said salaries, when, in their judgment, deemed necessary. Approved March 30, 1921. Section amended. Election precincts, recording of, etc. Notice of Posting of. [No. 19.] AN ACT to amend section seven of chapter six of act number two hundred three of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred seventeen, entitled "An act to provide for the holding of elections, to prescribe the manner of conducting and to regulate elections, to prevent fraud and deception in the conducting of elections and to guard against abuses of the elective franchise." The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. Section seven of chapter six of act number two hundred three of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred seventeen, entitled "An act to provide for the holding of elections, to prescribe the manner of conducting and to regulate elections, to prevent fraud and deception in the conducting of elections and to guard against abuses of the elective franchise," is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 7. Whenever a township, ward or village shall be sub-divided into election precincts, or the election precincts thereof shall be altered or rearranged, the township board, the legislative body or the village council, or other officials charged with the performance of such duty by the charter of any city or village as the case may be, shall enter said action of record in its proceedings, specifying the numbers of the said precincts, commencing at number one, and describing the boundaries of each precinct. Notice of such subdivision, alteration, etc. alteration or rearrangement shall be given forthwith by the township clerk, city clerk or village clerk, as the case may be. Such notice shall be posted by said clerk in five or more public places in each of the election precincts affected, or shall be published once in each week for at least two weeks in some newspaper published in said township, village or city, if any be published therein, and a like notice immediately transmitted to the Secretary of State at Lansing. The said township clerk, city clerk or village clerk shall give like notice, by posting or publication, of the abolition of the division of a township, ward or village into election precincts, and shall in said notice of abolition state that the township, ward or village is restored as a single election precinct. Notice of such abolition shall be immediately transmitted to the Secretary of State at Lansing. Abolition, notice, etc. Approved March 30, 1921. [No. 20.] AN ACT to amend the title of and add sections three, four, five and six to act number two hundred sixty-six of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred seventeen, entitled "An act to authorize the levy of taxes to pay principal and interest of bonds issued under the provisions of act number one hundred fifty of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred fifteen, entitled 'An act to prescribe and limit the power of school districts having a population of more than fifteen thousand and less than one hundred thousand to borrow money and issue bonds of such district therefor, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith,' approved May seven, nineteen hundred fifteen, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith." The People of the State of Michigan enact: and sections SECTION 1. The title is hereby amended and sections three, Title amended four, five and six are hereby added to act number two hun- added. dred sixty-six of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred seventeen, entitled "An act to authorize the levy of taxes to pay principal and interest of bonds issued under the provisions of act number one hundred fifty of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred fifteen, entitled 'An act to prescribe and limit the power of school districts having a population of more than fifteen thousand and less than one hundred thousand to borrow money and issue bonds of such district therefor, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith,' approved May seven, nineteen hundred fifteen, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith," said amended title and sections to read as follows: TITLE An Act to provide for a sinking fund in certain school districts and the investment thereof and to authorize the levy of taxes to pay principal and interest of bonds issued under the provisions of act number one hundred fifty of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred fifteen, entitled "An act to prescribe and limit the power of school districts having a population of more than fifteen thousand and less than one hundred thousand to borrow money and issue bonds of such district therefor, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith," approved May seven, nineteen hundred fifteen, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith. fund." SEC. 3. All sums of money raised by tax or otherwise re- "Sinking ceived by any school district for the purpose of paying and discharging the principal of the bonded indebtedness of said Moneys, etc., custody of. Debts, payment of. Bonds, etc., etc. school district, or any part thereof, shall be placed and kept in a separate fund known as the "sinking fund." SEC. 4. The treasurer of said board or district shall have the custody of all moneys, securities and other evidences of value belonging or pertaining to the sinking fund and shall pay out the moneys of said fund, or transfer the securities or evidences of value therein, only upon the order of a majority of the school board or board of education, and upon a written order of the president and secretary of said board. SEC. 5. The school board or board of education of any school district having funds in its sinking fund may from time to time, upon the best terms it can make, purchase or pay the outstanding debt of said school district, or such part thereof as it may be able to purchase or pay, until the same be fully purchased or paid. All bonds and evidences of debts. when credited, thus purchased or paid shall be delivered to the treasurer, shall belong to the sinking fund, and the interest thereon How endorsed. shall be credited and belong to such fund. The treasurer shall endorse upon the back of all bonds so purchased by said school board or board of education the following: "Registered bonds, not transferable without the written consent of the president, secretary and treasurer endorsed hereon." Whenever the said school board or board of education cannot arrange for the purchasing or paying of such debt or any part thereof, it may temporarily and until it can so arrange, invest the moneys belonging to said sinking fund in interestbearing securities and may from time to time as it deems advisable, sell such securities, and re-invest the proceeds as herein provided: Provided, however, That the moneys belonging to said sinking fund shall be invested only in public improvement, municipal, state and government bonds. Proviso, how invested. Treasurer to keep record, etc. SEC. 6. The treasurer of such school district shall keep a record in a proper book provided for that purpose of the moneys and securities on hand in said sinking fund and of the transactions relating thereto, and shall from time to time and whenever requested by said school board, or board of education, make a complete report concerning the same; and the proper officers of said school district shall make such reports concerning the transactions relating to said sinking fund as may be required by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or other authority, in connection with the handling of the funds of said school district. Approved March 31, 1921. |