for territorial purposes for the fiscal year during which default was made. And such county commissioners are hereby authorized, whenever the treasurer may be in default, to employ special counsel to appear in behalf of the county, for the protection of county interests.

Sec. 10. Nothing in this act shall be construed to in any wise amend or modify section 2635 of the Compiled Laws of 1897; but the said territorial board of equalization, when it, under the provisions of section 2635 of said Compiled Laws determines and fixes the value upon the property belonging to railroads, telegraph, telephone and sleeping-car companies doing business in the Territory of New Mexico, shall determine the value of such property as the same exists and is found in the different counties in this territory, and the value of such property shall be credited to the county wherein it exists and is found.

Sec. 11. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

CHAPTER 89.

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE REFUNDING OF CERTAIN COUNTY INDEBTEDNESS. C. B. No. 107; Approved March 18, 1903.

CONTENTS.

Sec. 1. Commission created to refund indebtedness incurred in aid of railroad construction.

Sec. 2. Commission empowered to issue refunding bonds.

Sec. 3. Refunding bonds.

Form. Rate of interest. Maturity.

Sec. 4. Territorial treasurer to transmit statement of amount of indebtedness refunded to county officers. Statement to be filed and recorded.

Sec. 5. Tax levy by county commissioners to pay interest on bonds issued. Creation of sinking fund levy.

Sec. 6.

Sec. 7.

Deficiency in interest fund. Proviso.

Tax levy for interest and sinking fund. Duty of officers. Neglect or refusal.
Penalty.

Sec. 8. Failure of county commissioners to make levy. Duty of auditor. County commissioners to aid refunding commission.

Sec. 9.

Statement of rate of tax levy to be transmitted to county commissioners by auditor. To be placed on tax roll.

Sec. 10. Provision for payment of principal and interest of refunding bonds when county or part of county is incorporated into new county.

Sec. 11.

All refunded bonds, coupons and judgments to be returned to territorial treasurer. Upon final payment to be returned to the county.

Sec. 12. County to pay expense of refunding.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico:

Section 1. That the governor, the secretary and the treasurer of the Territory of New Mexico be, and they are hereby

created a commission for the purpose of refunding the indebtedness incurred by any county of the Territory of New Mexico in aid of railroad construction, and are authorized and empowered to compromise and adjust all such indebtedness as was recognized and validated by the act of congress of the United States of 1897, together with the past due and unpaid coupons upon the bonds issued in aid of such railroad constuction, and the interest upon such coupons and any judgment recovered for any such past due coupons and interest thereon and judgments obtained on said coupons, or any part thereof, whenever the owners of such indebtedness may consent and agree to such compromise and the refunding of such indebtedness.

Sec. 2. Whenever an arrangement and compromise of the indebtedness mentioned in section 1 of this act shall have been effected by and between the said commission and the owner or owners of such indebtedness, by which it is mutually agreed by and between the parties to surrender the existing indebtedness of the class specified in section 1, and to receive therefor and in lieu thereof bonds issued under this act for a sum not to exceed sixty (60) per cent. of the whole indebtedness surrendered, the said commission created by said section 1 shall be, and is hereby, authorized to issue refund- . ing bonds in exchange for such indebtedness.

Sec. 3. The bonds to be issued in exchange for the indebtedness specified in section 1 of this act shall be in the usual form of coupon bonds, and shall be dated on the date of their issue, shall be in the denomination of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or multiples thereof, shall bear interest at the rate of three per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually on the tenth days of January and July of each year, shall be signed by the governor and the treasurer of the Territory of New Mexico and countersigned by the auditor thereof, and shall be payable in forty years from the date of their issue, and may be redeemed at the pleasure of the territory at any time after thirty years from their date, principal and interest to be payable at such bank in the City of New York, in the State of New York, as may be designated on the face of the bonds and coupons, and shall be known and styled as the Railroad Aid Refunding Bonds. It is hereby specifically provided that the principal and interest of each such bond shall be paid only as provided in this act, and no other county in the territory, by territorial levy or otherwise shall be taxed to pay any part of such principal and interest.

Sec. 4. Whenever any of the indebtedness herein before referred to shall be refunded as provided for in this act, the · territorial treasurer shall open and keep an account with the

county the bonds of which have been so refunded, and shall immediately make out and transmit to the proper officer or officers charged with the administration of the affairs of such county a statement under his official seal, showing the amount and character of the indebtedness of such county so refunded, with the amount of bonds issued therefor, when due, and when and where payable, with the rate of interest and amount of interest that will be required annually to be paid thereon, and such statement shall be filed in the proper office, and recorded in the official records of such county.

Sec. 5. In all cases where the said indebtedness has been so refunded, the board of county commissioners of the county owing such indebtedness shall, annually, at the time of assessing and levying taxes therein, cause to be made, assessed and levied, for each year, upon all the taxable property of such county, in addition to other authorized taxes, a sufficient sum to pay the interest upon the bonds issued and disposed of under the provisions of this act for the benefit of such county. And twenty years after such bonds shall have been issued the county commissioners or proper county officials may cause to be levied an additional amount, annually, sufficient to pay ten per cent. of the total amount of such bonds so issued, and shall make such levy thirty years after the issue of such bonds, and shall maintain such last mentioned levy until a sinking fund has been provided sufficient to pay the total amount of such bonded indebtedness; and such sinking fund levy shall be in addition to the annual interest levy provided for in this section; and all such taxes shall be assessed, levied and collected as other county taxes are assessed, levied and collected, but the proceeds of such levy shall be paid directly into the hands of the territorial treasurer by the officer or officers collecting the same.

Sec. 6. In event sufficient money shall not be realized each year from the collection of taxes under the levy provided in section 5 of this act to be made, with which to pay the interest on said bonds when due, the deficiency shall be paid out of any funds in the treasury of said county, and such deficiency shall be paid over by the proper officer or officers entrusted with such county funds upon demand therefor by the territorial treasurer: Provided, that all moneys collected in such county for the payment of such interest, remaining in such fund after such payment, shall be paid into such fund or funds of such county, to reimburse said fund or funds for any such amount so paid out as herein provided, for interest payments.

Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the proper officers of such counties, respectively, to assess, levy and collect the taxes in

this act provided for the payment of interest and sinking fund of such bonds, and to pay the same into the territorial treasury at the times of the payment of the territorial taxes; and any failure to comply with the provisions of this act, by any officer or officers charged with the performance thereof, or any neglect or refusal by them or either of them to assess, levy and collect, or to pay over, such taxes as aforesaid, or to apply said taxes and the proceeds thereof as in this act provided, for the purpose for which the same was collected, shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof such person or persons so convicted shall be fined in a sum not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00), and, in addition thereto, in a sum equal to the amount which should have been so assessed, levied or collected, or paid over, as the case may be; and, in addition to such fine or fines, shall be imprisoned in the county jail or territorial penitentiary for a period of not less than three months nor more than one year, in the discretion of the court. And, if any county officer or officers charged with the duty or duties herein provided, shall fail to perform the same he shall be compelled to such performance, by any court of competent jurisdiction within this territory. Sec. 8. In event of the failure or refusal of the county commissioners, or of the county assessor, or either, to make such levy, as herein provided, the territorial auditor shall make such levy directly within such county for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act. And, in event of the proper tax collector of such county neglecting, failing or refusing to collect such taxes, the governor of the territory shall immediately remove such collector, and appoint some qualified person to collect such taxes.

The county commissioners of such county, the indebtedness of which has been so refunded, shall furnish to the refunding commission created by this act all such information as to taxable values, etc., within such county, as will enable such commission to carry out the provisions of this act as to assessment, levy, collection, etc., and such commission, or either of the members thereof, or the territorial auditor, shall have power to demand of the county officials of such county such information.

Sec. 9. In event the tax herein provided for shall be levied by the territorial auditor, as herein provided, he shall transmit to the board of county commissioners, or to the officer or officers exercising like duties, a statement of the rate of taxes fixed and levied upon the taxable property within such county for the purposes herein before provided, and such statement shall be entered upon the tax roll of said

county, and the tax so entered shall be collected as other county and territorial taxes are collected.

Sec. 10. All taxable property, and the increase thereof, within the limits of such county shall be, and is hereby, pledged to the payment of the principal and interest upon such bonds issued as herein provided, for the benefit of such county; and in event of the division, disincorporation or dissolution of such county in any manner, or the cutting off of any part of the same, then said refunding commission, or the territorial auditor, shall cause the proper tax to be assessed, levied and collected, as herein provided, by the county or counties into which such original county may have been divided, or to which any part thereof may have been attached, in the proportion which such part so detached or cut away from the original county, as to taxable values, bears to that part of the original county so remaining, if any; and if such original county is wholly disincorporated, then to cause such tax to be assessed, levied and collected by the county or counties with which the original county or any part thereof has been incorporated.

Sec. 11. In the event of the refunding of any such indebtedness, as in this act provided, the bonds, coupons and judgments so refunded, together with all other evidences of indebtedness for the redemption or refunding of which said bonds were so issued, shall be turned over to the territorial treasurer, and the same shall become the property of the Territory of New Mexico, to be returned to such county, duly cancelled, and discharged, upon the final payment of such refunding bonds by such county.

Sec. 12. The county, the bonds of which shall have been so refunded under the provisions of this act, shall pay into the territorial treasury all the costs and expenses incurred for the refunding of such indebtedness, and also shall pay all other costs in connection therewith, including the annual cost of exchange, etc., if any.

Sec. 13. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.