city, town or parish within this State, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to provide for commissioners to provide for the payment of any expense incurred by foreigners becoming public any such city, town or parish for the maintenance and support of any charge. such person out of the commutation money to be paid as aforesaid, and the money collected on such bonds, so far as the same will enable them to do. The said commissioners shall prescribe such rules and regulations as they shall deem proper for the purpose of ascertaining the right and the amount of the claim of any city, town or parish to indemnity under the provisions of this and the preceding section. The said commissioners shall have power to provide for the support and maintenance of any persons for whom commutation money shall have been paid, or on whose account a bond shall have been given, as hereinbefore provided, and who shall become chargeable upon any city, town or parish, in such manner as they shall deem proper; and after such provision shall have been made by such commissioners, such city, town or parish shall not be entitled to claim any further indemnity for the support and maintenance of such person.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 6, 7.

clerks.

SEC. 1726. The said commissioners are authorized to employ an assistant agent and such clerks and servants as they shall deem neces- Agents and sary for the purposes aforesaid, and to pay a reasonable compensation for their services out of the moneys aforesaid; provided, that the salary Provided. of the assistant agent shall not exceed two thousand dollars per annum, and that the salaries of the clerks shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars per annum.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 11.

Sec. 1727. The said commissioners shall annually, on or before the first day of February in each year, report to the general assembly the amount of moneys received, under the provisions of this act, during the preceding year, and the manner in which the same has been appropriated particularly.

Annual report.

SEC. 1728. In case of a vacancy in the said board of commissioners the same shall be filled by an appointment to be made by the gover- Vacancies. nor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate. The person so appointed shall hold his office for the remainder of the term of the person in whose place he shall have been appointed. The said commissioners shall in all cases be residents of the city of New Orleans. SEC. 1729. The penalties and forfeitures prescribed by this act may be sued for and recovered, with costs of suit, by and in the name of said commissioners of immigration, in any court having cognizance penalties. thereof, and, when recovered, shall be applied to the purposes specified in this act. It shall be lawful for the said commissioners, before

Recovery of

Commissioners not to make

the commission.

or after suit brought, to compound for any of the said penalties or forfeitures upon such terms as they shall think proper.

D. 1509; Act 1874, p. 273, No. 154, sec. 12.

SEC. 1730. The commissioners of immigration shall serve without pay, and shall annually make and return to the general assembly, with their annual report, an affidavit, in and by which they shall recontracts with spectively swear or affirm, each for himself, to the correctness of said report, and that he has not, directly or indirectly, been interested in the business of boarding immigrants, in the transportation of any immigrant passenger through any portion of the interior of this country. or has made or received, directly or indirectly, any gain, profit or advantage by or through the purchase of supplies, the granting of any contract or contracts herein, or licenses, privilege or privileges, or the employment of any officer, servant or agent, mechanic. laborer or other person, in the business under the control of said commissioners; provided, that nothing in this act shall prevent the commissioner appointed by the board to act as general agent of the commissinn from being paid such a salary for his services as shall be stipulated by the said board; provided, further, that the said salary shall not exceed the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars per annum.

Provided.

Actions on bonds.

Care and distribution of property of deceased immigrants.

SEC. 1731. If any person for whom a bond shall have been given as aforesaid shall, within five years from the date of such bond, become chargeable upon any city, town or parish of this State, or upon the commissioners of immigration, the said commissioners may bring an action on such bond in the name of the people of this State, and shall be entitled to recover on such bond, from time to time, so much money, not in the whole exceeding the penalty of such bond, exclusive of costs, as shall be sufficient to defray the expenses incurred by any such city, town or parish, or the said commissioners, for the maintenance and support of the person for whom such bond was given as aforesaid.

1

SEC. 1732. Whenever any alien immigrant, whose personal property shall not exceed the value of twenty-five dollars, shall die on the passage to the port of New Orleans, or in any hospital or other estab lishment under the charge of the commissioners, and in all cases in which minor children of alien passengers shall become orphans by their parents or last surviving parent dying, the personal property which such alien immigrant or such parent or parents may have had with them, shall be taken in charge by the commissioners of immigra tion, to be by them appropriated for the sole benefit of the next of kin of such alien immigrant or of said orphan children; and said commissioners shall give, in their annual report to the legislature, a minute

description of all cases in which property shall come into their possession by virtue of this section, and the disposition made of the same, unless it shall appear that there are other persons entitled, by will or otherwise, to such property or distributive share thereof. Whenever it shall so appear, the portion only to which the next of kin or said minor orphans would be legally entitled shall be transferred to them or applied to their use, and the remainder shall be received, held and distributed to the parties severally entitled thereto, in the same manner and with the same authority as by law provided in respect to the public administrator of the city of New Orleans, except that the said commissioners are hereby authorized to distribute the same, after a notice for creditors to appear and put in their claims, within one week from the publication of the said notice. The said notice shall be published once in one of the daily papers of the city of New Orleans.

Statistics to be published.

to make con

SEC. 1733. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of immigration to collect and have published in English, French and German, and such other languages as they may think proper, statistical information setting forth the aims of the commission, aud the advantages of soil, climate and productions, which Louisiana presents to the enterprising immigrant; to assist any and all immigrants from foreign countries who may desire to settle in Louisiana, by giving counsel and information in making contracts for public means of transportation, to bring to the port of New Orleans, at the lowest rates of passage Commissioners possible, such immigrants as may elect to come to said port, and to tracts, etc. make arrangements with steamboats, railroads and other public means of transportation, to convey immigrants who may elect to settle in Louisiana, to their place of destination, in a comfortable manner and at the least expense possible; to use every effort to inform, advise and assist immigrants; to visit and examine all vessels landing at the port of New Orleans which have immigrants on board, and to make a register of such immigrants, showing names, ages, places of birth, sex, profession, trade, destination, which register shall be filed in their office; to make a report annually to the general assembly of the State Annual report. of the number of immigrants who have arrived; with a tabular statement, showing ages, places of birth, sex, trade, profession and destination of all immigrants who may have arrived during the year at the port of New Orleans, together with such information and recommendations as in their opinion may promote immigration to the State of Louisiana, together with a full statement of the expenses and operations of the commission; provided, nothing in this section shall be so provided. construed as to make the State liable for the passage money of any immigrant coming to this State or going into the interior.

D. 3644; Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 8.

Register of immigrants.

Immigrant depot.

Care of immigrants.

cation of statis

information.

SEC. 1734. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of immigration to establish an immigrant depot, in which, upon their landing, immigrants may receive shelter, and of which said commissioners shall have entire control; to license suitable boarding-house keepers in New Orleans, who shall agree to board and entertain immigrants at a rate of compensation to be fixed by them; to establish such regulations as may protect the immigrant from fraud and imposition by designing persons, especially in exchanging money and in the purchase of tickets for transportation into the interior of this State or to other States; and to receive, investigate and cause to be redressed all claims for damages by foreign immigrant passengers on account of insufficient accommodation, bad or insufficient food and harsh treatment on shipboard; and they shall have power to seize any vessel against which such claims shall be brought, and hold it until such claims for damages may be decided by the proper court.

SEC. 1735. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of immigration to cause the preparation of a map of the State, showing the usual features of a geographical map, geological formations, isothermal Annual publi- lines and zones of the leading staples and most important agricul tics for general tural products. They shall annually collect and annually publish a volume of such statistics of the agricultural, mineral and geological products, commerce, climatology, health, schools, charitable institutions, railroads, canals, finances, social relations, crimes, etc., of this State, as they, the said commissioners, may deem best suited to inform the people of this and other States of the resources of Louisiana, and contribute thereby to the growth and prosperity of the State.

Labor exchange.

Provided.

Homesteads

of lands.

D. sec. 3645.

SEC. 1736. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of immigration to establish a labor exchange in a convenient locality, and in connection with the immigrant depot, which shall be open and free of charge to all persons wishing situations, and to all residents in this State wishing laborers; provided, that said employers and laborers comply with the proper rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioners of immigration for the management of said labor exchange.

SEC. 1737. The commissioners of immigration shall aid, so far as possible, both immigrants and such persons residing in this State as and statements wish to avail themselves of the homestead act, to procure homes in the country thereby; also to assist in the sale and purchasing of lands, by furnishing blanks to land-owners, to be filled with a correct statement as to the location, size, value, title, price, encumbrances, etc., of the tract to be sold, and which, when sworn to by the seller and at

tested by the recorder of the parish in which said tract is situated, thall be kept on file at the office of the commissioners of immigra tion, open at all business hours to all parties wishing to inspect or copy the same, free of cost and all charges whatsoever.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 13.

See quarantine, board of health, statistics, seamen and steamboats. See Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, repealing Act of 1869, approved March 8th (p. 106), and Act 1880, p. 54, No. 56, on immigration aud agriculture.

IMPEACHMENT.

See Con. 1879, art. 196-201-impeachment and removals; Act 1880, p. 156, No. 122.

SEC. 1738. Whenever any person shall wish to accuse a public officer before the legislature, he shall address the house of repre- Memorial to be sentatives a memorial, containing a brief exposition of the acts of such presented to the legislature. public officer which are supposed to be contrary to law. The memorial shall be sworn to and signed by him who presents it, and shall contain a list of the individuals who can give information relative to the facts set forth, with a notice of the several charges which each individual included in the list can substantiate by his testimony.

Act 1855, p. 370.

Memorial to be, referred to a

the house.

SEC. 1739. Whenever a memorial of the nature of the one mentioned shall be submitted to the house of representatives, it shall be referred to a committee, who, after having examined the memorial committee of and the accompanying documents, shall cause the public officer accused, as aforesaid, with the witnesses for the prosecution, to be cited to appear at a subsequent period, either during the same session of the legislature or any subsequent session thereof, according as said committee may deem expedient, taking into consideration, the time that the general assembly still has to sit. The accused may also, on his part, apply to the committee to obtain the necessary citations for the witnesses he may wish to summon in his defence.

SEC. 1740. At the appointed time the committee shall proceed to swear and examine the witnesses, both for and against the accused, Action of the committee. whose testimony shall be taken down in writing. They shall then make their report to the house of representatives, and shall declare in the conclusion whether they are of opinion that the charges are well founded; in which case the house itself, after having obtained all