LAWS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE. 129 



SEC. 45676. [Applications for; how made; bond; duty of county 

 auditor; principal petitioner to give notice; when hearing must be 

 adjourned.] All applications by the owners of lands adjoining or 

 adjacent to any such stream shall be by filing with the county auditor 

 a petition signed by at least two-thifds of said owners, stating the neces- 

 sity for such improvement and the removal of said mill-dam or mill- 

 dams, together with a sufficient bond with sureties to the acceptance of 

 the county auditor, conditioned to pay all expenses incurred in case the 

 county commissioners refuse to grant the prayer of the petition; and 

 thereupon, the county auditor shall give notice to the commissioners of 

 the filing and pendency of the petition, and the commissioners shall im- 

 mediately designate a time and place when and where they will meet to 

 hear the petition and complete their proceedings thereon, and the prin- 

 cipal petitioner shall cause notice in writing to be given to the owners 

 of each of said tracts of land sought to be affected by said proceedings, 

 of the filing and pendency and time of hearing of the petition, which 

 notice shall be served not less than ten days before the day fixed for hear- 

 ing thereof, and said original notice, duly verified, shall be filed with 

 said auditor on or before said day of hearing. On the day set for the 

 hearing, if it appear to the commissioners that any person who is inter- 

 ested in such improvement, and in the removal of said mill-dam or mill- 

 dams has not been duly notified as required by the preceding section, or 

 that any requisite preliminary steps have not been taken, they shall 

 adjourn said hearing to some future time, not exceeding twenty days, 

 and shall order such notice to be given, or said preliminary steps to 

 be taken. 



SEC. 4567^. [Hearing; view of premises; report and record of 

 findings; negotiations for purchase and removal.] If the commis- 

 sioners find that the bond has been filed and notice given, they shall 

 proceed to hear and determine the petition and shall proceed to view the 

 premises along the proposed improvement, and the lands of the peti- 

 tioners and others affected' by said mill-dam or mill-dams, and if they 

 find that such improvement and removal of said mill-dam or mill-dams 

 will be conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare, they shall 

 report their findings in writing and order the auditor to enter the same 

 on the journal, and they shall at once proceed to negotiate with the 

 owner or owners for the purchase of such mill-dam or mill-dams of all 

 rights, title and interest they may have to or in the same, and all fran- 

 chises pertaining thereto, receiving thereby in writing the terms and 

 conditions by which said owner will grant the absolute right to remove 

 the same and for the free passage of water in the channel of such stream. 



[Further hearing; notice.] Said commissioners shall fix a day for 

 further hearing, and order that due notice be served in writing by the 

 principal petitioners upon each and every one of said petitioners or any 

 other person or persons interested in the said improvement or the re- 

 moval of such mill-dam or mill-dams of the time and place of said 

 hearing. 



[Adjournment; notice.] If on said hearing it appears to the com- 

 missioners that the notice herein provided for has not been given, the 

 commissioners shall adjourn to some future time, not exceeding twenty 

 days, and shall order such notice to be given. 



[Meeting for final hearing; statement of costs.] On the day fixed 

 by the commissioners for final hearing they shall meet at the time and 



9 F. H. B. 



