15 



AN ACT 



To amend the first section of an act, entitled "An act to protect tim- 

 ber lands from fire/' approved the second day of June, A. D. 1870, 

 providing for a penalty in case of the failure of county commis- 

 sioners to comply with the terms of said act, after demand made 

 upon them by the Commissioner of Forestry, and providing for the 

 Commonwealth bearing part of the expenses incurred under said 

 act. 



Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the first section of the act, en- 

 titled "An act to protect timber lands from fire," approved the 2d 

 day of June, A. D. 1870, which reads as follows, : 



"Section 1. That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the 

 several counties of this Commonwealth to appoint persons under 

 oath, whose duty it shall be to ferret out and bring to punishmen.t 

 all persons who either wilfully or otherwise cause the burning of 

 timber lands, and to take measures to have such fires extinguished 

 where it can be done; the expenses thereof to be paid out of the 

 county treasury, the unseated land tax to be the first applied to 

 such expenses," shall be and the same is hereby amended to read 

 as follows: 



Section 1. That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the 

 several counties of this Commonwealth to appoint persons, under 

 oath, whose duty it shall be to ferret out and bring to punishment 

 all persons or corporations who either wilfully or otherwise cause 

 the burning of timber lands within their respective counties, and 

 to take measures to have such fires extinguished where it can be 

 done; and OR failure of the commissioners of any county, after de- 

 mand made upon them by the Commissioner of Forestry of this Com- 

 monwealth, to comply with this provision, they shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor in office, and upon conviction thereof shall 

 be fined in a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, or suffer an im- 

 prisonment not exceeding two years, or both, at the discretion of 

 the court. The expense incurred in the employment of the persons 

 contemplated by this act, on and after the first day of January, A. 

 D. 1898, shall be paid, one-half out of the treasury of the respective 

 county, and the remaining half of said expense shall be paid by the 

 State Treasurer upon warrant from the Auditor General; but no 

 such warrant shall be drawn until the commissioners of the proper 

 county shall have first furnished, under oath or affirmation, to the 

 Auditor General, a written itemized statement of such expense, and 

 until the same is approved by the Auditor General: Provided, That 



