they shall deliver the same when completed, to the person administering the government of this State for the time being, who shall thereupon deliver the present great seal of this State to them, and they shall cause the same to be broken and melted in their presence, and then dispose of the metal thereof for the benefit of this State; and such new great seal shall be used and considered as the great seal of this State from the time of the delivery thereof as aforesaid; and in case they shall determine to cause the present great seal to be repaired, then the person administering the government of this State for the time being, shall deliver the same to them for that purpose; and if they shall cause a new great seal to be made, they shall cause description thereof in writing, to be delivered to the secretary of this State, who shall file and record the same in his office, CHAP. 7. AN ACT concerning the charter to the minister elders and deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the city of Albany. PASSED the 2d of February, 1798. WHEREAS the ministers elders and deacons of the Reformed Protes- Preamble. tant Dutch church in the city of Albany, have by their petition to the legislature, set forth, That they, their predecessors and the other inhabitants of the city of Albany, communicants or members of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church or congregation in the said city were incorporated by letters patent or charter under the great seal of this State, while a colony, bearing date the tenth day of August, one thousand seven hundred and twenty. That by the said charter it is granted, that the minister elders and deacons for the time being, shall be the consistory of the said church, and altho' it is afterwards therein granted, that it should and might be in the power of the consistory to call more than one minister to officiate in the said church, and that there should be no pre-eminency or superiority in that office, and not otherwise; yet, that doubts have arisen, whether in case of a pluralty of ministers, more than one of them can at the same time be a member of the consistory. That the said charter is also unprovisional in respect to a right or power, to elect a greater number than four elders and four deacons. That it hath been requisite for some time past to have two ministers to officiate in the said church and the congregation hath so increased, that an additional church or place of public worship hath lately been erected, whereby the necessity of more than one minister, and of increasing the number of elders and deacons, may be deemed as having become indispensable. Therefore, of Re Dutch Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented Ministers in Senate and Assembly, That for removing the said doubts in case of formeda plurality of ministers in the said church or congregation, only the Protestant minister who shall at any time preside in the consistory of the said Church of church or congregation, shall for the time being, be considered a member of the said consistory, but that they shall severally be president of the said consistory, by turns, in such manner as shall be ordained by rules or orders to be from time to time made by the consistory in that behalf. Provided always that nothing in this act contained, shall be Albany; consistory. Additional deacons to construed to abridge the powers and privileges of any of the said ministers respecting the exercise of Christian discipline in the said church, according to the rules of church government, ratified in the synod of Dordreght in the years 1618, and 1619, and adopted by the general synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church in New York on the tenth day of October, 1792. And be it further enacted, That in future, four elders and four elders and deacons of the said church or congregation, in addition to the present be chosen. number may be elected equally as if it had been originally granted by the said charter, that eight elders and eight deacons might have been elected, and that the two elders and two deacons, who shall be first in nomination in the minute or vote of the consistory of the first election of the said additional four elders and four deacons, shall be the two elders and two deacons in whose places two new elders and two new deacons shall be chosen at the then next anniversary election. Consistory, who to form. Preamble.' Paper may stead of And be it further enacted, That four elders and four deacons together with the president for the time being, shall form a consistory to transact business; and in case the minister whose turn it shall be to preside at any meeting of the consistory, shall neglect or be unable to attend such meeting, it shall and may be lawful for any other min ister of the said church or congregation or in case all the ministers shall be absent, for the senior elder of the consistory to preside at such meeting. Provided always, that when a senior elder shall so preside, four elders and four deacons, exclusive of the president, shall be requisite to form a consistory. CHAP. S. AN ACT authorizing the use of paper instead of parchment in certain legal proceedings. PASSED the 5th of February, 1798. WHEREAS it is deemed essential to the validity of certain proceed ings in the supreme court and the court of chancery, that they should be engrossed on parchment. Therefore, Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in be used in- Senate and Assembly, That hereafter it shall and may be lawful to use parchment paper instead of parchment, in all proceedings in the supreme court and the court of chancery, except as to the processes of the said court respectively. Allowance And be it further enacted, That in the taxation of costs on proceedfor en- ings in the said courts, the like allowances shall be made for engross ments on paper as are now allowed for engrossments on parchments. gross ments. Preamble. CHAP. 9. AN ACT making a temporary disposition of the property now in the treasury of this State. PASSED the 9th of February, 1798. WHEREAS Gerard Bancker hath resigned the office of treasurer of this State and his resignation hath been accepted, and whereas a new arrangement of the treasury is under consideration and much time may elapse before the same can be matured and effected, and whereas it is not reasonable that the responsibility of the said Gerard Bancker and of his sureties should be continued longer than may be necessary. Therefore, to inven turned Bancker, urer, and bank of Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York represented in Committee Senate and Assembly That Richard Varick Henry Rutgers and Daniel tory public McCormick be and they are hereby appointed and fully authorized property to make in concurrence with the said Gerard Bancker or some person over on his behalf such a list or inventories of the monies, books, and other by Gerard public property in and belonging to the treasury as they may think late treasproper and necessary, that they deliver one copy of the said list signed to deposit by them and by the said Gerard Bancker or by the person who shall same n act on his behalf to the comptroller of this State and one other copy New York. so signed to the said Gerard Bancker, one other copy so signed to the hank of New York and that they retain in their own hands one other copy so signed that they do in the presence of the said Gerard Bancker or of the person who shall act on his behalf and of each other place all the said monies books and property in a proper chest or chests properly secured and covered with papers over the locks sealed with their seals and seal of the said Gerard Bancker or the person who shall act on his behalf and signed with all their names and that they do then deposit such of them as they may think necessary in the bank of New York to be kept in the said bank until the legislature shall by law take further order concerning the same. CHAP. 10. AN ACT relative to the records of the town of Brooklyn in Kings county. PASSED the 9th of February, 1798. WHEREAS it is represented to the legislature, that during the late Preamble. war, the records of the said town were destroyed, but that many parts of the same relating to roads and highways are to be found on the records of said county, the registering of which in the books of the clerk of said town, and being made part of the records thereof would be very convenient to the inhabitants of said town. Therefore of Brook deemed to Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York represented in Records of Senate and Assembly, That all copies and abstracts of records, taken the town from the records of the said county relative to roads and highways in lyn, what the said town of Brooklyn examined and certified to be true copies by be. the clerks of the said county, and registered by the clerks of the said town, in a book to be provided by him for that purpose, shall be deemed to be the records of the said town, and of the same validity as the original records remaining in the office of the clerk of the said county. Elizabethtown, town CHAP. 11. AN ACT for dividing the town of Crown-point. PASSED the 12th of February, 1798. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York represented in of, erected, Senate and Assembly, That from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of the town of Crown-point in the county of Clinton, within the following bounds, to wit, beginning at the north east corner of a tract of land which was granted to Major Small, and then west along the north line of the said patent, and to continue in the same direction to the west bounds of the county, then north to the south line of the town of Jay, then east along the south line of the town of Jay and the town of Willsborough to the east line of the county of Clinton, then southerly along the east line of the said county to a due east point from the place of beginning, and then west to the place of beginning shall be and hereby is erected into a separate town by the name of Elizabeth-Town and the first town meeting shall be held at the dwelling house of David Calender in the said town. Crown point Powers, etc.. of towns. Division of And be it further enacted, That all the remaining part of the town of Crown-point, shall be and remain a separate town by the name of Crown-point, and the first town meeting shall be held at the dwelling house of Alexander Hay in the said town. And be it further enacted, That the freeholders and inhabitants of the said town shall be entitled to all the privileges, and be subject to all the penalties which the freeholders and inhabitants of the other towns in this State are entitled and subject to by law. And be it further enacted, That as soon as may be after the first the poor. Tuesday of April next, the overseers of the poor and the supervisors of the said town, shall after due notice being given for that purpose by the supervisors of the said town, meet together and apportion the money and poor belonging to the said town of Crown-point previous to the division thereof, in as equitable a manner as may be, and in case the supervisors and overseers of the poor cannot agree in the devision of the money and poor as aforesaid, then the supervisors of the county of Clinton at their annual meeting shall make such division of the money and poor aforesaid as shall appear most equitable to the supervisors or a major part of them. Commission to CHAP. 12. AN ACT to amend the act entitled "An act to settle disputes con- Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in take testi- Senate and Assembly, That in case it shall appear by suggestion or otherwise to the commissioners appointed by and in pursuance of the said act, that a material witness in any claim or controversy already out of the exhibited and depending, or which shall hereafter be exhibited and de mony of witnesses residing State. pending, resides out of this State, it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners, or any two of them, at the expence of the person applying for the benefit of such testimony, under their hands and seals, to authorize such person or persons, as they shall think fit, to examine such witness, upon interrogataries, to be allowed by such commissioners; and that the examination and all subsequent proceedings, shall be conducted in the manner prescribed in the act entitled "An act for the further amendment of the law." commis ted by the And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the person Clerk of administering the government of this State for the time being, by sioners to and with the advice and consent of the council of appointment, to be appoinnominate and appoint some proper person as clerk to the said com- governor. missioners, who shall hold his office during the pleasure of the said council, and that the person so appointed shall receive as a compensation for his services, at and after the rate of three dollars for each day he shall actually be employed in the business appertaining to his office; and his account, and also those of the commissioners aforesaid, shall from time to time, be audited by the comptroller of this State, who is hereby authorized to pay such accounts, and to draw his warrant upon the treasurer, for the payment thereof. ments, ted. Onondaga And be it further enacted That the said commissioners may cause Advertisethe advertisements to be issued by them, to be inserted in such and where to so many of the news papers published in the city of New York as to them be inser shall seem fit, and also, that it shall not be requisite for the said commissioners to receive or determine any claim, or controversy respecting any of the lands lying within the late Cayuga and Onondaga reservations. And be it further enacted That it shall be lawful, and is hereby Records of made the duty of the clerk of the county of Onondaga to deliver to county, the said commissioners, or any of them, or to such other person or commispersons as they shall appoint for that purpose, such deeds, convey- have free ances, papers and records as shall from time to time be demanded access to. from him, which deeds, conveyances, papers and records shall be returned to the said clerk; and also that the said commissioners and each of them shall have free access to the office of the said clerk, and to all other public offices of the State, and to all the deeds conveyances, papers and records therein contained, as long as they shall continue to exercise the duties required of them as commissioners. sioners to edgmeut prior to And be it further enacted That no deed, conveyance or instrument Acknowl in writing, executed on or before the first day of May last, relating to of deeds any lands in the county of Onondaga, shall hereafter be registered or executed recorded, unless the same be acknowledged or proved in the manner May, 1797. directed by the act entitled "An act relative to the acknowledgment of deeds" passed the 11th of February, 1797" any thing in the said act to the contrary notwithstanding. CHAP. 13. AN ACT concerning the auditing and allowance of certain public accounts. PASSED the 16th of February, 1798. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Contingent Senate and Assembly, That the comptroller of this State shall be and expenses he hereby is authorized and directed to give order on the treasurer in Legisla of the |