tances, over the worst of roads, in all sorts of weather, interfered with their pursuits and subjected them to great expense and bodily discomfort. Sheriffs found it difficult to summon and compel the attendance of jurymen and witnesses. The administration of justice and the transaction of all other public business were seriously retarded. From every part of the province petitions came pouring into the colonial assembly, sometimes accompanied by delegations of indignant citizens. For several years the assembly stood out against these numerous complaints and petitions, but in the end it was obliged to yield, and on the 2d of January, 1709-10, an act was passed and approved directing a redivision. By the terms of this act the boundaries of Bergen County were fixed as follows:

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'Beginning at Constable's Hook, so up along the bay to Hudson's River, to the partition point between New Jersey and the Province of New York; thence along the line and the line between East and West New Jersey to the Pequannock and Passaic Rivers; thence down the Pequannock and Passaic Rivers to the sound; and so following the sound to Constable's Hook where it begins." (See Map No. 2.)

In the northwestern part of the county, as above described, was included the County of Passaic, and on the 22d of February, 1840, all that part of it lying south of the original north bounds of the "Town and Corporation of Bergen," together with a considerable area of territory west of the Hackensack River known as New Barbadoes Neck, were, by legislative enactment, erected into the County of Hudson. A part of this was annexed to Bergen County in 1852, leaving the boundaries of Bergen and Hudson Counties as they are to-day. (See Map No. 3.)

INTRODUCTION OF TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENTS

The first division of the counties into townships was made pursuant to two acts of the colonial assembly, one approved in September, 1692, and the other in October, 1693. The reasons for this division were set forth in the preamble to the second of the above mentioned acts, as follows:

“WHEKEAS, several things is to be done by the inhabitants of towns, hamlets, tribes, or divisions within each county, as chusing of deputies, constables &c., taxing and collecting of several rates for publick uses and the making orders amongst themselves respectively about swine, fences &c.

"WHEREAS, a great many settlements are not reckoned within any such town or division, nor the bounds of the reputed towns ascertained, by means thereof the respective constables know not their districts, and many other inconveniences arising from them, and forasmuch as the act made in Sept 1692, for dividing the several counties

and townships, the time for the returns of the said divisions, being too short and the method of dividing by county meetings inconvenient. Therefore be it enacted," etc.

Under the above acts Bergen County (then including the present Bergen and Hudson Counties) was divided into three townships: Hackensack, New Barbadoes, and Bergen. Of these, Hackensack comprised "all the land betwixt the Hackensack River and Hudson's

BLOCK'S "FIGURATIVE MAP," LAID BEFORE THE STATES-GENERAL IN 1614.

River, that extends from the corporation town bounds of Bergen to the partition line of the Province." New Barbadoes comprised "all the land on Passaic River, above the third river, and from the mouth of the said third river northwest to the partition line of the Province, including also all the land in New Barbadoes neck, betwixt Hackensack and Passaic rivers, and thence to the partition line of the Province." Bergen comprised what is now that part of Hudson County east of the Hackensack River. (See Map 2.)

The following table shows the names of the several townships erected in Bergen County to date, the dates of their erection, and the names of the townships or municipalities from which they were erected:

There is no record of the erection of Saddle River and Franklin. They are first mentioned as townships in deeds and other recorded instruments in 1737 and 1767 respectively. Prior to that they are called "Precincts." Franklin is first mentioned in the county freeholders' book May 17, 1772.

The following table shows the names of the several townships and municipalities erected in Hudson County to date, the dates of their erection, and the names of the townships and other municipalities from which they were erected:

Of the above, all of Pompton and a large part of Franklin and Saddle River in Bergen County became part of Passaic County by act of February 7, 1837. (See Map 4.) Union in Bergen County was taken from Harrison in Hudson County, February 19, 1852, and Harrison in Hudson was taken from Lodi in Bergen County, February 22, 1840. Part of Lodi in Bergen was annexed to New Barbadoes in 1896. Van Vorst, Hoboken, Greenville, Hudson, and Bayonne Townships in Hudson County have been absorbed by the remaining municipalities in the county. Kearney was made a "Town " March 23, 1898. West New York absorbed the whole of Union.

BOROUGH GOVERNMENTS

The borough system of government for small communities was first introduced into New Jersey March 28, 1789, by an act incorporating the "Borough of Elizabeth." During the next ninety years a number of similar municipalities were erected in various parts of the State, each of which was the creation of a special act of the legislature. No general law on the subject was enacted until April 5, 1878, when what has since been known as "The General Borough Act" became a law. It provided that the inhabitants of any township, or part of a township, embracing an area not to exceed four square miles, and containing a population not exceeding five thou sand, might become a body politic and corporate in fact and in law whenever, at a special election to be called for that purpose, it might be decided by a majority of votes of the electors of the proposed borough qualified to vote at elections for State and township officers. For a period of sixteen years following the passage of this act very few boroughs were organized in the State, only three of them being in Bergen County. In the spring of 1894 an act was passed establishing an entirely new system of public instruction. By this act the old school districts were blotted out and each township erected into a separate and distinct district. All the taxpayers of each township were thenceforth required to assume and pay, pro rata, the debts already incurred by the several old districts, as well as all future debts of the township for school purposes. The people complained against the injustice of such a law, and sought a way to escape its operation. By the terms of the law it was inoperative in all incor