act relating to the payments of principal and interest of bonds. All assessments and tolls shall be listed and carried out in the regular assessment book and collected by the treasurer at the time and in the manner of regular annual assessment. All special assessments are a lien on the lands assessed from the time when they are ordered. The board of directors may order tolls for water to be collected in advance. Whenever an assessment book or toll book shall be delivered to the treasurer the secretary shall charge the treasurer with the total amount of the various amounts as carried out in said books. On the second Monday in January in each year the treasurer shall make a semiannual settlement with the secretary and deliver to the secretary a statement in brief of all assessments delinquent at that time, and account for all such sums theretofore collected. The treasurer shall make such settlements for tolls at such times as may be ordered by the board. On the second Monday of July the treasurer shall make final settlement with the secretary, and deliver to the secretary a duplicate delinquent list, and account for all sums not shown on said delinquent list. The secretary shall then charge the treasurer with the amount of said list and penalties added, and upon receiving the affidavit of publication thereof he shall charge the treasurer with twenty-five cents additional for each description published. On the first Monday after the sale, the treasurer shall make final settlement for assessments, by receiving credit for the property sold to the district and accounting for all of the balance. 4768. Powers of board regarding rights of way. SEC. 46. The board of directors shall have power to construct the said works across any stream of water, watercourse, street, avenue, highway, railway, canal, ditch or flume which the route of said canal or canals may intersect or cross in such manner as to afford security for life and property; but said board shall restore the same when so crossed or intersected, to its former state as near as may be, or in a sufficient manner not to have impaired unnecessarily its usefulness; and every company whose railroad shall be intersected or crossed by said work, shall unite with said board in forming said intersections and crossings and grant the privileges aforesaid; and if such railroad company and said board, or the owners and controllers of said property, thing or franchise to be crossed, cannot agree upon the amount to be paid therefor, or upon the points or the manner of said crossings or intersections, the same shall be ascertained and determined in all respects as herein provided in respect to the taking of land. 4769. Right of way over state lands. SEC. 47. The right of way is hereby given, dedicated and set apart, to locate, construct and maintain said work over and through any of the lands which are now or may be the property of the state. 4770. Right of eminent domain. SEC. 48. All irrigation districts organized under the laws of the State of Nevada, shall have the right of eminent domain, with the power by and through their boards of directors, to cause to be condemned and appropriated in the name of and for the use of said districts, all lands, reservoirs, canals and works constructed or being constructed by private owners, and lands for reservoirs for the storage of needful waters, and all necessary appurtenances and other property and rights necessary for the construction, use and supply, maintenance, repair, and improvement of said canal or canals and works. Said irrigation district shall have the right by and through their boards of directors to acquire by purchase or other legal means any or all of the property mentioned and referred to in this section. In any action of proceedings for the condemnation of any property mentioned and referred to in this section, wherein said irrigation district is party, the plaintiff must, within six months after final judgment, pay the sum of money assessed, or said judgment will be annulled. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter the provisions of the laws of Nevada relative to the right of eminent domain, civil actions, new trials and appeals, shall be applicable to and constitute the rules of practice in condemnation proceedings by said irrigation districts. CHAPTER 7-CHANGING BOUNDARIES OF DISTRICTS 4771. Petition for annexation of adjacent lands. 4772. Guardians and administrators may sign petitions. 4773. Notice of petition. 4774. Hearing of petition. 4775. Assessment against petitioners. 4776. Order accepting or rejecting petition. 4777. Overruling objection. 4778. Election to determine change. 4779. Order changing boundary. 4781. Petition recorded in minutes. 4782. Exclusion of land from district. 4783. Excluded land to be surveyed. 4784. Costs of survey. 4785. Changes to be recorded. 4786. Districts may be consolidated-Popular election, when-Ballots-Direetors consolidated district - Proviso. 4771. Petition for annexation of adjacent lands. SEC. 49. The holder or holders of any title, or evidence of title representing one-half or more of any body of lands adjacent to the boundaries of an irrigation district, may file with the board of directors of said district a petition in writing praying that said land may be annexed. The petition shall describe the lands and also describe the several parcels owned by petitioners. 4772. Guardians and administrators may sign petitions. SEC. 50. A guardian, executor, or an administrator of an estate, who is appointed as such under the laws of this state, and who as such guardian. executor, or administrator is entitled to the possession of the lands belonging to the estate which he represents, may, on behalf of his ward, or the estate which he represents, upon being thereunto authorized by the proper court, sign and acknowledge the petition mentioned in this chapter for the change of boundaries in the district. 4773. Notice of petition. SEC. 51. The secretary must cause a notice of the filing of such petition to be published three weeks in the manner of notices of special elections. The notice shall state the filing of such petition, and the names of the petitioners, a description of the lands mentioned in said petition, and the prayer of said petition, and it shall notify all persons interested in or that may be affected by such change of boundaries of the district, to appear at the office of said board at a time named in said notice and show cause in writing, if any they have, why the lands mentioned should not be annexed to said district. The petitioner shall advance to the secretary sufficient money to pay the estimated cost of all proceedings under this chapter. 4774. Hearing of petition. SEC. 52. The board of directors at the time mentioned in said notice or at such other time to which the hearing may be adjourned, shall hear the petition and all the objections thereto, showing cause, as aforesaid. The failure of any person to show cause as aforesaid, shall be taken as an assent on his part to a change of the boundaries of the district as prayed for in said petition, or to such a change thereof as will include a part of said land. 4775. Assessment against petitioners. SEC. 53. The board of directors may require, as a condition to the granting of said petition that the petitioners shall severally pay to such district such respective sums as nearly as the same can be estimated, as said petitioners. or their grantors, would have been required to pay to such district, had such lands been included in such district at the time the same was originally formed. 4776. Order accepting or rejecting petition. SEC. 54. The board of directors, if they deem it not for the best interests of the district to include therein the lands mentioned in the petition, shall order that the petition be rejected. But if they deem it for the best interests of the district, and if no person interested shall show cause why the proposed change be not made, or if having shown cause, withdraws the same, the board may order, without any election, that the lands mentioned in said petition, or some part thereof, be annexed to said district, the order shall describe the lands to be annexed to said district and the board may cause a survey thereof to be made if deemed necessary. 4777. Overruling objection. SEC. 55. If any person interested shall show cause as aforesaid, and shall not withdraw the same, and if the board of directors deem it for the best interests of the district to include therein the lands mentioned in petition, or some part thereof, the board shall adopt a resolution to that effect. The resolution shall describe the lands which the board is of the opinion should. be included within the district. 4778. Election to determine change. SEC. 56. Upon the adoption of the resolution mentioned in the last preceding section, the board shall order that an election be held within said district to determine whether the boundaries of the district shall be changed as mentioned in said resolution; and shall fix the time at which such election shall be held. Notice thereof shall be given and published, and such election shall be held, and all things pertaining thereto conducted, in the manner prescribed by this act in case of an election to determine whether bonds of the district shall be issued. The ballots cast at said election shall contain the words "for change of boundary" or "against change of boundary," or words equivalent thereto. The notice of election shall describe the lands to be annexed to said district. 4779. Order changing boundary. SEC. 57. If at such election a majority of all the votes cast at said election shall be against such change in the boundaries of the district the board shall proceed no further in the matter. But if a majority of such votes be in favor of such change the board shall thereupon order that the boundaries be changed in accordance with said resolution. The order shall describe the land so annexed to said district, and thereafter such lands so annexed shall be subject to such assessments from time to time as the board of directors shall deem right under the circumstances, and such assessments shall be deemed to be assessments for benefits to said lands by reason of their annexation to said district. Immediately after the recording of the order annexing said lands to the district, the directors shall state on their minutes to which division and election precinct in said district the said lands so annexed shall be attached, and if necessary, the board shall make an order redividing the district into divisions and election precincts in the same manner and with like effect as near as may be as provided for that purpose on the formation of a district. 4780. Order to be recorded. SEC. 58. Upon a change of the boundaries of a district being made, a copy of the order of the board of directors ordering such change, certified by the president and secretary of the board shall be filed for record in the recorder's office of each county within which are situated any of the lands of the district, and thereupon the district shall be and remain an irrigation district as fully and to every intent and purpose as if the lands which are included in the district by the change of the boundaries as aforesaid had been included therein at the original organization of the district. 4781. Petition recorded in minutes. SEC. 59. Upon the filing of the copies of the order, as in the last preceding section mentioned, the secretary of the board shall record in the minutes of the board the petition aforesaid, and said minutes, or a certified copy thereof, shall be admissible in evidence, with the same effect as the petition. 4782. Exclusion of land from district. SEC. 60. The holder or holders of any title to land included within the boundary of an irrigation district may file with the board of directors of said district, a petition in writing praying that the boundaries of said district may be so changed as to exclude the said lands described in said petition. The petition shall describe the boundaries of the several parcels owned by the petitioners; if the petitioners be the owners respectively of the district parcels of land, such petition must also state that the lands described in said petition are too high to be watered from water owned and controlled by said irrigation district. Said petition must be acknowledged in the same manner that conveyances of land are required to be acknowledged. 4783. Excluded lands to be surveyed. SEC. 61. The board of directors to whom such petition is presented must cause the lands described in said petition to be surveyed by a competent irrigation engineer, and if found to be too high to receive any benefit from irrigation works of said district, said board must make an order changing the boundaries of said district so as to exclude the lands described in said petition. 4784. Costs of survey. SEC. 62. If upon a survey being made by order of the board of directors of lands described in the petition, it is found that said lands can be watered from irrigation works of said district, parties signing said petition shall be liable to the irrigation district for the full amount of costs incurred by said district in having the lands described in said petition surveyed. 4785. Changes to be recorded. SEC. 63. Upon a change of the boundaries of a district being made as provided in the three preceding sections, a copy of the order of the board of directors ordering such change, certified by the president and secretary of the board, shall be filed for record in a recorder's office of each county within which are situated any lands of the district, and thereupon the district shall be and remain an irrigation district as fully and to every intent and purpose, as if the lands which are excluded from the district by the change of the boundaries, as aforesaid, had been excluded at the original organization of the district. 4786. Districts may be consolidated-Popular election, when-BallotsDirectors of consolidated district-Proviso. SEC. 64. Whenever the board of directors of any two or more irrigation districts which are contiguous, deem for the best interests of their respective districts that the same be consolidated into a single district, such board of directors may petition the board of county commissioners for an order for an election, to vote upon the question of such consolidation, which petition shall state in detail the terms upon which such consolidation is proposed to be made. Upon receiving such petitions, the said board of county commissioners shall request the state engineer to investigate the conditions of such districts, and all questions affecting such proposed consolidation, and he shall make a report of the result of such investigation to the board of county commissioners, not more than ninety days after such request is received. At the time said report upon the matter is made, said board of county commissioners, if deemed advisable, shall make an order fixing the time for an election in the said district, to vote upon the question of such proposed consolidation, which time shall not be less than thirty nor more than sixty days after the date of said report. Notice of said election shall be published as required for notice of the election in section 4 of this act; and the said board of directors shall make all necessary arrangements for such election in their respective districts as provided in this act for other elections. The ballot should be substantially as follows: "ConsolidationYes," "Consolidation-No." The said board of directors shall canvass the returns of such election as provided in case of usual district elections, and shall immediately thereafter transmit, by messenger or by registered mail, certified abstracts of the result of said election in their respective districts to the clerk of the board of county commissioners. Within ten days after such returns are received by said clerk the said board of county commissioners shall meet and canvass the same. If it appears that a majority of all the votes cast in each of said districts is "Consolidation-Yes," said board shall make an order and enter the same of record in its minutes, establishing said consolidated district, giving its boundaries and designation, and in detail the terms under which the consolidation has been effected, and dividing said consolidated district into three divisions, and shall appoint some person qualified under this act to act as director of each of said divisions of said district until the next general election for the election of officers, when a board of directors shall be elected as provided in section 5; provided, however, that the organization of such district shall not take effect until the first Tuesday of the January following said order of its establishment. If the date provided by law for the election of directors shall come between the date of said order of the board of county commissioners and said first Tuesday of January, then in making such order said board shall designate the board of directors of one of the consolidated districts as a board to take charge of said election, and a director shall in that case be elected for each division of said consolidated district, and in that case no appointment of directors shall be made by said board of county commissioners. If, however, upon such canvass by said board of county commissioners, it appears that a majority of votes cast in any district thus proposed to be consolidated is "Consolidation-No," then a record of that fact shall be entered in the same minutes of the said board of county commissioners, and all the proceedings had under this section shall be void. CHAPTER 8-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 4787. State lands included within irrigation district State land register to make contracts, when - ProvisoAmount of benefit, how calculated -State reimbursed, when. 4788. Mining industries not to be impaired. 4791. Existing districts governed by this act. 4787. State lands included within irrigation district-State land register to make contract, when-State reimbursed, when. SEC. 65. No state lands included within any legally organized irrigation district shall ever be assessed, nor shall any of the preceding sections relative to the levying and collecting of assessments and taxes apply, but the state land register and the state engineer shall make a thorough examination as to the benefits to accrue to such state lands by reason of the formation of such irrigation district, and by reason of the acquiring of water rights for said land, and the state land register is hereby empowered to enter into a contract with the board of directors of such irrigation district, |