PHILLIPS LEE GOLDSBOROUGH, ESQ., GOVERNOR. 1057

petent accountants and shall publish the result of such exam-
ination in the manner above provided for publication ,of state-
ments of quarterly receipts and expenses.

SEG. 294. If at the beginning of the term of office of the
first board of aldermen elected in the city under the pro-
visions of this act, the appropriations for the expenditures of
the city government for the current fiscal year have been made,
said board of aldermen shall have power, by ordinance, to
revise, repeal or change said appropriations and to make addi-
tional appropriations.

SEC. 295. In the construction of this act the following rules
shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsist-
ent with the manifest intent, or repugnant to the context of the
statute:

1. When an office or officer is named in any law referred
to in. this act, at shall be construed to mean the office or
officer having the same functions or duties under the provi-
sions of this act, or under ordinances passed under authority
thereof.

2. The word "franchise" shall include every special privi-
lege in the streets, highways and public places of the city,
whether granted by the State or the city, which does not belong
to citizens generally by common right.

3. The word "electors" shall be construed to mean persons
qualified to vote for elective offices at municipal elections.

SEC. 296. The holder of any elective office may be removed
at any time within six months after the expiration of two
years from the date of his election by the electors qualified
to vote for a successor of such incumbent The procedure to
affect the removal of an incumbent of an elective office shall
be as follows:

A petition signed by electors entitled to vote for a suc-
cessor to the incumbent sought to be removed equal in num-
ber to at least twenty-five per centum of the entire vote for
ail candidates for the office of mayor cast at the last pre-
ceding general municipal election, demanding an election of
a successor of the person sought to be removed, shall be filed
with the city register, which petition shall contain a general
statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought. The
signatures to the petition need not all be appended to one
paper, but each signer shall add to his signature his place of
residence, giving the street and number. One of the signers
of each such paper shall make oath before an officer competent
to administer oaths that the statements therein made are true
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