PHILLIPS LEE GOLDSBOROUGH, GOVERNOR. 159

the passage of such ordinance, unless within that time an or-
dinance shall be introduced to repeal the same. It shall be the
duty of said Commissioners to proceed diligently thereafter in
the further execution of such ordinance. On or about the first
of January, in every year, the said Commissioners shall make
a report to the Mayor, and transmit a copy thereof to the City
Council, showing the status of their proceedings under every
such ordinance which shall have been passed and shall not have
been fully executed. Instead of waiting until the benefits are
collected, before paying the damages and proceeding with said
opening, extending, widening, strightening or closing, the Mayor
and City Council of Baltimore may, in its discretion, in the
annual Ordinance of Estimates, set aside a sum from the gen-
eral levy or from any other funds properly applicable thereto
to be used, in the discretion of the said Commissioners, with the
approval of the Board of Estimates, in paying the damages
awarded in any such proceeding in advance of the collection of
the benefits assessed in said proceeding. In the event of such
advance payments, the benefits when collected shall be credited
to the fund from which such payments shall have been made.
No such advance payment shall be made until after the expira-
tion of the time for taking appeals from the actions of the said
Commissioners, and the final termination of any appeal or other
proceeding in which the validity of the ordinance, or of the en-
tire proceedings thereunder, shall be assailed.

175-C. Upon any appeal from the action of the Commissioners
for Opening Streets in awarding damages or assessing benefits
in the matter of opening, widening, extending, straightening or
closing any public highway, the return of the Commissioners
for Opening Streets shall be prima facie evidence of the correct-
ness of the amounts of damages awarded and benefits assessed,
and the burden of proof shall be upon the party asserting that
any such award or assessment ought to be less or more than the
amount so fixed by the Commissioners for Opening Streets; this
provision, so far as it relates to the burden of proof, shall not
apply to an appeal from benefits where no question of damages
is involved.

176-A. In any case where a part of a lot, or part of a lot and
improvements is taken for opening, widening, extending,
straightening or closing a public highway, the Commissioners
for Opening Streets in making their award, and in the event of
an appeal, the Court or Jury in making its or their award shall
not award damages and assess benefits separately, but shall as-