ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR, 1551

had not been paid before the sale; that the property had not
been redeemed; and that the deed vested in the grantee an
absolute title according to its tenor.

(M) If any person claiming title under a tax deed made as
hereinbefore provided, shall be defeated in any suit or proceed-
ing by or against him for the recovery of the land purporting
to be conveyed by such tax deed, the successful claimant shall
be adjudged to pay him the full amount paid by the purchaser
at the tax sale, with interest at the rate of fifteen per centum
per annum on the total amount thus paid, also to the amount
of all taxes and assessments, state, county and municipal, gen-
eral or special, paid by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, after
the date of the certificate of purchase, and interest thereon at
six (6) per centum per annum. Such judgment shall be a lien
on the land in controversv.

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Section 12...(A) The Council is authorized and empowered
whenever in its judgment, the public health, safety, or comfort
requires it, to grade, construct, reconstruct, pave or otherwise
improve any street, sidewalk, alley and public highway, or
parts thereof, at such time and to such extent and of such ma-
terials and in such manner as shall be provided by ordinance
and to lay water mains and sewers in said town and to pay
the costs of all such work and assess said cost, or any part
thereof, against the abutting property as hereinafter provided
in this section.

(B) Before entering upon the construction of any work or
improvement specified herein, the Council shall by ordinance
designate the location, extent and kind of work or improve-
ment proposed to be done or made, the kind of materials to be
used, the estimated cost of the improvement and the real prop-
erty which will be specially benefited thereby and which it is
proposed to assess to pay all or any part of the cost thereof, and
shall fix a time and place when and where the owner or owners
of the property to be so assessed therefor can be heard in refer-
ence thereto. JSTotice of such hearing, embodying the substance
of such ordinance, shall be served personally upon the owner
or owners of said property who are residents of said town,
either by delivering to them a copy thereof or by leaving said
copy at the usual place of abode of said owner with a member
of his household above the age of eighteen years, at least ten
days before said hearing. Owners of property not residing
within the limits of said town shall be served with said notice
by publishing the same three times in some newspaper of gen-