THOMAS H. HICKS, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

409

fore making such ditch pay or tender all damages
awarded to such persons as may be injured there-
by; but whenever in the opinion of the said com-
missioners the owner of the intervening land, or
any other person, whose lands are situate at the
head of or above the said cross-ditch will derive
any benefit from the cutting the same, then the
said owner of the intervening land or other per-
son benefited shall contribute and pay such sum
or sums respectively as the said commissioners
shall determine to be his or their proportionable
part of the damages, costs and expenses for lay-
ing out and making such cross-ditch or ditches.

SEC. 12. And be it enacted, That every ditch
that shall be cut and opened in pursuance of this
act, shall always remain open for the benefit of
such persons, their heirs and assigns, as the com-
missioners in their report shall return as being
benefited thereby, and chargeable with the ex-
pense of making the same; but if any ditch laid
out as aforesaid shall not be begun within two
years from the confirmation of the return, or
being begun shall not be completed within seven
years thereafter, the said order and return shall
become and be of no effect, and the power and
authority under it shall cease.

Ditch always
to remain open.

SEC. 13. And be it enacted, That if any person
shall stop up any ditch cut in pursuance of this
act, except by such fixtures under fences as may
be necessary to prevent trespass of stock through
or by said ditch, every such person so offending
and being thereto lawfully convicted before a jus-
tice of the peace of the county wherein such ditch
shall have been cut, shall forfeit and pay for
every such offence a sum not less than two nor
more than twenty dollars, to be recovered by the
managers for the time being and applied to the
use of said ditch.

Penalty for
stopping up
ditch.

SEC. 14. And be it enacted, That the commis-
sioners appointed under this act shall each re-
ceive for every day's attendance in viewing a
swamp or low ground, and laying out a ditch, one
dollar, the managers appointed as aforesaid shall
each receive one dollar and fifty cents for every
day they shall be actually engaged in the dis-
charge of their duty; the surveyor shall be paid
a reasonable compensation for his services and

Compensation.