The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-02-22

drawn; that he shall register no Dill
not approved by the Police Jury. the
evidence of which approval shall be
the signature OF the Chairman OF the
Finance Committee and the President
of the Police Jury.
| Be it further resolved by the Police
Jury of the Parish of st. Mary. that
| the said Secretary or Clerk OF the
Police Jury shall be required to fur
nish bond with solvent surety in the
sum of Three Thousand Dollars for
the honest and faithful discharge of
all duties now, or which may hereafter
be imposed upon him.
On motion of Mr.. Il. f. Milling.
seconded by MIR. T. Aucoin, it was re-
solved that those persons now having
in custody insane parties. outside OF
the Parish Jail, be notified by the
| Secretary that on and after March LIST,
1908. they will in no manner be paid by
| the Parish for such care and keeping.
! On motion of Mr.. r. f.. Milling, Sec
onded by Mr.. 7. Aucoin it was resoly-
ed that the President of the Police Jury
be requested to call upon the Mayors
of Franklin. Morgan City and Pat
tersOn. and demand of them the pay
ment into the Parish treasury the sum
of two and a quarter mills upon the
assessed value of property situated
within each municipality, being the
tax levied for the criminal expense OF
| the Parish, as per resolution of the
Police Jury on this subject, being the
amount agreed to be paid by each said
municipality. Be it further resolved
that the President be authorized and
empowered to take such steps in the
premises as may be necessary to en-
force the payment thus demanded.
The President then had read the re-
| port of the District Attorney upon the
| jurisdiction of the Parish of St. Mary
over the ferry now being operated be-
tween Morgan City and Berwick. as
| follows:
| ''To the Honorable President and
Members of the Police Jury of the
Parish of st. Mary:
| Having requested me to give you
| an opinion as to your right to lease
the public ferry across Berwick Bay,
state: That the Police Jury has the
| right to lease the ferry for the follow
ing reasons:
''That the Police Jury has the eX
elusive privilege of establishing and
leasing ferries within their respective
| limits, and fixing the rate of ferriage.
Revised Statutes Sec. 2743, Act POP of
1902 and Act 1872 of 1906.
"While Section | of Act 1872 of 1906
gives the Police Jury the exclusive
privilege of esta blishing and leasing
ferries within their respective limits.
| it states that this privilege shall not
extend to ferries within the control of
| municipal corporations.
"The inquiry then presented is
| whether the ferry across Berwick Bay
from Morgan City to Berwick is with
in the control of Morgan City or Ber
! wick, or both We think that in either
case the towns have no control over
the ferry.
ITO find if Morgan City has con-
troll, we must look first to it's charter
and then to Act 132 of 1906. In its
charter. Sec. l., we find That the
powers of the Police Jury of the Par
ish of ST. Mary shall cease and de-
| termined within said Morgan City,
| and the Mayor and Council shall pos
sess all the powers within said cor
poration. which have heretofore ex-
ercised by the Police Jury The
rights which the Police Jury exercised
| over the ferry never extended into the
limits of Morgan City, for the termi-
nus of the ferry was always the west
boundary Of the town of Morgan City
which is the east margin of Berwick
Bay. See Charter Sec. l. and as the
ferry never extended into the limits of
Morgan City, and as the privilege of
the Police Jury never extended beyond !
the terminus of the ferry, it never ex-
ercised any right to ferry within the
corporate limits of the town. that
Section II of the charter effected or
abrogated. The Police Jury thus hav-
ing no rights within the town. the town
acquired none by Sec. II of its char
ter.
SIN referring to the charter of the
town, Sec. Is. we find that the town |
has right to collect wharfage for a. ,
steamboats, and water craft landing
within its limits. which might give it
control to that extent over the ferry.
For Morgan City to establish and
control ferries. the right must be
specially given to it by its charter,
for the right under the general law be-
longs exclusively to the Police Jury,
and we no where find this special
right in its charter Is L. 5S5 and 588.
We believe this discusses every right
which Morgan City has under its
charter. and we can now turn to Act
l32 of 1906 and find what rights, if
any. are there given to Morgan City.
In this act we find that the privilege
of the Police Jury over ferries shall
not extend to ferries within the con-
troll of municipal corporations. 1t is
clearly shown by reference to it's linn
its, established by its charter, that
Berwick's Bay, over which the ferry
extends is not within the limits of
Morgan City, and not being within
its limits, it can not under it's charter
exercise any control over it. and hav-