The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1917-02-14
Meeting Attracted Large Attendance
Which Taxed the Capacity of
the Courthouse

The net result Of the water users
mass meeting held at the Court
house on Saturday afternoon was
that the irrigation district plan of
organization. for the Truckee-Carson
project was endorsed and a set of
proposed amendments to the law was
agreed upon.
Great interest was taken in the
meeting, and the attendance taxed
the court room to the limit. The
meeting was called for two o'clock,
but the committee did not complete
its labors in time to submit its re-
port until nearly three o'clock.
One of the amendments that was
changed by the committee originally
provided that the Secretary of the
Interior should be competent sign
er of petition for the formation of
district on behalf Of public lands
within the proposed district, also that
he should be a competent signer of
petitions asking for the addition Of
public lands to districts already
formed. The majority of the COM
mittee was of the opinion that the
public land within the boundaries of
a proposed district should not affect,
in any way. the formation of the dis
triet. therefore that part of the
amendment referring TO signing a
petition for the formation OF dis
triet was stricken out.
Some amendments additional to
those covered by Mr. stoutemyer's
draft were also endorsed. One Of
them provides that the petition ad-
dressed to the County Commissioners
asking that an election be called to
vote upon the formation of an irri-
CATION district must be signed by a
majority of the landowners of the
district who must own in the aggre-
gate at least one half OF all the. pri-
vately owned land in the district.
The present Law provides that the
petition must be signed by a MAORI
ty of the landowners, but that such
majority must own at least one
fourth of the land in the district.
The question on which there was
the greatest diversity of opinion,
both in the committee and in the
mass meeting, concerned the manner
Of voting In the district. The pres
ent law provides that each owner of
| five acres or more shall have one
vote. This method Of voting was
opposed by many especially those
owning large holdings. On the 9TH
er hand a great many favored this
method on the ground that It agrees
with the method of voting in all pub
lie elections. and that there are
ample safeguards against the voting
of taxes for improvements not real
ly beneficial to the entire community,
since two-thirds vote is required on
such matters.
The compromise finally agreed up
on by the committee, and later en-
dorsed by the mass meeting provides
that each landowner shall have one
vote in the elections of officers and
on all questions submitted to a vote
except bond issues or contracts with
the United States for construction
work. In the case of these latter
questions estimates of cost and the
proposed tax assessment against each
landowner to return cost are to be
announced by the board of Direct
ors before the election is held Each
landowner will then have a vote on
the proposition proportionate to the
amount proposed to be assessed
against his land Thus a man pay
ing $1,000 toward the proposed i'm
provement would have 1000 votes,
and the man paying $500 would have
500 votes. and so on A favorable
vote representing two-thirds of the
total bond issue or total cost of the
work provided for by the contract,
would be required to carry the cleo
ton
Judge French, legal adviser of the
Committee. and Mr.. Stoutemyer. who
has been assisting with the amend
ments. we're commissioned TO pre-
pare final draft of the proposed
amendments as endorsed by the mass
meeting. They prepared the final
draft in Reno Monday and the bill
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