think it important, to condense the proceedings. We possibly have a good deal that it would not do to print in the proceedings.

Motion made to that end.

PRESIDENT: It is moved and supported that the secretary be empowered to prepare and publish the minutes of this convention as the official minutes thereof, subject to future revision and reconsideration before the convention at its future sessions, member finds it necessary to do so.

if

any

Are there any remarks, etc. It is carried.

PROF. COOLEY: Again referring to the fact that I have been so unfortunate as not to be here during the entire session of the convention, I have been informed that our stenographer has been very successful in taking the notes of our meeting. I move that a vote of thanks be rendered her.

PRESIDENT: It is moved and supported that the stenographer receive the thanks of the association for her diligence and success in recording and preserving the minutes of this convention, beside her regular pay.

Any remarks. The motion is carried.

Is there any further business?

It is moved and supported that we do now adjourn.
This convention is adjourned.

MEETING OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

A special meeting of the board of directors was held on Thursday, January 21, at which applications for membership were approved and classified as follows:

For senior members-H. O. Duerr, James L. Rumsey, F. E. Skeels, J. J. Hubbell, John F. Meighan, Jas. R. Thompson, E. U. Hunt, Henry E. Riggs, Wm. G. Fargo, Henry H. Porter. For junior members-D. J. Albertson, John Randall, C. B. Chynoweth, Joseph A. Watson, T. O. Williams, F. H. Williams, A. S. Calkins, F. L. Church.

F. HODGMAN,
Secretary.

CONVENTION NOTES.

Mr. Geo. M. Ames, assistant city engineer, exhibited a testing machine owned by the city, and demonstrated the manner of testing cement; making and breaking briquettes.

Mr. Van Amberg, who has charge of repairs on city works, exhibited two machines used in tapping pipes, and explained the manner in which they are used.

Letters were received from members Ripley, Brown, Pelham, Masson, Reed, Pearsons, Bellows, and Bigler, expressing great interest in the work of the convention and a desire to be present.

A letter was received from Wm. M. Whitten, introducing Mr. John F. Meighan of South Bend, who read an interesting paper on the calculation of earth-work and exhibited some tables of his own computation. The paper was received with great interest by the convention but was not furnished for publication.

Mr. Whitten also suggested holding the next convention at South Bend in conjunction with the Indiana engineering society. Owing to the custom of holding alternate conventions at Lansing, it was thought best not to make a change for the next meeting.

A telegram of greeting and good will was sent to the Ohio society of surveyors and civil engineers in session at Columbus, Ohio and a similar response received from them.

Prof. M. E. Cooley exhibited several fine instruments and explained their use-among others a Webb adder, a fine Aneroid barometer of great sensitiveness, a planimeter and an indicator for timing the revolutions of a shaft.

The stenographer's notes of Prof. Cooley's remarks were sent him for revision and as they have not been seen by the secretary since, he infers that they are buried under the immense mass of other matters which are so tremendously overworking the genial, kind hearted professor.

Messrs. L. Beckmann of Toledo and Keuffel & Esser of New York had fine exhibits of transits and levels. A number of other instruments owned by the city and by the local members

were on exhibition, making a fine display. A considerable number of copies of the "Compass," a monthly pamphlet published by Messrs, Keuffel & Esser, were distributed among the members. Everybody who uses surveying or draughting instruments ought to take the "Compass." Price $1 per annum.

By request of President Davis a motion was made and adopted making H. A. Collar, city engineer of Grand Rapids, an honorary member of the society.

The local committee "beat the record" and gave the members of the convention a magnificent reception. Nothing that could be done for the comfort or pleasure of the members was left undone, and the convention most heartily appreciated it. Messrs. F. E. Skeels and Geo. M. Ames were prominent in the good work.

Mr. A. L. Reed sent some fine photographs showing details of the construction of irrigation works of which he is engineer and manager in Whittier, California. The water is obtained from wells and carried in a canal which is lined with cement.

A committee consisting of Messrs. Hodgman, Steele, and Cooley were appointed to take measures looking to the benefit of the society during the world's fair at Chicago.

It was understood that some kind of an organization was being effected at Chicago for the benefit of engineers during the fair and that it might be well to look into the matter and perhaps take a part in it. The chairman visited Chicago during the convention of the Illinois surveyors and engineers and while there met Mr. Weston, secretary of the western society of civil engineers and learned from him the condition of the organization at that time. Members of various engineering societies have joined in the movement and effected an organization. It was proposed to expend $15,000 or more in providing for an engineering headquarters in the city-the money to be raised by an assessment equivalent to $2.00 for each member of the various societies concerned in it. No member of these societies to be admitted to the benefits without a ticket from the secretary of his society showing that his $2.00 has been paid. The secretary of the western society evidently has a very poor opinion of the State engineering societies, and the chairman of the committee is of the opinion that the Michigan society

will best maintain its self-respect by doing what it can for its own members and not seeking to join the Chicago organization without an invitation.

LEGAL DECISIONS.

From reports published by the West Publishing Co. of St. Paul, Minn.

1. A corporation platted an addition to a city. The plat showed on the north side a strip 85 feet wide, marked "North." An agent of the company, who was also a director, sold lots fronting on the strip, and told the purchasers that it was a street. Houses were built on either side, and it was used as a street, the city constructing bridges and sluices thereon. Held that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a finding that there was a dedication.-Hitchcock vs. City of Oberlin (Kan.) 26 P. 466.

2. Where a corporation platted an addition to a city, and the issue is whether a certain strip was dedicated as a street, statements made to that effect by a director of the corporation while selling lots as its agent are competent, but not while selling lots of his own.-Hitchcock vs. City of Oberlin (Kan.) 26 P. 466.

3. In 1853 the owner of land in defendant village platted the same into lots and streets, and caused a map thereof to be made. In 1875 one of the lots was conveyed to plaintiff by a deed which described it as bounded by one of the streets in question, which had not then been opened. Plaintiff took possession of the lot, including the street on which it was described as abutting, and cultivated it until 1887, when defendant opened the street. Held, that the act of plaintiff in occupying such portion of the street was not a revocation of the dedication, since her deed recognized the street.-Rathgaber vs. Village of Tonawanda, 13 N. Y. S. 937.

4. A plat of lands, made by the owner, showing lots, blocks, and streets, but not acknowledged and recorded as required by 2 Terr. Laws, Mich. 577 (1 How. St. c. 32), does not operate

as a statutory dedication of the fee of the streets to the county in trust for the municipality intended to be benefited. 47 N. W. 600 affirmed.—Village of Grandville vs. Jenison (Mich.) 49 N. W. 544.

5. In order that a plat showing lots, blocks and streets may operate as a common law dedication of an easement in the street to the public, there must be an acceptance by the public within a reasonable time; and it acquires no rights in a platted street which it failed to use for 34 years, during a part of which time an abutting owner occupied the same by buildings erected thereon, 47 N. W. 600, affirmed.-Village of Grandville vs. Jenison (Mich.) 49 N. W. 544.

6. Where the proprietor of land sells lots with reference to a city map showing the land as laid off into streets and blocks, he dedicates the streets as designated thereon to the public, to be opened whenever the public authorities may deem necessary, and when they are opened he cannot recover damages.-Sherer vs. City of Jasper (Ala.) 9 So. 584.

7. A deed described the boundary of the land conveyed as a line running a certain course, "about 865 feet, to a point on the shore of Long Island sound; thence running along said shore and sound as the same bend and turn easterly; and thence southerly, to their intersection with" another line specified. The distance named carried the line to low-water mark at a place where the tide ebbs and flows. Held, that notwithstanding the rule that only the land to high-water mark is conveyed by a deed naming as a boundary the shore of the sea or other navigable water, this description was sufficient to convey the land to low-water mark.-Oakes vs. De Lancey, 14 N. Y. S. 294.

8. The owner of land abutting on Lake Superior platted it, together with the shallows beyond the shore, and sold blocks with reference to the plat. Held, that the gradual encroachment of the water on one of the shore blocks, so as to entirely submerge it, did not vest the title thereto in the owner of the adjacent inland block.-Gilbert vs. Eldridge (Minn.) 49 N. W. 679.

9. Where the owner of land abutting on Lake Superior plats it, together with the shallows beyond the shore, and conveys an inland block with reference to such plat, the gradual