parents, or, if an orphan, whose nearest friend shall have been resident in this state for one year immediately preceding the application, shall be eligible to appointment as state pupils in one of the deaf and dumb institutions of this state, authorized by law to receive such pupils.

§ 972. Persons eligible as pupils to institutions for instruction of the blind. All blind persons of suitable age and possessing the other qualifications prescribed for deaf and dumb state pupils under section nine hundred and twenty-one shall be eligible to appointment to the institutions for the blind in the city of New York, or in the village of Batavia, as follows:

1. All such as are residents of the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Nassau, Richmond, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland, shall be sent to the institution for the blind in the city of New York.

2. All such who reside in other counties of the state shall be sent to the institution for the blind in the village of Batavia. Blind babies and children, not residing in the city of New York, of the age of twelve years and under and possessing the other qualifications prescribed in the preceding section of this chapter and requiring kindergarten training and instruction shall be eligible to appointment as state pupils in one of the homes for blind babies and children maintained by the International Sunshine Society, Brooklyn Home for the Blind, Crippled and Defective Children and the Catholic Institute for the Blind and any such child may be transferred to the institution for the blind in the city of New York or village of Batavia, to which he or she would otherwise be eligible to appointment, upon arriving at suitable age, in the discretion of the commissioner of education. All such appointments, with the exception of those of those to the institution for the blind in the village of Batavia, shall be made by the commissioner of education upon application, and in those cases in which, in his opinion, the parents or guardians of the applicants are able to bear a portion of the expense, he may impose conditions whereby some proportionate share of expense of educating and clothing such pupils shall be paid by their parents, guardians or friends, in such manner and at such times as the commissioner shall designate, which conditions he

may modify from time to time, if he shall deem it expedient to do so. (As amended by chapter 60 of the Laws of 1912.)

§ 973. Support and term of instruction of state pupils. 1. Each pupil so received into any of the institutions aforesaid shall be provided with board, lodging and tuition; and the directors of the institution shall receive an annual appropriation for each pupil so provided for, in quarterly payments, to be paid by the treasurer of the state, on the warrant of the comptroller, to the treasurer of said institution, on his presenting a bill showing the actual time and number of such pupils attending the institution, which bill shall be signed by the president and secretary of the institution, and verified by their oaths.

2. The regular term of instruction of such pupils shall be five years; but the commissioner of education may, in his discretion, extend the term of any pupil for a period not exceeding three years. It shall also be lawful for the commissioner of education to continue such pupils as state pupils for an additional period of three years for the purpose of pursuing a course of study in the higher branches of learning. The number of pupils continued each year in such course shall not exceed thirty in any one institution and such pupils must be recommended by the trustees of the institution in which they are attendant, before such extension of time is granted. The pupils provided for in this section and in sections nine hundred and seventy-one and nine hundred and seventy-two of this article shall be designated state pupils; and all the existing provisions of law applicable to state pupils now in said institutions shall apply to pupils herein provided for. (As amended by chapters 60 and 223 of the Laws of 1912.)

§ 974. Regulations for admission. The commissioner of education may make such regulations and give such directions to parents and guardians, in relation to the admission of pupils into either of the above-named institutions, as will prevent pupils entering the same at irregular periods.

§ 975. Clothing for state pupils. 1. The supervisors of any county in this state from which county state pupils may be hereafter appointed to any institution for the instruction of the

deaf and dumb, whose parents or guardians are unable to furnish them with suitable clothing, are hereby authorized and required to raise in each year for each such pupil from said county, the sum of thirty dollars.

2. The supervisors of any county in this state from which state pupils shall be sent to and received in the New York institution for the blind, whose parents or guardians shall, in the opinion of the commissioner of education, be unable to furnish them with suitable clothing are hereby authorized and directed, in every year while such pupils are in said institution, to raise and appropriate thirty dollars for each of said pupils, and to pay the sum so raised to the said institution, to be by it applied to furnishing such pupils with suitable clothing while in said institution.

3. If in any case all or any of said moneys are not expended before the expiration of the periods of appointment of such pupils, then the unexpended residue shall go into the general clothing fund of the said institution, to be by it devoted to furnishing state pupils with suitable clothing.

4. If said sums shall not be paid to the said institution within six months after the annual meeting of the supervisors of any of said counties, the sums so unpaid shall bear interest at the rate of seven per centum per annum, from the expiration of said six months until the same be paid.

5. The supervisors of any county in this state from whose pauper institutions pupils shall be sent to the said institution for the blind, shall raise, appropriate and pay to the order of the comptroller of the state, towards the expense of educating and clothing such pupils, a sum equal to that which the county would have to pay to support the pupils as paupers at home. This subdivision does not apply to the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk.

6. The supervisors, or officers corresponding thereto, of the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, from which state pupils shall be sent to and received in the New York institution for the blind, whose parents or guardians shall, in the opinion of the commissioner of education, be unable to furnish them with suitable clothing, are hereby authorized and directed, in every year while such pupils are in said institution, to raise

and appropriate fifty dollars for each of said pupils from said counties, respectively, and to pay the sum so raised to the said institution, to be by it applied to furnishing such pupils with suitable clothing while in said institution.

7. If in any year hereafter there shall be any surplus of the amount above required to be paid yearly by the said counties for clothing for pupils from said counties, respectively, then such surplus shall be deducted pro rata the ensuing year from the amount above required to be paid by the said counties respectively.

§ 976. Aid for blind and deaf students. 1. Whenever a blind or deaf person, who is a citizen of this state and a pupil in actual attendance at a college, university, technical or professional school located in this state and authorized by law to grant degrees, other than an institution established for the regular instruction of the blind or deaf, shall be designated by the trustees thereof as a fit person to receive the aid hereinafter provided for, there shall be paid by the state for the use of such pupil the sum of three hundred dollars per annum with which to employ persons to read to such blind pupil from text-books and pamphlets used by such pupil in his studies at such college, university or school, or to aid a deaf student in receiving instruction in such studies.

2. Such moneys shall be paid annually, after the beginning of the school year of such institution, by the treasurer of the state on the warrant of the comptroller, to the treasurer of such institution, on his presenting an account showing the actual number of blind or deaf pupils matriculated and attending the institution, which account shall be verified by the president of the institution and accompanied by his certificate that the trustees have recommended the pupils named in said account as hereinbefore provided.

3. The trustees of any of the said institutions shall recommend no blind or deaf person, who is not regularly matriculated, and who is not in good and regular standing, and who is not working for a degree from the institution in which he is matriculated; and no blind or deaf person shall be recommended, who is not doing the work regularly prescribed by the institution for the degree for which he is a candidate. The moneys so paid to any such in

stitution shall be disbursed for the purposes aforesaid by and under the direction of its board of trustees.

(As amended by chapter 175 of the Laws of 1913.)

§ 977. Indigent deaf-mute children. Whenever a deafmute child under the age of twelve years shall become a charge for its maintenance on any of the towns or counties of this state, or shall be liable to become such charge, it shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor of such town or of the board of supervisors of such county to place such child in one of the institutions enumerated in the next section.

§ 978. Deaf-mute children improperly cared for. Upon the application of any parent, guardian or friend of a deafmute child, within this state, over the age of five years and under the age of twelve years, the overseer of the poor or the supervisor of the town where such child may be, shall place such child in one of the institutions authorized by the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two, chapter thirty-six, to receive such pupils, as follows:

1. The New York institution for the deaf and dumb; or,

2. The institution for the improved instruction of deafmutes; or,

3. The Le Couteulx Saint Mary's institution for the improved instruction of deaf-mutes in the city of Buffalo; or,

4. The Central New York institution for deaf-mutes in the city of Rome; or,

5. The Albany home school for the oral instruction of the deaf at Albany; or,

6. To any other institution in the state for the education of deaf-mutes as to which the state board of charities shall have filed with the commissioner of education a certificate to the effect that said institution has been duly organized and is prepared for the reception and instruction of such pupils.

§ 979. Maintenance of children. The children placed in said institutions, in pursuance of the last two sections, shall be maintained therein at the expense of the county from whence they came, provided that such expense shall not exceed three hundred.