Within ten days after said commissioner [commissioners] shall be elected and qualified they shall meet and organize by electing one of their number president and one secretary, and as soon as may be thereafter, they shall personally examine the lands in said district and make a preliminary report to the court, which report shall state:

A. whether said proposed work is necessary, or would be of utility in carrying out the purposes of the petition;

B. whether the proposed work would promote agricultural interests, and whether there are any lands described in said petition which would not be benefitted by such improvement;

C. whether the total benefits from said proposed work will exceed the cost thereof together with the damages resulting therefrom; and in arriving at this they shall include all benefits and all damages resulting therefrom both within and without said district;

D. said commissioners shall in said report fix as near as may be and report to the court the boundaries of said proposed drainage district. Said boundaries shall not be so changed from those in the petition as to deprive the court of jurisdiction by reason of not having on the petition the required number of signers owning land within said changed boundaries.

History: Laws 1912, ch. 84, § 27; Code 1915, § 1903; Laws 1919, ch. 156, § 10; C.S. 1929, § 40-133; 1941 Comp., § 77-1833; 1953 Comp., § 75-19-33.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Cross references. — For commissioners' right of entry on lands, see 73-7-18 NMSA 1978.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Effect of incidental private benefit of eminent domain for drainage, 53 A.L.R. 21.

28 C.J.S. Drains § 37 et seq.