Section 1

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That within two years from the passage of this act, and not oftener than decennially thereafter, wards in cities of the second class may be divided, consolidated, or new wards therein created, by a commission of three to be appointed by the president judge of any court of common pleas of any county in which said city or cities are located. Upon application being made to said president judge, for the appointment of said commission, by the petition of at least one hundred qualified electors of the ward, wards or city affected, praying for the division of a ward, or for the erection of a new ward or wards out of two or more wards, parts of two or more wards, or of new territory annexed, or, for a reapportionment of all the wards in said city, the president judge of said court of common pleas may appoint a commission of three electors of said city, for the purpose of considering and carrying out the prayer of the petitioners; and it shall be the duty of the commission so appointed to make a draft of the ward, wards or city to be divided, consolidated or apportioned into wards, showing the divisions thereof, or of the new ward or wards proposed to be created, as the case may be, and such commission shall make a report by a majority of its membership to the president judge of the said court of common pleas, together with their recommendations concerning the same: Provided, however, That no ward provided for in said report shall contain a population of less than four thousand inhabitants, according to the last preceding United States census: And provided further, that this act shall not go into effect until January one, one thousand nine hundred and six.