Browning

The complaint alleges that the defendants are the trustees of Reclamation District No. 108, located in Colusa and Yolo Counties; that as such trustees they ceased, on the sixteenth day of July, 1915, to keep an office in or near the district and established the office of such district in San Francisco, where it is now maintained; that the town of Grimes is in or near the district, is a business center thereof, convenient to the residents of the district, and provided with suitable offices and accommodations for the transaction of the business of such district; and that San Francisco is neither near the district nor convenient to the residents thereof as a place for the transaction of its business. The prayer is for a writ of mandate compelling defendants to keep an office in or near the district for the transaction of the business thereof.

The answer alleges that San Francisco is nearer to the “land owners owning a majority of the acreage of lands in said district than the Town of Grimes”; that District No. 108, Sacramento River West Side Levee District and Knight’s Landing Ridge Drainage District are engaged in the same kind of work; that defendants “constitute a majority of the…