New Trial—Order Granting—Reasons for Order—Affirmance on Appeal.—An order granting a new trial, which was moved for on various assigned grounds, must be sustained on appeal, irrespective of the reasons given by the trial court for its action, if it could have been granted with propriety upon any of the grounds assigned.

&>.■—Road Commissioner of Rural District—Failure to Keep Sidewalk in Repair—Negligence—Large Extent of District—Absence of Notice of Defect.—In an action against a road commissioner of a rural district to recover damages for personal injuries received by a person while walking at night along the sidewalk of a public road, which were alleged to have been caused through the negligence of the defendant in failing to keep such sidewalk in a condition of good repair, it is held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the defendant’s motion for a new trial, where it appeared that the district under the supervision of the defendant was territorially very large, and that there were about seventy-five miles of worked roads therein, and the evidence was conflicting as to whether the defendant had any notice of the existence of the particular defect in the sidewalk which caused the injury.

Id.—Liability of Commissioner—Reasonable Cabe Required—Question for Jury.—A street commissioner or road overseer can be held to the exercise of only a reasonable degree of care, and the question what constitutes a reasonable degree of care is primarily one for the jury, but is also one which the trial court may consider in passing upon a new trial.

Id.—Difference Between Liability in Rural Districts and Municipalities.—The degree of care exacted from a road commissioner in a rural district is quite different from that imposed upon a street superintendent in a city, and the requirements respecting notice to persons charged with the repairing of rural roads are different from those governing the same subject matter in relation to urban officers.

Id.—Duties of Road Commissioner—Execution Sua Sponte—Reporting Defects to Supervisors.—Notwithstanding, under the provisions of the Political Code, the functions of a road commissioner are to be performed under the direction of the board of supervisors, still he has certain positive duties to be executed of his own motion, one of which is to keep the roads clear from obstructions and in good repair. He has at least the duty of reporting to the board cases requiring attention, and is culpable if he fails to do all that he may reasonably be expected to do toward providing for the repairs of the dangerous places in the roads of his district.

Ed.—Sidewalk Along Portion of Road—Belief in Continuance.—The mere fact that a sidewalk existed along a portion of a highway in a rural district did not justify a pedestrian in the belief that it existed throughout the entire length of the road.