When any ditch or acequia shall be taken out for agricultural purposes, the person or persons so taking out such ditch or acequia shall have the exclusive right to the water, or so much as may be necessary for such purpose; and it at any time the water so required shall be taken for mining purposes, the damages shall be assessed and paid. All owners and proprietors of arable or irrigable land bordering on, or irrigable by, any public acequia, shall labor on such public acequia, whether such owners or proprietors cultivate the land or not; and all persons interested in a public acequia, whether owners or lessees, shall labor thereon in proportion to the amount of the land owned or held by them, and which may be irrigated or subject to irrigation. In all districts or precincts, the owners or proprietors of land irrigated by public acequias are annually called together by the Justices of the Peace, to elect one or more overseers for the acequias--and it is the duty of said overseers to superintend the opening, excavations and repairs of said acequias; to apportion the number of laborers furnished by the owners and proprietors; to regulate them according to the quantity of land to be irrigated by each one from said acequia; to distribute and apportion the water in proportion to the quantity to which each one is entitled according to the land cultivated by him; and in making such apportionment, he shall take into consideration the nature of the seed sown or planted, the crops and plants cultivated; and to conduct and carry on such distribution with justice and impartiality. If any owner or proprietor of land irrigated by such acequia shall neglect or refuse to furnish the number of laborers required by the overseer, he shall be fined, and all fines shall be applied to the benefit of said acequia. Water privileges are, since the United States Act of May 10th, 1872, located in the same manner as mines, subject to local regulations, i. e. by definitely locating the five acres by monuments, and recording with the District or County Recorder. If the local rules and decisions of the Courts make the privilege forfeitable for non-use, another party may come in and claim the water right. The Federal Courts have decided that the right of way to construct flumes or ditches, over the public lands, is unquestioned. It has also been decided that the miners’ right to water, within “reasonable limits,” is not to be questioned. “It must be exercised,” however, with due regard to the general condition and needs of a community, and cannot vest as an individual monopoly. Mill Sites.