Section 2
SEC. 2. A new section is hereby inserted between section forty-two and section forty-three of Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred and fifty-two, as amended, which shall be known as section forty-two (A) and shall read as follows: "SEC, 42 (A). In all cases where ditches are owned by two or more persons, and one or more such persons shall fail, refuse or neglect to do a proportionate share of the work necessary for the proper maintenance and operation of such ditch or ditches, or to construct suitable canal structures required for the proper operation of the system, or headgates, or other devices as required by the Director of Public Works pursuant to section forty-two hereof, the owner or owners desiring the performance of such work may, after giving ten days written notice to such other owner or owners who have failed to perform or refuse or neglect to pay such proportionate share of the work necessary for the proper operation and maintenance of said ditch or ditches or canal structures or headgates or other devices, perform such shares of the work, and recover from such person or persons in default the actual proportionate cost of such work. "Upon the failure of any coowner to pay his proportionate share of such expense as mentioned in the statement of the same as performed by his coowner or owners, such person or persons performing such labor or advancing the cost of such labor and materials may secure payment of such claim by filing an itemized and sworn statement thereof, setting forth the date of the performance and the nature of the work so performed, with the court of competent jurisdiction of the place wherein said ditch is situated and when so filed, it shall constitute a first lien upon the crops and the land benefited by such work belonging to such person or persons in default, and the court, upon receiving said itemized statement of claim, shall require the person or persons in default to submit an answer within fifteen days from the date of receipt by him or them of notification of the court. The said lien may be established and enforced in the same manner as provided in the last three paragraphs of section thirteen of Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred and fifty-two, as amended by section five of Act Numbered Twenty-six hundred and fifty-two, by section three of Act Numbered Thirty-two hundred and eight, and by section four of Act Numbered Thirty-five hundred and twenty-three."