515.180.  Court may compel referees to hear and report. — The referees may be compelled, by the order of the court in which the cause is pending, to proceed to the hearing and make a report.  And the court may require them to report their decision, in admitting or rejecting any witness, or the depositions of any witness or other testimony, in allowing or overruling any question to any witness, or answer thereto; and all proceedings by them, together with the testimony before them, and their reasons for allowing or disallowing any claim of either party.