(flnrtifll llaui i>rl|nnl ICtbrary Cornell University Library KFM2832.5.S44 Powers duties and liabilities of towns 3 1924 024 686 762 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024686762 THE POWERS, DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OP TOWNS AND TOWN OFFICERS IN MASSACHUSETTS. BY WILLIAM M. SEAVEY, OF THE SUFFOLK BAE BOSTON: LITTLE, BEOWN, AND COMPANY. 1893. Copyright, 189S, Br Little, Beown, and Company. SEittoetsttg Press; JoHH Wilson and Son, Cambridge, D. S. A. PREFACE. In the present work the author has endeavored to select from the statutes of Massachusetts all the pro- visions which relate to the powers and duties of towns and of town officers in this Commonwealth. To these have been added, wherever they tended to make the meaning and intent of the statutes clearer, the latest decided cases from the reports of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and a selection of appropriate forms and rules. Although the form of the statutes has, in the main, been preserved, yet where they contained superfluous matter, or matter not relating to the subject of towns, and where this could be done without altering their meaning, abridgments have been made. For convenience of reference, and because many statutes and parts of statutes have been grouped to- gether under the same headings, the paragraphs in the book have been numbered consecutively, with proper references to denote the corresponding chapters and sections of the statutes referred to. IV PEEPACE. It has been thought best to give the Election Act of 1893, and the Act of the same year relative to the duties of town ofl&cers, nearly in full so far as they relate to the subjects treated of in the book, as these Acts codify the previous legislation on those subjects.' It has been intended to make the index to the book so full and complete that the reader may readily find the provisions relating to any of the principal sub- jects referred to. The author has availed himself freely of matter contained in Herrick's Town Officer, but all of the matter which has been made use of has been verified and thoroughly revised. W. M. S. Boston, August, 1893. TABLE OF CONTENTS. (the figures refer to the pages.) CHAPTEE I. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OE TOWNS. page The Nature or a Town 1 Powers and Duties op Towns 2 (a) In General 2 (b) Town and City Libraries 17 (c) The Power of Towns to Manufacture Gas and Electricity . . 19 (d) Tovm Subscriptions to Railroads 28 (e) Municipal Indebtedness 30 Cemeteries and Burials 36 Forests and Parks 38 Payment of State Aid 38 Abuse op Corporate Power bt Towns 44 Inspection op Buildings 44 CHAPTER n. ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. General Provisions 46 Qualification and Registration op Voters 48 (a) Assessment of Poll Taxes and Lists of Persons Assessed . . 49 (b) Registrars of Voters 52 (c) Registration of Voters 55 (d) Voting Lists 62 Nomination op Candidates 65 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAOE Preparations for Voting 71 (a) Voting Precincts 71 (b) Election Officers 73 (c) Voting Places 77 (d) Election Apparatus and Blanks 78 (e) Preparation and Form of Ballots 80 (f) Information to Voters 84 (g) Delivery of Ballots 85 Conduct of Elections and Method of Voting 87 (a) Calling of Elections 87 (b) Conduct of Elections 88 (c) Manner of Voting 91 (d) Counting of Votes 95 (e) Certificates of Election 99 (f) Recounts of Votes 104 Officers to be Voted for at State Elections 106 Election of Town Officers 109 (a) Failures to Elect and Vacancies 120 (b) Ballots may be Provided at the Expense of the Toum . . . 1 24 Town Meetings 125 CHAPTER III. MODERATORS AND THEIR DUTIES 128 CHAPTER IV. TOWN CLERKS AND THEIR DUTIES. In General 138 Town Records 143 Registry and Returns of Births, Marriages and Deaths 145 Dogs ^ 151 Lost Goods, Stray Beasts and Unclaimed Property . . , 153 TABLE OP CONTENTS. vii CHAPTEE V. SELECTMEN, THEIR POWERS AND DUTIES. PAGE In General 155 Certain Licenses Granted by Selectmen 163 (a) Innholders and Common Victuallers 163 (b) Intelligence Offices ■. . . . 165 (c) Junk, Old Metals and Second-hand Articles 165 (d) Pawnbrokers 166 (e) Stables 166 (f) Steam Engines, Furnaces, and Boilers . . . . » . . . 167 (g) Explosive Compounds 169 (h) Billiard Tables and Bowling Alleys 170 (i) Theatrical Exhibitions and Public Shows 171 (j) Fishing Associations 171 (k) Race-Grounds and Trotting-Parks 171 (1) Steamboats on Inland Waters 1 71 (m) Skating Rinks and Picnic Groves 172 Duties of Selectmen with Regard to Railroads .... 172 (a) Fixing of the Route 172 (b) Examination of Condition of Road 173 (c) Railroad Police 174 Auctioneers, Hawkers and Pedlers 174 (a) Auctioneers : 174 (b) Hawkers and Pedlers 175 Fires, Fire Departments and Fire Districts 176 (a) Extinguishment of Fires 176 (b) Forest Firewards 178 (e) Enginemen and Hosemen 179 (d) Fire Departments , 182 (e) Fire Districts . 184 (f) Fire Inquests 188 Offences Against the Public Peace 190 The Suppression of Common 'Nuisances 190 Jurors 192 Dogs 196 VIU TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTEK VI. ASSESSORS OF TAXES. PAGE Assessment op Taxes 201 (a) Assessors 201 (b) Manner of Assessing Taxes 202 (c) Notices and Lists 204 (d) Collector's List and Warrant 216 (e) Discount and Interest on Taxes 218 (f) Abatements 219 (g) Omitted Assessments 223 (h) Reassessment of Taxes 223 (i) Apportionment of Taxes on Real Estate Subsequently Divided 224 (j) Additional Duties of Assessors 224 (k) Responsibility and Compensation of Assessors 227 Persons and Property Subject to Taxation, and where Taxable 228 (a) Persons and Property Taxable 228 (b) Property and Persons Exempted from Taxation ..... 231 (c) Where Polls and Property shaU be Assessed 236 (d) Taxation of Bank Shares 246 CHAPTER Vn. OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. The Care and Support op Paupers 250 (a) Town Paupers 250 (b) State Paupers 263 (c) Lunatics 265 (d) Masters, Apprentices and Servants 266 The Settlement of Paupers 268 Workhouses and Almshouses 276 TABLE OP CONTENTS. IX CHAPTEK VIII. SURVEYORS OF HIGHWAYS. PAGE Highways and Town Ways 280 (a) Surveyors and Repairs 280 (b) Boundaries of Highways 286 (c) Guide-Posts 287 Laying out and Discontinuance op Ways 288 (a) Toten and Private Ways 288 (b) Footways 297 (c) Rights of Landowner when Possession is not Taken or Actual Notice Given 297 (d) Dedication of Ways 297 (e) Ascertaining Location 298 (f) Erection of Monuments 298 (g) Talcing of Earth and Gravel 299 Sewers, Drains and Sidewalks 299 (a) Sewers and Drains 299 (b) Sidewalks 303 (c) Apportionment of Sewer and Sidewalk Assessments . . . 304 Betterments 304 Street Railways 307 (a) Construction and Use of Tracks 307 (b) Operation of Road, Streets, etc , . . 309 Telegraph Companies 310 CHAPTER rx. SCHOOL COMMITTEES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (a) In General 312 (b) Superintendents oj Public Schools 322 (c) Schoolhouses 323 School Fund 324 School Registers and Returns 326 Attendance or Children in the Schools 330 Truant Children and Absentees from School 333 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE COLLECTORS OF TAXES 335 (a) Collection by Distress 340 (b) By Imprisonment 341 (c) By Suit or Distress 343 (d) By Sale or Taking of Real Estate 344 (e) Proceedings when Tax Title is Deemed Invalid 356 (f) Miscellaneous Provisions ...357 CHAPTER XI. TOWN TREASURERS 379 CHAPTER XII. CONSTABLES AND THEIR DUTIES 382 CHAPTER XIII. BOARDS OF HEALTH. (a) Tmm Boards 388 (b) Nuisances, Contagion, etc 389 (c) Vaccination 398 (d) Lying-in Hospitals 399 (e) Protection of Infants 400 (f) Quarantine 401 (g) Hospitals and Dangerous Diseases 402 (h) Offensive Trades 406 (i) Pollution of Rivers and Sources of Water Supply .... 409 Cemeteries and Burials 411 Diseased Cattle 4,13 CHAPTER XIV. FENCE VIEWERS 417 TABLE OP CONTENTS. XI CHAPTEE XV. FIELD DRIVERS AND POUND KEEPERS. PAGE Field Drivers 427 Pound Keepers 429 CHAPTEE XVI. SEALERS • OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ...... 435 CHAPTEE XVII. THE REGULATION OF FISHERIES 443 CHAPTEE XVIII. THE MILITIA LAW IN ITS RELATION TO TOWNS. (a) Persons Subject to Military Duty ... . ... 448 (b) The Enrolment of Persons Subject to Military Duty . . . . 450 (c) Calling out and Organizing the Enrolled Militia for Active Duty 450 (d) Armories 452 (e) Tours of Duty, Inspection and Drills 454 INDEX 459 TABLE OF CASES. (The figures refer to the pages.) Adams v. Mills 345 Agawam v. Hampden 2 Agawam Bank v. South Hadley 31 Aldrich v. Aldrich 380 Alexander v. Pitts 346 Alger V. Pool 419 Allen V. Gardner 282 V. Marion 5 V. Taunton 5 Alter V. Dodge 167 Amherst v. Shelburne 254 Anthony v. Anthony 430 Attleborough v. Mansfield 254 Attorney-General v. Crocker 128, 130 Baker v. Allen 228 Bank of Commerce v. New Bed- ford 221 Bank v. South Hadley 31 Barker v. Watertown 246 Barnard v. Graves 216, 340 Barnes v. Boardman 345 Batchelder v. Salem 319 Bates V. Boston 220 V. Westborough 300 Bay State Brick Co. «. Foster 280, 284 Bean w. Hyde Park 156 Beard v. Boston 266 Bellingham v. "West Boylston 271 Bemis v. Aldermen of Boston 241 V. Caldwell 212 Benjamin v. Wheeler 280 Benton v. Brookline 305, 306 Berlin v. Bolton 270 Blackstone v. County Commis- sioners 289 Blackstone Manufacturing Co. v. Blackstone 241 Blanchard v. Ayer 283 Bliss V. Deerfield 290 Boston V. Mount Washington 272 V. Shaw 8 Boston & Albany R. R, v. Boston 295 Boston & Maine R. R. v. Cam- bridge 235 Boston Loan Co. v. Boston 241 Bowley v. Walker 290 Boylston v. Clmton 269 Braintree Water Supply Co. v. Braintree 127 Bridgewater v. Plymouth 272 V. Wareham 273 Briggs V. Murdock 138 Brockton v. Uxbridge 272, 273 Brown v. Murdock 403 Bruce v. White 428 Bulkely v. Williamstown 237 Butler V. Hubbard 267 V. Stark 238 Byron v. Crippen 430 Carr v. Berkeley 292 Carver v. Taunton 254 Cavanaugh y. Boston 389 Charlestown v. County Commis- sioners 221 !). Gardner 319 Chase v. Lowell 284 Cheever v. Merritt 343 Cheshire v. Howland 219 Chicopee v. Whately 270 Choate v. Rochester 269 Clark V. Easton 282 V. Russell 281 Cleverly v. Fowls 432 Coffin V. Field 432 Colerain v. Bell 335 Collins V. Holyoke 301 V. Waltham 291 Commonwealth v. Alden 390, 391 V. Besse 195 V. Boston 311 V. Boston & Albany R. R. Co. 290 V. Brown 126 V. Cambridge 290 •>. Cheney 385 V. Cusliing 117 V. Deerfield 281 V. Goodrich 412 V. HefEron 2 V. Higgins 117 V. Manimon 445 V. Martin 117 u. Perry 19] V. Roxbury 1 V. Turner 8 XIV TABLE OP CASES. Commonwealth v. Wentworth 126, 155, 280 V. Westborough 21)0 V, Worcester 8 V. Young 406 Conners v. Loker 428 Connolly v. Beverly 6 Conway v. Russell 389 Coolidge V. Brookline 5 Copeland v. Huntington 44 Cummington v. Belehertown 268 Currier v. Esty 423 344 Commis- 289, 292 Dallinger v. Daris Dartmouth v. County sioners Davis V. Barnstable Day w. Otis 158 Dickenson v. N. H. & N. E. R. 295 V. Billings 228 Drury v. Natiek 3 Dunn V. Framingham 5, b Dunnell Manufacturing Corpora- tion V. Pawtucket 238 Dwight V. Mayor, etc. of Boston 242 Eastman v. AUard 17 Fairbanks u. Fitchburg 301 Fall Kiver v. Riley 383 V. Taunton 272 Farnura v. Buffuni 346 Farwell v. Hathaway 241 Felker v. Standard Yarn Co. 229 Firemen's Insurance Co. u. Com- monwealth 239 Fisk V. Springfield 44 Flagg V. Worcester 280 Flax Pond Water Co. v. Lynn 228 Foley V. Haverhill 305 Folger V. Hinckley 431 Freeland v. Hastings 6 Fuller u. Groton 126, 328 u. Melrose 44 George v. Mendon 122 Gerry v. Stoneham 207 Gilkey v. Watertown 296 Gleason v. Boston 271 Goddard v. Petersham 283 Goff V. Rehoboth 156 Gray v. Street Commissioners 230 Greenfield v. Wilson 383 Griffin v. Rising 228 Groveland v. Medford ' 254 Hale V. County Commissioners 230 Hall V. Commissioners 245 Hallowell v. Harwich 254 Hammond v. County Commission- ers Hancock v. Hazard Hardy w. Waltham Harrington v. Worcester Hawks !). Charlemont Hayden v. Foster , ^ Hays V. Drake Higginson v. Nahant Hill V. Boston V. Mowry Hittinger v. Boston V. Westford Hobart i'. Plymouth Hodgkins v. Rockport Holbrook v. McBride Holcomb V. Moore Holmes v. Greene Holt u. Weld Hood V. Lynn Howard v. Proctor V. Stevens Huse V. Lowell Hutchings v. Thompson Ingram v. Cowles Ireland, Jr. v. Newburyport Jeffries v. Swampseott Jewell V. Abington Johnson v. Wyman Jones V. Andover V. Boston Kean v. Stetson Reams v. Cunniff Keen v. Sheehan Kennedy v. Owen Kennison v. Beverly Kingman u. Brockton Kirkland v. Whateley Knowles v. Boston 289 336, 379 5 345, 348 281 345 120, 216, 335 289, 291 1,3 348 241 241, 242 290 312 286, 418 289 237 350 ,5,9 110, 335, 336, 341 138 312 253 229, 242 252 292 330 290 289 305 289, 292 238 345 419 285 3 243 320 267 Lamson v. Newburyport Lanesborough v. Berkshire County Commissioners 206 Langdon v. Stewart 345 Lawrence v. Nahant 300 Leavitt v. Leavitt 382 Lee V. Lenox 270 V. Templeton 240 Leominster v. Conant 217, 300, 801 Lincoln v. Warren 290 Little V. Cambridge 245 Littlefield v. Boston & Albany R. R. 156 Lothrop V. Ide 341 Lowell V. County Commissioners 212, 220, 222, 229, 242 Lynde v. Brown ' 238 Lynn v. Nahant 1 TABLE OP CASES. XV Harden v. Boston 271 Market National Bank v. Belmont 345 Massachusetts Society, etc. o. Boston 232 McGee v. Salem 229 McKenna v. Kimball 312 Melcher u. Boston 230 Merrick v. Work 429 Middlesex R. B. v. Charlestown 241 Monson v. Palmer 268 Monterey v. County Commission- ers of Berkshire 289,293 Moody V. Newburyport 228 Moors V. Street Commissioners 206 Mount Auburn Cemetery v. Cam- bridge 233, 302 Mount Hermon Boys' School v. GiU 232 Nealley v. Bradford 282 Needliam v. New York & New England R. R. 284, 287 Nefi V. Wellesley 251, 252 Nelson v. Boston & Maine R. R. 280 New Bedford v. Chace 251 V. Hingham 258 V. Taunton 267 Newburyport v. County Commis- sioners 206 V. Creedou 253 Newell K. Hill 417,418 New Marlboro v. County Commis- sioners 293 Ninth School District in Wey- mouth V. Loud 812 Norcross v. Milford 220 Noyes, Jr. v. Haverhill 840 Oakham v. Sutton 269 O'Day V. Bowker 345 O'Keefe v. Northampton 258 Old Colony R. R. v. Fall River 294 Osbom V. Danvers 220 Otis V. Boston 237 Otis Company v. Ware 206 Packard v. Ryder 445 Parker v. Jones 427 V. Lowell 280 Parson ». Pettingill 177 Parsons v. Northampton 44 Petersham v. Colerain 259 Pettingill v. Porter 286 Phelan v. Lawrence 149, 153 Phelon V. Granville 122 PhilUps V. Bristol 428, 432 Pickard v. Howe 427, 431 Pierce v. Cambridge 234 V. Eddy 242, 343 Porter v. County Commissioners of Norfolk 221 V. Sullivan 1 Pratt V. Street Commissioners 230 V. Weymouth 282 Preston v. Boston 220 Prince v. Boston 44 V. Lynn 282 Provincetown v. Smith 402 Quincy v. Kennard 406 Quinn u. Lowell Electric Light Co. 168 Railroad v. Boston 295 0. Cambridge 235 0. Charlestown 241 V. Fall River 294 Rand o. Wilder 126 Randolph v. Easton 270 Reading v. Maiden 254 Reed v. Crapo 345 V. Lancaster 251 Reidell «. Congdon 267 Reynolds v. New Salem 125 Rich i>. Packard National Bank 249 Richardson v. Boston 229 Ricker v. American Loan & Trust Co. 243 V. Brooks 343 Rogers v. Newbury 257 Ruggles I/. Inhabitants of Nan- tucket 177 Salem v. Eastern R. R. 390, 391 Salem Lyceum v. Salem 232 Salem Marine Society v. Salem 235 Sanderson v. Lawrence 432 Sandwich v. Fish 336 Sanford v. Sanford 347 School District No. 10 in Ux- bridge ». Mowry et al. 320 Sears v. Charlemont 418, 419 Seekonk v. Rehoboth 254 Sheffield v. Otis 272 Sherman v. Torrey 127 V- Braman 429 Sherwin v. Boston Five Cents Savings Bank 353 Singer Manufacturing Co. v. County Commissioners 241 Smith V. Cheshire 156 V. Colerain 250 V. Dedham 11 V. Peabody 250 Snow V. Clark 341 V. Fitchburg 301 SomerviHe v. Dickerman 305 Southworth v. Edmands 2.S8 Spaulding v. Lowell 5 Spencer v. Leicester 269 xvi TABLE OP CASES. Spiller V. Woburn 332 Spring V. Hyde Park 403 Stevens v. Hay 379 St. James Educational Institute v. Salem 232 Sullivan v. Wentworth 384 Swan's Case 193 Taunton v. Wareham 266, 270 Taylor v. Plymouth 177 Templeton v. Winchendon 254 Thayer v. Arnold 428 Third Congregational Society u. Springfield 233 Tobey v. Wareham 206, 208 Tobin V. Gillespie 240 Todd V. Rowley 281 Townsend v. Billerica 254 V. Walcutt 342 Train v. Boston Disinfecting Co. 402 Treadwell w. Boston 306 Tremont Bank v. Boston 288 Trowbridge v. Brookline 300 Trustees of Greene Foundation v. Boston 234 Turner v. Sisson 383 Tush u, Adams 44 Tyler v. Hardwick 340 Uxbridge v. Seekonk Vandine's Case 254 8 Walker v. Southbridge 258 Wall V. Wall 347 V. Gray 2, 156 Walpole V. Marblehead 268 Waltham Bank v. Waltham 245 Washburn v. White 262 Watson V. Cambridge 312, 813 Wayland v. County Commission- ers 235 Webster v. Uxbridge 254 Weld 0. Brooks 290 Wendell v. Fleming 335 Westhampton v. Searle 127 West Newbury v. Bradford 269 West Roxbury v. Stoddard 1 Wheeler v. Fitchburg 296 White V. Foxborough 295 V. Godfrey 287 V. Phillipston 281 Wild V. Skinner 427, 431 Willard v. Newburyport 5, 8 Williston Seminary v. County Commissioners 231, 232, 243 Wilson V. Cambridge 328 V. Shearer 340 Winnisimet Company v. Assessors, etc. 221 Winthrop v. Farrar 407 Woodbury v. Hamilton 5 Wood V. Quincy 286 V. Torrey 244 Worcester v. Auburn 269 V. Western R. R. 235 V. Wilbraham 270 Wyman v. Lexington, &c. R. R. 195 THE TOWN OFFICER. CHAPTER I. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. The Nature of a Town. § 1. The towns and cities of Massachusetts have been established by the Legislature for public purposes and the administration of public affairs, and embrace all persons residing within their respective limits. At the first settle- ment of the Colony, towns consisted of clusters of inhabit- ants dwelling near each other, which, by the effect of legislative acts, designating them by name, and conferring upon them the powers of managing their own prudential affairs, electing representatives and town officers, making by-laws, and disposing, subject to the paramount control of the Legislature, of unoccupied lands within their territory, became in effect, municipal, or quasi, corporations, without any formal act of incorporation. Geat, C. J., in Hill v. Boston, 122 Mass. 344, p. 349 ; Porter v. Sullivan, 7 Gray, 441, 444 ; Com. v. Roxbury, 9 Gray, 451, 485 ; West Roxhury V. Stoddard, 7 Allen, 158, 169 ; Lynn v. Nahant, 113 Mass. 433, 448. § 2. Towns are strictly public corporations, established for the convenient administration of government; their municipal powers and duties are not created and regulated by contract, express or implied, but by acts passed by the Legislature from time to time, according to its judgment of what the interests of the public require ; and they have not the same rights to judicial trial and determination in regard to the obligations imposed upon them as other corporations and 1 2 THE TOWN OFFICER. individuals have. Gray, C. J., in Agawam v. Hampden, 130 Mass. 528, p. 530. Powers and Duties of Towns. (a) In Greneral. § 3. Towns shall continue to be bodies corporate, with all the powers heretofore exercised by them, and subject to all the duties to which they have heretofore been subject. § 4. The boundary lines of towns bordering upon the sea shall extend beyond the shore to the line of the Com- monwealth (which extends one marine league from its sea- shore at low-water mark), but otherwise shall remain as now established. § 5. There shall be a perambulation of town lines, and they shall be run and the marks renewed, once in every five years, by two or more of the selectmen of each town, or such substitutes as they in writing appoint for that purpose. After every such renewal the proceedings shall be recorded in the records of the respective towns. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, §§ 1-3. Selectmen have no authority to change the boun- daries, or to adjudicate upon the limits of towns, but only to ascertain existing lines and renew old marks and monuments. Commonwealth v. Heffron, 102 Mass. 148, p. 151. § 6. The commissioners on the topographical survey and map of Massachusetts may propose for the acceptance of the Legislature a change, by straightening or otherwise, in the existing boundary lines of any contiguous towns, provided such towns, at meetings duly called for the purpose, concur therein. Sts. 1888, ch. 336, § 1. § 7. Towns may in their corporate capacity sue and be sued by the name of the town, and may appoint all neces- sary agents and attorneys in that behalf. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, § 8. Selectmen are not such agents without special authority. Walpole V. Crray, 11 Allen, 149. § 8. Towns may hold real estate for the public use of the inhabitants, and may convey the same either by a vote of the inhabitants or by a deed of their committee or agent ; may hold personal estate for the public use of the inhabit- GENEEAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 3 ants, and alienate and dispose of the same by vote or other- wise ; may hold real and personal estate in trust for the support of schools, and for the promotion of education within the limits of the town ; may receive, hold, and manage any devise, bequest, or donation for the establishment or main- tenance of any reading-room for which it may grant money under the following section ; may make contracts necessary and convenient for the exercise of their corporate powers ; and may make orders for the disposal or use of their corpo- rate property, as they may judge necessary or expedient for the interest of the inhabitants. Pub. Stats, cli. 27, § 9. They may take and hold devises and bequests for appropriate charitable uses. Drury v. Natick, 10 Allen, 169 ; Hill v. Boston, 122 Mass., at p. 349. A gift to a town by will, the income of which is to be applied to the support of the public schools of the town, is a gift for a charitable use which the town may properly take. Davis v. Barnstable, 154 Mass. 224. § 9. Any city or town is authorized to lease, for a period not exceeding five years, to any post of the Grand Army of the Republic established in such city or town, to be used by such post solely for the purposes of its organization, and to lease, for a period not exceeding five years, to any veteran firemen's association established in such city or town, to be used by such association solely for the purposes of its organi- zation, any public building or part thereof belonging to such city or town, except schoolhouses in actual use as such, on such terms as the aldermen of such city or the selectmen of such town may determine. Sts. 1885, ch. 60 ; Sts. 1891, ch. 218. The statute of 1885, chapter sixty, refers only to existing public buildings, and by no means authorizes the erection of a building to be let to a Grand Army Post at a nominal rent. Allen, J., in Kingman v. Brockton, 153 Mass. 255, p. 259. § 10. Any town in the Commonwealth which has public grounds or open spaces in any of its streets, highways, or. town ways, which it may have designated or shall hereafter designate as not needed for public travel, may give the im- provement thereof to corporations within its limits organized under the provisions of section eighteen of chapter one hun- 4 THE TOWN OPPICEK. dred and fourteen of the Public Statutes. Corporations which have or may hereafter have the improvement of such desig- nated spaces given them, shall have the use, care and control thereof, and may grade, drain, curb, set out shade or orna- mental trees, lay out flower plats, and otherwise improve the same, and may protect their work by suitable fences or rail- ings ; subject at all times to. such directions as may be given by the selectmen or road commissioners. Sts. 1885, ch. 157. § 11. Towns may at legal meetings grant and vote such sums as they judge necessary for the following purposes : — For the support of public schools authorized or required by law; For the relief, support, maintenance, and employment of the poor; For laying out, discontinuing, making, altering, and repair- ing highways and town ways, and for labor and materials to be used tliereon ; For procuring the writing and publishing of their town histories ; For burial-grounds; For encouraging the destruction of noxious animals ; For necessary aid to disabled soldiers and sailors and their families, and to the families of the slain; For erecting headstones or other monuments at the graves of persons who, accredited to their respective quotas, served in the military or naval service of the United -States in the war of the Rebellion ; in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Seminole war, and the Mexican war ; erecting mon- uments in memory of their soldiers who died in the service of the country in said war; and for keeping in repair or decorating graves, monuments, or other memorials erected to the memory of soldiers or sailors who have died in the military or naval service of the United States; For conveying pupils to and from the public schools, the same to be expended by the school committee in their discretion ; For procuring the detection and apprehension of persons committing any felony therein; For maintaining any library therein to which the inhabit- ants are allowed free access for the purpose of using the GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. ,9 same on the premises, and for establishing and maintaining a public reading-room, in connection with and under the control of the managers of such library ; and for all other necessary charges arising in such town. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, § 10 ; Sts. 1884, ch. 42 ; Sts. 1886, ch. 76. Sts. 1888, ch. 304. The foregoing seems not to have been intended to be an enumeration of objects and purposes for whicli towns may raise money, but the expression of a few leading and promi- nent objects, by way of instance, and a general reference to others under the term " other necessary charges." Shaw, C. J., in Willard v. Newhuryport, 12 Pick. 227, p. 230. But these " other necessary charges " are limited to objects of a like character with those previously specified. Allen v. Marion, 11 Allen, 108 ; Coolidge v. Brookline, 114 Mass. 594. But it was intended to give authority to towns to raise money whenever it is required to enable them to execute the powers or to perform the duties conferred and imposed upon them. Dunn Y. Framingham, 132 Mass. 436. And courts have held such charges to embrace building a market-house ; Spaulding V. Lowell, 23 Pick. 71; repairing a meeting-house as com- pensation for its use for town meetings, and paying a sexton for services; Woodbury r. Hamilton, 6 Pick. 101 ; repairing fire-engines, whether belonging to the town or private owners ; Allen V. Taunton, 19 Pick. 485 ; repairing a public clock. Willard v. Newburyport, 12 Pick. 227 ; constructing reser- voirs for water to supply fire-engines. Hardy v. Waltham, 3 Met. 163. But towns cannot legally raise or appropriate money to celebrate anniversaries, such as the fourth of July, or the surrender of Cornwallis. Bigelow, C. J., says : " The appro- priation is neither necessary to the exercise of any power expressly granted to the city ; nor is it incidental to any right or authority, which, though not expressly granted, has its origin in well-settled usage, and is founded upon the necessities, convenience, or even the comfort of the inhabitants. This is the extreme limit of the power of towns and cities to grant money, as settled by repeated adjudications of this court." Hood V. Lynn, 1 Allen, 103, p. 105, and cases cited. The clause of Pub. Stats, ch. 27, § 10, authorizing towns to 6 THE TOWN OFFICER. raise money " for all other necessary charges arising therein," is ". not limited to the purposes specifically enumerated in the section, or to others of the same kind. It was intended to give authority to towns to raise money whenever it was required to enable them to execute the powers or to perform the duties conferred and imposed upon them. Therefore, whenever the legislature confers a power or imposes a duty upon towns, this clause applies, and gives the towns authority to grant money which is required to enable them to execute the power or to perform the duty." Consequently a town may vote to appropriate money for the enforcement of the liquor law, and to employ agents and counsel to suppress the sale of intoxicating liquors. Dunn v. FramingJiam, 132 Mass. 436. " Legal meetings " include special meetings called after the annual meeting. The purposes for which money is raised should be expressed in the vote, though it has been held suffi- cient when the objects were stated in town meeting by the chairman of the selectmen, where the parties afterwards objecting to the appropriation were present and made no objection. Freeland v. Hastings, 10 Allen, 570. § 12. Towns may contract for the disposal of garbage, refuse, and offal. Sts. 1889, ch. 377. They may contract with hospitals for the temporary care of the sick. Sts. 1890, ch. 119. They may employ counsel at hearings before legis- lative committees. Sts. 1889, ch. 380. Under the St. 1889, ch. 380, authorizing the employment of counsel by " any town interested in a petition to the Legisla- ture " to represent it at hearings thereon, a town may employ and pay counsel to oppose its division before a committee of the Legislature. Connolly v. Beverly, 151 Mass. 437. § 13. A town may, at its annual meeting, raise, by taxation, a sum of money, not exceeding one tenth of one per cent of its assessed valuation for the year last preceding, for the pur- pose of celebrating any centennial or two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation, and of publishing the proceedings of any such celebration. Sts. 1889, ch. 21. § 14. Any city or town may raise, by taxation, such amount of money as may be authorized by a vote of two GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 7 thirds of the voters present and voting at a town meeting, or of two thirds of the members of each branch of the city- council, taken by yeas and nays and approved by the mayor, for the purpose of celebrating the anniversary of its settle- ment, or of its incorporation as a town, or as a city, at the end of a period of fifty or of any multiple of fifty years from such settlement or incorporation, and of publishing an account of the proceedings of any such celebration. Sts. 1892, ch. 166. § 15. A city or town may grant and vote a sum not exceeding fifty cents for each of its ratable polls in the pre- ceding year, to he expended in planting, or in encouraging the planting by the owners of adjoining real estate, of shade trees upon the public squares or highways, and may plant such trees subject to the provisions of § 793 (^posf). Sts. 1885, ch. 123, § 1. § 16. A town in which chapter two hundred and fourteen of the statutes of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-four has been duly accepted, or in which this and the following section have been accepted by two thirds of the legal voters present and voting at an annual meeting, may purchase or lease lands, and erect, alter, enlarge, repair, and improve buildings for public baths and wash-houses, either with or without open drying grounds, and may make open bathing- places, and may fit up and furnish all of the same with the requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences, and may raise and appropriate money therefor. § 17. Such town may establish rates for the use of such baths and wash-houses, and appoint oSicers therefor, and may make by-laws for the government of such officers, and authorize them to make such rules and regulations as may seem to them expedient for the management of such baths and wash-houses ; but such by-laws, rules, or regulations shall be subject to alteration or repeal at any time. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, §§13, 14. § 18. Towns may make for the following named purposes in addition to other purposes authorized by law such necessary orders and by-laws, not repugnant to law, as they may judge most conducive to their welfare, and may affix penalties, not exceeding twenty dollars for one offence, for breaches thereof : 8 THE TOWN OPPIGBai. For directing and managing the prudential affairs, pre- serving the peace and good order, and maintaining the internal police thereof. For preventing the falling and securing the removal of snow and ice from the roofs of buildings in such portion of their limits, and to such extent, as they may deem expedient ; the penalty for violation of such by-laws to apply to the owner of such building, or to his agent having the care thereof. For requiring owners of buildings near the line of streets and public ways to erect barriers or to take other suitable measures to prevent the falling of snow and ice from such buildings upon persons travelling on such streets and ways, and to protect such persons from any other dangers incident to the maintenance, occupation, or use of such buildings. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, § 15. The term " by-law " has a peculiar and limited signification, being used to designate the orders and regulations which a corporation, as one of its legal incidents, has power to make, and which is usually exercised to regulate its own action and concerns, and the rights and duties of its members amongst themselves. Shaw, C. J., Commonwealth v. Turner, 1 Cush. 496. By-laws must be reasonable, and it is for the court to decide whether they are unreasonable or not. If unreasonable, they are void. If necessary for the good government of society, they are good. Commonwealth v. Worcester, 3 Pick. 472 ; Vandine's Case, 6 Pick. 191 ; Boston v. Shaw, 1 Met. 130. " Prudential concerns " of a town embrace that large class of miscellaneous subjects affecting the accommodation and convenience of the inhabitants, which have been placed under the municipal jurisdiction of towns by statutes or by usage ; such as public hay-scales, burying-grounds, wells and reser- voirs, one or more public clocks for the common regulation of time, in all large towns and populous villages. Willard v. Newburyport, 12 Pick. 281. But tlie usage must be what the law terms a good usage. " An unlawful expenditure of the money of a town cannot be rendered valid by usage, however long continued. A casual or occasional exercise of a power by one or a few towns will GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 9 not constitute a usage. It must not only be general, reason- able, and of long continuance, but, what is more important, it must also be a custom necessary to the exercise of some corporate power or the enjoyment of some corporate right, or which contributes essentially to the necessities and con- venience of the inhabitants." Hood v. Lynn, 1 Allen, 106. § 19. A town in which water is supplied at the public expense, may by by-laws prescribe rules and regulations for the inspection, materials, construction, alteration, or use of all pipes and of fixtures through which such water is used within said town, and may impose penalties not exceeding twenty dollars for each violation thereof ; and may prohibit the use of such water by persons neglecting or refusing to comply with the provisions of such by-laws ; and any such by-law may be made operative within the whole territory of such town, or within any prescribed or defined district or districts of said territory. § 20. The powers conferred by the preceding section, except the power to impose penalties, may be exercised through any board or commission which the town may designate ; but the powers so delegated may at any time be revoked by the authority delegating them. § 21. A town may regulate by by-laws, not repugnant to law, with penalties not exceeding fifty dollars for each viola- tion thereof, the use of reservoirs and land and drive-ways appurtenant thereto, forming a part of its system of water supply within its limits. § 22. All penalties for breaches of the orders and by-laws of a town may be recovered on complaint before a police, dis- trict, or municipal court, or a trial justice, and shall inure to the town, or to such uses as the town may direct. § 23. When a town in a by-law imposes a duty and affixes a penalty for refusal or neglect to perform the same, it may therein provide that, in case of such refusal or neglect, the duty may be performed by officers therein named at the expense of the party liable to perform the same ; and such expense may be recovered of such party by the town in an action of contract in the name of its treasurer ; but the amount recovered shall not exceed the penalty fixed in the by-law. 10 THE TOWN OFFICER. § 24. Before any by-law takes effect it shall be approved by the superior court or in vacation by a justice thereof, and shall with such approval be entered and recorded in the office of the clerk of the courts in the county where the town is situated, or in the county of Suffolk in the office of the clerk of the superior court for civil business. § 25. Such by-laws shall be binding upon all persons coming within the limits of the town, as well as upon the inhabitants thereof. § 26. All by-laws made by a town shall be published in one or more newspapers printed in the county where the town is situated. § 27. Each town shall provide at its own expense some suitable cabinet or book-case for the safe preservation of such books, reports, and laws as it receives from the Commonwealth, and for every month's neglect shall forfeit ten dollars, § 28. One copy or more of the annual report of a town, or of any special report relating to its income, expenditures, or other affairs, shall be returned by the clerk of such town, on or before the last day of April in each year, to the State librarian, to be deposited and preserved in the State library. § 29. If a town neglects to make the return required in the preceding section, the publications distributed by authority of the Commonwealth shall be withheld while such neglect continues. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, §§ 16-26. § 30. A town with the consent of a majority of its select- men, ratified by a majority of its voters, present and voting thereon at a legal meeting, at which the check-list shall be used, may, for the purpose of supplying water to its inhabit- ants, purchase of any municipal or other corporation the right to take water from any of its sources of supply, or from pipes leading therefrom ; or may purchase its whole water-rights, estates, franchises, and privileges, and thereby become entitled to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the duties and liabilities of said corporation ; or may make a contract therewith for a supply of water. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, § 27. The selectmen of a town, under a vote of the town authoriz- ing them to do so, made a contract with a water company for three years at a certain rate per year for the service of a num- GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 11 ber of hydrants. At the expiration of the three years a town meeting was held to see what action the town would take with reference to a supply of water for fire and other service. It was voted that " the selectmen be authorized to renew the contract for ten years with the company at a reduced rate per year." Held, that the contract authorized by the vote did not come within the provisions of section 27 of chapter 27, of the Public Statutes ; for the contract to which the statute refers is a contract for the supply of water for all uses, and was not intended to interfere with the corporate power of towns to procure water for fire purposes. Smith v. Dedham, 144 Mass., 177. § 31. A town making such purchase may issue, in payment therefor, bonds, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding seven per cent, payable semiannually, and redeemable at a time not exceeding twenty years from their date ; and may, for the purpose of purchasing matei'ials, laying pipes, and doing other work necessary for so supplying water, issue additional similar bonds ; and a town making such contract as aforesaid may, for the purpose named in this section, issue similar bonds. § 32. The whole amount of bonds issued by any town under the preceding section shall not exceed ten per cent of its valuation. § 33. If the water is brought through another city or town, pipes may be laid through any streets and highways therein designated by the mayor and aldermen or selectmen thereof ; and the town laying such pipes shall be liable, in an action of contract or tort, for all damages occasioned thereby. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, §§ 28-30. § 84. All purchase money received under the provisions of the four preceding sections by a town owing a water debt shall be applied to the payment of such debt. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, § 31. § 35. Any city or town having a water supply may contract with any other city or town situated in the water-shed of such supply to contribute, on such terms as may be deemed proper, to the cost of building a sewer or system of sewers which will aid in protecting any part of the source of such water supply from pollution. Sts. 1888, ch. 160. 12 THE TOWN OFFICER. § 36. Each town containing more than three thousand inhabitants shall, and every town may, keep and maintain a secure and convenient lock-up to which persons arrested by an officer without a warrant may be committed ; and a police, district, or municipal court, or a trial justice, may commit, for further examination, a prisoner charged with a bailable offence, and not recognizing, to the lock-up in the town in which the court is held, when in the opinion of such court or justice it may be deemed safe and commodious and costs may be saved thereby. § 37. The selectmen in towns required to maintain a lock-up shall annually appoint a keeper, who shall have the custody and care of the same and of persons committed thereto, and who shall signify his acceptance of the appointment within three days after he has notice thereof, and shall be sworn. Such appointment shall be in writing, and for the term of one year unless sooner revoked ; and it shall be recorded in tlie town clerk's office. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, §§ 32, 33. § 38. Such keepers shall have the powers of police officers, with such compensation, to be paid by the town, as may be fixed by the selectmen at the time of their appointment. For the expenses of detention and support of each person committed there may be charged upon the warrant or other precept, if any, fifty cents for each full day of twenty-four hours from the time of committment, and the same sum for any fractional part of a day, and no more, which shall be paid to the town maintaining the lock-up. But no fee for detention and sup- port will be allowed unless it appears from the officer's return that the defendant was actually detained in the lock-up. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, § 34 ; Sts. 1890, ch. 166. § 39. A town which neglects to provide and maintain a lock-up required by law shall forfeit ten dollars for each month of such neglect. And if the selectmen neglect to appoint a keeper, they shall forfeit ten dollars for each month of such neglect. § 40. Such lock-ups shall at all reasonable hours be acces- sible for any legal and proper use to members of the district police, and to sheriffs, constables, and police officers ; and a keeper of a lock-up who neglects to keep the same so acces- GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 13 sible, or who refuses to permit said officers so to use the same, shall pay a fine of not less than five nor more than twenty dollars. § 41. A town at a legal meeting may authorize a village or district in such town, containing not less than one thousand inhabitants, the limits of which shall he accurately defined, to organize under a name approved by such town, for the purpose of erecting and maintaining street lamps, establishing and maintaining libraries, building and maintaining sidewalks, and employing and paying watchmen and police officers, or for any of such purposes. § 42. The provisions of sections forty-two, forty-three, forty-six, fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-eight, and sixty, of chapter thirty-five of the Public Statutes shall, so far as applicable, apply to such districts. § 43. The officers of such districts shall be a clerk and prudential committee, and they may have in addition a treas- urer, and such other officers as the district may decide ; and all such officers shall hold their offices for one year, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead. § 44. Such districts may adopt by-laws to define the manner of calling their meetings and the duties of their offi- cers, and may sue and be sued in the name of their inhabitants. § 45. A town, at a meeting held for the purpose, may take any land not appropriated to public uses, within its limits, as a place for the erection of a town-hall, or for the enlargement of its town-hall lot ; but no lot so taken or enlarged shall ex- ceed in extent one acre. The town shall, within sixty days after such taking, file in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which the land is situated such a description of the land so taken as is required in a common conveyance, and a statement of the purpose for which such land was taken, which description and statement shall be signed by the select- men, or by a major part of them ; and the title of such land shall vest in such town from the time of such filing. § 46. All damages sustained by such taking shall be paid by the town; and if the selectmen fail to agree upon such damages with the owner, the same may be assessed and deter- mined by a jury in the manner provided by law in the case of 14 THE TOWN OFFICER. the laying out of town ways, upon application therefor made within three years after such filing. If the damages so awarded exceed the amount tendered to the owner as compen- sation before the filing of his application for a jury, he shall recover his costs ; otherwise, the town shall recover costs. § 47. Land so taken shall revert to the owner, or to his heirs or assigns, unless within three years after the filing of such description and statement a town-hall is erected thereon, or the same is enclosed and devoted to the enlargement of a town-hall lot. § 48. A town may construct lines of electric telegraph for its own use upon and along the public ways within its limits, subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred and nine of the Public Statutes as far as the same are applicable. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, §§ 35-44. § 49. The selectmen may establish and maintain such public drinking troughs, wells, and fountains within the public highways, squares, and commons of their respective towns, as in their judgment the public necessity and convenience may require ; and towns may grant and vote money to defray the expense thereof. § 50. When a town is required to enter into a recognizance, the selectmen may by an order or vote authorize any person to enter into the recognizance in the name and behalf of the town, and it shall be binding upon such town. No surety shall be required in such recognizance. Pub. Stats, ch. 27, §§ 50, 51. § 51. Towns may at their annual meetings establish by- laws to provide for the removal of snow and ice, to such extent as they may deem expedient, from sidewalks within the limits of the highways or town ways therein. § 52. Such by-laws shall determine the time and manner of removal, and shall annex penalties, to be recovered in an action of tort in the name of the town, not exceeding ten dol- lars for each violation thereof by any owner or tenant of an estate abutting upon such sidewalks. § 53. A city or town may make suitable by-laws and regu- lations to prevent the pasturing of cattle or other animals, either with or without a keeper, upon any or all of the streets GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 15 or ways in such city or town, and may annex penalties not exceeding twenty dollars for each violation thereof. But no such by-law or regulation shall affect the right of a person to the use of land within the limits of such way adjoining his own premises. § 54. A city or town may regulate by suitable ordinances or by-laws the passage and driving of sheep, swine, and neat cattle through and over the public streets, ways, causeways, and bridges therein, and may annex penalties not exceeding fifty dollars for each violation thereof. § 55. A city or town may regulate by ordinance or by-law the transportation of the offal of slaughtered cattle, hogs, sheep, or other animals, over, along, or through any of the public streets or highways therein, and may annex penalties not exceeding one hundred dollars for each violation thereof. § 56. A city or town may by ordinance or by-law prohibit persons from riding or driving beasts of burden, carriage, or draught upon any of the streets or ways for public travel therein at a rate of speed which it deems inconsistent with the public safety or convenience, under such penalties as it may impose for breaches of other ordinances or by-laws. Pub. Stats, ch. 53, §§ 8-13. § 57. A town may at an annual meeting establish by-laws to prevent persons from riding or driving horses at a rate faster than a walk over any bridge within its limits, and which has cost not less than five hundred dollars, and may annex penalties not exceeding one dollar for a breach thereof ; but such by-laws shall first be approved by the commissioners for the county in which such town lies. § 58. Each city and town in which any such bridge termi- nates shall cause to be posted in a conspicuous place on or near the end of such bridge in said city or town, and to be there kept up, a white board containing in black letters the substance of the two preceding sections ; and any such city or town neglecting to post and keep up such notice shall forfeit to the use of the county ten dollars for each day's neglect. Pub. Stats, ch. 53, §§ 19, 26. § 59. A city or town in which a draw for the passage of vessels through a bridge, used as a public highway, and main- 16 THE TOWN OFFICER. tained at the public expense, is situated, may make ordinances or by-laws regulating the passage of vessels through such draw, and may annex penalties not exceeding fifty dollars for each violation thereof ; but no such ordinance or by-law shall take effect until approved by the board of harbor and land commissioners. § 60. When such ordinances or by-laws are made appli- cable to a draw, the city or town shall place said draw under the direction of a suitable person as draw-tender or super- intendent, and shall post a copy of such ordinances or by-laws in some conspicuous place near by. Pub. Stats, ch. 63, §§ 28, 29. § 61. A town may adopt such ordinances, by-laws, and regulations, as it may deem reasonable in relation to the manufacture, mixing, storing, keeping, or selling within the corporate limits of the town, of naphtha, except for the pur- pose of re-manufacture, which will ignite at a temperature of less than one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit, of crude petroleum or any of its products, or of illuminating oils made from coal or petroleum, and having an igniting point of less than one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit, and a town may affix penalties for breaches thereof, not exceeding fifty dollars for each offence, reasonable notice of which ordinances, by-laws, or regulations shall be given. Pub. Stats, ch. 102, §§ 69-75. § 62. Towns which have adopted §§ 32-34 of chapter sixty of the Public Statutes shall appoint a superintendent of hay- scales and weigher of hay. Pub. Stats, ch. 60, § 32. Towns shall choose cullers of staves and hoops, in every maritime place from which staves are usually exported. Pub. Stats, ch. 60, § 41. Towns where lime is manufactured or im- ported, may choose inspectors of lime. Pub. Stats, ch. 60, § 46. Towns shall choose measurers of wood and bark. Pub. Stats, ch. 60, § 72. Towns shall choose surveyors of lumber. Pub. Stats, ch. 63, § 6.^ 1 The duties of these officers will be found more in detail in the following sections of the Public Statutes : superintendent of hay scales, ch. 60, §§ 32-40; cullers of staves, ch. 60, §§ 41-45; inspectors of lime, ch. 60, §§ 46-52; sur- veyors of lumber, ch. 63, §§ 6-18. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 17 (b) Town and City Libraries. § 63. Any town or city may establish and maintain a public library therein, with or without branches, for the use of the inhabitants thereof, and may provide suitable rooms therefor, under such regulations for its government as- may from time to time be prescribed by the inhabitants of the town or by the city council. § 64. Any town may at a legal meeting grant and vote money for the establishment, maintenance, or increase of a public library therein, and for erecting or providing suitable buildings or rooms therefor ; and may receive, hold, and manage any devise, bequest, or donation for the establish- ment, increase, or maintenance of any such library. Pub. Stats, ch. 40, §§ 9, 10. § 65. The city government of a city or the selectmen of a town, in which there is a public library, owned and main- tained by such city or town, may place in such library, for the use of the inhabitants, such books, reports, and laws as have been or may be received from the Commonwealth. Pub. Stats., ch. 40, § 11. The authority of a town is to " establish and maintain" a library, and under tlie statute the town has authority to print a catalogue. Eastman v. Allard, 149 Mass. 154. § 66. Every town which raises or appropriates money for the support of a free public library, or free public library and reading room that is owned by the town, shall at its annual meeting, or at a legal town meeting appointed and notified for that purpose by the selectmen, elect a board of trustees, except in cases where such library has been or may be acquired by the town, in whole or in part, by some donation or bequest containing other conditions -or provisions for the elections of lbs trustees or for its care and management, which conditions have been accepted and agreed to by vote of the town. Sts. 1888, ch. 304, § 1. § 67. Said board of trustees shall consist of any number of persons divisible by three which the town may decide to elect, one third thereof to be elected annually and to continue 2 18 THE TOWN OFFICER. in office for three years, except that the town shall first elect one third of the trustees for one year, one third for two years, and one third for three years, and thereafter one third the num- ber annually for the term of three years. No person shall be ineligible to serve upon said board of trustees by reason of sex. Such board of trustees shall be elected by ballot, and shall organ- ize ailnually by the clioice of a chairman and secretary from their own number : provided, any town having a free public library which has heretofore elected a board of trustees to manage the same, consisting of a number divisible by three, and has heretofore elected annually one third of said board for three years, may continue to elect annually one third of said board, and the trustees in office shall hold their offices until the term for which they were elected sliall expire, unless the town shall vote otherwise. Sts. 1889, ch. 112. § 68. If any person elected a member of the board of trustees, after being duly notified of his election in the man- ner in which town officers are required to be notified, refuses or neglects to accept said office, or if any member declines further service, or from change of residence or otherwise becomes unable to attend to the duties of the board, the remaining menibers shall in writing give notice of the fact to the selectmen of the town, and the two boards may, there- upon, after giving public notice of at least one week, proceed to fill such vacancy until the next annual town meeting ; and a majority of the ballots of persons entitled to vote shall be necessary to an election. § 69. The trustees so elected by the town shall have the entire custody and management of the library and reading room, and all property owned by the town relating thereto ; and all money raised or appropriated by the town for its support and maintenance, and all money or property that the town may receive by donation from any source, or by bequest, in behalf of said free public library and reading room, shall be placed in the care and custody of the board of trustees to be expended or retained by them for and in behalf of the town for the support and maintenance of its free public library and reading room, in accordance with the conditions of each or any donation or bequest accepted by the town. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 19 § 70. In every town which shall, by a majority of the votes cast at its annual town meeting, or at a legal town meeting appointed and notified for that purpose by the select- men, so direct, the board of trustees shall, in addition to the officers named in the preceding section, elect from among their own number a treasurer, who shall give a bond to the town, similar to the bond given by the town treasurer, for such an amount and with such sureties as may be satisfactory to the selectmen ; and until a town directs otherwise, the town treasurer shall act as treasurer of the board of trustees. § 71. The trustees shall make an explicit report to the town at each annual town meeting of all their receipts and expenditures, and of all the property of the town in their care and custody, including a statement of any unexpended balance of money they may have, and of any bequests or donations they may have received and ai'e holding in behalf of the town, with such recommendations in reference to the same as they may deem necessary for the town to consider. § 72. Nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere with library associations, nor with any library that is or may be organized and managed under special act of the legislature. Sts. 1888, ch. 304, §§ 3-7. § 73. The board of library commissioners is hereby author- ized and directed to expend, upon the application of the board of library trustees of any town having no free public library owned and controlled by the town, a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars for books for any such town entitled to the benefits of this act ; such books to be used by said trustees for the purpose of establishing a free public library, and said commissioners shall select and purchase all books to be pro- vided as aforesaid. Sts. 1890, ch. 347, § 3. (c) The Power of Towns to Manufacture and^ Distribute Gas and Uleetrieify . § 74. Any city or town may, under the limitations of the following sections, construct, purchase, lease, or establish, and maintain within its limits one or more plants for the manu- facture or distribution of gas or electricity for furnishing light for municipal use, and for the use of such of its inhabi- 20 THE TOWN OFFICER. tants as may require and pay for the same as herein provided. Such plants may include suitable land, structures, ease- ments, water privileges, stations, gasometers, boilers, engines, dynamos, tools, machinery, pipes, conduits, ,poles, conductors, burners, lamps, and other apparatus and appliances for makr ing, generating, distributing, and using gas or electricity for lighting purposes. § 75. No town shall exercise the authority conferred in the preceding section until after a vote that it is expedient to exercise such authority shall have been passed by a vote of not less than two thirds of the voters present and voting at each of two legal town meetings duly called for the purpose, of which meetings the second shall be held at an interval of not less than two nor more than thirteen months after the first. At such meetings such vote shall be taken by written or printed ballot and by the use of the check-list. When such a vote has failed of passage as hereinbefore provided at the second of said meetings, no similar vote shall be passed until after the expiration of two years thereafter. Sts. 1891, ch. 370, §§ 1, 3. § 76. Whenever any town, or the city council of any city, shall vote upon the acceptance of the provisions stated in § 74 ante, the clerk of such city or town shall forthwith forward to the board of gas and electric light commissioners a cer- tified abstract of so much of the records of said city council or town as pertains to the acceptance of, or refusal to accept, the provisions of said section. § 77. Whenever in any city or town the votes contem- plated by § 75 ante, have been passed, and any subsequent votes are passed relative to establishing or purchasing a plant, or to reconstructing, extending, or enlarging the same, or for the issue of bonds on account of the same, or concerning in any way the management or conduct thereof, or whenever any city or town shall adopt any ordinance or by-law concerning such plant, the clerk of said city or town shall, within ten days after the passage of such vote, or the adoption of such ordinance or by-law, forward to the board of gas and electric light commissioners a certified copy of every such vote, by-law, or ordinance. Sts. 1892, ch. 259, §§ 1, 2. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 21 § 78. Any city or town establishing or purchasing a plant within its limits as provided in this act, or reconstructing, extending, or enlarging the same, as stated in the next section, may pay for the same by the issue of bonds, payable in a term not exceeding thirty years, and bearing interest at a rate not exceeding five per cent, which shall not be disposed of for less than par and accrued interest, and the indebtedness thereby created shall not be included in the limit of indebtedness of such city or town provided by law ; but such bonds shall not be issued until a vote authorizing the same has been passed by the vote as is required by § 103 post, and the whole amount of bonds so issued by a city or town, and outstanding, shall not exceed at their par value the amount of five per cent of the total valuation of estates therein in the case of a town, or two and one half per cent of such valuation in the case of a city according to the last preceding state valuation. The interest on such bonds and a sinking fund to meet the same at maturity shall be provided for as is required by § 105 post. No indebtedness shall be incurred by any city or town in connec- tion with such plant except as aforesaid, and excepting further that money may be borrowed under the provisions stated in § 101 post, to pay the operating expenses thereof. All receipts from the sale of gas or electricity shall be paid over to the treasurer of such city or town. The gross expenses of running such plant and conducting such business of supplying gas or electric light, including interest on such bonds and requirements of the sinking fund as aforesaid, shall be included in the appropriations made annually or from time to time by such city or town, and shall be paid out of the treasury thereof. § 79. Any city or town owning a plant for the manufacture or distribution of gas or electricity may reconstruct, extend or enlarge the same, but no such reconstruction, extension, or enlargement, beyond the necessary and ordinary maintenance, repair, and replacement thereof, except such increased appli- ances for the distribution of gas and electricity as may be necessary to furnish the same to new takers, shall be under- taken or made except by the vote provided by the preceding section in case of the issue of bonds. 22 THE TOWN OFFICER. § 80. Any city or town obtaining a plant may provide by ordinance, if a city, or by by-laws, if a town, for the equitable assessment upon the owner or occupant of any premises of any part or the whole of the cost of laying and maintaining upon such premises, pipes, conduits, conductors or other appli- ances for the distribution of gas or electricity to the occupants thereof. Payment of such assessments shall not be obliga- tory, but shall be made a condition precedent to the supply of gas or electricity to the occupants of such premises, and may be exacted before providing any such appliances for such distribution. § 81. Any city or town having obtained a plant for the pur- pose, as provided iu this act, may manufacture, generate, and distribute gas or electricity for furnishing light for municipal use or for the use of its inhabitants, under such regulations as it may establish. No city or town shall be compelled to furnish gas or electricity to any person or corporation except upon order of the gas and electric light commissioners and after payment of any assessment provided for in the preceding section. Any person or corporation aggrieved by the refusal of any city or town supplying gas or electricity under the authority of this act to furnish the same may appeal to such commissioners, setting forth in such appeal what is required of the city or town, in such detail as the commissioners may require. § 82. Whenever any city or town shall obtain a plant as stated in § 74 ante, the operation, control, management and repair thereof, the manufacture, generation, and dis- tribution of gas and electricity thereby, including the pur- chase of supplies, the hiring and discharge of employees, and all business relating to such manufacture, generation, and distribution, to the methods, amounts, times, prices and quality of the supply to each person and corporation, the collection of bills, the keeping of accounts and custody of moneys received for gas or electricity or otherwise, and the payment of bills incurred in said business, shall be entrusted, subject to any ordinances established by the city council in a city, or the by-laws or regulations established in a town, to one officer, who shall be appointed and may be removed by the mayor in GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 23 a city, and by the selectmen in a town. Such officer shall be known as manager of gas, manager of electric light, or manager of gas and electric light, according as a plant for one or both may be under his charge. In cities, the compensation of such officer shall be annually fixed by the city council, and in towns by the selectmen. Before entering upon the duties of his office he shall give bond to the city or town for the faithful perform- ance of his duties in such sum and form and with such sureties as the mayor or selectmen shall approve. He shall at the end of each municipal year render to the mayor or selectmen such detailed statement of his doings and of the business and financial matters in his charge as the gas and electric light commissioners may prescribe. He shall also at any time, when required by the mayor or selectmen, make to him or them a statement of his doings, business, receipts, disburse- ments, balances, and of the indebtedness of the city or town in his department, in the detail required ; and he shall pay over to the treasurer of the city or town all receipts collected. § 83. The books and accounts pertaining to the business authorized by this act shall be kept in a form to be prescribed by the board of gas and electric light commissioners, and the accounts shall be closed on the thirtieth day of June in each year, so that a balance sheet of that date can be taken there- from and included in the return to said board, which return shall be for the year ending the thirtieth day of June. The mayor or selectmen and manager shall annually, on or before the second Wednesday of September in each year, make a return to said board in a form prescribed by it, setting forth the financial condition of said business, the amount of indebt- edness authorized or existing on account thereof, a statement of income and expenses in such detail as the board may require, with a list of salaried officers employed in said business, and the amount of salary paid to each. Said return shall be signed and sworn to by the mayor or a majority of the select- men, and in both cities and towns by the manager. The mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town may direct, in addition, any additional returns to be made at such time and in such detail as they may order. The mayor or selectmen and manager shall also at all times, on request, submit said 24 THE TOWN OFFICER. books and accounts for the inspection of said board, and furnish any statement or information required by the board concerning the condition, management, and operation of said business. § 84. Tlie price to be charged for gas or electricity to per- sons and corporations shall be fixed, and shall not be changed oftener than once in three months. Any change shall take effect on the first day of a month, and the new price adopted shall, before the change shall take effect, be advertised in some newspaper published in the city or town where the plant is, if any is published therein. Such price shall not, except with the written consent of the gas and electric light commissioners, be fixed at less than cost, in which shall be included, in addi- tion to all operating expenses, interest on the net investment in plant made by the city or town, less assessments collected in the manner stated in § 80^ at the rate paid upon the bonds above provided for, together with the requirements of the sinking fund established to meet such bonds, and also depre- ciatioii of the plant, to be reckoned at not less than five per cent per annum of its cost, and losses ; but any losses exceed- ing three per cent of the investment in plant may be charged in different years at not more than such three per cent per annum. Such price shall not be greater tlian shall allow above such cost a profit of eight per cent per annum to the city or town upon its net investment. In fixing such ' cost to establish the price to be charged to persons and corpora- tions the gas and electricity used by the city or town shall be charged to it at cost. A sufficient deposit to secure the pay- ment for gas or electricity for three months may be required in advance from any taker, and the supply may be shut off from any premises until all arrearages for gas or electricity filrnished thereon, to whomsoever furnished, shall be paid. After three months default in the payment of such arrearages all appliances for distribution belonging to the city or town on such premises may be removed, and after such removal shall not be restored except on payment of all such arrearages, and a sufficient sum to cover all expenses caused by removal and restoration. Sts. 1891, ch. 370, §§ 4-10. § 85. Whenever any city or town engaged in the business GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 25 of selling gas or electric light, or both, to persons or corpora- tions, shall fix or change the price of such light, the manager of gas or electric light in such city or town shall send to the board of gas and electric light commissioners a certified copy of the notice announcing such price or change. Sts. 1892, ch. 259, § 3. § 86. When any city or town shall decide as hereinbefore provided to establish a plant, and any person, firm, or cor- poration shall at the time of the first vote required for such decision be engaged in the business of making, generating, or distributing gas or electricity for sale for lighting purposes in such city or town, such city or town shall, if such person, firm, or corporation shall elect to sell and shall comply with the provisions of this act, purchase of such person, firm, or corporation before establishing a public plant such portion of his, their, or its gas or electric plant and property suitable and used for such business in connection therewith as lies within the limits of such city or town. If in such city or town a single corporation owns or operates both a gas plant and an electric plant, such purchase shall include both of such plants, but otherwise such city or town shall only be obliged to pur- chase the existing gas plant or plants if it has voted only to establish a gas plant, and shall only be obliged to purchase the existing electric plant or plants if it has only voted to establish an electric plant. If the main gas works, in the case of a gas plant, or the central lighting station, in the case of an electric light plant, lie within the limits of the city or town which has voted to establish a plant as aforesaid, such city or town shall purchase as herein provided the whole of such plant and property used in connection therewith, lying within its limits, and the price to be paid therefor shall be its fair market value for the purposes of its use, no portion of such plant to be estimated, however, ,at less than its fair market value for any other purpose, including as an element of value any locations or similar rights acquired from private persons in connection therewith, plus the damages suffered by the severance of any portion of such plant lying outside of the limits of such city or town, unless it shall refuse or neglect to purchase the same, and minus the amount of any mortgage 26 THR TOWN OFFICER. or other encumbrance or lien to which the plant so purchased, or any part thereof, may be subject at the time of transfer of title ; but such city or town may require that such plant and property be transferred to it free and clear from any mortgage or lien, imless the commissioners appointed under the provi- sions of section thirteen of this act shall otherwise determine. Such value shall be estimated without enhancement on accoimt of future earning capacity, or good will, or of exclusive privi- leges derived from rights in the public streets. If the main gas works or central lighting station of such a plant do not lie within the limits of the city or town which has voted as aforesaid, then such city or town shall only purchase that portion of such plant and property which lies within its limits, paying therefor upon the basis of value above established, but without allowance of damages on account of severance of plant. No city or town shall be obligated by this section to buy any apparatus or appliances covered by letters patent of the United States or embodying a patentable invention unless a complete right to use the same and all other apparatus or appliances necessary for such use within the limits of such city or town to such extent as such city or town shall rea- sonably require such right, shall be assigned or granted to such city or town at a cost as low as the cost of such right would be to the person, firm, or coi-poration whose plant is purchased. No town shall be obliged to buy any property added to a plant unnecessarily after the passage of its vote to exercise the authority conferred in § 74, nor any property except such as shall be suitable for the business which the town may assume ; and if any property or plant which the town shall be entitled or obliged to buy will not be available if purchased, by reason of liens or other cause, the town may be released from buying it, or a discount may be made from the price to be paid. Sts. 1893, ch. 454, § 5. § 87. Whenever the existing gas plant or electric plant of any person or corporation shall have been acquired by any city or town pursuant to the provisions of this act, the powers and rights of such person or corporation in relation to the manufacture and distribution of gas or electricity within the GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 27 limits of sucli city or town shall, from and after the date of such acquirement, cease and determine. § 88. Any city or town owning or operating a plant or plants for the manufacture or distribution of gas or electricity for furnishing light under this act, shall be responsible for any injury or damage to persons or property, happening or arising by reason of the maintenance or operation of the same, in the same manner and to the same extent as though the same were owned and operated by an individual or private corporation ; but notliing in this act shall be construed to include damages to any existing gas or electric plant in a city or town by reason of the establishment of a competing line or plant under authority of this act. § 89. All general laws of the Commonwealth, and all ordi- nances or by-laws of any city or town availing itself of the provisions of this act relative to the manufacture, use, genera- tion, or distribution of gas or electricity, or the quality thereof, or plant or the appliances therefor, shall apply to such city or town, so far as the same may be applicable and not inconsist- ent with this act, in the same manner as the same apply to persons and corporations engaged in making, generating, or distributing gas or electricity therein. § 90. Nothing herein shall be construed to take away, re- strict, or impair any rights of any city, town, or other authority, which may now exist to revoke locations of wires, poles, con- duits, or pipes in, over, or under their streets or ways : provided, however, that no city or town having within its limits the main gas works, in the case of a gas plant, or the central lighting station, in the case of an electric light plant, or the major portion of the wires, poles, conduits, or pipes used in connection with any such works or plants, shall, except for a violation of the terms or conditions upon which the same were granted, or for a violation of law respecting the exercise thereof, revoke any rights heretofore granted, or which may hereafter be granted, to any person or corporation engaged in the business of making, generating, or distributing gas or electricity for sale for lighting purposes, after the first passage by the city council, in the case of a city, of the vote provided for, or while such vote is pending in either branch thereof, or 28 THE TOWN OPPICEE. in the case of a town, after the passage of the first vote as stated in § 75 ante, or after the calling of a town-meeting at which the passage of such vote is included in the war- rant : provided, however, that in case in either a city or town the second vote provided for by this act shall fail of passage, or in a city shall fail to receive the approval of the mayor or the ratification of the voters in accordance with this act, then such city or town may exercise all rights of revoca- tion, if any, which it possessed prior to the passage of such first vote until such first vote is again passed, or pending or included in the warrant as above provided. And after the passage and ratification of both votes by a city, and after the passage of both votes in the manner stated in § 75 ante by a town, no such city or town shall, except as hereinbefore pro- vided, revoke any rights, locations, or licenses gi-anted to any such person or corporation. The provisions of this section shall apply, in the case of a city, whether such revocation shall be made by both branches of the city government or by one branch. Sts. 1891, ch. 370, §§ 15-18 ; Sts. 1893, ch. 454. (d) Town Subscriptions to Railroads. § 91. Any town within which the road of a railroad corpo- ration organized after the first day of February in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, or the road of a railroad corporation then existing and whose road was not then con- structed, is located or terminates, and any such city having by the census of the year eighteen hundred and seventy less than thirty thousand inhabitants, may subscribe for and hold shares of the capital stock of the securities of any or all such corporations, to an amount not exceeding, for the aggregate in all such corporations, two per cent of the valuation of such city or town for the year in which the subscription is made ; and any such town having a valuation not exceeding three millions of dollars may so subscribe for and hold the securities of such corporations, or either of them, to an additional amount not exceeding one per cent of the valuation of such town in the year in which the subscription is made : provided, that two thirds of the legal voters in such city or town, present and voting by ballot and using the check-list, at legal meetings GENERAL POWEBS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 29 called for the purpose and held in like manner as the meetings for the choice of municipal officers are held therein, vote so to subscribe. Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize a city or town to make subscriptions to a greater amount than is stated in § 111 poit. § 92. A city or town, by vote passed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding section, may become an asso- ciate under section thirty-four of chapter 112 Public Statutes in the formation of a railroad corporation to construct a road located or terminating therein, with all the powers and privi- leges enjoyed by an individual associate. § 93. The form in which the matters provided for in the two preceding sections shall be voted upon shall be determined in cities by a concurrent vote of both branches of the city council, and in towns by the selectmen ; and whenever a city or town has voted to subscribe to such stock or securities, or to become an associate in the formation of such corporation, the mayor and aldermen or the selectmen shall select some person, who may in behalf of the city or town execute its vote. § 94. A subscription authorized by vote as is stated in § 91 ante, shall be void, unless actually made by the persons authorized within twelve months from said vote ; and unless, within the said period a part thereof is actually paid, or some proceeding is commenced by the corporation to enforce pay- ment thereof, and at least twenty per cent of the capital stock of the corporation is actually paid in cash, and at least ten per cent of the capital stock is actually expended by it in the construction of its road. § 95. Towns and cities so subscribing for stock or securi- ties may raise money to pay for the same by tax, or, within the limits stated in § 111 post by loan, and may issue their notes or bonds for such loan, and may hold and dispose of such stock and securities in like manner as other town property ; and the selectmen of towns, and such persons as may be authorized by the city councils of cities, may rep- resent their respective municipalities at all meetings of the corporations in which the stock or securities are held, and vote upon all the shares of stock owned by them respectively. Pub. Stats, ch, 112, §§ 46-50. 30 THE TOWN OFFICER. (e) Municipal Indebtedness. § 96. Cities and towns shall not incur debts except in the manner of voting, and within the limitations as to amount and time of payment, prescribed in the following sections. § 97. In ascertaining the amount of indebtedness of a city or town for the purposes of this chapter, debts created for supplying the inhabitants with water shall be omitted, and the amount of its sinking-funds shall be deducted. § 98. The provisions set forth in §§ 96-110 do not apply to debts lawfully incurred in aid of railroad corporations, or to water-scrip lawfully issued by a town under special statutes, for the indebtedness of a fire district. Pub. Stats, ch. 29, §§ 1-3. § 99. No city or town, except as provided in the following section, shall become indebted in an amount which exceeds three per cent on the last preceding valuation, for the assess- ment of taxes, of the taxable property therein, except damages paid for alteration of grade crossings. Pub. Stats, ch. 29, § 4 ; Sts. 1892, ch. 178. § 100. Cities and towns which were indebted on the thirteenth day oE June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five to an amount not less than two per cent on the valuation for said year, for the assessment of taxes, of the taxable property therein, may, within the limitations as to the manner of voting the same and time of payment pre- scribed in this chapter, increase such indebtedness to the extent of an additional one per cent on that valuation, and no more. Pub. Stats., ch. 29, § 5. § 101. Cities and towns may, by ordinary vote, incur debts for temporary loans in anticipation of the taxes of the munici- pal year in which such debts are incurred and expressly made payable therefrom by vote of the city or town. Sts. 1889, ch". 372. § 102. Debts incurred by cities and towns for temporary loans in anticipation of the taxes of the municipal year in which such debts are incurred and expressly made payable therefrom by vote of the city or town, shall become due and payable within one year from the date of their incurrence. Sts. 1891, ch. 221. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF TOWNS. 31 § 103. Other debts than those mentioned in the two pre- ceding sections shall be incurred only by a vote of two thirds of the voters present and voting at a town meeting, or of two thirds of all the members of each branch of the city council, taken by yeas and nays and approved by the mayor ; or, if he disapproves such vote, by another like vote taken after notice of such disapproval, which notice shall be given within ten days from the time in which the vote of the city council is laid before the mayor ; and if the mayor fails to give such notice to the branch of the city council in which such vote was first taken, he shall be deemed to have approved such vote. Pub. Stats., ch. 29, § 7. This statute deprives cities and towns of the authority to contract debts for borrowed money, which they had previously possessed, whether derived from express grant or held to exist as an implied power ; and, instead of it, gives to these munici- palities a limited power, which can be lawfully exercised only in the mode specially pointed out. It contains a positive pro- hibition of all debts contracted for borrowed money in any other mode ; therefore an action cannot be maintained against a town on a promissory note given by its treasurer for bor- rowed money, unless the vote of the town authorizing the treasurer to borrow money shows either that the debt was in anticipation of the taxes of the year in which the debt was incurred, and of the year next ensuing, and expressly made payable therefrom, or that the vote was passed by two thirds of the legal voters present and voting at a legal meeting. Agawam National Bank v. South Hadley, 128 Mass. 503. § 104. All debts mentioned in the preceding section shall be payable within the following periods : namely, debts incurred in supplying the inhabitants with water, within not exceeding thirty years ; debts incurred in constructing sewers, within not exceeding thirty years ; and all other debts within not exceeding ten years. Sts. 1892, ch. 245, § 6. § 105. The interest on all debts shall be raised by taxation annually. When a debt is payable at a period exceeding ten years, the city or town shall, and when payable at a period not exceeding ten years may, at the time of contracting the same, establish a sinking-fund, and contribute thereto from 32 THE TOWN OFFICER. year to year an amount raised annually by taxation sufficient with its accumulations to extinguish the debt at maturity ; and when payable at a period not exceeding ten years, the city or town shall raise by taxation annually not less than eight per cent of the principal thereof, and shall set apart the same for a sinking-fund until an amount is raised sufficient with its accumulations to extinguish the debt at its maturity ; and shall raise any balance necessary for such extinguishment, by taxation, in the year before the maturity of the debt. No such sinking-fund shall be used for any other purpose than the payment and redemption of such debt. § 106. A town establishing a sinking-fund under the pro- visions of this chapter shall, at the time of establishing the same, elect by ballot three or six commissioners of its sinking- funds; and a city establishing such a fund sliall elect such commissioners by a concurrent vote of both branches of the city council. One third of the number shall be elected for one, two, and three years respectively : and annually there- after there shall be elected, for a term of three years, a number equal to the number whose term of service then expires. Vacancies occurring in the board shall, in towns, be filled by the remaining member or members and the select- men, by a majority of ballots of the officers so entitled to vote, at a meeting called for the purpose by the selectmen ; and in cities by the city council in the manner herein pro- vided for the election of the commissioners. The remaining member or members shall in case of a vacancy exercise the powers of the board until the vacancy is filled. The city or town treasurer shall not be eligible as such commissioner, and the acceptance of the office of treasurer by a commissioner already elected shall operate as a resignation of the office of commissioner. But the foregoing provisions as to the mode of electing commissioners and filling vacancies shall not apply to boards of sinking-fund commissioners established before the thirteenth day of June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five. The commissioners shall choose a treasurer, who may be the city or town treasurer ; and if the city or town treasurer is chosen, his bond shall apply to and include duties performed GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 33 under this chapter. If any other person is chosen treasurer, he shall give a bond, with sureties, to the satisfaction of the commissioners, for the proper discharge of the duties of his office. § 107. The commissioners shall receive all sums contrib- uted to a sinking-fund, and shall invest and reinvest the same, and the income thereof as it accrues, in the name of the board, in the particular scrip, notes, or bonds for the redemption of which such sinking-fund was established, or in other bonds of such city or town secured by sinking-funds, or in the securities in which by law the funds of savings banks may be invested (except personal securities) ; but no portion of the same shall be loaned to the cdty or town except as herein provided ; and the commissioners may sell and rein- vest such securities when required in their judgment. They shall keep a record of their proceedings ; and shall annually, at the time when other municipal officers are required to make their annual reports, make a written report to the city or town of the amount and condition of said funds, and of the income thereof for the preceding financial year. The record of and the securities belonging to said funds shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the selectmen, mayor, and aldermen, or of any committee of the city or town duly authorized for the purpose. The necessary expenses of the board shall be paid by the city or town ; and the treasurer and secretary thereof shall receive such compensation as shall be fixed by the city or town, but no commissioner shall I'eceive compensation for his services. When securities issued by a city or town become a part of its sinking-fund, the commissioners shall cause to be stamped or written on the face thereof a notice that they are a part of such sinking-fund, and are not negotiable ; and all coupons thereof, as they become due and are paid, shall be cancelled. § 108. Each city and town which was indebted on the thirteenth day of June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, to an amount exceeding five per cent on the valua- tion for said year, for the assessment of taxes, of the taxable property therein, shall establish a sinking-fund and contribute thereto from year to year an amount raised annually by taxa- 3 34 THE TOWN OFFICER. tion sufficient with its accumulations to extinguish the debt within thirty years from said date ; and each city and town which was then indebted to an amount less than five per cent and more than one per cent on such valuation shall establish a sinking-fund and contribute thereto as above provided, so as to extinguish the debt within twenty years from said date ; subject, however, in both cases, to the provisions of the follow- ing section. § 109. In establishing and contributing to the sinking-funds mentioned in the preceding section, it shall be sufficient to provide for the extinguishment, at their maturity, of funded debts existing on the thirteenth day of June in the year eighteen hundred' and seventy -five, and for the extinguish- ment within thirty years from said date of debts then existing and contracted for supplying the inhabitants with water. § 110. Nothing contained in the preceding sections shall be construed as prohibiting the inhabitants of towns, or city councils, from paying or providing for the payment of any debt at earlier periods than is therein required ; or from renewing the same in securities payable within the period required for the final payment of the debt ; or from adding to any sinking-funds the excess of any appropriation over the amount required for the purpose thereof, or any sums derived from taxation or from other sources which are not required by law to be otherwise expended ; and such additions may be made for the purpose of reducing the entire debt for the redemption of which the sinking-fund was established, or of reducing the amount to be raised by taxation for such fund. Pub. Stats., ch. 29, §§ 9-14. § 111. No city or town shall, for the purpose of subscribing in aid of a railroad corporation, increase its indebtedness to an amount which with its existing net indebtedness, incurred for any purpose, exceeds three per cent of the valuation of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last prece- ding city or town valuation for the assessment of taxes ; but the limitation of this section shall not apply to temporary loans in anticipation of the taxes of the year in which such debts are incurred and of the year next ensuing, and expressly made payable from such taxes by vote of the said city or town. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 35 § 112. A city or town owing debts incurred in aid of a railroad corporation may, for the purpose of paying the same, establish a sinking-fund, which shall be subject to the provi- sions stated in §§ 106 and 107 ante, and may contribute thereto any sums received from sales of the stock or securities of such corporations, or from dividends or interest upon the same, or from taxes voted for the payment of such indebted- ness ; and may transfer the custody and management of such stock and securities to the commissioners of such sinking- fund. § 113. A city or town having a sinking-fund for the pay- ment of its general indebtedness, under the provisions of this chapter, may, by a vote of the inhabitants of such town, or of the city council of such city, provide that the commissioners of such sinking-fund shall be the commissioners of the sinking- fund under the preceding section. § 114. A city or town owing debts described in § 112, shall annually raise by taxation a sum sufficient, with the income, if any, derived from its stock or securities there mentioned, to pay the interest on such debts. § 115. A city or town which recalls and pays any of its securities, under rights reserved therein, may issue, in place of securities so recalled and paid, other securities payable at periods within the maturity of those originally issued. Such new securities shall, for debts created before the twenty -eighth day of May in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six, be made payable within thirty years from the thirteenth day of June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five ; and shall, for debts created after said twenty-eighth day of May, be made payable within thirty years from the time of contracting the same. Pub. Stats., ch. 29, §§ 19-23. § 116. Any city or town required by the preceding sections, to establish a sinking-fund for the payment of its indebted- ness may, instead thereof, by a majority vote provide for the payment of such indebtedness in such annual proportion- ate payments as will extinguish the same within the time prescribed in said sections ; and when such vote has been heretofore or shall be hereafter passed, the amount required thereby shall, without further vote, be assessed by the assessors 36 THE TOWN OFFICER. in each year thereafter, until the debt shall be extinguished, in the same manner as other taxes are assessed. Sts. 1882, ch. 133, § 1. § 117. Any city or town which has already incurred or shall hereafter incur a debt under the provisions of the pre- ceding sections may issue notes, bonds, or scrip therefor, properly denominated on the face thereof, and signed by its treasurer and countersigned in case of a city by its mayor, and in case of a town by a majority of its board of selectmen, and within the limitations as to amount and time of payment prescribed in said sections, with interest payable semiannually at a rate not exceeding six per cent per annum ; and may sell said notes, bonds, or scrip at public or private sale, or use the same in payment of such debts upon such terms and conditions as it may deem proper, provided that said notes, bonds, and scrip shall not be sold at less than par. Sts. 1884, ch. 129. Cemeteries and Burials. § 118. Each town and city shall provide one or more suitable places for the interment of persons dying within its limits. § 119. When there is a necessity for a new burial-ground in a town, or for the enlargement of a burial-ground already existing in and belonging to a town, and the owner or any per- son interested in the land needed for either purpose refuses to sell the same, or demands therefor a price deemed unrea- sonable by the selectmen of the town, or is unable for any reason to convey the land, the selectmen may, with the appro- bation of the town, make application therefor by written petition to the commissioners of the county wherein the land is situated. Pub. Stats, ch. 82, §§ 9, 10. § 120. Towns may grant and vote such sums as they may judge necessary for enclosing any cemetery provided by them according to law, or constructing paths and avenues and embellishing the grounds in the same, and may establish all necessary rules in relation thereto not repugnant to law. They may lay out such cemetery into lots, and shall set apart a suitable portion as a public burial-place for the use of the inhabitants, free of charge. They may sell and convey to any GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 37 persons, whether residents of the towns or otherwise, the exclu- sive right of burial and of erecting tombs and cenotaphs upon any lot, and of ornamenting the same upon such terms, condi- tions, and regulations as they shall prescribe ; and the proceeds of such sales shall be paid into town treasuries, and be kept separate and apart from other funds, and be appropriated to reimburse the towns for the cost of the land, or of the im- provement and embellishment thereof. § 121. No city or town shall alienate, convey, or appro- priate to any other use than that of a burial-ground, any tract of land whicii has been for more than one hundred years used as a place of burial of the dead ; and no portion of such burial- ground shall be taken for any public use without special author- ity from the legislature; but this section shall not apply in any case where the town had given its consent to such use, or where special authority therefor had been granted by the legislature, prior to the twenty-eighth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and eighty. § 122. Any person holding, occupying, or interested in a lot in a public burial-place of a city or town may deposit with the treasurer of such city or town a sum of money not exceed- ing five hundred dollars for the purpose of providing for the preservation and care of such lot or its appurtenances ; which sum shall be entered upon the books of the treasurer, and held in accordance with the provisions of the ordinances or by-laws of such city or town in relation to burials. A city or town may pass such ordinances or by-laws as may be neces- sary for the purposes of this section, and not repugnant to law ; and may receive such money for said purposes, and may allow interest thereon at a rate not exceeding six per cent a year. Pub. Stats, ch. 82, §§ 15-17. § 123. No highway or town way shall be laid out or con- structed in, upon, or through an enclosure used or appro- priated for the burial of the dead, unless authority to that effect is specially granted by law, or the consent of the inhabi- tants of the town where such enclosure is situated is first obtained. § 124. No highway or town way shall be laid out or con- structed in, upon, or through such part of an enclosure belong- 38 THE TOWN OFFICER. ing to private proprietors, as may be used or appropriated to the burial of the dead, unless the consent of such proprietors is first obtained. Pub. Stats, eh. 82, §§ 29, 30. § 125. Any town which shall adopt the provisions of chapter 264 of the Acts of 1890, may elect, at a properly called town meeting, a board of three commissioners of burial- grounds, who shall have general charge of all matters per- taining to burial-grounds and burials. And a town which adopts this act may receive donations, gifts or bequests for maintaining cemeteries and cemetery lots, and these gifts or bequests shall be paid into the town treasury, and be under the charge of the town treasurer. Sts. 1890, ch. 264. Forests and Parks. § 126. The voters of a town at a meeting properly called, may vote to purchase land within the limits of the toWn, to be devoted to the preservation, reproduction, and culture of forest trees for the sake of the wood and timber, or for the preserva- tion of the water supply of the town. Sts. 1882, ch. 255. § 127. A town which accepts the provisions of chapter 154 of the Acts of 1882 may, at a legal meeting called for the purpose, elect a board of park commissioners consisting of three persons. This board may take by gift, purchase, devise, or otherwise, lands desirable for public parks, and they shall have charge of all matters connected with parks. Sts. 1882, ch. 154. Payment of State Aid. § 128. Any city or town may raise money for the purposes of this act; and the treasurers thereof may, under the direc- tion of the mayor and aldermen or the selectmen thereof, under the following conditions pay state aid to, or expend it for, any worthy person having a residence and actually resid- ing in such city or town who is not receiving aid from any other state, nor from any other city or town in this state, and who shall be in such necessitous circumstances as to require further public assistance, and who shall belong to either of the following classes, to wit : First Class. Invalid pensioners of the United States who served in the army or navy of the United States between the nineteenth day of April in the year GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 39 eighteen hundred and sixty-one and the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, to the credit of the state of Massachusetts ; or in such army or navy in the military organizations of this state known as three months' men, ninety days' men, or one hundred days' men, mustered into the United States service in the months of April, May, June or July in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or April, May, July, or August in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four ; — or who, having their residence and actually resid- ing in this state at the time of their enlistment, served to the credit of any other state in such army or navy, between the nineteenth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one and the eighteenth day of March in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two ; which pensioners have been honorably discharged from their said service in the army or navy and are so far disabled by such service as to prevent them from following their ordinary and usual vocations. Second Class. Dependent relatives of soldiers or sailors who have served in the manner and under the limitations described for the service of invalid pensioners of the first class, and have, if not dying in such service, been honorably discharged therefrom, as fol- lows : namely, the widows and widowed mothers of soldiers or sailors dying in such service, or dying after their honorable discliarge therefrom, or dying while in receipt of a pension of the United States and the state aid of this state, and the wives and widowed mothers of invalid pensioners of the first class receiving from the United States at least one-half the amount allowed for total disability. Third Class. Dependent relatives of soldiers or sailors who have served in the manner and under the limitations described for the service of invalid pensioners of the first class, who appear on the rolls of their respective regiments or companies, in the office of the adjutant- general, to be missing or to have been captured by the enemy, and who have not been exchanged, and have not returned from captivity, and who are not known to be alive, as follows : namely, the widows or wives and widowed mothers of such soldiers or sailors : provided, that no such relative of any such soldier or sailor shall belong to this class or be aided as such if the municipal authorities granting the aid shall have good and 40 THE TOWN OFFICER. sufficient reason to believe that such soldier or sailor deserted, or that he is still living and wilfully absent from his family. Fourth Glass. Persons who were receiving state aid as de- pendent fathers or mothers, prior to the eleventh day of April in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and were pre- cluded therefrom by the provisions of the act of that date : provided, the mayor and aldermen or selectmen shall in each case be satisfied, on evidence first reported to the commission- ers of state aid and satisfactory to them, that justice and necessity require a continuance of the aid to prevent actual suffering. § 129. No wife or widow of any discharged soldier or sailor shall be held to belong to either of the foregoing classes or be aided as such under this act unless, if his wife, she was married to him prior to his final discharge from the service aforesaid, and, if his widow, she was married to him prior to the ninth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and eighty. No person receiving military aid shall also receive state aid. The words " pensioners," " soldiers " and " sailors," singular or plural, used in this act shall be held to include commissioned officers. § 130. All persons specifically referred to and to or for whom state aid is paid under any special act or resolve passed since the first day of June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, or to or for whom state aid was then being paid under any special act or resolve then repealed, shall be held to belong to the first or second classes under this act, — namely, soldiers and sailors to the first class, and dependent relatives of soldiers and sailors to the second class, — not- withstanding the limitations of such classes ; and state aid may be paid to or for such persons in the manner and under the same limitations that it is paid to or for other persons of their respective classes under this act : provided, that no aid shall be paid to or for any person under this section contrary to any limitation or condition expressed in the original special act or resolve authorizing state aid to be paid to or for such person. All special acts and resolves granting state aid are hereby repealed except so far as they authorize the payment of military aid as provided in section eleven of an act entitled, GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 41 An Act relative to military aid, of the Acts of 1889 : provided, that this section shall not be held to apply to any special act or resolve specifically granting a fixed amount or an annual sum to any soldier or sailor or the dependent relative of any soldier or sailor for life or a term therein specified. § 131. No state aid shall be paid under this act to or for any person of the first class to an amount exceeding three fourtlis of the monthly amount of his pension, nor more than six dollars in any one month ; and if pensioned as a commissioned officer he shall only be paid such proportion of state aid as he would be entitled to receive if his pension were based upon the rank of a private. No state aid shall be paid under this act to or for any person of the second, third, or fourth classes to an amount exceeding four dollars in any one month ; and no more than eight dollars shall be paid to or for all the de- pendent relatives of any one soldier or sailor in any one month. § 1 32. All aid furnished under this act shall be paid to or for the persons for whom it is intended, for their future bene- fit ; and no assignment thereof shall be valid or recognized, and it shall not be subject to trustee process. No back state aid shall be paid. No greater sum shall be paid to or for any person under this act than shall be necessary to furnish such person reasonable relief ; and no aid shall be paid under its provisions to or for any person competent to support himself or herself, or in receipt of income, or in ownership of prop- erty, sufficient for his or her own support, nor to or for any person more than is necessary in addition to the income and property of such person for his or her personal relief ; and no aid shall be paid under this act to any person not in such necessitous circumstances as to require further public assist- ance. No aid shall be paid under this act to or for any pensioner or dependent relative when the necessity therefor arises from the continuance in vicious or intemperate habits of said pensioner or of the soldier or sailor on whose account the same is paid. No aid shall be paid under this act to or for any person convicted of any criminal offence, unless or until the municipal authorities and the commissioners of state aid otherwise determine. § 133. Persons making application for aid in any city or 42 THE TOWN OFPICEE. town under this act shall, as a basis for the first payment thereof, state in writing, under oath, the age and residence of the party for whom such aid is claimed ; the relation of the claimant to the party who rendered the service for which aid is claimed ; the company and regiment, or the vessel, if any, in which the officer, soldier, or sailor enlisted and in which he last served ; the date and place of such enlistment, when known ; the duration of such service and the reason upon which the claim for aid is founded ; and furnish such official certificates of record, evidence of enlistment, service and dis- charge as may be required. Municipal authorities granting to such claimant any subsequent aid shall from time to time make such investigation into the necessities of said claimant and the facts of the case as to preclude any payment thereof contrary to the terms of this act. The original papers in each case shall be filed with the commissioners of state aid if required. It shall be the duty of the auditor to furnish from time to time to each city and town a sufficient number of blank forms for the use of applicants for aid under this act. Sts. 1889, ch. 301, §§ 1-6. § 134. When any sum shall have been expended under and according to this act, the full amount so expended, the ages and names of the persons aided, and the classes to which they severally belong, and the seyeral sums paid to or for each person and the reasons for the expenditure in each case, and the names of the persons on account of whose services the aid was granted, and the names of the regiments and vessels, if any, in which they respectively enlisted and in which they last served, and the relationship of each dependent relative aided to the person on account of whose services the aid was granted, with such other details as the commissioners of state aid may require, shall be certified under oath to the auditor in manner approved by him, by the mayor, treasurer, and city clerk of any city, or by a majority of the selectmen of any town, disbursing the same, within ten days after the first day of the month next after the expenditure is made. The sums legally paid as aforesaid, and allowed and indorsed by the commissioners of state aid, shall be reimbursed from the treasury of the Commonwealth to the several towns GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 43 and cities expending the same, on or before the first day of December in the year next after the year in which tlie same have been paid, but none of the expenses attending the pay- ment of state aid shall be reimbursed. § 135. The provisions of this act shall continue in force until the first day of January in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five and no longer, and so far as they are the same as those of existing laws shall be construed as a con- tinuation thereof : provided, however, that such provisions of this act as relate to the settlement of accounts for payment of aid rendered by cities and towns previous to said date, and to reimbursement therefor, shall continue in force one year and no longer after said date. Sts. 1889, ch. 301, §§ 8, 9. § 136. Whenever any person who served in the army or navy of the United States in the war of the rebellion and received an honorable discharge from all enlistments therein, and who has a legal settlement in a city or town in the Commonwealth, becomes, from any cause except his own criminal or wilful misconduct, poor and entirely or in part unable to provide maintenance for himself, his wife and minor children under the age of sixteen years ; or whenever such a person has died and left a widow or such minor children with- out proper means of support, such person, his wife or widow, or such minor children shall be supported wholly or in part, as may be necessary, by the city or town in which they or either of them have a legal settlement. Such relief shall be furnished by the mayor and aldermen of such city, or the selectmen of such town at the home of the beneficiary, or at such other place as they may deem right and proper. But no beneficiary shall be required to receive such relief at any almshouse or public institution unless the physical or mental condition of such beneficiary shall require it, or unless such beneficiary shall choose to do so ; the choice to be made in case of a minor by the parent or guardian of such minor. In all printed reports of the expenses for such relief by the cities and towns under this section said expenses shall be designated as soldiers' relief. Sts. 1890, ch. 447. 44 the town officer. Abuse of Cobpoeatb Powers by Towns. § 137. When a town votes to raise by taxation or pledge of its credit, or to pay from its treasury, any money for a purpose other than those for which it has the legal right and power, the supreme judicial court may upon the suit or peti- tion of not less than ten taxable inhabitants thereof, briefly setting forth the cause of complaint, hear and determine the same in equity. Any justice of said court may in term time or vacation issue injunctions and make such orders and decrees as may be necessary or proper to restrain or prevent a viola- tion or abuse of such legal right and power, before the final determination of the cause bv said court. Pub. Stats., ch. 27, § 129. The remedy given above need not be resorted to till money is about to be paid illegally out of the town treasury. " It is the improper expenditure of the money which does the prin- cipal injury." ■ Copeland v. Huntington, 99 Mass. 525. " It has never been held that the statute gives an absolute right to any ten taxpayers to maintain a bill in equity whenever a city or town has voted to pay money from its treasury for a purpose which is not legal. It gives the court jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter in equity, and it has been held that the court will not grant relief where the plaintiffs have been guilty of laches by delaying to bring their suit until the rights of other persons have been affected by the action of the town." Moeton, C. J., in Prince v. Boston, 148 Mass. 285, at p. 288 ; Tushx. Adams, 10 Gush. 252 ; Fuller v. Melrose, 1 Allen, 166 ; Fisk v. Springfield, 116 Mass. 88 ; Parsons V. Northampton, 154 Mass. 410. Inspection op Buildings. § 138. With the exception of Boston, each city or town which has adopted chapter two hundred and forty-three of the statutes of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, or which adopts this section, may, for the prevention of fire and the preservation of life, by ordinances or by-laws not repug- nant to law, and applicable throughout the whole or any defined part of its territory, regulate the inspection, materials, GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OP TOWNS. 45 construction, alteration, and use of buildings and other struc- tures within its limits, excepting such buildings and structures as are owned or occupied by the United States or the Commonwealth, and excepting also bridges, quays, and wharves, and may prescribe penalties not exceeding one hun- dred dollars for each violation of such regulations. § 139. In a town which has adopted chapter three hundred and seventy-five of the statutes of the year eighteen hundred and seventy, or which adopts this and the following section, no dwelling-house or other structure more than eight feet in length or breadth and seven feet in height, except detached houses or structures situated more than one hundred feet from any other building and wooden structures erected on wooden wharves, shall be built within such limits as the town may from time to time prescribe, unless made of and covered with some incombustible material, or unless a special license in writing is granted therefor by a majority of the selectmen for reasons of public good or necessity, and is recorded in the records of the town. § 140. Any building or structure erected in violation of the provisions of chapter three hundred and seventy-five of the statutes of the year eighteen hundred and seventy, or in viola- tion of the preceding section, shall be deemed to be a common nuisance, without any other proof thereof than proof of its use. And the selectmen may abate and remove any such building or structure in the same manner as boards of health may remove nuisances. Pub. Stats, ch. 104, §§ 1-3. § 141. The selectmen of a town where there is no town engineer or chief engineer of the fire department, shall desig- nate officers to serve as a board of survey to inspect buildings. Sts. 1888, ch. 399, § 4. 46 THE TOWN OFFICER. CHAPTER II. ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. GENERAL PROVISIONS. § 142. Terms used in this act and in statutes relating to elections shall have application as hereinafter set forth, unless other meaning is clearly apparent from the language or context, or from the manifest intent. The term " state election " shall apply to ^ny election held for the choice of a national, state, district, or county officer, by the qualified voters, whether for a full term or for the filling of a vacancy ; and the term " state officer " shall apply to any person to be chosen by the qualified voters at such an election. The term " town election," shall apply to any meet- ing held for the election of town officers, by the qualified voters, whether for a full term or for the filling of a vacancy ; and the term " town officer " shall apply to any person to be chosen by the qualified voters at such a meeting. The term " election " shall also apply to the taking of a vote upon a proposed amendment to the constitution, upon the question of granting licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors in a town, and upon any other question submitted by statute to the vote of the people. The term " caucus," shall apply to any public meeting of qualified voters of a town, or of a rep- resentative district, held for the nomination of a candidate for election, for the selection of delegates to a political con- vention, or for the appointment of a political committee, under this act. The term " election officer " shall apply to wardens, clerks, inspectors, and ballot clerks, and, when on duty, to the deputies of any such officers, and also to select- men, town clerks, moderators, and tellers when taking part in the conduct of elections. The term " presiding officer," shall apply to the warden, chairman of selectmen, modera- ELECTIONS iND TOWN MEETINGS. 47 tor or town clerk, in charge of a polling place at an elec- tion, or, in case of the absence of any such superior officer, to the deputy warden, or the clerk, or senior inspector, or senior selectman present, who shall have charge of a polling place in the absence of such superior officer. The term " poll- ing place " shall apply to the room or place provided in a voting precinct of a town, or in a town within which an elec- tion is held. When reference is made in this act to town elections or meetings, at or for which ballots are provided at the expense of the town, such terms shall be held to apply to elections or meetmgs held for the election of town officers in towns, which have accepted the provisions of cliapter three hundred and eighty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hun- dred and ninety, and in towns which have voted that ballots shall be so provided in accordance with § 337 post. The term " two leading political parties " shall apply to the two political parties which cast the largest and next largest number of votes for governor at the preceding annual state election. § 143. In all elections of civil officers by the people, the person receiving the highest number of votes for an office shall be deemed and declared to be elected to such office ; and if two or more persons are to be elected to the same office, the sev- eral persons, up to the number to be chosen to such office, receiving the highest number of votes, shall be deemed and declared to be elected ; but if two or more persons receive the same number of votes, they shall not be deemed to be elected if thereby a greater number would be elected than are by law to be chosen to such office. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, §§ 2, 3. § 144. In reckoning the number of days in a period of time allowed or required by the provisions of this act and of other statutes relative to elections, Sundays and holidays shall be included ; except that, if a period of time follows a certain day, act, or event, and the final day of such period falls on a Sunday or a holiday, then the day succeeding such Sunday or holiday shall be considered the final day of the period ; and, if a period of time precedes a certain day, act, or event, and the first day of such period falls oji a Sunday or a holiday, then the day preceding such Sunday or holiday shall be con- sidered the first day of the period. 48 THE TOWN OFFICER. § 145. Indians residing within this Commonwealth shall, as citizens thereof, have all the rights, privileges, and im- munities, and be subject to all the duties and liabilities, to which all other citizens of the Commonwealth are entitled and subject. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, §§ 5, 6. § 146. Assessors, registrars of voters, town clerks, and other officers," who are required by law to post lists and notices relating to elections, shall post all such lists and notices at or as near as may be to the places in which voting lists are posted as is stated in § 190 post. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, § 8. QUALIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. § 147. Every male citizen of twenty-one years of age or upwards, not being a pauper or person under guardianship, who is able to read the constitution of the Commonwealth in the English language and write his name, and who has resided within the Commonwealth one year, and within the town in which he claims a right to vote six calendar months next preceding a state or town election, may have his name en- tered upon the list of voters in such town, and shall have the right to vote therein in any such election, or in any meeting held for the transaction of town affairs, upon complying with the requirements hereinafter set forth ; and, except as above provided, no male person shall have his name entered upon the list of voters, or have the right to vote, except that no person who is prevented from reading or writing as aforesaid by a physical disability, or who had the right to vote on the first day of May in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall, if otherwise qualified, be deprived of the right to vote by reason of not being able so to read or write ; and no person having served in the army or navy of the United States in the time of war, and having been honorably discharged from such service, if otherwise qualified to vote, shall be disqualified therefor on account of receiving or having received aid from any town ; and further, no person, otherwise qualified to vote for national or state officers, shall, by reason of a change of residence within the Commonwealth, be disqualified from voting for such officers, in the town from which he has re- ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. 49 moved his residence, until the expiration of six calendar months from the time of such removal. § 148. Every female citizen of twenty-one years of age or upwards, not being a pauper or person under guardianship, who is able to read the constitution of the Commonwealth in the English language and to write her name, and who has resided within the Commonwealth one year, and within the town in which she claims a right to vote six calendar months next preceding an election for school committee, may have her name entered upon the list of voters for school committee in such town, and shall have the right to vote therein in every such election for members of the school committee, upon complying with the requirements hereinafter set forth ; and, except as aforesaid, no female person shall have her name entered upon the list of voters or have the right or be allowed to vote, except that no female person who is pre- vented from reading or writing as aforesaid by a physical disability shall, if otherwise qualified, be deprived of the right to vote by reason of not being able so to read or write. § 149. A person qualified to vote in a town which is divided into voting precincts shall be registered and be en- titled to vote in the voting precinct in which he resided on the first day of May preceding the election, or, if he first became an inhabitant of such town after such first day of May, in the voting precinct in which he first thereafter became a resident. (a) Assessment of Poll Taxes and Lists of Persons Assessed. § 150. The assessors, by one or more of their number, or by one or more assistant assessors, shall, in the month of May or June in each year, visit every building in their respec- tive towns, and, after diligent inquiry, make true lists con- taining, as near as they can ascertain the same, the name, age, occupation, and residence, on the first day of May in the current year, and the residence on the first day of May in the preceding year, of every male person twenty years of age or upwards, residing in their respective towns, liable to be assessed for a poll tax ; and shall receive the request of every woman twenty-one years of age or upwards, residing in their 4 50 THE TOWN OFFICER. respective towns on the first day of May in tlie current year, who, in a writing signed by her, requests that her name be transmitted to the registrars of voters for the purpose of registration. The assessors shall, upon the personal application of an assessed person for the correction of any error in their origi- nal lists, and whenever informed of the existence of any such error, make due investigation, and, upon proof of error, correct the same on fheir books. They shall cause to be preserved for the space of two years all applications, certifi- cates, and affidavits received by them under this section. § 151. The assessors in each town shall promptly, from time to time, and before the fifteenth day of July in each year, transmit to the registrars of voters the lists made as provided in the preceding section, or certified copies thereof, and shall promptly transmit to the registrars and to the col- lector of taxes notice of every addition to and correction in the lists made by them ; they shall also promptly transmit to the registrars the requests of all women which shall have been received by them as aforesaid ; and every assessor, assistant assessor, and collector of taxes shall furnish all information in his possession necessary to aid the registrars in the dis- charge of their duties. § 152. The assessors of towns having over five thousand inhabitants, according to the last state or national census, as the case may be, shall, on or before the first day of August in each year, prepare street lists containing the names of all persons assessed by them for poll taxes for the current year, which lists shall, for towns divided into voting precincts, be arranged by voting precincts. They shall print such lists in pamphlet form, shall deliver to the registrars as many copies thereof as the registrars may require, and shall hold the re- mainder of the copies for public distribution. In every town containing less than five thousand inhabitants according to such census, the assessors shall, on or before the first day of August in each year, cause printed or written lists of all per- sons assessed therein for poll taxes to be prepared and con- spicuously posted in two or more pnblic places in every such town. ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. 61 § 153. The assessors, in the preparation of street lists as above provided, shall name or designate all buildings used as residences, in the order in which they stand on the street or other way on which they are located, shall give the number or other definite description of each building, so that it can be readily identified, and shall place opposite or under each number or other description given of a building, the name, age, and occupation of every person residing in such building on the first day of May of the current year and assessed for a poll tax, with his residence on the first day of May of the preceding year. § 154. If a male person, who has not been previously assessed for a poll tax for the year beginning with the pre- ceding first day of May, shall, on or before the day fixed by law for the close of registration in a town, appear in person and prove to the satisfaction of the assessors that he was on such preceding first day of May an inhabitant of such town, and liable to pay a poll tax therein, and shall under oath fur- nish a true list of his poUs and of his estate, both real and personal, not exempt from taxation, the assessors shall there- upon assess him for his polls and estate, and shall give him a certificate of such assessment, which on presentation to the registrars of voters shall be taken by them as prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. § 155. The assessors of a town, upon receipt from the registrars of voters of notice of the registration by them as a voter, of a person who was a resident of such town on the preceding first day of May, but who was not assessed therein for a poll tax, shall forthwith assess such person for his polls and estate, unless he is by law exempt from assessment. § 156. All assessments made in accordance with the pre- ceding two sections shall be subject to the provisions stated in § 634 post, and shall be entered in the tax list of the collector of taxes of the town, and be collected by him ac- cording to law. § 157. The town clerk or registrar of deaths in each town shall, on the first day of every month, and also two days before every election, transmit to the registrars of voters a list of the names of all residents of such town of twenty-one 52 THE TOWN OFFICER. years of age or upwards, who have deceased within the pre- ceding month, or since the date of the list previously trans- mitted, together with a statement of the street and number therein, and the ward, if any, in which such person resided at tlie date of his death. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, §§ 13-23. (b) Registrars of Voters. § 158. In every town which shall have three hundred registered voters, as provided in the following section, there shall be a board of registrars of voters, consisting of the town clerk, and, in addition, three persons who shall be appointed by the selectmen, by a writing signed by them, or a majority of them, and filed with the town clerk. When a board of registrars is first appointed, the registrars shall be appointed in the month of March or April, for terms respectively of one, two, and three years, beginning with the first day of May next ensuing, and continuing until their respective successors are appointed and qualified. In the month of March or April in every year succeeding the origi- nal appointment of a board of registrars, as aforesaid, one registrar shall be appointed for the term of three years, beginning with the first day of May next ensuing, and until his successor is appointed and qualified. § 159. In every town having less than three hundred reg- istered voters, as herein provided, the selectmen and town clerk shall constitute a board of registrars of voters, and shall perform all tlie duties and be subject to all the liabilities im- posed by law upon registrars of voters. Whenever in any such town there shall be registered for the annual state elec- tion three hundred voters, a board of registrars shall in the succeeding year be appointed, as provided in the preceding section ; and a board of registrars of voters, having been once so appointed in a town, shall continue to perform the duties of registration therein, notwithstanding the number of regis- tered voters shall in any year be less than three hundred, except that if, for three successive years, the number of such registered voters shall be less than three hundred, then on the first day of May succeeding the annual state election in such third year, such board shall cease to exist and the duties ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. 63 thereof shall be thereafter performed by the selectmen and town clerk. § 160. In the making of original and succeeding appoint- ments and in the filling of vacancies, registrars of voters shall be so appointed that the members of every bx)ard shall equally, or as equally as possible, represent the two leading political parties at the state election next preceding such ap- pointments, and in no case shall an appointment be so made as to cause a board to comprise more than two members, in- cluding the town clerk, of the same political party. § 161. Whenever, upon written complaint to the select- men of a town, and after notice and hearing, it shall appear that the town clerk, when a member of the board of regis- trars, and two registrars, other than the one whose term of office next expires, are of the same political party, the select- men shall remove from office the one of such two registrars having the shorter term of service. Whenever, upon written complaint to the selectmen of a town, and after notice and hearing, it shall appear that a registrar of voters, other than the town clerk, has ceased to act with the political party which he was appointed to i-epresent, the selectmen shall remove such registrar from office. § 162. In case of a vacancy occurring by reason of the death, resignation, or removal from office of a registrar ap- pointed as provided in the preceding sections, the selectmen shall, in the manner above provided, appoint a person as aforesaid to serve for the remainder of the term and until his successor is appointed and qualified. § 163. Whenever a member of the board of registrars shall be incapacitated by sickness or other cause from per- forming the duties of his office, or shall, at the time of any meeting of said board, be absent from the town in which he is appointed, the selectmen of the town by a writing signed by them, or a majority of them, may, upon the request in writing of a majority of the remaining members of the board of registrars, appoint some person to fill the temporary vacancy caused as aforesaid. The person so appointed shall be of the same political party as the member of the board whose position he is appointed temporarily to fill. Such tem- 54 THE TOWN OFFICER. porary registrar shall, during the time he holds his office, perform the same duties and be subject to the same require- ments and penalties as are now provided by law for a registrar of voters. § 164. The registrars appointed as provided in the pre ceding sections shall, before entering upon the duties of their office, each take and subscribe an oath faithfully to perform the same, shall perform all the duties in relation to the regis- tration of voters now imposed upon boards of registrars, and shall receive such compensation for their services as the city council or selectmen may, from time to time, determine ; but such compensation shall not be regulated by the number of names registered on any list of voters, and any reduction of compensation shall take effect only upon such registrars as are appointed after such reduction. The selectmen shall fur- nish office room for the registrars, and such aid as may be needed by them. The town clerk when a member of a board of registrars, shall act as clerk of the board, shall keep a full and accurate record of its proceedings, and shall cause such notices as the registrars may require to be properly served or posted. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, §§ 26-32. § 165. No person shall be appointed a registrar of voters or an assistant registrar of voters, who is not a qualified voter of the town for which he is appointed, and no person shall be so appointed who holds an office by election or appointment under the government of the United States or, except as a justice of the peace or an officer of the state militia of the Commonwealth, or who holds an office in the town for which he is appointed either by election or by direct appointment of the selectmen of the town. The acceptance by a registrar or assistant registrar of an office which he is so prohibited from holding, shall be taken to be a resignation of his office as registrar or assistant registrar. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, § 35. ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. 65 FORM FOR REGISTRARS. Votiuff List. Voting List prepared by the Eegistrars of Voters of the town of W , 189 , Names. Names. N. B. The undersigned herebj- give notice that they will be in session at the town officers' room in the Town Hall on , ■ also on Wednesday [insert day of the month and year] from o'clock until ten o'clock in the afternoon for the purpose of receiv- ing evidence of the qualifications of those persons intending to vote at the coming elections, and to correct and revise the above voting list. The registration of voters will cease at ten o'clock in the after- noon of said Wednesdaj^ and no name will be entered on the list of voters thereafterwards unless the qualifications of the person as a voter have been determined bj- the registrars of voters at some meeting held before the close of registration ; such fact to be verified by the certificate of the clerk of the board of registrars. Registrars of Voters of the town of W . (c) Registration of Voters. § 166. Every town shall provide the registrars of voters with suitable quarters in which to hold sessions for the purpose of determining the qualifications of persons to be registered as voters. The registrars in every town divided into voting precincts shall hold such sessions as the town may prescribe, and such other sessions as the registrars may themselves deem neces- sary ; and they shall in every year not more than twenty days before the annual state election, and also not more than twenty days before the annual town meeting, but in each case on or before the last day fixed for registration, hold at least one session at some suitable and convenient place within the limits of each voting precinct ; and they shall hold a continu- ous session from twelve o'clock, noon, until ten o'clock in the evening on the Wednesday next preceding the annual state election, and also on the Wednesday next preceding the annual town meeting. Sts. 1893, ch. 417, §§ 36, 38. § 167. The registrars of voters in every town not divided into voting precincts shall hold such sessions as the town may 56 THE TOWN OFFICER. prescribe, and such other sessions as the registrars may them- selves deem necessary ; and they shall in every year, not more than twenty days before the annual state election, and also not more than twenty days before the annual town meeting, but in each case on or before the last day fixed for registra- tion, hold sessions in two or more suitable and convenient places in such town ; and they shall hold a continuous session from twelve o'clock, noon, until ten o'clock in the evening on the Wednesday next preceding the annual state election, and also on the "Wednesday next preceding the aimual town meet- ing. If in any such town ten or more voters residing in or near a village or locality which is distant two or more miles from the usual place of registration shall file with the town clerk not less than eighteen days before the annual state elec- tion or the annual town meeting, a petition stating that there are in such village or locality ten citizens at least who are entitled and desire to be registered, then the registrars shall hold a session at some suitable and convenient place in such village or locality before the last day fixed for registration in such town preceding such election or meeting. § 168. In every town registration shall cease at ten o'clock in the evening on the Wednesday next preceding the annual state election, and be discontinued from that date until the election shall have been held ; and registration shall likewise cease at ten o'clock in the evening on the Wednesday next preceding the annual town meeting, and be discontinued thenceforth until the election shall have been held. § 169. In case an election is to be held in a town on a day other than the day of the annual state or town election therein, the registrars of voters shall, for the registration of voters in such town, hold in some suitable and convenient place therein a continuous session from twelve o'clock noon until ten o'clock in the evening, on the fourth day preceding such election, or if such day would fall on a Sunday, then on the fifth day preceding such election. Registration in such town shall cease at ten o'clock in the evening of the day on which such session is held, and be discontinued therein until the election shall have been held. § 170. The registrars of voters shall not, after ten o'clock ELECTIONS AND TOWN MEETINGS. 57 in the evening of a day on which registration is to cease, as provided in the preceding sections, register any person as a voter, previous to the next succeeding election, except tliat nothing contained herein or in any of tliese sections sliall prevent the entering upon the registers, after such time, of the names of persons wliose qualifications as voters have been already examined, or the correction, in accordance with the provisions stated in these sections, of any errors or omis- sions ; but the registrars shall in every case require the vote by which such entry or correction is made to be attested by their clerk. § 171. The registrars of voters shall prepare, and shall post or publish proper notices, in which they shall state the places and hours for holding day and evening sessions, and last sessions preceding an election, and shall further state in such notices that after ten o'cloclc in the evening of the last day fixed for registration they will not before the election add any name to the registers except the names of voters ex- amined as to their qualifications since the preceding thirtieth day of April. § 172. The registrars of voters in each town shall keep in blank books, to be provided for the purpose and to be known as general registers, records of all persons, both male and female, applying for registration, qualified to vote in the town. The registrars shall enter in the general register the name of every such voter written in full, or instead thereof the sui'- name and first Christian name, or that name by which he is generally known, written in full, and the initial of every other name which he may have, and also his age, place of birth, residence on the preceding first day of May, or at the time of first becoming an inhabitant of the town after the first day of May, the date of his registration and his residence at such date, his occupation and place of occupation, the name and location of the court which has issued to him letters of naturalization and the date thereof, if he is a naturalized citizen, and such other particulars as may be necessary fully to identify him as a voter ; and the registrars shall require each voter to write his name in the register. The books used for the general registers shall have uniform 58 THE TOWN OFFICER. headings in substantially the following form, and blank books suitable for the purpose shall be furnished by the secretary of the Commonwealth at cost price to registrars applying therefor. 1 g S'o'S ■s Q Minutes of Natural! tion. Court iasui Letters and Date Naturalization,