vided, that the provisions hereof shall not be construed to impair any past or future commitment to said asylum or hospital, nor any past or future action done in connection with said asylum or hospital, however the same has been or shall be designated in such commitment or action. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage, CHAPTER 478. 30. 1897. AN ACT TO ENABLE JOHN SHEPARD JR., TO BUILD AND Passsed April It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. John Shepard, Jr., of the city of Providence, may with the consent of the city council of said city and of the corporations having franchises in the highways of said city, build and maintain a conduit under and across Comfort street in said city for the purpose of connecting his estates for the purpose of a passageway and fire escape. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect upon its CHAPTER 479. passage. 1897. AN ACT MAKING THE TIME OF SERVICE OF CAPT. ALBERT Passed Feb. 5, It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. The name of Albert F. Brown is hereby ordered to be placed upon the retired list of commissioned officers of the Rhode Island Militia, created by act of the general assembly, and entitled "Of the militia," being chapter number 296 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, 1896, at any time after the 20th day of May, A. D. 1897, when said Albert F. Brown shall make application to the adjutant general; the said Albert F. Brown having been in continuous service as a commissioned officer of the Rhode Island Militia from May 20, 1887, with the exception of the time between August 7, 1889, and December 20, 1889, during which time said Albert F. Brown performed duty as an officer without commission. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAPTER 480. Passed Feb. 4, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE DORRANCE STREET WHARF, SO CALLED, IN THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE. 1897. Dorrance street in Provi tive to. It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. The structure now existing at the end dence, act rela- of the Dorrance street wharf in the city of Providence, and east of the harbor line established by Public Laws of Rhode Island, Chapter 771, of April 11, 1879, shall not be subject to removal under section 14 of Chapter 118 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, so long as it does not need repair or rebuilding, but when rebuilt or repaired it shall be so changed as to lie westerly of the said harbor line and be subject to all the laws regulating the construction of wharves. SEC. 2. passage. This act shall take effect from and after its Passed Feb. 5, 1897. CHAPTER 481. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. The city council of the city of Provi dence is hereby authorized to use for general purposes, unexpended balances of any tax assessed in any year, for paying the indebtedness of the city or the interest thereon, or for appropriation to any of the sinking funds, or for the appropriation of the state tax assumed by the city, not required for said purposes. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. CHAPTER 482. 1897. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE TO HIRE Passed April 20, It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. The city of Providence is hereby author. ized and empowered to hire from time to time the sum of three hundred and twenty thousand dollars to be exclusively used and expended in building stone abutments and piers and steel superstructure of a bridge at the location of the present Weybosset bridge over the Providence River, and for the rebuilding of the river walls from Market Square to the south line of Crawford street, and to issue its notes and bonds, or either, therefor, for such time and in such amounts as may be fixed by the city council thereof, and such notes may be renewed from time to time as the same become due. SEC. 2. The city council shall annually appropriate, until said notes and bonds are paid in full, besides a sum to pay the interest thereon, a sum to be placed as a sinking fund sufficient for the redemption of said notes and bonds when due, and all premiums arising from the sale of said notes and bonds shall be placed to the credit of said sinking fund. SEC. 3. passage. This act shall take effect from and after its Passed May 4, 1897. Building law amended. CHAPTER 483. AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 688 OF THE PUBLIC It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. Section 35 of Chapter 688 of the Public Laws, passed at the January session, 1878, entitled "An act in relation to buildings in the city of Providence and for other purposes," as amended by the several acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 35. No wooden building, other than dwellings, coal or grain elevators, and ice houses: Provided such ice houses are not located nearer than seventyfive feet to any other building used for any other purpose, shall be built in the second district, the area of which shall exceed two thousand feet, or which shall be more than thirty feet in height. Said area shall not, however, include any open shed attached to any building, nor shall said height include any ventilator, stairway, bulkhead, or church spire: Provided, however, that all such sheds, ventilators, bulkheads, and spires shall have their roofs covered with incombustible material. All wooden buildings except coal or grain elevators and wooden buildings built on wharves, piers or bulkheads, if built within five feet of an adjoining lot line, or an adjoining building, shall have the external wall on such side, or sides, built of brick at least eight inches thick, or the space between the studding filled in flush full with brick and mortar, or some other equally incombustible material: Provided, that in that portion of the city which previous to the passage of Chapter 1339 of the Public Laws was not included in the building districts of said city, this provision shall not apply to dwelling houses constructed within five feet of an adjoining lot line, when no building exists upon such adjoining lot within ten feet of the proposed dwelling house. Party walls or division walls between adjoining houses, thirty-five feet or more in height, shall be of brick not less than twelve inches thick to the top of the second floor above the street and eight inches thick for the remaining height; such walls less than thirty-five feet in height may be eight inches thick for the entire height. Doorways may be cut through, or built in said walls, upon application to, and a permit from, the inspector of buildings: Provided, that no doorway shall be cut through or built in any such wall in any building used for a hotel, lodging, or tenement house, or for the storage of inflammable or dangerous materials. Every such doorway shall be provided with tin covered, self-closing doors, satisfactory to the inspector of buildings. Upon proof being shown that said doors are in any manner prevented from operating as intended, said inspector shall have the power to revoke said permit, and said doorway shall be filled up with brick and mortar or some similar material. In dwelling houses the brick shall be built up to the roof covering which shall be laid and imbedded in mortar or cement upon said wall." SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. CHAPTER 484. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE TO HIRE Passed May 14, It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: dence author city of Proviex-ized to hire purpose of purstalling a centem for fire $25,000 for the SECTION 1. The city of Providence is hereby authorized and empowered to hire from time to time not ceeding in the aggregate the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to be used and expended for the purchase and installation of a central office system for fire alarms chasing and in tral office sys |