shall continue to be, for the purpose of electing members of the house of representatives, part of the county of Norfolk, constituting part of the fifteenth representative district thereof; for the purpose of electing a senator, part of the first Norfolk senatorial district; for the purpose of electing a councillor, part of the third council district; and for the purpose of electing a representative in congress, said territory shall continue to be part of congressional district number eight, as the same are now constituted. of selectmen and upon aldermen Boston. All the duties now required by law to be performed by the select- Duties required men and town clerk of the town of Brookline, or either of them, per- clerk of Brooktaining to the votes cast by the voters residing upon said territory for line to devolve representatives in congress, state councillors, senators, and members and clerk of of the house of representatives, shall in like manner devolve upon and be performed by the board of aldermen and the city clerk of the city of Boston; and the said city clerk shall make returns and meet with the town clerk of the town of Brookline, for the purpose of ascertaining the result of the election of representatives for said fifteenth representative district and making certificates of the same, at noon on the day following said election, at the town clerk's office in said Brookline. pay arrears of Jurisdiction of courts. SECT. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall be holden to Inhabitants to pay all arrears of taxes which have been legally assessed upon them taxes. by the town of Brookline, and all taxes heretofore assessed and not collected shall be collected and paid to the treasurer of the town of Brookline in the same manner as if this act had not been passed. SECT. 3. The several courts within the county of Suffolk, except the municipal court for the southern district of the city of Boston, the municipal court for the Dorchester district of the city of Boston, and the municipal court for the Charlestown district of the city of Boston, after this act takes effect, shall have the same jurisdiction over all causes of action and proceedings in civil causes, and over all matters in probate and insolvency, which shall have accrued within said territory hereby annexed, that said courts now have over like actions, proceedings and matters within the county of Suffolk: provided, how- Proviso. ever, that the several courts within the county of Norfolk shall have and retain jurisdiction of all actions, proceedings, and matters, that may be rightfully commenced in said courts prior to the time when this act takes effect; and the supreme judicial court, and the superior court, within the county of Suffolk, after this act takes effect, shall have the same jurisdiction of all crimes, offences, and misdemeanors, that shall have been committed within the said territory, that the supreme judicial court and superior court within the county of Norfolk now have; but if, before this act takes effect, proceedings are commenced in any of the courts within the county of Norfolk for the prosecution of said crimes, offences, and misdemeanors, the said courts within the county of Norfolk shall have and retain jurisdiction of the same for the full, complete, and final, disposition thereof. All suits, actions, proceedings, complaints, and prosecutions, and all matters of probate and insolvency, pending within said territory before any court or any justice of the peace when this act takes effect, shall be heard and determined as though this act had not been passed. SECT. 4. Said territory shall be added to and constitute a part of Judicial district the judicial district under the jurisdiction of the municipal court of the Brighton district. Said court shall have the same civil and criminal jurisdiction in said territory as it now has by law in its district as it now exists. of Brighton. in Boston. SECT. 5. The said territory shall constitute a part of ward nineteen Ward nineteen in the city of Boston, and shall so remain until the alteration of the ward limits of the city of Boston provided by law. Obligations of contracts not to be impaired. Proviso. Brookline not to be deprived of rights of drainage. SECT. 6. Nothing contained in this act shall impair the obligations of contracts; and the property and inhabitants of said territory shall continue liable to the existing creditors of the county of Norfolk, in like manner as if this act had not been passed: provided, that if any person by reason of his being an inhabitant of, or owning property in, said territory shall be compelled to pay any part of an existing debt or obligation of the county of Norfolk, the amount of such payment shall constitute a debt to him from said county, as hereafter to be constituted, exclusive of said territory, and may be recovered in like manner as other debts against the county of Norfolk. SECT. 7. This act shall not be construed to divest or deprive the town of Brookline of any legal rights of drainage which it now possesses nor of any powers or authority which it now enjoys under chapter seventy-one of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixtyseven, entitled "An act concerning drains and sewers in the town of Brookline," with respect to any of the territory herein before described. SECT. 8. This act shall take effect upon its passage. May 8, 1874. Care of bridges vested in Boston. Bridges to be maintained as highways by Boston. Middlesex Railroad Company to make repairs, AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE CHARLES RIVER AND WARREN BRIDGES." Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The care, management, and maintenance, of the Charles river and Warren bridges is hereby vested in the city of Boston. SECT. 2. The city of Boston shall maintain the said bridges as public highways at its own expense, and in accordance with such ordinances as the city council of said city may establish. SECT. 3. Nothing in this act shall release the Middlesex Railroad not to be released Company from any legal obligation now existing, to maintain and from obligation keep in repair any portion of said bridges, or from any liability for loss or injury that any person may sustain by reason of any carelessness, neglect, or misconduct, of its agents or servants in the construction, management, or use, of its tracks on said bridges. etc. Repeal. SECT. 4. Chapter three hundred and three of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are repealed. SECT. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1880, 125; 1882, 138; 1883, 140; 1884, 327.] May 22, 1874. Boundary line changed be tween Boston and Newton. AN ACT TO CHANGE THE BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN BOSTON AND Be it enacted, etc.: NEWTON. SECTION 1. The boundary line between the cities of Boston and Newton is hereby changed and established as follows: beginning at the stone monument at the intersection of the present boundary line between Boston and Newton with the present boundary line between Boston and Brookline, thence running south-westwardly on said lastmentioned boundary line as continued between Brookline and Newton, seven hundred and thirty-five feet, to a stone boundary post; thence 1 See Statutes and Ordinances (ed. 1876), pp. 75, 76. turning and running north-westwardly seven hundred and ninety-four feet, to a stone bound on the westerly line of Beacon street; thence north-westwardly on said last-mentioned line continued, two hundred and twenty-seven and six-tenths feet to a stone tangent post; thence north-westwardly on a curved line of nine hundred and eighty feet radius, three hundred and thirty-five feet and four-tenths of a foot, to a stone tangent post; thence north-westwardly two hundred and forty-three feet and seven-tenths of a foot, to a stone tangent post; thence on a curved line of eight hundred and sixty-two feet radius, six hundred and twenty-nine feet and six-tenths of a foot, to a stone tangent post; thence westwardly twelve hundred and twentyone feet, to a stone bound; all the above-described lines, except the first two, being the south-westerly and southerly boundary lines of Beacon street; thence turning and running northwardly and crossing Beacon street, five hundred and fifty-three feet to a stone bound; thence northwardly one hundred and sixty-four feet and eight-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; thence northwardly two hundred and sixty-three feet and four-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; thence northwardly one hundred and seventy-four feet and five-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; thence northwardly three hundred and ninetysix feet and seven-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; thence northwardly two hundred and fifty-three feet, to a stone bound; thence north-eastwardly one hundred and fifty-seven feet and eight-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; thence eastwardly one hundred and five feet, to a stone bound; thence eastwardly sixty-six and one-half feet, to a stone bound; thence castwardly five hundred and thirty-seven feet, to a stone bound; thence northwardly one hundred and sixtysix feet, to a stone bound on the southerly line of Ward street in said Newton; the eleven last-described lines being the division lines between land of the city of Boston, the land of Amos A. Lawrence, and land late of Daniel Knowles; thence eastwardly on said southerly line of Ward street, thirty-four feet and two-tenths of a foot, to a stone bound; and thence eastwardly on the same, seventy-nine feet to a stone post on the boundary line between Boston and Newton. The new boundary line is laid down, in red lines, on a plan thereof, dated March, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, deposited in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth. laying out high missioners of SECT. 2. All petitions now pending before the county commis- Petitions for sioners of Middlesex county for laying out highways situated entirely ways to be heard within the territory hereby transferred from Newton to Boston, shall by street con be heard and adjudicated by the street commissioners of the city of Boston. Boston in the same manner as if said petitions had been originally presented to said street commissioners. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT RELATING TO PARKER STREET, KNOWN AS THE CROSS DAM, IN Be it enacted, etc.: THE CITY OF BOSTON. Boston, to be SECTION 1. The commissioners of public lands shall have full Parker street, in power and authority, with the approval of the governor and council, repaired. to act for and in behalf of the commonwealth in causing that portion of Parker street, in the city of Boston, which belongs to the commonwealth, or any part thereof, to be placed in a condition safe and convenient for the public travel, and in repairing and widening and grading said portion of that street, or any part thereof, as they may Street may be conveyed to the city of Boston. Expense of improvement. deem the interest of the public may require. And said commissioners shall have full power and authority to convey the interest of the commonwealth in said street, or any part thereof, to the city of Boston, upon such terms as may be agreed upon between them and said city, or the said commissioners may discontinue portions of the said street as contemplated by the plan accompanying the tripartite indenture of December thirty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, between the commonwealth, the Boston Water Power Company, and the city of Boston, and convey the same to abutting parties, on such terms as the governor and council shall approve, and generally to act for the commonwealth in all matters pertaining to said interests therein. The expense of said improvement shall be paid from the moiety of the proceeds of sales of lands in the Back bay applicable to filling and improvements, and the same is hereby appropriated. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. May 29, 1874. Charter amended. Fee for member 1874. CHAPTER 343. AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION OF Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The act to incorporate the Charitable Association of the Boston Fire Department, approved on the thirteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and thirty, and the act in addition thereto, approved on the seventeenth day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, are amended, so as to include within the parties entitled to membership of said corporation, and to the benefits thereof, the members of the Boston protective department. SECT. 2. The first section of the said act of eighteen hundred and ship fired at $5. thirty-eight is amended, so that the payment for membership may be fixed at five dollars instead of one. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1829, 44; 1838, 131.] June 18, 1874. Temporary relief for the poor of Boston. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF BOSTON TO APPROPRIATE MONEY Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city council of the city of Boston may appropriate out of any funds in its treasury not otherwise appropriated, or raise by taxation and appropriate, such amounts as they may by vote determine for temporary aid to the poor; the same to be expended in such manner as they may by vote determine; but the amount thus appropriated in any one year shall not exceed one fifteen-hundredth of one per cent. of the valuation of said city for the current year; and the city council shall keep a separate account of all money appropriated under this act. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 1 See Back Bay Agreements, p. 78. June 27, 1874. 1874. CHAPTER 387. AN ACT IN ADDITION TO "AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF BOSTON Be it enacted, etc.: across south and New road. SECTION 1. If any difference of opinion shall arise between the Grade of street city of Boston and the New York and New England Railroad Com- bay at crossing pany with reference to the grade at which the way authorized by the with New York seventy-eighth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and sixty- England railnine, and by the one hundred and fourteenth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall cross the tracks of said railroad, or as to the raising or lowering the said way, or the tracks of said railroad, or as to the relative grade of said way and said railroad, either party may apply to the board of railroad commissioners, and thereupon said board shall as soon as possible fix the grade of said railroad at the place where said way shall cross it so as to enable the said city to lay out said way under said railroad at no lower grade, or to lay out said way over said railroad at no higher grade, than the public interests require. directed by SECT. 2. The said railroad company shall, at its own expense, change Railroad to the grade of said railroad to conform to the grade fixed by said board change grade as of railroad commissioners, within one year after the fixing of said commissioners. grade; and the said city shall build at its own expense an iron bridge for said crossing, to the satisfaction of said board, and of sufficient width for a double track; and the expense of maintaining and repairing the abutments of said bridge shall thereafter be borne by said city. cial court to SECT. 3. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in Supreme judiequity to compel compliance with all orders, decrees, and judgments, have jurisdiction of the said board of railroad commissioners made under the authority in equity. of this act. road may enter SECT. 4. Nothing in this act shall prevent the said city and the City and rail. said railroad company from entering into an agreement with reference into an agree to the grade of said railroad and of said way: provided, said way shall not cross said railroad at grade. ment, provided, etc. June 30, 1874. [1869, 78, 447; 1874, 114.] 1874. CHAPTER 400. FURTHER AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF BOSTON TO OBTAIN A Be it enacted, etc.: from the valley etc. SECTION 1. The city of Boston is hereby authorized, by and through City of Boston the agency of the Boston water board, or by and through any other may take water agency which shall be established therefor, to take, hold, and convey of the Mystic, to, into, and through, said city any or all the water belonging to the water-shed or valley of the Mystic, so called, not hitherto granted, or which flows or drains, directly or indirectly, into Mystic pond or Mystic river, and from time to time to establish and maintain reservoirs for the storage of any or all such waters, or any or all waters flowing into or lying in the Mystic pond or river which have not been otherwise granted, and for that purpose said city may take and hold, by purchase or otherwise, any water-rights, lands, and real estate, necessary for building and maintaining said reservoirs, or for the erection. |