Proviso. Proviso. May erect dams, and increase height of and strengthen exlating dams. Change of grade, etc., of Boston and Lowell rail road. of dams, buildings, water-courses, aqueducts, machinery, or appli ances, with their accessories, for conducting, purifying, storing, elevating, and distributing, water; and may also take and hold any land on the margin of said sources of supply, not exceeding five rods in width from the high-water mark of said river, pond, or storage-reservoirs, so far as may be necessary for the storage, preservation, and purity, of the same, for the purpose of furnishing a supply of pure water to the city of Boston: provided, that the city of Somerville, and the towns of Woburn, Stoneham, Winchester, Arlington, Medford, and Malden, or either of them, having previously obtained authority to supply themselves with pure water, may take the waters of any natural basin or artificial reservoir belonging to the city of Boston, within the limits of said municipalities, in the manner and upon the terms to be agreed upon with said city of Boston; and, in case of a failure to agree upon such manner and terms, either party may petition the supreme judicial court for the appointment of a commission of three suitable persons, who shall hear the parties, and determine the manner of taking said waters, and the compensation to be paid to the said city of Boston therefor, upon the basis of a proper and just apportionment of the expense of rendering the same available; and provided, further, that the said city of Boston shall not raise the waters of Horn pond more than six feet above the present mean high-water level, nor draw the same below the present level of low-water; neither shall any lands south of Cross street, in the town of Winchester, be flowed to a greater extent than is at present authorized by law. SECT. 2. For the purposes of this act said city may from time to time erect and maintain dams, and may increase the height of and strengthen and maintain existing dams to raise the water, or to form storage-reservoirs; may make and maintain reservoirs within and without said city; may erect and maintain buildings and machinery for elevating the water, and lay down pipes for conducting the same; may build and maintain filters, conduits, and sewers, or other means of purifying the water, or of diverting impurities from the same. And the said city may, for the purposes aforesaid, carry and conduct any conduit, aqueduct, water-main, or other work, by it to be made and constructed, under or over any water-course or any street, turnpike road, railroad, highway, or other way, in such manner as not to unnecessarily obstruct or impede travel thereon; and may enter upon and dig up any such road, street, or way, for the purpose of laying down or constructing conduits, aqueducts, water-mains, or pipes, and for maintaining and repairing the same; and, in general, may do any other acts and things necessary or convenient and proper for the purposes of this act. Said city of Boston may also, with the consent of the directors of the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, change the grade or location of so much of said railroad as is situated in the Mystic valley, or with the consent of the county commissioners of Middlesex county, or the surveyors of highways in the towns where such reservoirs are to be constructed, change the grade or location of any highway, public street, or way of travel. Said city of Boston, in entering upon and digging up any such highway, road, street, or way of public travel, shall be subject to such reasonable regulations as shall be made by the selectmen of the towns wherein such work shall be performed, for the protection of their rights of drainage and sewerage therein; but any person or town using the conduits or sewers of said city for the purpose of drainage, shall bear a proportional part of the expense of constructing and maintaining the same. damages. SECT. 3. The city of Boston shall be liable to pay all damages Liability for that shall be sustained by any persons in their property, by the taking of or injury to any land, water, or water-rights, or by the flowage of the lands of any persons, or by the interference with or injury to any use or enjoyment of any of said water to which any person, at the time of such taking, is legally entitled, or by any other doings under this act; and in regard to such taking, injury, interference, and flowage, and the ascertainment and payment of all such damages, the said city of Boston and all persons claiming damages shall have all the rights, immunities, and remedies, and be subject to all the duties, liabilities, and regulations, which are provided in the one hundred and sixty-seventh chapter of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and forty-six and the three hundred and sixteenth chapter of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty. SECT. 4. Whenever the city of Boston shall dig up any street or Strets and ways way, as aforesaid, it shall restore the same in as good order and as good condicondition as the same shall be in when such digging commenced; and tion as when the city of Boston shall at all times indemnify and save harmless menced. the several towns within which such street or way may be, against all damages which may be recovered against them respectively, and shall reimburse to them all expenses which they shall incur by reason of any defect or want of repair in any street or way caused by the construction of any of said works, or laying of said pipes, or by the maintaining or repairing the same: provided, that said city shall have due and reasonable notice of all claims for such damages or injury, and opportunity to make a legal defence thereto. to be restored to digging com. maliciously same impure. SECT. 5. If any person or persons shall wantonly or maliciously Penalty for divert the water, or any part thereof, of any of the rivers, ponds, diverting water, streams, or water sources, which shall be taken by the city pursuant or rendering the to the provisions of this act, or shall corrupt the same, or render it impure, or destroy or injure any dam, aqueduct, pipes, conduit, hydrant, machinery, or other property held, owned, or used, by the said city, by the authority and for the purposes of this act, every such person or persons shall forfeit and pay to the said city three times the amount of damages that shall be assessed therefor, to be recovered in any proper action. And every such person or persons may, moreover, on indictment and conviction of either of the wanton and malicious acts aforesaid, be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by confinement to hard labor in the state prison for a term not exceeding ten years. SECT. 6. For the purpose of defraying all the costs and expenses Boston may incurred under this act, the said city of Boston is authorized to issue defray expenses, its bonds to such an amount as may be necessary therefor, but not etc. exceeding the cost and expenses incurred under this act, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum; and said interest shall be payable semi-annually, and the principal shall be payable at periods not more than forty years from the issuing thereof; and said bonds shall be known as Mystic water bonds of the city of Boston. And the said city may sell the same or any part thereof, from time to time, by public or private sale, or pledge the same for money borrowed for the purposes aforesaid, on such terms and conditions as it shall deem proper. issue bonds to from making SECT. 7. Nothing contained in the last preceding section shall be Not prohibited construed to prohibit the city of Boston from making temporary temporary loans for the purposes therein set forth, to be redeemed within five loans. years by the said Mystic water loan: provided, that the amount of said loan shall in no case exceed the amount authorized by said section. SECT. 8. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance, within two years from its passage, by a vote of the city council of said city of Boston.' June 30, 1874. [1846, 167; 1849, 187; 1850, 316; 1870, 216; 1871, 159.] 1875. CHAPTER 73. May hold tional real and Statutes and ordinances (ed. 1876), p. 545. AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR IN THE Be it enacted, etc.: CITY SECTION 1. The Overseers of the Poor in the City of Boston, a corporation duly established by law, are hereby authorized to hold real and personal estate not exceeding in value three hundred thousand dollars, in addition to the real and personal estate which they are authorized to hold by an act passed on the twenty-fifth day of April, in the year seventeen hundred and seventy-two, entitled, "An act for incorporating the overseers of the poor, in the town of Boston." SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1772, 3.] March 27, 1875. Boston water board established. 1 Allen 361. 104 Mass. 95. Cochituate and Mystic water boards to be abolished. 1875. CHAPTER 80. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE BOSTON WATER BOARD. Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city council of the city of Boston may establiso, by ordinance, a water board, to be known as the Boston water board, consisting of three able and discrect persons, to be appointed by the mayor, with the advice and consent of the city council, and to receive such compensation as the city council may from time to time determine. The said board may be empowered by said city council to exercise all or any of the powers conferred by the statutes of the commonwealth upon the city of Boston, with reference to supplying said city with water, or of the Cochituate and Mystic water boards; and also to act as the agent of the city of Boston in doing any or all things which the city is now authorized to do in relation to the taking of lands, water-rights, and other property, and the establishment and maintenance of works and appliances for supplying the city of Boston or other cities and towns with pure water. Said board may also establish and regulate the price or rents for the use of said water, subject to the provisions of sections twelve and thirteen of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and forty-six; and the words, "Boston water scrip" in said sections shall be construed to include the whole amount of outstanding loans representing the cost of the water works. SECT. 2. The Cochituate water board and the Mystic water board shall, upon the appointment of the Boston water board, as provided in the first section of this act, be thereby abolished; and the said Boston water board shall, so far as the city council of said city may by ordinance prescribe, succeed to all the powers and duties formerly vested in said Cochituate water board and Mystic water board. 1 Accepted by the city council, July 12, 1875. SECT. 3. The salaries of the members of the Boston water board Salaries not to be diminished shall not be diminished during the terms for which they are respec- during terms for tively appointed. which appointed. 179. SECT. 4. Chapter one hundred and seventy-nine of the acts of the Repeal of 1874, year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four is hereby repealed. SECT. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE TO SUPPLY WATER Be it enacted, etc.: sell water to SECTION 1. The town of Brookline may from its source of supply, Brookline may or from pipes leading therefrom, sell to the city of Boston such quan- Boston. tity of water, for such time and on such terms as may be agreed on between said city and said town: provided, that said city shall first Proviso. signify its desire to purchase such water by a vote of its common council and board of aldermen, approved by the mayor of said city; and that said town shall first signify its desire to sell the same by a vote of its inhabitants at a meeting duly warned for that purpose. be executed to SECT. 2. The city of Boston by its common council, and the town Contract may of Brookline at any meeting of its inhabitants, may each authorize carry votes into any person to execute in its behalf a suitable contract for carrying effect. into effect any votes passed under the first section of this act. relative to taking water from SECT. 3. The vote of the said town in relation to taking water Vote confirmed from Charles river, passed on the twenty-second day of April in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-four, fixing the amount of Charles river. water to be taken by said town from said river at a million and a half gallons a day, is hereby ratified and confirmed. SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN OF THE ACTS OF THE YEAR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO, AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF BOSTON TO OBTAIN AN ADDITIONAL SUP- Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. Section four of chapter one hundred and seventy- Amendment to seven of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two is 1872, 177, § 4. hereby amended by adding after the word "pond" in the eleventh line,' the words "or the inhabitants of the town of Hopkinton, from taking from the Sudbury river and its tributaries." SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1872, 177.] 1 In the ninth line of this reprint. May 1, 1875. City treasurer may be elected by concurrent vote. Removal. Collector of taxes to be elected, by concurrent vote, in May or June. 1875. CHAPTER 176. AN ACT CONCERNING THE TREASURER OF THE CITY OF BOSTON, AND Be it enacted, etc. : SECTION 1. The treasurer of the city of Boston shall hereafter be elected annually in the month of May or June by concurrent vote of both branches of the city council. He shall continue to exercise all the powers now by law belonging to his office, except those hereinafter given to the collector of the city of Boston; and he may be removed by the mayor, with the approval of the city council. SECT. 2. There shall be elected annually in the month of May or June, by concurrent vote of both branches of the city council, a suitable person to be collector of the city of Boston, who shall hold his office until his successor is chosen and qualified. Said collector shall have the powers now possessed by the treasurer of said city as collector of taxes, and shall also collect and receive all assessments, betterments, rates, dues, and money payable on any account to the city of Boston or the county of Suffolk, and shall have all the powers with respect to such collections now possessed by the treasurer of said city, and shall pay over any and all money received by him to said treasurer, within twenty-four hours after receiving the same, taking said treasurer's receipt therefor in duplicate; and shall file with the auditor of accounts of said city the duplicate copy of the same. He shall give bond with such sureties and in such sum, and shall receive such compensation, as the city council shall determine; and he may be removed by the mayor with the approval of the city council. SECT. 3. All fees, charges, and commissions, of every kind and lection of taxes, description allowed by law for the collection of taxes, betterments, rates, and assessments, of every kind, to any person or persons authorized to collect the same within the city of Boston, shall, after the first day of September eighteen hundred and seventy five, be collected and paid by such persons into the treasury of the city of Boston, and shall become the property of said city. The said city is hereby authorized to pay to such persons such compensation for their services as the city council shall from time to time determine. Removal. Fees and commissions on col etc., to be paid into city treasury. SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance by the city council of the city of Boston.' May 3, 1875. [1802, 7; 1803, 15; 1807, 134; 1878, 176; P.S. 23, § 3.] Part of Boston annexed to Newton. 1875. CHAPTER 184. AN ACT TO ANNEX A PART OF THE CITY OF BOSTON TO THE CITY OF Be it enacted, etc.: NEWTON. SECTION 1. That part of the city of Boston in the county of Suffolk, contained within the lines described as follows: beginning at a stone bound near the south bank of Charles river on the premises of William Parsons, at the present dividing line between Boston and Newton; thence running south eleven degrees twenty-nine minutes seven seconds west (magnetic meridian), over the old dividing line between Boston and Newton, across Nonantum street, and the Boston and Albany railroad, to a stone bound in a lane; thence south eleven degrees fifty-nine minutes nineteen seconds west, four hundred thirty 1 Accepted May 17, 1875. |