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. 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. cial court to road may enter SECT. 4. Nothing in this act shall prevent the said city and the City and railsaid 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 ment, provided, shall not cross said railroad at grade. etc. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF BOSTON TO OBTAIN A FURTHER Be it enacted, etc.: 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 from the valley 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. Proviso. Proviso. May erect dams, and increase height of and strengthen existing dams. Change of grade, etc., of Boston and Lowell rail road. of dams, buildings, water-courses, aqueducts, machinery, or appliances, 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 Strects 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 digging comthe 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 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. issue bonds to 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. 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. Subject to ac ceptance by city council. 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.] May hold tional real and Statutes and ordinances (ed. 1876), p. 545. AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR IN THE CITY Be it enacted, etc.: 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 establish, by ordinance, a water board, to be known as the Boston water board, consisting of three able and discreet 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 ap pointed. 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. 179. SECT. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1846, 167; 1861, 105.] March 31, 1875. 1875. CHAPTER 127. 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. 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 any person to execute in its behalf a suitable contract for carrying into effect any votes passed under the first section of this act. 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 relative to taking 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. be executed to carry votes into effect. water from April 15, 1875. 1875. CHAPTER 168. AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN OF 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. |