Street commis sioners may invested with powers now be AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE BOARD OF STREET COMMISSIONERS OF Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city council of the city of Boston is hereby authorized to delegate to and confer upon the board of street commissioners of said city any powers now vested in the board of aldermen, whether board of alder in conjunction with the mayor, or otherwise, with reference to the exercised by men in care of streets, etc. May be charged with powers in relation to Bewers. City council may direct limi. delegated. care, maintenance, and repair, of the highways, streets, causeways and bridges in said city, or any powers now vested in or exercised by the board of aldermen of said city, as surveyors of highways therein. It may likewise delegate to said board of street commissioners the powers vested in said board of aldermen, whether in conjunction with the mayor, or otherwise, to regulate, restrict, and control, the acts and doings of all gas-light companies, in sinking, laying, and repairing, their pipes in the streets, lanes, and highways, in said city. SECT. 2. The city council of the city of Boston is hereby authorized to delegate to, and confer upon, the board of street commissioners of said city any powers now vested in the board of aldermen, whether in conjunction with the mayor, or otherwise, to lay, make, maintain, and repair, main drains and common sewers within said city, and to assess upon persons by law liable thereto, their proportional part of the charge of laying, making, and repairing, the same, together with all other powers with reference to said main drains and common sewers, now vested in or exercised by said board of aldermen, whether in conjunction with the mayor or otherwise. SECT. 3. The city council of the city of Boston may direct under tations of powers what limitations and restrictions the powers, herein authorized to be delegated to, and conferred upon, the board of street commissioners of said city, shall be exercised, may modify said powers from time to time, or may revoke the same or any of them. SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance by the city council of the city of Boston.' Maintenance of bridge. AN ACT CONCERNING THE MAINTENANCE OF CHELSEA BRIDGE. Be it enacted, etc. : SECTION 1. The city of Chelsea shall maintain and repair that portion of Chelsea bridge over Mystic river, lying north-easterly of the Draw and draw- north-easterly draw therein; and the city of Boston shall maintain and repair that portion of said bridge lying south-westerly of said draw; and said draw, together with the draw-piers, shall be maintained and repaired equally by said cities. piers. Liability for damages. SECT. 2. Said cities shall be respectively liable for damages resulting from defects in the portion of said bridge which by this act they are severally required to maintain and repair. SECT. 3. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1876, 106; 1880, 159.] 1 This act has not yet been accepted. 2 P.S. c. 22, § 8, substituted. See post, p. 320. March 7, 1878. 1878. CHAPTER 45. AN ACT TRANSFERRING TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BOSTON SUBSTANCES. Be it enacted, etc.: neers of fire de council. SECTION 1. All powers and duties conferred by existing statutes Powers of engi upon the engineers or board of engineers of the fire department of partment transthe city of Boston, or upon any member of said board, are hereby fered to city transferred to the city council of said city; and said powers and duties may be exercised and carried into effect by said city council in R.O. c. 21. such manner as it may from time to time prescribe, and through the agency of any persons, board, or boards, to whom it may from time to time delegate the same. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. March 11, 1878. [1817, 171; 1850, 262; 1853, 154; P.S. 102, § 54, et seq.] 1878. CHAPTER 75. AN ACT CONCERNING THE RELOCATION OF STREETS AND WAYS IN THE Be it enacted, etc.: CITY OF BOSTON. streets and SECTION 1. Whenever the board of street commissioners of the Relocation of city of Boston deem it necessary to locate anew a street or way in ways. said city, either for the purpose of establishing the boundary lines of such street or way, erecting monuments thereon, or of making alterations in the course or width thereof, they may so locate such street or way by giving notice, and proceeding in the manner prescribed by law for laying out streets or ways in said city. damages. SECT. 2. Any person sustaining damage in his property by the lo- Assessment of cation of a street or way, as provided in the preceding section, shall have his damages assessed and paid in accordance with the provisions of law in respect to laying out, altering, and discontinuing, streets and ways in the city of Boston. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. be taken from permit. SECTION 1. Whoever takes any shell-fish from the shores or flats Shell-fish not to of Thompson's island, in Boston harbor, without the permit of the Thompson's managers of the Boston asylum and farm school for indigent boys, island without or the chief of the police of the city of Boston, shall, for every offence, pay a fine of not less than five dollars or more than ten dollars, and costs of prosecution; said fine to be recovered by complaint before the municipal court of the city of Boston. arrested without SECT. 2. Any constable or police officer of the city of Boston may, Offender may be without a warrant, arrest any person whom he finds in the act of taking a warrant. shell-fish in violation of the provisions of the preceding section of this act, or in the act of carrying away shell-fish so taken, and detain him in some place of safe-keeping until a warrant can be procured against such person upon a complaint for said offence: provided, that such detention shall not exceed twenty-four hours. March 23, 1878. Trustees of the public library incorporated. May hold real and personal estate not ex 000. Investments. AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The trustees of the public library of the city of Boston, for the time being, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston; and said trustees and their successors in office shall continue a body corporate for the purposes hereinafter set forth, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, in the general laws relating to such corporations. SECT. 2. Said corporation shall have authority to take and hold real and personal estate to an amount not exceeding one million ceeding $1,000, dollars, which may be given, granted, bequeathed, or devised, to it, and accepted by the trustees, for the benefit of the public library of the city of Boston, or any branch library, or any purpose connected therewith. Money received by it shall be invested by the treasurer of the city of Boston under the direction of the finance committee of said city; and all securities belonging to said corporation shall be placed in the custody of said treasurer: provided, always, that both the principal and income thereof shall be appropriated according to the terms of the donation, devise, or bequest, under the direction of said corporation. Proviso. Trustees to be seven in number. Appointment. Removal from office. SECT. 3. The trustees of the public library shall be seven in number. In the month of April, in the year eighteen hundred and seventyeight, and annually thereafter, in the month of January, the city council shall elect, by concurrent vote of the two branches, one member of the board of aldermen, and one member of the common council, to be members of said board of trustees, to hold office during the remainder of the municipal year in which they are elected, and until others are elected in their places. And in the month of April, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, the mayor shall appoint, subject to the confirmation of the city council, five citizens of Boston, not members of the city council, to be members of the board of trustees of the public library, one of whom shall hold office for five years, one for four years, one for three years, and one for two years, and one for one year; and, upon such election, and such appointment and confirmation, the terms of office of the trustees of the public library then holding office, shall cease and determine. And annually thereafter, in the month of April in each year, the mayor shall appoint, subject to the confirmation of the city council, one citizen at large, as a trustee of the public library, to serve for a term of five years from the first Monday in May in the year in which he shall be appointed. The trustees shall at all times be subject to removal from office for cause, by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the city council present and voting thereon. Whenever any vacancy shall occur in said board of trustees by death, resignation, or otherwise, said vacancy shall be filled by the election, or appointment, in the manner aforesaid, of another trustee, who shall hold office for the residue of the unexpired term. No member of said board of trustees shall receive any pecuniary compensation for his services. board of trus SECT. 4. The members of said board shall meet for organization Organization of on the first Monday of each May, and choose one of their number as tees. president. They shall have power to make such rules and regulations relating to said public library and its branches, and its officers and servants, and to fix and enforce penalties for the violation of such rules and regulations, as they may deem expedient: provided, that the same shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and shall be subject at all times to such limitations, restrictions, and amendments, as the city council may direct. care and control branches. SECT. 5. The said trustees shall have the general care and control Trustees to have of the central public library now located in Boylston street in said of the central city, and of all branches thereof, which have been, or which may library and its hereafter be, established, together with the buildings and rooms containing the same, and the fixtures and furniture connected therewith, and also of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated therefor. SECT. 6. The said board of trustees may appoint a superintendent May appoint or librarian with such assistants and subordinate officers as they may assistants, and think necessary or expedient, and may remove the same, and fix fix their com their compensation: provided, that the amount thus paid shall not Proviso. exceed the sum appropriated by the city council for that item of expense, and the income of any moneys which may lawfully be appropriated for the same purpose from funds or property held by said trustees under the provisions of this act. librarian and pensation. may pass or SECT. 7. The city council shall have power to pass such ordi- City council nances not inconsistent herewith, or repugnant to other laws of the dinances as to commonwealth, as to the duties and authority of said board, as they may from time to time deem expedient. SECT. 8. This act shall take effect upon its passage. April 4, 1878. [1853, 38; 1873, 286; 1880, 222; 1882, 143; 1883, 141.] duties of board. AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE INDEXES IN THE REGISTRY OF DEEDS OF Be it enacted, etc.: sioners to be ap. perior court. reenactment, SECTION 1. The powers and duties of the aldermen of Boston Index commisunder sections one hundred and three and one hundred and four of pointed by chapter seventeen of the general statutes, shall hereafter be exercised justices of suby a board of index commissioners, who shall serve without pay. The justices of the superior court, or a majority thereof, shall appoint, Repealed by within one month from the time of the passage of this act, three such P.S. For commissioners to hold office for the terms of one, two, and three, years see post, p. 321. respectively, beginning with the first day of April of the current year, and shall appoint annually thereafter, during the month of March, one such commissioner, to hold office for the term of three years, beginning with the first day of April following. In the performance of their Not to expend duties said board shall not expend an amount in excess of the sum authorized. authorized by the board of aldermen of Boston. Any of said board Removal from of commissioners may be removed by the justices aforesaid, for good cause shown, as provided for the removal of a register of deeds, by section eighty-eight of said chapter; and in case of a vacancy in said Vacancies may board by reason of death, resignation, or removal, it shall be filled by appointment by the justices aforesaid for the unexpired term. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. in excess of sum office. be filled. April 9, 1878. May pay fees and charges for collection of . certain taxes. Repeal. AN ACT RELATING TO THE DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN FUNDS IN THE Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. The city of Boston is authorized to pay to the persons authorized to collect taxes, betterments, rates, and assessments, in said city, prior to the first day of September, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, such amount of the fees, charges, and commissions thereon, allowed by law, as had accrued, or were earned but were unpaid, prior to said first day of September, and have since actually been paid into the treasury of said city, between said date and the date of the passage of this act. SECT. 2. So much of chapter one hundred seventy-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred seventy-five as is inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1875, 176.] April 23, 1878. Stables may be rebuilt. AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE REBUILDING AND IMPROVEMENT OF STABLES Be it enacted, etc.: SECTION 1. Any stable now, or hereafter, legally existing in the city of Boston may, with the consent of the mayor and aldermen of said city, be rebuilt, enlarged, and improved, in accordance with the provisions of chapter two hundred and eighty of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and the several acts in amendment thereof, regulating the construction of buildings in said city. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [1810, 124; 1869, 369.] April 26, 1878. Voting precincts to be established. 1879, 163. SECTION 1. On or before the first day of September in the current year, each ward of the city of Boston shall be divided by the board of assessors of taxes in said city, into voting precincts, each consisting of compact and contiguous territory within said ward, and containing as nearly as may be five hundred registered voters. The registration in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven shall be taken as the Precincts to be basis of such division. Said precincts shall be designated by numbers or by letters of the alphabet. In the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, as soon as practicable after the division of the city into new wards as now provided by law, and every fifth year thereafter, the said wards shall be divided by said board of assessors into voting precincts on the basis of the registration of voters in the preceding year. designated by numbers or letters. Warden and clerk to be SECT. 2. In each voting precinct, there shall be the following |