Assessments to be made within two years; -to be lien upon estates and collected like taxes. Parties aggrieved may have jury. Bonds may be issued by towns to pay expenses. Military parades not without consent of board. upon any estate, shall not exceed one-half of the amount which said board shall adjudge to be the whole benefit received by it. SECTION 11. No assessment shall be made as provided in the preceding section except within two years after the passage of the order, the execution of which causes the benefit for which the assessment is made. SECTION 12. All assessments made under this act shall constitute a lien upon the real estate so assessed, to be enforced and collected by the city of Boston, in the same manner and with like charges for costs and interest as is provided by law for the collection of taxes; and such assessments may be apportioned by said board in like manner as assessments for benefits caused by the laying out of ways may now be apportioned by the board of aldermen of a city. SECTION 13. Any party aggrieved by any assessment made by said board as aforesaid, may have the amount of the benefit received by his estate assessed by a jury of the superior court of the county where the land lies, in the same manner as is provided by law with respect to damages sustained by reason of the laying out of ways in the city of Boston. SECTION 14. For the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred by any city or town under the provisions of this act, the city council of any such city, or the selectmen of any such town, shall have authority to issue from time to time, and to an amount not exceeding the amount of such expenses, bonds or certificates of debt, to be denominated on the face thereof the Public Park Loan of such city or town, and to bear interest at such rate and to be payable at such periods as such council or selectmen may determine. SECTION 15. No military encampment, parade, drill, allowed in park review or other military evolution or exercise shall be held or performed on any park laid out as aforesaid, except with the prior consent of said board; nor shall any military body, without such consent, enter or move in military order within the same, except in case of riot, insurrection, rebellion or Board to report annually to council of Bos war. SECTION 16. Said board shall annually, in the month of governor and January, make to the governor and council and to the city council and city council of Boston, a full report of the doings of said board for the preceding year, including a detailed statement of all their receipts and expenditures and of all gifts, bequests and devises received by them. ton. acceptance by of SECTION 17. This act shall not take full effect unless Subject to accepted by two-thirds of the legal voters of the city of Bos- two-thirds of ton, present and voting thereon by ballot and using the the legal voters check-list, at meetings which shall be held in the several wards of said city, on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November of the present year, and upon notice thereof duly given at least seven days before the time of said meetings, and the polls shall be opened at nine o'clock in the forenoon of said day and closed at six o'clock in the afternoon of said day. In case of the absence of any ward officer at any ward meeting in said city, held for the purpose aforesaid, a like officer may be chosen pro tempore by hand vote, and shall be duly qualified and shall have all the powers and be subject to all the duties of the regular officer at said meetings. Said ballots shall be " yes or no" in answer to the question: "Shall an act passed by the legislature of the Commonwealth, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy, entitled 'An Act for the laying out of one or more parks in or near the city of Boston' be accepted?" Such meetings shall be called, notified and warned by the board of, aldermen of said city in the same manner in which elections for municipal officers are called, notified and warned. counted in open The ballots given in shall be assorted, counted and Ballots to be declared in the ward meetings in which they are given, in meeting. open ward meeting, and shall be registered in the ward records. The clerk of each ward shall make return of all ballots given in his ward and the number of ballots in favor of the acceptance of this act, and the number of ballots against its acceptance, to the board of aldermen; said returns to be made within forty-eight hours of the close of the polls. to the secretary It shall be the duty of the board of aldermen to certify as Return of vote soon as may be the number of ballots cast in said city of of the CommonBoston, and the number of ballots cast in favor of the wealth. acceptance of this act, and the number of ballots cast against said acceptance, to the secretary of the Commonwealth; and if it shall appear that two-thirds of the votes cast is in favor of the acceptance of this act, the said secretary shall immediately issue and publish his certificate declaring this act to have been duly accepted. SECTION 18. So much of this act as authorizes and directs Question of acceptance to take the submission of the question of acceptance of this act to effect forthwith. the legal voters of said city of Boston, provided for in the seventeenth section of this act, shall take effect upon its passage. Approved May 27, 1870. Chap. 284 AN ACT FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE FISHERIES IN THE VICINITY Fish not to be taken by net out permission. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: OF NANTUCKET. SECTION 1. It shall not be lawful for any person or perwithin one mile sons to take any fish with any kind of net, or to set any net of shore, with for the purpose of taking any fish therewith, within one mile from the shores of Nantucket, Tuckernuck, Smith's, Muskegat and Gravel Islands, without first obtaining permission of the selectmen of Nantucket. Penalty for each offence. Fish wardens to be chosen. Vessels, &c., unlawfully em attached, &c. SECTION 2. Every person violating any provision of this act, shall forfeit and pay for each offence a sum not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars. SECTION 3. The town of Nantucket is hereby authorized to choose, at the annual town meeting, or at any meeting duly warned for that purpose, such number of fish wardens as may at the time be deemed necessary, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty, whose duty it shall be to prosecute for every offence against any provision of this act. SECTION 4. All vessels, boats, craft, and apparatus of ployed may be every kind employed in taking fish contrary to the provisions of this act, or having on board any such fish unlawfully taken, shall be liable for any fines, penalties, forfeitures and costs herein provided for, and may be attached on mesne process, and sold on execution as the property of the person or persons offending by the use thereof. And it shall be the duty of said fish wardens to seize such vessel, boat, craft or apparatus, and detain the same not exceeding forty-eight hours, in order that the same may be attached or arrested by due process of law: provided, however, that as soon as the master or owner of such vessel, boat, craft or apparatus shall pay the penalty required by the fish wardens, to the treasurer of the town of Nantucket, together with the accrued costs, such vessel, boat, craft or apparatus shall be discharged with the effects therein; and the ninth clause of section thirty-two of chapter one hundred and thirty-three of the General Statutes is hereby so modified that it shall not apply to boats, fishing-tackle, and nets taken under the provisions of this act. Proviso. Fines, &c., to be divided be of Nantucket and fish SECTION 5. All fines, penalties and forfeitures recovered tween treasurer and received by virtue of this act, shall go, one-half to the treasurer of the town of Nantucket, for the use of said town, wardens. the other half to the fish warden or fish wardens commencing the action; and said fines, penalties and forfeitures may be recovered, together with legal costs of suit, by an action of tort in any court of record proper to try the same. SECTION 6. Chapter six of the acts of the year eighteen Repeal. SECTION 7. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT CONCERNING PROBATE BONDS. nexed to give bond like an executor. Chap. 285 Be it enacted, &c., as follows : SECTION 1. Whoever is appointed administrator with the Administrator will annexed, shall, before entering on the execution of his with will antrust, give bond to the judge of the probate court in like manner and with like condition as is required of an executor; but when such administrator with the will annexed is residuary legatee, the judge may permit him, instead of giving such bond, to give the bond prescribed in section three of chapter ninety-three of the General Statutes, with like effect as though he was nominated executor in the will. SECTION 2. Section eight of chapter ninety-three of the Repeal. General Statutes is hereby repealed. SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUE MERIDIAN Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Chap. 286 lines to be in every county SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the county commission- True meridian ers of each county of this Commonwealth, within one year erected at confrom and after the passage of this act, to erect on land situ- venient places ated in the county, at such place or places in the several for use of surcounties as the public convenience may require, and under veyors, &c. the direction of a commissioner to be appointed by the governor and council, a true meridian line or lines, to be perpetuated by substantial stone posts or pillars, upon whose summits shall be firmly and immovably fixed brass or copper points to indicate the true range of such meridian; the said posts or pillars to be and to remain the property of the county wherein the same shall be located, under the custody and care of the county commissioners of said county, to be free to the access of any surveyor or civil engineer residing in said county, or engaged in surveying therein, for the purpose of testing the variation of the compass for the time being; and the expense attending the same shall be paid from the treasury of the several counties. The county commissioners in any county, may purchase on behalf of their Pillars and posts, how to be erected. Land surveyors pass annually. county, the right to erect and maintain the posts or pillars, provided for by this act, with rights of way thereto, and may take grants to their county, of such rights. · SECTION 2. Said pillars or posts shall be constructed and erected in the following manner. Each post shall be of granite or other equally durable stone, shall be at least eight feet in length, eighteen inches square at the base, and one foot square at the top; three posts of this description shall be erected in an exact line north and south, and distant from each other not less than two hundred feet; these stone pillars shall be set firmly in the ground, and protected from upheaval by the frost. The top of each post shall be tapered to a square or circle of eight inches diameter, on which shall be placed a brass or copper cap of circular form on which shall be plainly engraved a cross indicating the four cardinal points and marked by the letters N. S. E. W., or the words North, South, East, West, each letter or word on its relative arm or point; the said brass or copper cap to be firmly fastened to the pillar either by brass or copper bolts. SECTION 3. It shall be the duty of every land surveyor in to adjust com- the state, at least once in every year, to adjust and verify his compass by the meridian line so established in the county wherein his surveys are to be made, and to insert in his field notes, the true as well as the magnetic bearings of the lines of his surveys, and the day on which the lines were run. Record to be of compass of each surveyor. SECTION 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of kept of the va the several counties aforesaid, to procure a book of records to be kept by the clerk of the courts, or any person appointed by the county commissioners to keep said book of records, which shall be accessible to all persons wishing to refer thereto, and every surveyor, on having adjusted his compass as aforesaid, shall enter therein the variation of his compass from the true meridian, whether east or west, and shall subscribe his name and affidavit thereto. Penalty on surveyor for neglect, &c. Governor to appoint commissioner to superintend erection of posts, verify meridian lines, &c. SECTION 5. Any surveyor who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this act, shall for every such neglect or refusal be subject to a fine of ten dollars, to be recovered on complaint made before any court of competent jurisdiction, one half to be paid to the person making the complaint and the other half to the county within which such complaint shall be made. SECTION 6. It shall be the duty of the governor and council to appoint some competent person as commissioner to superintend the erection of said posts or pillars, and to inspect and verify by astronomical observations, the meridian 1 |