veterans may at any time parade in public their color guards of ten men with firearms; and that any organization heretofore authorized thereto by law may parade with sidearms; and that any veteran association composed wholly of past members of the militia of this commonwealth may maintain an armory for the use of the organizations of the militia to which its members belonged.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 18, 1916.

[CHAP. 9.]

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE TO EXPEND AN ADDITIONAL SUM FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING COPIES OF CERTAIN RECORDS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The county commissioners of the county of Berkshire are hereby authorized to expend, a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, in addition to the sums heretofore authorized, for the purpose of making copies of certain records in the registry of deeds for the middle district in said county, as provided by chapter four hundred and seventy-eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and fourteen.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 10.]

AN ACT TO DEFINE THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE ANNUAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE FURNISHING, REPAIR AND CARE OF UNITED STATES SHIPS MAY BE USED.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The annual appropriation for the furnishing, repair and care of any United States ships loaned to the commonwealth of Massachusetts for the use of the naval militia shall be available for the payment of all damages and other expenses incident to the use of such ships. Claims for damages shall be paid only when approved by the adjutant general, and the releases obtained shall be in such form as he may prescribe.

SECTION 2. Claims for damages including those ascertained during the year nineteen hundred and fifteen may be paid from the appropriation for the fiscal year in which the amount of damage is ascertained, without regard to the date of the actual occurrence of the damage.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 23, 1916.

[CHAP. 11.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE DESIGNATION OF OFFICERS OF CORPORATIONS LICENSED AS INSURANCE AGENTS AND BROKERS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section two of chapter eighty-two of the General Acts of the year nineteen hundred and fifteen, is hereby amended by striking out the word

"three", in the eighth line, and inserting in place thereof the word:five, so as to read as follows: Section 2. The insurance commissioner may require any such corporation, upon making an application for a license or for the renewal of a license, to file with him such information as he may request relating to the corporation and its officers, directors and stockholders, and the commissioner may make such examination of the corporation's affairs as he may deem necessary. Every such license shall designate the officers of the corporation, not exceeding five, who may solicit or negotiate contracts of insurance in the name and in behalf of the corporation. [Approved February 23, 1916.

[CHAP. 12.]

AN ACT EXEMPTING CERTAIN EMPLOYEES FROM MEDICAL EXAMINATION FOR LIFE INSURANCE.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section seventy-one of chapter five hundred and seventy-six of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and seven is hereby amended by adding at the end of the first paragraph the words:except that an inspection by a competent person of a group of employees whose lives are to be insured and their environment may be substituted for such medical examination in cases where the insurance is granted under a single policy issued to a given person, firm or corporation, covering simultaneously a group of not less than one hundred lives all in the employ of such person, firm or corporation, so that said paragraph will read as follows: Section 71. No life insurance company organized under the laws of or doing business in this commonwealth shall enter into any contract of insurance upon lives within this commonwealth without having previously made or caused to be made a prescribed medical examination of the insured by a registered medical practitioner; except that an inspection by a competent person of a group of employees whose lives are to be insured and their environment may be substituted for such medical examination in cases where the insurance is granted under a single policy issued to a given person, firm or corporation, covering simultaneously a group of not less than one hundred lives all in the employ of such person, firm or corporation.

(The foregoing was laid before the governor on the seventeenth day of February, 1916, and after five days it had "the force of a law", as prescribed by the constitution, as it was not returned by him with his objections thereto within that time.)

[CHAP. 13.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE AUDITING OF TOWN ACCOUNTS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Section one of chapter five hundred and ninety-eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and ten, as amended by section one of chapter seven hundred and six of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, is hereby further amended by striking out the said section and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 1. Any town at

a town meeting legally called for the purpose may petition the director of the bureau of statistics for an audit of its accounts, or for the installation of a system of accounts by him approved, and said director, as soon as possible after the receipt of such a petition, shall cause such audit to be made or system of accounts to be installed as the case may be; or a town may provide in its by-laws for periodical audits under the direction of the director of the bureau of statistics, and said director shall cause such audits to be made.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 25, 1916.

[CHAP. 14.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO PROSECUTIONS UNDER THE LAW PROVIDING FOR WEEKLY PAYMENT OF WAGES.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section one hundred and thirteen of chapter five hundred and fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine is hereby amended by striking out the words "The chief of the district police or an inspector of factories and public buildings", in the first and second lines, and inserting in place thereof the words:-The state board of labor and industries, -and by striking out the words "thirty days", in the fifth line, and inserting in place thereof the words: three months, so as to read as follows:- Section 113. The state board of labor and industries may make a complaint against any person for a violation of the provisions of the preceding section. Complaints for such violation shall be made within three months after the date thereof, and, on the trial, no defence for failure to pay as required, other than the attachment of such wages by the trustee process or a valid assignment thereof or a valid set-off against the same, or the absence of the employee from his regular place of labor at the time of payment, or an actual tender to such employee at the time of payment of the wages so earned by him, shall be valid. The defendant shall not set up as a defence a payment of wages after the bringing of the complaint. An assignment of future wages which are payable weekly under the provisions of this act shall not be valid if made to the person from whom such wages are to become due or to any person on his behalf or if made or procured to be made to another person for the purpose of relieving the employer from the obligation to pay weekly. The word "person" in this section shall include the corporations, contractors, persons and partnerships described in the preceding section. [Approved February 25, 1916.

[CHAP. 15.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF UPLAND PLOVER AND CERTAIN OTHER WILD BIRDS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Chapter four hundred and seventy-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and ten is hereby amended by striking out section one and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 1. Whoever takes or

kills a Bartramian sandpiper, also called upland plover, a wood duck, a wild or passenger pigeon, a Carolina or mourning dove, a gull or a tern, shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten, nor more than fifty dollars for every bird so taken or killed. Whoever takes or kills a heath hen shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for every bird so taken or killed. [Approved March 1, 1916.

[CHAP. 16.]

AN ACT TO CHANGE THE METHOD OF VOTING IN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES. Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter eight hundred and thirty-five of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen is hereby amended by striking out section one hundred and forty and inserting in place thereof the following: Section 140. The secretary of the commonwealth shall cause to be placed upon the official ballot for use in primaries at which delegates to national conventions of political parties are elected, under separate headings, and in the following order, the names of candidates for delegates at large, alternate delegates at large, district delegates, and alternate district delegates. The names of candidates appearing in nomination papers which contain nominations for all the places to be filled shall be placed first on said ballot, arranged in groups and in the same order as in the nomination papers. The names of candidates appearing in nomination papers which contain nominations for less than all the places to be filled shall follow, alphabetically arranged. The ballot shall also contain a statement of the preference, if any, of each candidate for delegate as to a candidate for nomination for president, provided that such statement appears in his nomination papers; but no such statement of preference by any candidate for delegate shall appear upon the ballot unless such candidate for nomination for president files his written assent thereto with the secretary of the commonwealth on or before five o'clock of the last day for filing nomination papers. Such assent may be communicated by telegraph or cable. Upon the receipt of the records of votes cast at presidential primaries, the city or town clerk or election commissioners shall forthwith canvass the same and make return thereof to the secretary of the commonwealth, who shall forthwith canvass such returns, determine the results thereof, and notify the successful candidates.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved March 1, 1916.

[CHAP. 17.]

AN ACT TO ABOLISH THE STATE HOUSE BUILDING COMMISSION AND TO TRANSFER ITS DUTIES TO THE STATE HOUSE COMMISSION.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The state house building commission, established by chapter eight hundred and thirty of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, is hereby abolished and the powers and duties pertaining to the said commission are hereby transferred to and vested in the state house

commission. The members of the state house commission shall receive no compensation under this act.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved March 2, 1916.

[CHAP. 18.]

AN ACT TO REQUIRE COMMISSIONERS OF INSOLVENT ESTATES OF DECEASED

PERSONS TO GIVE NOTICE TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OR EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE AND TO THE HEIRS, LEGATEES OR DEVISEES OF THE DECEASED OF THE FILING OF RETURNS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Section three of chapter one hundred and forty-two of the Revised Laws, as amended by chapter one hundred and seventy-seven of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word "creditors", in the fifteenth line, the words: - and to the administrator of the estate or the executor of the will of the deceased, and to the heirs, legatees or devisees of the deceased, — so as to read as follows:: Section 3. The commissioners shall be sworn before entering upon the performance of their official duties; they shall appoint convenient times and places for their meetings to receive and examine claims; and shall by mail or otherwise give to all known creditors at least seven days' written notice of the time and place of each meeting, and also such other notice thereof as the court shall order; and the executor or administrator shall, fourteen days at least before the first meeting, furnish to the commissioners the names and residences of all known creditors. At the expiration of the time allowed for the proof of claims, the commissioners shall make their return to the court. The commissioners shall mail post paid within seven days thereafter, or within such further time as the court may order, a notice in writing to all known creditors, and to the administrator of the estate or the executor of the will of the deceased, and to the heirs, legatees or devisees of the deceased, of the filing of said return, and shall, within thirty days after said notice, file in the registry of probate an affidavit of having given the same, with a copy thereof. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved March 2, 1916.

[CHAP. 19.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO LATE ENTRY OF APPEALS FROM RETURNS OF COMMISSIONERS OF INSOLVENT ESTATES.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Section sixteen of chapter one hundred and forty-two of the Revised Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the word "court", in the second line, the words: or if the administrator of the estate or the executor of the will of the deceased, or if an heir, legatee, devisee or creditor who is dissatisfied with the allowance of a claim, so as to read as follows: Section 16. If a person whose claim has been disallowed by the commissioners or by the probate court, or if the administrator of the