amended by striking out the words "twenty-five hundred", in the third and fourth lines, and inserting in place thereof the words:-three thousand, so as to read as follows:- Section 4. The board may appoint, and prescribe the duties of, a secretary, who shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars, and who, with the approval of the board, may employ a first clerk at an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars, and may annually expend for other clerical service a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars. The secretary may arrange for lectures before the board, and may issue for general distribution such publications as he considers best adapted to promote the interests of agriculture; but the expense of such lectures and publications, unless otherwise provided for, shall be paid out of the appropriation for the dissemination of useful information in agriculture by the board.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect as of the first day of December in the year nineteen hundred and fifteen. [Approved March 17, 1916.

[CHAP. 47.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO LOANS AND SURRENDER VALUES OF LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. No policy of life or endowment insurance providing for loans or surrender values, other than policies of industrial insurance, shall be issued or delivered in this commonwealth, unless it contains a provision that the company may, at its option, defer the granting of any loan, other than to pay premiums on policies in the company, and may, at its option, defer the granting of any surrender value, for a period not exceeding ninety days from the date of the application for such loan or surrender value: provided, that a foreign insurance company may issue in this commonwealth any policy containing provisions required by the laws of its own state respecting the deferring of loans or granting surrender values, and a domestic company may issue in other states policies which contain provisions relating to the deferring of loans or granting surrender values required by the laws of such states.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seventeen; but any life insurance company may insert in policies issued or delivered in this commonwealth after the passage of this act and prior to said date, the provision set forth in section one hereof. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 48.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE SALE OF WILD FRUITS, BERRIES AND FLOWERS. Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter sixty-five of the Revised Laws, as amended in section fifteen thereof by chapter three hundred and seventy-seven of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five, and by chapter three hundred and forty-five of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six, is

hereby further amended by striking out all of said section fifteen and inserting in place thereof the following:-Section 15. Hawkers and pedlers may sell without a license books, newspapers, pamphlets, fuel, provisions, ice, live animals, brooms, agricultural implements, hand tools used in making boots and shoes, wild or uncultivated fruits, and berries and wild flowers, and the products of their own labor or of the labor of their families, including among such products fruits and agricultural products, if such sale is not made in violation of an ordinance or by-law of the city or town. Cities and towns, may by ordinance or by-law not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter regulate the sale and exposing for sale by hawkers and pedlers of said articles, and may affix penalties for the violation of such regulations; and may require hawkers and pedlers of fruit and vegetables to be licensed, provided that the license fee does not exceed that prescribed by section nineteen of chapter sixty-five of the Revised Laws and amendments thereto for a license embracing the same territorial limits. But a person engaged in the pursuit of agriculture who peddles fruits and vegetables shall not be deemed a hawker or pedler under the provisions of this chapter. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 49.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter eighty-nine of the Revised Laws, as amended in section one thereof by section four of chapter one hundred and sixteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and two, is hereby further amended by striking out said section one and inserting in place thereof the following: Section 1. The governor, ex officio, the president of the agricultural college, the state forester, the secretary of the state board of agriculture, the commissioner of animal industry, one person appointed by and from the state federation of county leagues and farm bureaus, one person appointed by and from the Massachusetts society for promoting agriculture, one person appointed by and from each agricultural society which receives an annual bounty from the commonwealth, and three other persons appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall constitute the state board of agriculture.

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

[CHAP. 50.]

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF SEINES IN ESSEX RIVER AND THE TRIBUTARIES THEREOF.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful to use any kind of seine for the purpose of taking herring or other fish in the waters of Essex river or the tributaries thereof.

SECTION 2. Any violation of this act shall be punished for a first offence by a fine of not less than twenty-five or more than fifty dollars, or by im

prisonment for not less than thirty or more than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and for a second offence, by both such fine and imprisonment. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 51.]

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE SETTING OF FIRES IN THE OPEN AIR.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

purpose

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful within any city or town for any person to set, maintain or increase a fire in the open air between the first day of March and the first day of December except by written permission of the fire prevention commissioner for the metropolitan district within the said district, or of the forest warden or chief of the fire department in other cities and towns, or, in cities that have such an official, the fire commissioner: provided, that debris from fields, gardens and orchards, and leaves and rubbish from yards may be burned on ploughed fields by the owners thereof, their agents or lessees; and provided, further, that persons above the age of eighteen years may set or maintain a fire for a reasonable upon sandy land, or upon salt marshes or sandy or rocky beaches bordering upon tide water, if the fire is enclosed within rocks, metal or other non-inflammable material. In every case such a fire shall be at least two hundred feet distant from any sprout or forest land, and at least fifty feet distant from any building, and shall be properly attended until it is extinguished. The forest wardens in towns and officials performing the duties of forest wardens in cities shall cause public notice to be given of the provisions of this section and shall enforce the same. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one month, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 2. The provisions of the preceding section shall not apply to fires which may be set, maintained or increased within the metropolitan district in accordance with regulations and methods approved by the fire prevention commissioner for the said district, nor to fires which may be set for the purpose of suppressing gypsy and brown tail moths in accordance with regulations and methods approved by the state forester, nor to fires set or increased within the limits of any public way by the employees of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town in the performance of public work.

SECTION 3. The state forester shall notify the forest warden in every town and the official performing the duties of forest warden in every city in the commonwealth of the passage of this act.

SECTION 4. The state forester, the state fire warden or any duly authorized assistant of the state forester, forest wardens in towns and officials performing the duties of forest wardens in cities, or any duly appointed deputy forest warden may arrest without warrant any person found in the act of setting, maintaining or increasing a fire in violation of the provisions of this act.

SECTION 5. Section twenty-four of chapter thirty-two of the Revised Laws, and chapter two hundred and nine of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eight, as amended by chapter two hundred and forty-four

of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven and by sections three and four of chapter four hundred and nineteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and twelve, are hereby repealed. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 52.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO FEES FOR THE REGISTRATION OF MOTOR TRUCKS OWNED BY CITIES AND TOWNS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The fee for the registration of motor trucks owned by cities and towns of this commonwealth and used solely for municipal business shall, after the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and sixteen, be two dollars.

SECTION 2. So much of section twenty-nine of chapter five hundred and thirty-four of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine, and the amendments thereof, as is inconsistent herewith shall not apply to the provisions hereof. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 53.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE ANNUAL REPORT OF DEATHS REQUIRED TO BE MADE TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BY BOARDS OF HEALTH IN CERTAIN TOWNS.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Section twelve of chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws, which requires certain annual reports to be made by boards of health in certain towns, is hereby repealed.

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

[CHAP. 54.]

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE RETIREMENT OF TEACHERS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES IN TRAINING SCHOOLS MAINTAINED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. All persons employed as teachers in training schools maintained and controlled by the board of education shall be considered as public school teachers for the purposes of chapter eight hundred and thirtytwo of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, and such a teacher upon becoming a member of the Teachers' Retirement Association shall thereafter pay to the Teachers' Annuity Fund assessments based upon his total salary including the part paid by the commonwealth: provided, that the total assessments shall not exceed one hundred dollars in any one year. Such assessments shall be deducted in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the teachers' retirement board. Nothing herein contained shall apply to teachers regularly employed in the normal schools who

devote some time to training school work, and are therefore subject to the provisions of chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven, and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto.

SECTION 2. Teachers now members of the association established by chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, who, under the provisions of this act, become members of the retirement association established by chapter eight hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, shall have the full amount of their contributions, together with such interest as shall have been earned thereon, transferred in the manner prescribed by chapter one hundred and ninetyseven of the General Acts of the year nineteen hundred and fifteen.

SECTION 3. All other persons employed in the training schools maintained and controlled by the board of education in buildings owned by the commonwealth shall be considered employees of the commonwealth for the purposes of chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven, and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto. All other persons employed in the training schools maintained and controlled by the board of education in buildings not owned by the commonwealth shall not be considered employees of the commonwealth for the purposes of said act.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and sixteen. [Approved March 21, 1916.

[CHAP. 55.]

AN ACT REQUIRING LOCAL BOARDS OF HEALTH TO NOTIFY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OF CASES OF DANGEROUS DISEASES.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Section fifty-two of chapter seventy-five of the Revised Laws, as amended by section one of chapter four hundred and eighty of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and seven, is hereby further amended by striking out the words "smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever or of any other", in the third line, and inserting in place thereof the word:any, by striking out the word "board", in the fourth and sixth lines, and inserting in place thereof the word:-department, and also by striking out the words "the secretary thereof shall forthwith transmit a copy of such notice to the state board of charity", in the eighth and ninth lines, and inserting in place thereof the words:-upon request the state department of health shall forthwith certify any such reports to the state board of charity, so as to read as follows:-Section 52. If the board of health of a city or town has had notice of a case of any disease declared by the state department of health to be dangerous to the public health therein, it shall within twenty-four hours thereafter give notice thereof to the state department of health stating the name and the location of the patient so afflicted, and upon request the state department of health shall forthwith certify any such reports to the state board of charity.

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