Investment of funds, &c. Members and trustees. SECTION 3. All investments of the funds of the corporation in real estate, or in any securities drawing interest, shall be made by the said trustees, and be subject to their control and disposal; but no sale or transfer of the library shall be made, unless the same shall be authorized by a vote of the corporation. SECTION 4. All male inhabitants of Taunton, above the age of fourteen years, shall be eligible as members of the corporation, and entitled to vote and to act as officers thereof, excepting, that no person under twenty-one years of age shall be a trustee. SECTION 5. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. March 16, 1854. [1853, 353.] Chap. 94. AN ACT in addition to the Act to incorporate the Metropolitan Railroad Track may be discontinued. Proviso. Fare. Notice given to abutters. Boston and Roxbury may pur-" chase, &c. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Company. SECTION 1. That at any time after the expiration of one year from the opening for use of the tracks of said railroad, in any street in which the same may be located, as provided by its charter, the mayor and aldermen of the cities of Boston and Roxbury, respectively, may by vote of the major part thereof, determine as to so much of said track as is located within the limits of their respective cities, that the same, or any part thereof, be discontinued; and thereupon the location shall be deemed to be revoked, and the tracks of said railroad shall forthwith be taken up and removed, in conformity with such vote or order of said mayor and aldermen provided, that such taking up and removal shall be at the expense of said railroad company. SECTION 2. The rates of fare upon the said railroad, between any two points in the city of Boston, shall never exceed five cents for each passage, unless with the assent of the mayor and aldermen of said city. SECTION 3. Notice to abutters on streets in which it may be proposed to lay the tracks of said corporation, shall be given by the publication in one or more newspapers, published in the cities of Boston and Roxbury, of an order of notice from the mayor and aldermen of said respective cities, fourteen days at least prior to the location of any such tracks. SECTION 4. Either of the cities of Boston or Roxbury, if it so elect, may purchase on the same terms and conditions as are mentioned in the seventh section of the act to which this is in addition, that part of the corporate property of the company which relates to or lies within its own limits, paying therefor a proportional sum, to be ascertained by commissioners to be appointed by the supreme judicial court. SECTION 5. This act shall be void and of no effect, unless Act to be void, the same shall be accepted by the city council of the cities unless, &c. of Boston and Roxbury, respectively, within one year from the date hereof. March 16, 1854. [1855, 193; 1857, 230, 256, 304; 1858, 38; 1859, 9, 35.] AN ACT to establish a Fire Department in the Town of Northampton. Chap. 96. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: in Northampton. SECTION 1. A fire department is hereby established in the Fire department town of Northampton, subject to all the duties and liabilities, and with all the powers and privileges, set forth and contained in an act entitled "An Act to regulate Fire Departments," passed on the ninth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. March 17, 1854. Chap. 98. AN ACT to incorporate the Suffolk Iron Works. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: SECTION 1. John D. Richardson, Josiah Dunham, junior, Corporators. J. Avery Richards, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the Suffolk Iron Works, for the purpose of manufacturing castings and Purpose. machinery, in the city of Boston; and for these purposes ties. shall have all the powers and privileges, and be subject to Powers and duall the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the thirty-eighth and forty-fourth chapters of Revised Statutes. SECTION 2. Said corporation may hold real and personal Real and perestate, necessary and convenient for the purposes aforesaid, not exceeding in amount two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. sonal estate. issued under par. SECTION 3. No shares in the capital stock of said corpo- No shares to be ration shall be issued for a less sum or amount, to be actually paid in on each, than the par value of the shares which shall be first issued. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. March 17, 1854. AN ACT to incorporate the New England Gas Regulator Manufacturing Chap. 99. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Company. SECTION 1. Elisha B. Pratt, John M. Mayo, and Fred- Corporators. erick Nickerson, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the New England Gas Regulator Manufacturing Company, for the purpose of Purpose. manufacturing and selling gas regulators in the city of ties. Powers and du- Boston, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the thirty-eighth and forty-fourth chapters of the Revised Statutes. Real estate. Capital stock. No shares to be issued under par. SECTION 2. Said corporation, for the purposes aforesaid, may hold real estate not exceeding in value fifty thousand dollars; and the whole capital stock thereof shall not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. SECTION 3. No shares in the capital stock of said corporation shall be issued for a less sum or amount, to be actually paid in on each share, than the par value of the shares which shall be first issued. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. March 17, 1854. [1848, 162; 1849, 12; 1850, 134; 1853, 55, 58.] Chap. 100 AN ACT concerning the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad Company. Chap. 101 May extend wharf. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: That the time fixed by the original act incorporating the Middleborough and Taunton Railroad Company for the construction of said railroad, is hereby extended for one year from the first day of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-four. March 17, 1854. [1855, 258; 1858, 171.] AN ACT to authorize Jerome G. Kidder to extend his Wharf. Jerome G. Kidder, proprietor of a wharf and flats situated on Marginal Street, in the town of Chelsea, on lots numbered eleven, twelve, and thirteen, on a plan made by J. H. Shearer, in eighteen hundred and forty-six, of the lands of the Winnisimmet Company, is hereby authorized to extend and maintain his wharf into the harbor channel of Chelsea Creek, as far as the line established by the act entitled "An Act to preserve that part of the harbor of Boston called Chelsea Creek, and to prevent encroachments thereon," passed on the second day of May, in the year one thousand May receive dock- eight hundred and forty-nine; and shall have the right to lay vessels at the end and sides of said wharf, and receive wharfage and dockage therefor: provided, however, that this grant shall not be construed to extend to any flats or land of this Commonwealth, lying in front of the flats of any other person, or which would be comprehended by the true lines of such flats, continued to the said commissioners' line; and provided, also, that so much of said wharf, as may be constructed below low-water mark, shall be built on piles; which piles shall not be nearer to each other than six feet, in the direction of the stream, and eight feet in a age, &c. Proviso. Proviso. transverse direction; and that this act shall, in no wise impair the legal rights of any person whatever. March 18, 1854. Chap. 102 AN ACT authorizing Henry F. Pitman to build a Wharf. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: blehead. Henry F. Pitman is hereby authorized to build and main- Wharf in Martain a wharf, from his land, known as the ship-yard, on the north-west side of the harbor of Marblehead, and to extend the same two hundred feet into the harbor; and he shall May receive dockhave the right to lay vessels at the end and sides of said wharf, and receive wharfage and dockage there for: provided, Proviso. however, that this act shall in no wise affect the private rights of any person or persons whatever. [1807, 79; 1840, 26. March 18, 1854. age, &c. AN ACT in addition to an Act to incorporate the Proprietors of India Chap. 103 Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Wharf. SECTION 1. The shares of the individual proprietors in Shares held as the corporate property of the "Proprietors of India Wharf," personal propshall hereafter be personal property, and shall be held, transferred, and disposed of as such: provided, the said Proviso. Proprietors of India Wharf shall, at a meeting duly held, accept this act; and provided, also, that all the present shareholders shall, by deeds duly exccuted, with release of dower when necessary, convey to the said corporation the shares by them respectively held. shares issued. SECTION 2. Upon such conveyances being made, the said Certificates of corporation shall, by vote, divide their corporate property into such a number of shares as they may think expedient, and shall issue to each proprietor a certificate of so many shares as shall be equal to his interest in the corporate property conveyed by him to the said corporation, as aforesaid. The said corporation may by their by-laws prescribe the form of such certificate, and the mode of transfer thereof. may convey SECTION 3. In case any of the present shares in the said Trustees, &c., corporate property are now held by trustees, executors, or shares. guardians, such trustees, executors, and guardians, are hereby authorized to convey the same to the said corporation, and in lieu thereof to receive certificates of so many of the new shares as shall be equal to their respective interests: provided, however, that the new shares so received, shall be Proviso. taken and held by them respectively upon the same trusts and for the same uses and purposes, and subject to the same limitations, as their present shares are now holden; and provided, also, that such trustees, executors, and guardians, Proviso. Married women to hold shares in shall give sufficient bond to the judge of probate for the county in which they shall respectively have been appointed, or in case their appointment shall have been by deed, to the judge of probate for the county in which they shall respectively reside, to hold and account for the said shares, and the proceeds thereof, according to the terms of their respective trusts. But such bond may be in any case dispensed with, provided the same shall not be required by the terms of the deed or will creating such trust; and provided, also, that all the parties beneficially interested in the trust fund shall so request in writing, and shall cause such request, with the approval of the judge of probate thereon, to be filed in the probate office for the county in which such bond would otherwise be given. SECTION 4. In case any of the present shares in the said their own right. Corporate property are now held by any married woman, in her own right, the new shares issued to such married woman shall also be held by her, in her own right, in the same manner as married women are authorized to hold property for their own use, according to the provisions of the statute of eighteen hundred and forty-five, chapter two hundred and eight; and the same shall appear in the certificate issued for such shares. Taxes assessed. Inconsistent acts repealed. SECTION 5. The taxes on the real estate owned by the said corporation, shall be assessed to the said corporation; and in assessing the individual proprietors for their shares, there shall first be deducted from the value thereof, the value of such real estate. SECTION 6. So much of the act, passed March third, eighteen hundred and eight, as provides that the shares of the individual proprietors in the corporate property of the said proprietors, shall be real estate, and be subject to the incidents of real estate; and so much of the said act as is inconsistent with the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed. [1857, 106.] [1853, 17.] March 20, 1854. Chap. 104 AN ACT in addition to an Act to incorporate the Brookline Gas Light $300,000 addi stock. Be it enacted, &c., as follows: Company. SECTION 1. The Brookline Gas Light Company are tional capital hereby authorized to increase their capital stock, to an amount not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars; and to invest such increase in real and personal estate, necessary and convenient for carrying on the business of said corpo May extend pipes, &c. ration. SECTION 2. Said corporation are hereby authorized to extend their pipes within the limits of the town of Brighton, |