Their compensation.

Repeal of in

special justices shall be paid, for the services herein required of them, by said justice, out of the sum he is herein before authorized to retain for his own use, such compensation as justices of the peace would be entitled to, for the same services.

SECT. 34. All such acts, and parts of acts, as consistent are inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be, and the same are, hereby repealed.

acts, &c.

Legislature may alter or

SECT. 35. Nothing contained in this act shall amend this be so construed as to prevent the legislature from altering or amending the same, whenever they shall deem it expedient.

act.

This act to

be adopted

otherwise

void.

SECT. 36. This act shall be void, unless the by the town, inhabitants of the town of Worcester, at a legal town meeting called for that purpose, shall, by a vote of a majority of the voters present, voting thereon by a written ballot, determine to adopt the same, within twenty days from and after its passage; at which meeting the polls shall be kept open not less than six hours; and the selectmen shall preside in said meeting, and, in receiving said ballots, shall use the check lists, in the same manner as they are used in elections for state officers.

SECT. 37. This act shall go into operation from and after its passage. [Approved by the Governor, Feb. 29, 1848.]

AMENDMENTS

TO THE

CITY CHARTER.

AN ACT

In addition to "An Act to establish the city of Worcester."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

mayor and

ward meet

limits of

SECTION 1. The mayor and aldermen of the Power of city of Worcester are authorized, when no conven- aldermen to ient ward room for holding ward meetings of the x places for citizens of either of the wards of the city can be ings beyond had within the territorial limits of such ward, to wards. appoint and direct, in the warrants for calling the ward meetings of such wards, the said meetings to be held in some convenient and proximate place within the limits of any other of the wards of said city; and, for such purposes, the place so assigned for the meeting of such ward shall be deemed and taken to be included in and part of said ward, as though the same was within the territorial limits thereof.

SECT. 2.

This act shall take effect from and after its passage. [Approved by the Governor, February 14, 1849.]

AN ACT

In addition to "An Act to establish the city of Worcester."

Chief engineer.

School committee.

Sidewalks.

Mill Brook.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION. 1. The city council shall annually, as soon after their organization as may be convenient, elect by joint ballot, in convention, a chief engineer of the fire department, and as many assistant engineers, not exceeding six in number, as they shall deem necessary.

SECT. 2. The qualified voters of each ward, at their respective annual ward meetings, shall elect by ballot two persons in each ward, who shall be residents of the ward, to be members of the school committee, and shall also cast their ballots for eight persons from the city at large, to be members of the school committee; and the persons thus chosen, together with the mayor, shall constitute the school committee of the city.

SECT. 3. The city council shall have power to lay out sidewalks, and fix the width, height, and grade of the same, and require all persons owning land abutting on such sidewalks, to pave the walks with brick or stone, as they may direct, the city first setting the curbstones and paving the gutters; and, in case any person, owning land as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to comply with the requirement of the city council, the city council shall have power to cause said sidewalks to be paved, according to said requirement, and may recover of said owner, by an action on the case, in the name of the city, the expense of paving the same.

SECT. 4. The city council shall have power to fix the boundaries of Mill Brook, in said city, between the factory buildings of Rice, Fox and Company, and Grove Mills, and to alter, widen, and deepen the channel thereof, as the public good may

require. And any damages sustained by any person in his property, by reason thereof, shall be assessed in the same manner, and upon the same principles, as damages are assessed in the laying out of town ways.

SECT. 5. The election of city and ward officers Election of city officers. shall take place on the second Monday of December of each year, and the municipal year shall begin on the first Monday of January following. This change shall take effect on the second Monday of December, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and the term of office of the officers elected on the first Monday of March next, shall expire on the first Monday of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-two.

of office of

inspectors of

SECT. 6. The term of office of the warden, Of the term clerk, and inspectors of elections, is so far changed, warden, that they shall hold their offices till the close of clerk, and the municipal year for which they are respectively elections. elected, and until others are chosen in their stead; and in case of a failure to elect any one or more of said officers, at the annual meeting of any of said wards, then said ward meetings may be adjourned, from time to time, until such election is completed. SECT. 7. Any vacancy in the office of overseer of the poor, assistant assessor, or school committee, may be filled in the manner provided in the sixth section of the act, to which this is in addition, for filling vacancies in the common council.

SECT. 8. The list of jurors in the city of Worcester shall be prepared by the mayor and aldermen of the city, in the same manner as is required, in the ninety-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes to be done by the selectmen, within and for their respective towns; and the lists, when made out by the mayor and aldermen, shall be submitted to the common council for concurrent revision or amendment.

Vacancies.

Lists of

jurors.

SECT. 9. The said mayor and aldermen, and Same. the clerk of the city, shall severally have, and ex

Surveyors of highways.

Records by city clerk.

Repeal.

When to

take effect.

ercise, all the powers and duties, with regard to the drawing of jurors, in the city of Worcester, and all other matters relating to jurors therein, which are, in the ninety-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes, required to be performed by the selectmen and town clerks, in their respective towns; and all venires for jurors, to be returned from Worcester, shall be served on said mayor and alder

men.

SECT. 10. The city council shall have authority to elect surveyors of highways, for any and all highway districts which now exist, or which may hereafter be established by the city council, with the same powers, and subject to the same liabilities, as surveyors of highways elected by towns.

SECT. 11. The city clerk shall forthwith record the returns, required to be made to him by the provisions of the sixteenth section of " an act to establish the city of Worcester," or a plain and intelligible abstract of the same, as they are successively received.

SECT. 12. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SECT. 13. This act shall be void unless approved by the voters of the city of Worcester, at meetings held simultaneously in the several wards, upon notice duly given, at least seven days before the time of said meetings, and within sixty days after the passage of this act. [Approved by the Governor, April 15, 1850. Approved by the city, June 10, 1850.]