CHAP. 295. of Lewiston, and the written approval of said government shall be obtained, of the line upon which said road shall be built. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect when approved.

Approved February 18, 1876.

Maine Central R. R. Co. authorized to discontinue portion of track of Androscoggin Railroad.

Proviso.

Not to increase

rates of transportation.

When to take effect.

Chapter 295.

An act to authorize the Maine Central Railroad Company to discontinue the use of a portion of its track.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled, as follows:

SECT. 1. The Maine Central Railroad Company, as the lessees of the Androscoggin railroad by a perpetual lease, is hereby authorized to discontinue the use of, and to remove the track and materials of so much of the Androscoggin Railroad as lies between the junction of said road with the Leeds and Farmington Railroad, in Leeds, and a point in said road on the southerly side of Sabattus river, in the village of Sabattus, in the town of Webster, at or near the southerly end of the present railroad bridge; provided, that nothing in this act, nor any non-user for any length of time of the road thus discontinued, shall in any way impair or affect the chartered rights of said Androscoggin Railroad Company, or any of the existing rights of mortgagees upon said railroad, but said rights shall be fully saved, the same as over all other parts of said road.

SECT. 2. In the event that the Maine Central Railroad Company shall discontinue the use of said road, as is provided in the first section of this bill, said company shall not, in consequence thereof, increase the rates of transportation of freight and passengers, over the present rates, between the several stations on the Leeds and Farmington Railroad, and Brunswick and Bath.

SECT. 3. This act shall take effect when a railroad is graded and the rails laid in a suitable condition for the running of trains, connecting the Androscoggin and Maine Central Railroads in the city of Lewiston.

Approved February 18, 1876.

Chapter 296.

An act to incorporate the Winthrop Village Corporation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legis

uture assembled, as follows:

CHAP. 296.

SECT. 1. The territory embraced within the limits of school Territory. district number four, in the town of Winthrop, together with the inhabitants thereon, be and the same hereby is created a body

politic and corporate by the name of the Winthrop Village Corpo- Corporate name. ration.

purposes.

SECT. 2. Said corporation is hereby authorized and vested Vested power and with power, at any legal meeting called for the purpose, to raise money to defray the expenses of a night watch, a police force, and all other necessary measures for the better security of life and property, and for the promotion of good order and quiet within its limits, for the purchase, repair and preservation of one or more fire engines, engine houses, hose, buckets, ladders, or other apparatus for the extinguishment of fires, for the construction of reservoirs and aqueducts to supply water, and for organizing and maintaining within the limits of said territory an efficient fire department.

raised.

assessed.

SECT. 3. Any money raised by said corporation for the pur- Money, how to be poses aforesaid, shall be assessed upon the property and polls within the territory aforesaid, by the assessors of said corpo- -by whom ration, in the same manner as is provided by law for the assessment of county and town taxes; and said assessors may copy the last valuation of said property by the assessors of the town of Winthrop, and assess the tax thereon, if said corporation shall so direct; and may abate any tax by them so assessed, the tax on polls not to exceed the sum of one dollar to any one person in any one year.

May abate tax.

Poll tax.

SECT. 4. Upon a certificate being filed with the assessors of said corporation by the clerk thereof, of the amount of money raised at any meeting for the purposes aforesaid, it shall be the duty of said assessors, as soon as may be, to assess said amount Duty of assessors. upon the estates and polls of persons residing on the territory

aforesaid, and upon the estates of non-resident proprietors there

of, and the assessment to be certified and delivered to the collector

of said corporation, whose duty it shall be to collect the same, in Duty of collector. like manner as county and town taxes are by law collected by towns; and said corporation shall have the same power to direct the mode of collecting said taxes as towns have in the collection of town taxes.

SECT. 5. The officers of said corporation shall consist of a Officers. clerk, treasurer, three or five assessors, collector, fire wardens, board of police officers, night watch, and such other officers as

Power and authority of fire wardens.

CHAP. 296. may be provided for in the by-laws of said corporation; the said fire wardens to have exclusively all the power and authority within the limits of said corporation that fire wardens have or may have chosen by towns in town meetings. The said board of police officers and night watch to consist of such number as the corporation may decide, who shall be duly sworn, and have power to execute all warrants, and have the same power to prevent all disturbances and preserve public peace within said corporation, as is given by the laws of this state to constables; and to restrain all infractions of and carry into effect such by-laws as said corporation shall adopt in pursuance of this act.

-of police offi

cers

By-laws, how adopted.

SECT. 6. The said corporation, at any legal meeting thereof, called for the purpose, may adopt such by-laws and provisions, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state, as they may deem expedient and necessary for the better government and regulation of the municipal affairs within said corporation, in which case such by-laws and provisions so adopted shall extend to said corporation as fully to all intents and pur-how amended. poses as the other provisions of this act, subject only to alterations or additions, by a two-thirds vote, at a legal meeting of the corporation called for the purpose.

Meetings, how called.

First meeting, how called.

Officers, how chosen.

-to be sworn.

SECT. 7. All meetings of said corporation, after the first, shall be notified by warrant of the assessors, notice of which shall be posted up in two public places within its limits, seven days prior to the meeting, stating the time, place, and purposes of the meeting; and a meeting shall at any time be called on the written application of seven legal voters to said assessors, stating the time, place and purposes for which said meeting is requested.

SECT. 8. J. M. Benjamin, L. T. Carleton, L. P. Moody, E. W. Kelley, A. P. Snow, or either of them, are hereby authorized to call the first meeting of said corporation, and for that purpose to notify the legal voters thereof to meet at some suitable time and place within the limits aforesaid, the notice to be posted up in two public places within said limits, seven days at least before the time of said meeting; and either of said persons is authorized to preside at said meeting until after its organization, and until its officers shall be chosen and sworn, and afterward, at all regular meetings of the corporation, a moderator shall be chosen in the same manner and with the same powers as in town meetings.

SECT. 9. The assessors, treasurer, clerk, collector and fire wardens of said corporation shall be chosen by ballot, and the remaining officers of said corporation shall be appointed by the assessors, and all shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties; the first election to be at the meeting of the legal

YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS.-ELLSWORTH POLICE COURT.

237

voters of the corporation called to accept this charter, and the CHAP. 297. annual election shall be in the month of March.

Annual election.

SECT. 10. The clerk shall keep a record of all the doings and Duties of clerk. proceedings at the meetings of said corporation.

SECT. 11. At the first meeting of said corporation called agreeably to the eighth section of this act, the legal voters shall

charter.

vote by ballot on the question of accepting this charter, and if a Acceptance of majority shall vote in favor of its acceptance, then this act shall take effect, and the corporation shall then proceed to organize and choose its officers.

effect.

SECT. 12. This act shall take effect from and after its approval When to take by the governor, so far as to empower the said first meeting to be called, and if the charter shall be accepted as provided in section eleven of this act; then the same shall take and have complete effect in all its parts.

Approved February 18, 1876.

Chapter 297.

An act to amend the charter of the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legis

lature assembled, as follows:

amended.

SECT. 1. The third section of "an act to incorporate the Yearly Act of 1875, sec. 3, Meeting of Friends for New England," passed February seventeenth, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, is hereby amended by striking out the proviso, which is in the following

words: "Provided, that real and personal estate held by said Proviso repealed. corporation, shall not be exempt from taxation," and said proviso

is hereby repealed.

SECT. 2. This act shall take effect when approved.

Approved February 18, 1876.

Chapter 298.

An act in relation to the Ellsworth Police Court.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Legis

lature assembled, as follows:

of court, changed.

SECT. 1. The police court of the city of Ellsworth, in the Corporate name county of Hancock, shall be hereafter styled the Ellsworth municipal court. The present judge of said court shall continue in Judge, term of. office until the end of the term for which he was elected. The

CHAP. 298.

salary of the judge shall be six hundred dollars per year, to be Judge, salary of. paid out of the county treasury of the county of Hancock in quarterly payments, on the first day of January, April, July and October.

Additional jurisdiction.

Exceptions.

Actions, how may be removed to S. J. court.

-appeal. -pleadings.

Court, when held.

of recorder when judge is unable

to attend.

SECT. 2. In addition to its present jurisdiction, the said court shall further have concurrent jurisdiction with the supreme judicial court in all personal actions where the debt or damage claimed is over twenty dollars, and not over one hundred dollars, and the defendant, or either of the defendants, is resident in said county of Hancock; but this jurisdiction shall not include proceedings under the divorce laws, complaints under the mill act, so called, nor proceedings under the bastardy act.

SECT. 3. If any defendant, in any action in said court where the amount claimed in the writ exceeds twenty dollars, or his agent or attorney, shall, on the return day of the writ, file in said court an affidavit that he has a good defence to said action, and intends in good faith to make such defence and claim a jury trial, and shall at the same time file his plea, and deposit with the recorder or judge the sum of three dollars for copies, to be taxed in his costs if he prevails, the said action shall be removed into the supreme judicial court for said county, and the recorder shall forthwith cause certified copies of the writ, officer's return, and defendant's affidavit and pleas, to be filed in the clerk's office of said supreme court; and said action shall be entered on the docket of the term next preceding said filing, and shall be in order for trial at the next succeeding term. If no such affidavit is filed, the said municipal court shall proceed and determine said action, subject to the right of appeal in either party, as now provided by law. The pleadings in such cases shall be the same as in the supreme judicial court.

SECT. 4. Said municipal court shall hold a term at Ellsworth, in the county of Hancock, on the first Tuesday of each month, beginning at ten o'clock in the forenoon. In case the judge shall Powers and duties be temporarily unable to attend said court, the recorder may enter new actions returnable at said term, and enter up judgment in all defaulted actions, and may then by proclamation adjourn the court to a day certain, or to the next term. In case of the more permanent disability of the judge or his being interested in Chief justice may any suit, the recorder may notify the chief justice, who may designate a trial justice in said county, who upon being duly sworn, may hold said court until such disability is removed, or try said suit in which the regular judge may be interested.

designate trial

justice to hold

court in certain cases.

Costs of court.

SECT. 5. In any action in which the plaintiff recovers not over twenty dollars debt or damage, the costs to be taxed shall be the same as before a trial justice, except that plaintiff shall recover two dollars for his writ. Where the defendant prevails in any