RECENT LAWS. An ACT to regulate the measurement of Marble." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: The Mayor and Aldermen of any city or the selectmen of any town in this Commonwealth, may establish such ordinances or regulations, with suitable penalties, respecting the appointment of a surveyor, and the survey and admeasurement of marble of every description, either foreign or American, that shall be imported or brought into such city or town for sale, as they may from time to time deem expedient. [Approved, April 30, 1851.] An ACT in relation to the House of Correction in the County of Suffolk. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: SECT. 1. The city council of the city of Boston may annually appoint, by concurrent vote of the two branches thereof, a suitable number of persons, not exceeding twelve, who shall be citizens of Boston, and a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, to constitute the board of overseers of the house of correction for the county of Suffolk, who shall hold their office for one year, and until at least five persons, members of a new board, are appointed in their place; and said city council may at any time fill any vacancies which may occur in said board. SECT. 2. So much of the eleventh section of the one hundred and forty-third chapter of the Revised Statutes as is inconsistent with this act is hereby repealed. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect as soon as it may be accepted by the city council of said city, by concurrent vote of the two branches thereof. [Approved, April 20, 1852. Accepted by City Council, May 24, 1852.] An ACT in relation to the City of Boston. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: SECT. 1. The Board of Aldermen of the City of Boston shall, commencing with the ensuing municipal year, consist of twelve persons; and the legal voters of each ward shall be annually called upon to give in their votes for one person, being an inhabitant of said ward, to be a member of said board of aldermen, to be chosen in the same form and manner, and at the same time, as now provided by law for the election of members of the common council. SECT. 2. The legal voters of each ward of said city shall, commencing with the ensuing municipal year be annually called upon to vote for two assistant assessors, who shall be inhabitants of said ward, and who shall be chosen in the same manner and form, and at the same time, as is provided in the foregoing section for the election of aldermen.1 SECT. 3. Whenever the mayor and aldermen of the City of Boston shall adjudge that the public safety and convenience require that any street, lane or alley in the said city shall be laid out, altered, or discontinued, they shall make and record an estimate of the expense thereof, and if such estimate shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, or if such estimate, with the estimates of any previous alteration or discontinuance of any part of such street, lane or alley, during the municipal year, shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, the order for such laying out, alteration or discontinuance, together with an estimate of the expense thereof, shall be sent to the common council for its concurrence or rejection; and such order shall not take effect or be in force until the common council shall concur therein.2 SECT. 4. No erection, alteration, or repair of any court house, jail, house of correction, fire-proof office, or any other building, for the purposes of the county of Suffolk, shall be made by the mayor and aldermen of the said city, except as herein provided, to wit: whenever the mayor and aldermen shall by vote declare that such erection, alteration, or repair is necessary or expedient, they shall make and record an estimate of the expense thereof, and if such estimate shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, a copy of the said vote and estimate shall be sent to the common council for its concurrence, rejection or amendment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are repealed." SECT. 5. The first four sections of this act shall not go into effect unless they be approved by a majority of the legal voters of 1 Rejected by the citizens. 2 Accepted by the citizens, the city of Boston, voting thereon severally by yea and nay ballot, in their respective wards, at the annual election of state officers in November next; and the mayor and aldermen of the said city shall insert in the warrant, for the aforesaid election, an article submitting the aforesaid question to the decision of the said legal voters of the city of Boston. [Approved, May 20, 1852.] An ACT regulating the Storage, Safe Keeping, and Sale of Fireworks in the City of Boston. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: SECT. 1. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to keep or sell any fireworks within the city of Boston, in any quantity, without first having obtained from the chief engineer of the fire department of said city a license therefor, signed by the chief engineer or by the secretary of the board of engineers, on which shall be written or printed a copy of the rules and regulations by them established, relative to the keeping, selling, or storage of fireworks within said city; and every such license shall be in force until the first day of May next ensuing the date thereof, unless sooner annulled by the board of engineers, and no longer; but such license may, prior to the expiration of that term, be renewed by the chief engineer or the said secretary, from year to year, by indorsement thereon; provided always, that the board of engineers may rescind any such license, if in their opinion the person or persons have disobeyed the law or infringed on any rules or regulations established by the board of engineers; and every person who receives a license to sell fireworks, as aforesaid, shall pay for the same the sum of one dollar, and the same sum for the renewal thereof, and all such licenses shall expire on the first day of May annually, and all moneys received for licenses shall be paid to the board of engineers, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of carrying this act into execution. SECT. 2. Any person or persons who have for sale, or keep in possession, any fireworks within the city of Boston, contrary to the rules and regulations established by the board of engineers herein mentioned, or who shall sell any fireworks in said city without first having obtained from the said chief engineer, or his secretary, a license as aforesaid, shall forfeit a sum not less than fifteen nor more than fifty dollars for each offence. SECT. 3. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. [Approved, April 14, 1853.] An ACT concerning Armories for the use of the Volunteer Militia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: SECT. 1. It shall be the duty of the mayor and aldermen of cities, and of the selectmen of towns, in this Commonwealth, from time to time, to provide each and every company of cavalry, artillery, infantry, light infantry, and riflemen, within the limits of their respective cities and towns,-which are now or which may hereafter be duly organized under the laws of the Commonwealth, -with suitable and proper armories or places of deposit for the safe keeping of the arms and equipments furnished to such company or companies, from time to time, by the adjutant general under the authority of law; and the expense thereof shall be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth, in manner as hereinafter provided. SECT. 2. The said mayor and aldermen and selectmen shall annually, in either of the months of October or November, make out and transmit to the office of the adjutant general, verified by the oath or affirmation of two at least of said mayor and aldermen, or selectmen, a certificate or return showing the name of each company furnished with an armory, and the amount paid or allowed for the rent or use thereof; and said certificate or return shall embrace also, in substance, as follows: That the armory or armories so furnished by said mayor and aldermen, or selectmen, are such, and such only, as, in the opinion of a majority thereof, are necessary for the legitimate uses of such company or companies as an armory or armories, and that the value of the annual rent thereof, according to the value of real estate in the city or town wherein the same is or are located, is fully equal to the sum or sums paid or claimed therefor. SECT. 3. The adjutant general, the treasurer, and receiver general, and the auditor of this Commonwealth, respectively, for the time being, shall constitute a board of commissioners to examine and audit all accounts and claims for rent of armories made in pursuance of the provisions of this act; and on or before the first day of January in each year, it shall be the duty of the said board to examine the several returns and certificates mentioned in the preceding section, and to institute such inquiries in relation thereto as they may deem expedient and proper, to cause the same to be corrected if necessary, and to allow such accounts and claims, either in whole or in part, as said commissioners shall deem to be just, and in accordance with the true intent and meaning of this act; provided, however, that in no case whatever shall there be allowed in payment for an armory for any one company a greater sum annually than three hundred dollars. And it shall be the further duty of the said board of commissioners to file in the office of the treasurer of the Commonwealth, within ten days after they shall have completed their said examination, a certificate signed by them, showing the sum and sums thus allowed, and the names of the respective companies for whose use the same. was allowed, and the city or town to which such companies belong. And the said adjutant general shall thereupon immediately notify the said mayor and aldermen and selectmen of the sum and sums thus allowed; and the amount thereof shall be paid by the treasurer to the said mayor and aldermen and selectmen, respectively, on demand, in the same manner as is now provided by law for the reimbursement of sums paid out by them to the officers and members of the volunteer militia for military service. SECT. 4. Any person or persons named or referred to in this act, who shall be guilty of making any false return or certificate, required by this act to be made under oath, as hereinbefore provided, with intent to defraud the Commonwealth, shall be deemed to have committed the crime of perjury, and shall be punished therefor accordingly. And if, by reason of such false return or certificate, wilfully made by the mayor and aldermen of any city, or the selectmen of any town, or any one or more of them, there shall be paid out of the treasury of this Commonwealth to such city or town any sum or sums of money to which such city or town is not entitled according to the true intent and meaning of this act, the city or town so receiving the same shall be punished by a fine not exceeding four times the amount of money so received, to be recovered by indictment in any of the courts of this Commonwealth of competent jurisdiction. SECT. 5. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. [Approved, April 26, 1853.] An ACT respecting the Watch and Police of the City of Boston. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same: SECT. 1. The city council of the city of Boston are hereby authorized and empowered to unite, by ordinance, the watch and police departments of the said city into one department, and to organize the same, and from time to time to establish regulations therefor, not repugnant to the laws of the Commonwealth. SECT. 2. The chief of the police, who may be authorized to act by virtue of such ordinance, shall have and exercise all the powers and duties which by the laws now in force may be had |