ject to make an

SECTION 11. Said corporation shall be deemed a railroad Corporation subcorporation so far as to be subject to make such annual nual returus, returns to the legislature as are or may be prescribed by law, but, &c. but not to the other general provisions of law in relation to railroad corporations.

SECTION 12. The existence of said corporation is hereby Limited to fifty limited to a period of fifty years from the passage hereof.

[1854, 205; 1855, 24, 338, 368; 1857, 278]

[1833, 155; 1836, 96; 1844, 26; 1849, 217.]

May 25, 1853.

AN ACT to increase. the Capital Stock of the Hingham Bank. Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

years.

Chap. 384

tional capital

SECTION 1. The president, directors, and company, of the $35.000 addiHingham Bank, in Hingham, are hereby authorized to stock. increase their present capital stock by an addition thereto of thirty-five thousand dollars, in shares of seventy dollars each, which shall be paid in such instalments as the president and directors may determine: provided, that the whole Proviso. amount shall be paid in before the first day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.

be made in writ

SECTION 2. If any of the stockholders of said bank Remonstrance to remonstrate against the acceptance of the additional capital ing herein provided, the said remonstrance shall be made in writing to the cashier of the bank on or before the first day of July next, and if the persons so objecting legally represent one-fourth part of the present capital stock of said corporation, it shall not be entitled to the benefit of this act.

SECTION 3. The additional capital aforesaid, when paid Liable to tax, &c. into said bank, shall be subject to the like tax, regulations, restrictions, and provisions, to which the present capital stock

of said bank is now subject.

monwealth.

SECTION 4. Before said corporation shall proceed to do Certificate to seebusiness on said additional capital, a certificate signed by the retary of Compresident and directors, and attested by the cashier under oath, that the same has actually been paid into said bank, shall be returned into the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. May 25, 1853.

[1837, 229; 1840, 35; 1841, 60; 1847, 278; 1849, 204; 1850, 216, 317; 1851, 254.] AN ACT concerning the Harbor of Boston.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Chap. 385

established.

SECTION 1. The lines hereinafter described are hereby Channel lines established as lines of the channel of the harbor of Boston, beyond which no wharf or pier shall ever hereafter be extended otherwise than as is provided in this act, into or over the tide water of the Commonwealth.

Restrictions as to building and filling.

66

SECTION 2. The inner line marked "A," in three parts, on the commissioners' plan hereinafter referred to, begins in South Boston, at a point in the north line of Fourth Street, extended eastward one thousand feet from "P" Street, and runs thence northward parallel with "P" Street, fourteen hundred feet; thence north-westward till it intersects the east line of "P" Street extended northward twenty-four hundred feet from Fourth Street; thence westward towards the south corner of Bull's Wharf, till it intersects the harbor line on the east side of Fore Point Channel, established by "An Act concerning the Harbor of Boston," passed on the seventeenth day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and forty. This is the extreme line of solid fillings. The outer line, marked "B," in three parts, on said plan, begins in South Boston, at a point in the north line of Fourth Street, extended eastward fourteen hundred feet from "P" Street, and runs thence northward, parallel with "P" Street, fourteen hundred feet; thence north-westward till it intersects the east line of "P" Street extended northward, twentyeight hundred feet from Fourth Street; thence westward, toward the south corner of Arch Wharf, till it intersects the harbor line aforesaid, on the east side of Fore Point Channel. This is the extreme line of any structure of any description whatever. The said lines thus described are the lines reported by the commissioners under resolves approved the third day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, authorizing the appointment of commissioners to define lines beyond which no wharves shall be extended into and over the tide water of the Commonwealth, on the flats on the easterly side of Fore Point Channel, and the northerly shore of South Boston, and are drawn and defined upon a plan deposited by said commissioners in the State library.

SECTION 3. No solid structure or filling shall ever hereafter be extended beyond said inner line, marked "A;" and no wharf, pier, or other structure whatsoever, shall ever hereafter be extended beyond said outer line, marked "B," into or over the tide water of the Commonwealth; nor shall any wharf, pier, or other structure whatsoever, on the inner side of either of said lines, be extended further toward said lines or either of them, than such wharf, pier, or other structure now stands, or might have been lawfully extended or enlarged before the passage of this act, without leave being first obtained from the legislature; and the space between said lines shall be forever dedicated to dock purposes, in the shape of slips, wet docks, or basins, as the exigencies of commerce shall require, and the legislature shall hereafter order and direct. SECTION 4. Every person or corporation offending against tion and fine the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misde

Space between

lines to be for dock purposes.

Persons offending

meanor, and shall be liable to be prosecuted therefor by indictment or information, in any court of competent jurisdiction, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine not less than one thousand dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars for every offence, and any erection or obstruction obstruction may which shall be made contrary to the provisions and intent of be abated as a this act, shall be liable to be removed and abated, as a public nuisance, in the manner provided by law, for the removal and abatement of nuisances on the public highway. SECTION 5. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

May 25, 1853.

AN ACT to establish the Proprietors of the Merrimack River Bridge. Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

nuisance.

Chap. 386

SECTION 1. Archibald O. Varnum, James H. B. Ayer, Corporators. Nathaniel Fox, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the Proprietors of the

Merrimack River Bridge, with all the powers and privileges, Powers and duand subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set ties. forth in the forty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes.

SECTION 2. Said corporation is hereby authorized and Authorized to empowered to erect a bridge over the Merrimack River, the build a bridge. southerly end thereof to be opposite to Long Island, and within eight hundred feet of the northerly line of land belonging to the Lawrence Manufacturing Company; and to purchase and hold such real estate as may be necessary for the purpose of said bridge and the avenues thereto.

Said bridge shall be well built, of suitable materials, at Twenty-eight feet least twenty-eight feet in width, covered with plank, with wide. sufficient railing or other protection on both sides, for the security of passengers travelling thereon, and shall be kept in good repair at all times.

collect toll.

SECTION 3. Said corporation shall have the right to col- Corporation may lect and receive the same rates of toll, as are allowed by law, to be received by the Central Bridge Corporation, in Lowell: provided, that whenever the tolls collected on said Proviso. Merrimack River Bridge shall be sufficient to reimburse the proprietors for the cost of the real estate, and for the building of said bridge, with six per cent. interest annually, and for all the expenses of the repairs upon said bridge, and all current and incidental expenses of its management and superintendence, then said bridge shall revert to, and be vested in, the Commonwealth, to be maintained as a free bridge forever.

purchase certain

SECTION 4. Said proprietors of the Merrimack River Proprietors may Bridge shall have the right to purchase and hold the Central franchises, &c. Bridge, in Lowell, and the franchise thereof, and the Patucket Bridge, so called, over the Merrimack River at Patucket

Proviso.

After five years

to be opened as

&c.

Falls, and the franchise thereof, or either of said bridges and the franchises thereof, for such sum or sums as may be agreed on between the said corporations respectively. And in case the said proprietors of the Merrimack River Bridge shall agree with either or both of said other corporations upon the price of either or both of said bridges, the Central Bridge Corporation, and the proprietors of Patucket Bridge, so called, or either of them, are hereby authorized to make the transfer of their bridges and the franchises thereof as aforesaid provided, that the city of Lowell and the town of Dracut, in the case of Central Bridge, shall consent to the transfer of said bridge to the corporation created by this act, and shall release their rights therein.

SECTION 5. From and after the completion of the transfer from transfer, of either or both of said bridges, the said proprietors of the Merrimack River Bridge shall have the right to collect and receive the same rates of toll that are now received by said corporations respectively, for the space of five years from the completion of said transfer or transfers respectively; after which time, either or both of said bridges may be laid out as county roads or town ways, by the county commissioners of Middlesex County, as in their judgment the necessity and convenience of the public may require.

Proprietors to make report of cost, &c.

This act to be void, if, &c.

Proprietors con

tributing to free

SECTION 6. Said proprietors of the Merrimack River Bridge, if they elect to erect a bridge as authorized by this act, shall, when said bridge is completed, make a report of the cost of said bridge and the avenues thereto, to the gov ernor and council, and thereafter shall, in the month of January in each year, make to the governor and council an annual report of the receipts and expenses of said bridge for the year next preceding. And in case the said proprietors of the Merrimack River Bridge shall purchase either or both of said bridges, they shall forthwith report to the governor and council the sum or sums paid for said transfers respectively, or either of them, and thereafter shall make an annual report of the receipts and expenses of said bridges respectively, to the governor and council.

SECTION 7. If the said Patucket Bridge and Central Bridge, or either of them, shall not be purchased as is herein before provided, or if the said Merrimack River Bridge, and the avenues thereto, shall not be completed and opened for travel within four years from the passage of this act, then the same shall be null and void.

SECTION 8. For the purpose of enabling the said propriethe bridge in less tors of Merrimack River Bridge, in case they shall purchase than five years. Central and Patucket Bridges, or either of them, to free the same in less than five years by voluntary subscriptions, the said proprietors, with the consent of the mayor and alder

toils commuted

men of Lowell, are authorized to commute and compound May have their the tolls for passing said bridges or either of them, with by consent, &c. those who may subscribe for the freeing of said bridge or bridges as aforesaid, as they may deem expedient.

[1854, 436.]

May 25, 1853.

AN ACT to authorize the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation to construct a Branch Railroad into the City of Boston.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Chap. 387

SECTION 1. The Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation Location of road. is hereby authorized to construct and maintain a branch railroad, beginning at a point in the present track of their railroad in East Cambridge, at or near East Street, thence running easterly to Charles River, at a point near the easterly corner of the flats belonging to said corporation; thence to a point at or near the bridge across said river, which the Eastern Railroad Company were authorized to construct by the three hundred and sixth chapter of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two; thence parallel with said bridge to the Boston shore; thence to Causeway Street, in said Boston; and thence, provided said corporation so elects, to the north-westerly side of Traverse Street, with the privilege of connecting with the tracks of the Eastern Railroad Company, and of using the same with the consent of said company.

construct a

SECTION 2. Instead of the route above described, said Authorized to Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation is authorized to branch railroad. construct and maintain a branch railroad, from a point in East Cambridge, on the east side of their present bridge, across Charles River, by the side of said bridge to the Boston shore; thence to some point on Causeway Street, in said Boston, between the Boston and Maine Railroad and Lowell Street, and thence, if the corporation so elect, to a point on the north-westerly side of Traverse Street, between Merrimack and Canal Streets.

SECTION 3. Unless said Boston and Lowell Railroad Cor- Void if not lo

-poration shall locate one of said routes within one year, and cated in one year. shall build and complete the said road within two years from

the passage hereof, this act shall be void.

SECTION 4. The bridge across Charles River, by either Draw.

of said routes, shall be provided with a suitable draw, which,

together with the bridge itself, shall be constructed under commissioner to the direction of a commissioner, to be appointed by the gov- be appointed. ernor and council, whose services shall be paid for by said corporation; and the said corporation shall at all times keep said draw in good repair, and furnish men to open it for the

passage of vessels by day or night; and said bridge shall not Twenty-six feet be constructed over twenty-six feet in width.

wide.