Acceptance of Statute.

Some statutes are not

in force in a town, until they have been accepted by the town.

When it is optional with a town to be bound or not by an act of the legislature, it cannot assume to be bound by a part of the act, without being at once liable to all the other provisions of the act. Hampshire v. Franklin, 16 Mass. 76. Such statutes must be accepted by the town, if accepted at all, with all their provisions and without alteration or qualification. Walker v.

West Boylston, 128 Mass. 550.

Agents. - Towns may, in their corporate capacity, sue and be sued by the name of the town, and may appoint all necessary agents and attorneys in that behalf. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 8.

A town may appoint agents to transact any of its business, or to perform any duty, which, by law, it is required to perform, if the statute does not require such business to be transacted or such duty to be performed by some officer.

It is competent for a town, at the commencement of its political year, to appoint an agent to defend all suits that may be instituted against it during the year; or at any legal meeting called for the purpose, to pass a similar vote as to any particular case expected to arise during the year. Cushing v. Stoughton, 6 Cush. 389.

The selectmen are not, by virtue of their office,

the legally constituted agents of the town to institute and prosecute suits in favor of the town, or to appear and defend suits against the town. Walpole v. Gray, 11 Allen, 149. They are not general agents; they are empowered to do only such acts as are required to meet the exigencies of ordinary town business. Smith v. Cheshire, 13 Gray, 318; Clark v. Russell, 116 Mass. 455.

The authority of the town treasurer as an agent of the town is limited to the receipt and payment of money, and does not include any power to enter into contracts binding on the town. Smith v. Cheshire, 13 Gray, 318.

Where a municipal corporation elects or appoints an officer, in obedience to an act of the legislature, to perform a public service in which the city or town has no particular interest, and from which it derives no special benefit or advantage in its corporate capacity, but which it is bound to see performed in pursuance of a duty imposed by law for the general welfare of the inhabitants or of the community, such officer cannot be regarded as a servant or agent, for whose negligence or want of skill in the performance of his duties a town or city can be held liable. Hafford v. New Bedford, 16 Gray, 297. This principle has been held applicable to acts of selectmen. Leman v. Newton, 134 Mass. 479; Cushing v. Bedford, 125 Mass.

526. Of assessors.

Walker v. Cook, 129 Mass. 577; Alger v. Easton, 119 Mass. 77; Rossire v. Boston, 4 Allen, 57. Of highway surveyors. White v. Phillipston, 10 Met. 108; Walcott v. Swampscott, 1 Allen, 101; Prince v. Lynn, 149 Mass. 193. Of collector of taxes. Perley v. Georgetown, 7 Gray, 464; Dunbar v. Boston, 112 Mass. 75. Of police officers. Buttrick v. Lowell, 1 Allen, 172. Of road commissioners. Clark v. Easton, 146 Mass. 43. Of field drivers. Vincent v. Nantucket, 12 Cush. 103. Of school committee. McKenna v. Kimball, 145 Mass. 555. The school committee are for certain purposes the agents of the town. Pub. Sts., c. 44, § 45; St. 1888, c. 431, § 2.

Any town interested in a petition to the legislature may at a legal meeting, by a two-thirds vote of the legal voters present thereat, authorize the employment of counsel to represent such town at any hearing before any committee of the legislature upon such petition; provided, however, that no expenses shall be hereby authorized excepting such as would be incurred in presenting a case before the judicial courts. Such town employing counsel shall require a detailed account of any expenses incurred, and a copy of said account shall be filed with the town-clerk and open to the inspection of all tax-payers of the town. St. 1889, c. 380.

Selectmen, acting under a vote of the town

:

to build a road ordered by the county commissioners, act as agents of the town. Deane v. Randolph, 132 Mass. 475; Doherty v. Braintree, 148 Mass. 495. Without the vote of the town, neither the selectmen nor the road commissioners have power to contract for the construction of such way. Bean v. Hyde Park, 143 Mass, 245.

Towns are liable for the negligence of its agents in the construction or repair of sewers. Stock v. Boston, 149 Mass. 410.

Aid to Soldiers and Sailors. — Any city or town may raise money for the purpose of paying military aid to certain soldiers and sailors and commissioned officers, as provided by St. 1889, c. 279. And any city or town may raise money for the purpose of paying State aid to certain soldiers and sailors and dependent relatives, as provided by St. 1889, c. 301. The provisions of said statutes continue in force until the first day of January in the year 1895.

Any city or town may appropriate any sum of money for necessary aid to soldiers and sailors and their families, and to the families of the slain, and may by special vote entrust such sum or any part thereof to any post of the Grand Army of the Republic located in such city or town, to be disbursed under its directions to any such persons residing in such city or town: provided, that the treasurer or other financial

officer of such post shall make an annual return to such city or town under oath, containing an itemized and specific statement of the disposition of such sums made by such post during the preceding year, and shall exhibit his vouchers for such disbursements to any committee of such city or town for examination.

The officer designated in section 1 to hold and disburse said money shall, before receiving the same, give a bond for the faithful discharge of his trust to the city or town paying over the same, in such sum and with such sureties as the mayor and aldermen or the selectmen may require. St. 1885, c. 189.

Armories or Headquarters of Militia. Cities and towns in which regiments, battalions, corps of cadets or companies, or the headquarters of brigades, regiments, battalions, corps of cadets, signal and ambulance corps, or detachments of militia, are located, may raise money, by taxation or otherwise, for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings for the armories or headquarters of such organizations. St. 1887, c. 411, § 92.

Baths and Wash-Houses. A town in which chapter 214 of the statutes of the year 1874 has been duly accepted, or in which this and the following section have been accepted by twothirds of the legal voters present and voting at an annual meeting, may purchase or lease