turns, &c. 1851, 247, § 5. 1857, 40. 1858, 46. make annual re- fifteenth day of October make returns to the secretary of the commonwealth, according to forms to be furnished on application to him, specifying therein the location and line of its telegraph, its name, capital actually paid in and how invested, annual receipts and expenditures, real estate and its value, cash on hand, credits on book account, and the amount of its indebtedness; which return shall be signed by the presi dent, clerk, and treasurer, of the company, and by them be sworn to be true according to the best of their knowledge and belief. SECT. 13. Owners and associations engaged in the business of telegraphing for the public by electricity, although not incorporated, shall be subject to the liabilities and governed by the provisions of this chapter in the same manner as corporations. SECT. 14. No enjoyment by a person or corporation for any length of time of the privilege of having or maintaining telegraph posts, wires, or apparatus, in, upon, over, or attached to, any buildings or lands of other persons, shall give a legal right to the continued enjoyment of such easement, or raise any presumption of a grant thereof. SECT. 15. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests, or destroys, any of the lines, wires, posts, piers, or abutments, or any of the materials or property, of any company, owner, or association, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both. Proprietors of incorporated. R. S. 40, § 1. SECTION 1. Persons who have associated by an agreement in writing aqueducts, how to become proprietors of an aqueduct for the purpose of conveying fresh water into or within a city or town, or of funds for establishing such aqueduct, may apply in writing to a justice of the peace for the county in which the aqueduct or any portion thereof is situated or proposed to be made, stating the name and style of their association and the objects of their proposed meeting, and requesting him to call the same. The justice may thereupon issue his warrant stating the time, place, and objects of the meeting, and directing some one of the persons applying to notify the same; who shall post up in some public place in the city or town the substance of the warrant with his notice annexed thereto seven days at least before the meeting. Corporate name, &c. R. S. 40, § 2. SECT. 2. The proprietors organized in pursuance of such warrant and their successors shall be a corporation by the name and style which they have adopted. Such corporation and every corporation organized under chapter forty of the Revised Statutes shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. choice of clerk. SECT. 3. The proprietors may at a legal meeting agree upon the Organization, method of calling future meetings of the corporation, and may choose meeting, erk a clerk, who shall be sworn, and shall record in books to be provided R. S. 40, § 3. and kept by him for that purpose all by-laws, votes, and other proceedings, of the corporation; which books shall at all times be subject to the inspection of any person appointed for that purpose by the legislature. entered in SECT. 4. The clerk at or immediately after the first meeting shall Shares and enter in the books the names of the several proprietors and the shares transfers to be owned by each; and transfers of shares shall be entered by him in the books. books within three months after they are made, in such form and for such fees as the directors order. No person shall be deemed a proprietor whose share or interest is not so entered. R. S. 40, §4. SECT. 5. The proprietors may choose any number of directors and Directors, &c., other officers to manage the business; and the directors shall choose one of their number to be the president of the corporation. SECT. 6. The directors may make such assessments on each share as they find necessary; and on the default of any proprietor to pay an assessment for thirty days after notice thereof, they may sell by public auction so many of his shares as will be sufficient to pay the same with necessary charges; the sale of such shares being first advertised three weeks successively in some newspaper printed in the county, or notifications thereof being posted up thirty days at least before the sale in some public places in the city or town. All surplus moneys arising from the sale shall be paid to the owner of the shares sold. to be chosen. R. S. 40, § 6. Assessments, how made and collected. R. S. 40, § 7. SECT. 7. The shares shall be deemed personal estate, and be trans- Shares, perferable by such mode of conveyance in writing as the corporation deter-sonal estate, mines. R. S. 40, § 5. SECT. 8. Each corporation may purchase and hold real estate neces- Real estate. sary for the purpose of its association not exceeding thirty thousand R. S. 40, § 8. dollars in value. highways, &c. SECT. 9. A corporation may, with the assent of the mayor and alder- Corporation men or selectmen in writing, dig up and open any street or way for the may dig up purpose of placing such pipes as are necessary in constructing its aque- R. S. 40, 59. duct, or for repairing or extending the same: provided, the same be done in such manner as not to prevent the convenient passing of teams and carriages. Liability of corporators after dissolution of SECT. 10. Contracts made by or with a corporation shall remain in force after its dissolution. The last shareholders shall continue liable and capable as a corporation in all suits respecting such contracts and company. R. S. 40, § 10. agreements until they are performed: provided, that suit is commenced within six years after the dissolution, or within the like time after the right of action accrued. viduals liable SECT. 11. If no corporate property can be found to satisfy a judg- If no corporate ment recovered against the shareholders after the dissolution, and it is property, indinot satisfied within six months after it is recovered, the judgment cred- for debts. itor may satisfy the same out of the private estate of such shareholders R. S. 40, § 11. or any of them, in the same manner as if the judgment had been against them in their private capacity. to be in com R. S. 40, § 12. SECT. 12. If the corporation at its dissolution is scised of real estate, Upon dissoluthe several persons who are then proprietors shall become tenants in tion, real estate common thereof in proportion to the shares or interests which they then mon. respectively hold in the stock of the corporation. SECT. 13. Whoever shall maliciously injure an aqueduct or any of Penalty for inits appurtenances shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, Jus to the use of the city or town in which the offence is committed, to be R. S. 40, § 14. recovered in an action of tort; and shall pay treble the amount of the 1852, 312. damages sustained by the corporation, to be recovered in a like action. juring aque SECT. 14. A city or town in which such aqueduct is situated may Towns to have put conductors into the pipes for the purpose of drawing therefrom, free use of water in case of fires. R. S. 40, § 15. Warrants of distress for damages, as against railroad corporations. 1851, 289, § 1. See Ch.63, §§ 33, 34. Application, when to be filed. 1851, 289, §2. of SECT. 15. When, upon the application of a person who has sustained injury in his lands, or by the diversion of water, from the operations of an aqueduct corporation, damages have been assessed against such corporation by county commissioners or the verdict of a jury, in pursuance of authority conferred upon them by the act incorporating the company or otherwise, the commissioners may issue warrants of distress to compel payment of such damages with interest and costs, in the manner and with the limitations prescribed in relation to railroad corporations. SECT. 16. No such damages shall be recovered or allowed against a corporation, except for injuries sustained within three years next preceding the filing of the application to the county commissioners. Agricultural societies may be entitled to an the treasury, by, &c. R. S. 42, § 1. 1852, 246. SECTION 1. Every incorporated agricultural society which has raised by contribution of individuals and put out at interest on public or prinual sum from vate security, or invested in real estate, buildings, and appurtenances, for its use and accommodation, the sum of one thousand dollars, as a capital appropriated for the uses of the society, shall be entitled to receive in the month of October annually, out of the treasury of the commonwealth, the sum of two hundred dollars, and in that proportion annually for any greater sum so contributed and put at interest or invested; but no society shall receive from the treasury more than six hundred dollars in one year. Societies claiming allowance to file certificate. R. S. 42, § 3. 1847, 69, § 1. 1852, 142, § 4. 1853, 127, § 1. Bounty. R. S. 42, § 3. 1847, 69, § 2. Restriction on premiums. 1856, 181, § 1. 1859, 232, § 1. SECT. 2. Every society which claims said bounty shall annually on or before the tenth day of December, file in the office of the secretary of the board of agriculture a certificate signed by its president and treasurer, specifying under oath the sum so actually contributed and put at interest or invested in real estate, buildings, or appurtenances, for its use and accommodation, and then held so invested, or well secured as a capital stock. SECT. 3. The amount of bounty to which a society is entitled for any year shall be ascertained by the certificate last filed by it under the preceding section. SECT. 4. No society receiving the bounty shall distribute any part thereof for an animal or article for which a premium is awarded, unless it was produced within the limits of the society, or the animal has been owned and kept within its limits, by the person to whom the premium is awarded, for three months next preceding the award. And no animal or article for which a premium has been awarded to the owners by any such society shall be considered a subject for any further premium of the society, except for qualities different from those for which the former premium was awarded, or for a higher premium, and no animal or article shall be offered for a premium at more than one such society in the same year; but nothing in this chapter shall affect, restrain, or limit, a competitor for premiums offered by the state board of agriculture or the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture to be awarded within the incorporated county agricultural societies, but such premiums shall be subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by said board or the trustees of said Massachusetts Society. make annual re marked. 1847, 69, $1. 1852, 142, §4. 1853, 127, 1. SECT. 5. Every such society shall annually on or before the tenth Societies to day of December make a full return of its doings, signed by its presi- turns, with pasdent and secretary, to the secretary of the board of agriculture, em- sages, &c., bracing a statement of the expenditure of all money, specifying the R. S. 42, §4. nature of the encouragement proposed by the society, the objects for which its premiums have been offered, and the persons to whom they have been awarded, and including all reports of committees and all statements of experiments and cultivation regarded by the president and secretary as worthy of publication; and shall accompany the same with such general observations concerning the state of agriculture and manufactures in the state as it may deem important or useful. The return, whether in printed or manuscript form, shall be marked in such manner that those passages in the several reports and statements deemed by such officers most worthy of public notice, study, and application, may be easily distinguished. bounty. SECT. 6. A society which neglects in any year to comply with the Forfeiture of laws relating thereto, or with the regulations of the board of agriculture, shall not be entitled to the bounty of the state the year next succeeding. SECT. 7. Every society which receives' said bounty shall offer annually, by way of premiums, or shall otherwise apply for the encouragement or improvement of agriculture or manufactures, a sum not less than the amount so annually received, and shall offer such premiums for agricultural experiments and in such manner as the state board of agriculture requires. $3. 1853, 127, §3. 1856, 181, § 2. 1859, 232, $5. Premiums to be ties, &c. offered by socie for trees for R. S. 42, § 6. SECT. 8. Every such society shall annually offer such premiums and encouragement for the raising and preserving of oaks and other forest ship timber. trees, as to it seems proper and best adapted to perpetuate within the state an adequate supply of ship timber. Surplus to be at interest. SECT. 9. All money offered for premiums which is not awarded or paid shall be put out at interest and added to the capital stock of the R. S. 42, § 5. society. SECT. 10. The foregoing provisions shall not extend to an agricul- To what socie tural society incorporated for any territory less than a county, except apply. by special enactment for that purpose. ties provisions R. S. 42, § 7. R. S. 42, § 8. SECT. 11. Incorporated agricultural societies may by their officers Cattle shows define and fix bounds of sufficient extent for the erection of their cattle regulated. pens and yards, and for convenient passage ways to and about the same, on the days of their cattle shows and exhibitions, and also for their ploughing matches and trials of working oxen; within which bounds no persons shall be permitted to enter or pass unless in conformity with the regulations of the officers of such societies. SECT. 12. Whoever contrary to the regulations, and after notice thereof, enters or passes within the bounds so fixed, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five dollars. SECT. 13. The foregoing provisions shall not authorize a society to Penalty. R. S. 42, § 9. 1847, 69, § 5. Limit of bounds. R. S. 42, § 10. Marshals to be appointed to execute regulations; to have powers of constables. R. S. 42, § 11. Field crop for weighed, &c. 1859, 231, § 2. occupy or include within such bounds the land of any person without his consent, nor to obstruct the public travel on any turnpike or public highway. SECT. 14. The officers of each society may appoint a sufficient number of suitable persons, inhabitants of the county, to act as marshals at cattle shows and exhibitions, who shall have and exercise all the powers of constables in relation to the preservation of the public peace and the service and execution of criminal process within the respective towns where such shows and exhibitions are held, and which process may be directed to them accordingly; and they shall exercise their office from twelve o'clock at noon of the day preceding the commencement of such shows and exhibitions until twelve o'clock at noon of the day succeeding the termination thereof, and no longer. SECT. 15. No incorporated agricultural society shall award a prepremium to be mium for a field crop, without satisfactory evidence under oath presented to its committee or other officers, that the whole merchantable crop entered for premium was weighed when harvested if a grass or root crop, and when threshed or husked if a grain or corn crop; but such society may require further modes of ascertaining the merchantable amount of product, either at the time of harvesting or at any other times. Time of annual Ten or more come a corpora tion. Powers and privileges. 1853, 312. SECT. 16. The agricultural societies shall commence their annual exhibitions as follows: Middlesex North, and Highland, on the last Thursday but two in September; Middlesex South, and Hampden East, on the last Tuesday but one of September; Middlesex, and Hampden, on the last Thursday but one of September; Essex, Worcester North, [and Berkshire,] on the last Tuesday of September; Housatonic, on the last Wednesday of September; Franklin, Worcester County West, and Norfolk, on the last Thursday of September; Berkshire, Worcester, and Bristol, on the first Tuesday of Octo ber; Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin, Worcester South, and Plymouth, on the first Thursday of October; Barnstable, on the second Tuesday of October; Nantucket, and Hampshire, on the second Thursday of October; AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL, AND ORNAMENTAL TREE ASSOCIATIONS. SECT. 17. Ten or more persons in any county, city, or town, within persons may be the state, who by agreement in writing associate for the purpose of encouraging agriculture, horticulture, or for improving and ornamenting the streets and public squares of any city or town by planting and culti vating ornamental trees therein, may become a corporation by such name as they assume therefor, upon calling their first meeting and being organized in the manner provided in sections ten and eleven of chapter thirty-three; and shall thereupon during the pleasure of the legislature have for their purposes all the rights, powers, and privileges given by sections ten to thirteen of said chapter inclusive, and may hold real and personal estate not exceeding ten thousand dollars. Farmers' clubs FARMERS' CLUBS. SECT. 18. Farmers' clubs properly organized and holding regular to receive pub- meetings shall, upon application made annually in November to the |