$56,713 06 $21,208 09 $35,504 97 $16,407 70 $2,339 62

1914,

35

1,240,446 85

197,095 32

68,762 91

81,174 64

273 $11,835,998 96 $703,086 59 $21,208 09 $35,504 97 $65,445 95 $14,816 83 $14,058 60 $162,068 02 $11,044 86 $166,575 69 $8,169 67 $217,609 76 $209,062 50 $144,532 94

SERVICE ON COMMISSIONS.

My immediate predecessor in office, Hon. James M. Swift, took occasion to protest in the last annual report of this department against the practice of appointing the AttorneyGeneral to commissions charged with the investigation of matters not connected with the work of this department. I desire to renew that protest. The duties of this office are confined to legal matters. The work is sufficient to occupy the entire time of the Attorney-General, and it interferes to a great degree with the work of the department to have such additional burdens placed upon him.

During my term of office I have been required to serve as a member of three commissions. I renew the suggestion of my predecessor that "all these commissions have the right to call upon the Attorney-General and his department for assistance in any matters involving legal considerations in connection with their deliberations, and I further respectfully suggest that the Attorney-General should not be required to serve as a member of such commissions to the detriment of the legal work of his department."

PUBLIC WAREHOUSES.

A number of complaints have come to this department against certain unlicensed public warehouses, claiming that the complainants have no redress against the proprietors, as they have omitted to give bond as required by chapter 69 of the Revised Laws. This chapter, although it authorizes doing business with a license, does not expressly prohibit doing business without a license, nor does it provide the means of preventing unauthorized business nor penalties for the transaction thereof. Accordingly, I recommend the passage of the accompanying bill in order that chapter 69 may be given full force and effect.

HAVERHILL GAS CASE.

The Haverhill gas case, which had been long pending, and in which numerous hearings had been had and a great volume of testimony taken during the administration of my predecessor, has been closed. In view of the familiarity of

my predecessor with the case I retained his services therein. After several further hearings the gas company withdrew its petition wherein the company sought to enjoin the Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners from enforcing its order, and the order of the Board, reducing the price of gas. in Haverhill to 80 cents per thousand feet, became thereupon effective.

LAND COURT CASES.

This department has handled 68 Land Court cases, in which the public rights in beaches, great ponds and rivers were involved.

It was the custom to enter the appearance of the AttorneyGeneral in such cases, thus frequently holding up deserving cases until the Attorney-General could be got to assent to the form of decree. Under my administration a system has been devised whereby decrees are entered automatically preserving the public rights, upon the mere filing of the Attorney-General's answer, without further trouble to this department or to the parties.

I now recommend that the public rights be protected by statute. The bill which I propose is declaratory in form, so as to guard against the courts construing it as an implied legislative interpretation to the effect that in all past cases these public rights have been lost.

The statute creating the Land Court provides in effect that whenever the rights of any one are cut off, without his neglect, by registration of title in another, the injured party may sue and recover damages from an assurance fund made up of small payments by those who register title to their land. The Land Court was created in 1898, and yet so careful have been its judges and examiners that only one suit has yet been tried against the assurance fund. It fell to my lot to defend that suit, and the care of the Land Court was vindicated by a verdict for the defendant.

FEDERAL LIENS.

Congress recently enacted a law to the effect that in any State which would provide for the registration of Federal tax liens, such liens should not be effective unless filed in the registry of deeds. With the income tax now in effect, any

purchaser of a parcel of land may find it encumbered by a Federal lien. To have to look this matter up in the Federal court is an unnecessary burden on our citizens. The passage of the accompanying act, modeled after our mechanic's lien statute, will furnish a simple relief from this burden.

NATIONAL MERCANTILE COMPANY, LIMITED.

This company, having its home office in Vancouver, B. C., was at the opening of the present administration doing a quasi lottery business, having two offices in this Commonwealth and operating in violation of the banking law. This company was doing a fraudulent business, taking the money of the poor on the promise of enabling them to buy and own homes, and was advertising all over the United States that it was chartered under the "old blue laws" of the State of Massachusetts, "whose rigid supervision and strict jurisdiction over all companies within its boundaries is well known all over the entire world."

I caused criminal proceedings to be instituted against the agents of this company, one of whom left the State with charges pending against him; the other was convicted and sentence suspended that he might turn State's evidence. By decree of the Supreme Judicial Court on Oct. 9, 1914, the company was enjoined from the further prosecution of its business in Massachusetts. I have co-operated with the authorities in other States and given the matter such publicity as I could, as a result of which the Canadian government has denied the company the use of the mails, and its business is now closed.

Notwithstanding our success in prosecuting this company it is my opinion that the Massachusetts law is at present inadequate to cope with such a company if it chose to put up a real fight. Accordingly, I recommend that the Legislature pass the accompanying bill.

TAX CASES.

At the beginning of the present administration there were pending against the Commonwealth 297 suits by foreign corporations to recover excise taxes alleged to have been

illegally assessed, involving $168,962. The preceding administration had just won two test cases in the United States Supreme Court, but these cases did not cover the entire ground. Accordingly, nine more test cases were presented at the March sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court. The decision was handed down Oct. 7, 1914. This decision establishes, so far as a decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth can establish, the right of the Commonwealth to tax any foreign corporation that engages in any local business whatever within its borders. Counsel for the corporations that were parties to this litigation have, however, taken out writs of error in the United States Supreme Court, and accordingly I have not pressed other cases in the hands of the same counsel. All other remaining cases have been settled on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court.

A suit by the Bellows Falls Power Company, which was brought under the previous administration, has been argued before the Supreme Judicial Court and is still pending.

ANDERSON BRIDGE CASE.

Among the pending cases at the beginning of this administration was the suit of the Brighton Abattoir and one of its tenants to recover alleged damages for cutting them off from the sea by the building of the Anderson bridge on the Charles River without a draw. None of their real estate was taken, and they are claiming in damages to the land, which is still intact, a sum several times its assessed value. I have expended much time and money in resisting their claim. The case has been on trial before a special commission of three, appointed by the court, numerous hearings have been had, and the trial is now nearly completed.

POLLUTION OF NEPONSET RIVER.

Progress has been made with the suit that has been for several years pending against Winslow Bros. & Smith Company on account of the alleged pollution of the waters of Hawes Brook and Neponset River by the waste from their plant. After several hearings an agreement has been reached