rated; cotton factories, with the number of spindles and looms used in the same; woollen factories, with the number of sets of cards used in the same; linen factories, with the number of spindles and looms; print works; bleacheries; gas works; paper mills; card factories; boot and shoe factories; India rubber factories; carriage and car factories; piano-forte and musical instrument factories; sewing-machine factories; chair, pail, tub, and other wooden-ware factories; oil-factories; glass factories; all kinds of iron and brass works, and other buildings not above named. In column number fifteen. True value of buildings enumerated in the preceding column placed opposite the description of the same, including water wheels; such value to be exclusive of land and water-power and of the machinery used in said buildings. In columns number sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. A description by name or otherwise of each and every lot of land assessed, the same placed opposite the name of the person or party to whom it is taxable, with the number of acres or feet in each lot; the number of quartz sand beds, of stone quarries and ore beds; and the true value thereof. In columns number nineteen and twenty. The number of superficial feet of wharf, and the total value of the same. In column number twenty-one. The aggregate value of each person's taxable real estate. In column number twenty-two. estate. The total tax on real In column number twenty-three. The aggregate cash tax assessed to each person on polls, personal and real estate. In columns number twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six and twenty-seven. The amount assessed for highway tax; on polls; on personal estate; on real estate; and the aggregate of the same. SECTION 3. The assessors shall fill up the table of aggre- Table of aggregates, by an enumeration of the necessary items included gates. in the lists of valuation and assessments required by the pre ceding section, and shall, on or before the first day of Octo ber in each of the first four years of each decade, deposit in Assessors to dethe office of the secretary of the Commonwealth an attested posit copies with copy of the same, containing: First.-The total number of polls. Second. The total tax on polls. Third. The total tax on personal estate. Fourth.-The total tax on real estate. Fifth. The total tax for state, county, and town purposes, including highway tax. secretary. Subsequent returns by assess ors. Secretary to fur nish assessors with copy of act, &c. Penalty for neglect by assessors. Sixth. The rate per cent. of total tax. Tenth. Total number of cows assessed. Twelfth. The total number of acres of land assessed in the city or town. The assessors shall make similar returns in the first four years of the last half of each decade; and in every fifth and tenth year of each decade, they shall deposit in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the first day of October, a certified copy, under oath, of the assessors' books of those years; and said books thus deposited shall contain an aggregate sheet properly filled in accordance. with the provisions of this act, which shall be in like manner certified by the assessors; and in every fifth and tenth year of each decade, the secretary shall furnish duplicate copies of blank books to the cities and towns for the foregoing purpose: provided, however, that in the case of the city of Boston, the returns, required by this section to be deposited in the office of the secretary, may be thus deposited on or before the first day of November, in the several years respectively. SECTION 4. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause to be printed and bound in the books to be furnished for the use of the assessors, a copy of this act, and such certificates as are required by the same and by the General Statutes to be signed by the assessors, together with such explanatory notes as may by him be deemed expedient, for the purpose of securing uniformity of returns under the several headings; and he shall compile and cause to be printed annually, for the use of the legislature, the aggregate returns from the cities and towns in the Commonwealth arranged by counties, so as to exhibit the total valuation of the towns, cities, counties, and state. SECTION 5. If the assessors of any city or town shall neglect to comply with the requirements of the second or third section of this act, each assessor so neglecting shall forfeit a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars. Approved April 10, 1861. Chap. 168 AN ACT FOR THE INSPECTION OF GAS METERS, THE PROTECTION OF Appointment of inspector. GAS CONSUMERS AND THE PROTECTION AND REGULATION OF GAS Be it enacted, &c., as follows: SECTION 1. The governor shall, with the advice and consent of the council, appoint an inspector of gas meters and duties. of illuminating gas, whose office shall be in the city of Location and Boston, and whose duty it shall be, when required, as is hereinafter provided, to inspect, examine, prove, and ascertain the accuracy of any and all gas meters to be used for measuring the quantity of illuminating gas to be furnished to or for the use of any person or persons, and when found to be correct, to seal, stamp, or mark all such meters, and each of them, with some suitable device, and with his name, the date of his inspection, and the number of burners it is calculated to supply. Such device shall be recorded in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth. SECTION 2. He shall hold his office for the term of three Tenure of office. years from the time of his appointment, and until the appointment of his successor, but may be removed by the governor and council at their pleasure; and he shall receive Compensation. an annual salary of three thousand dollars, which shall include his office-rent and expenses, to be paid out of the treasury on the warrant of his excellency the governor. Such inspector shall not in any way or manner, directly Restrictions. or indirectly, be interested pecuniarily in the manufacture or sale of illuminating gas or gas meters, or of any article or commodity used by gas light companies, or for any purpose connected with the consumption of gas, or with any gas company; and shall not give certificates or written opinions to any maker or vender of any meter, or of any such article or commodity; and he shall be duly sworn to Oath of office and the faithful performance of his duties, and shall give bonds in the sum of five thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of the same provided, however, that no warrant shall be Proviso. drawn for the whole or any part of the salary of said commissioner for any larger amount than may have been actually paid into the treasury of the Commonwealth. bonds SECTION 3. Said inspector shall, within three months List of gas comafter his appointment, furnish to the treasurer and receiver- panies. general a list of all the gas light companies in operation in the Commonwealth; and his salary for the year then com- Inspector's salamenced, and annually thereafter, shall be assessed and paid ry, how paid. into the treasury of the Commonwealth by the several gas light companies in this Commonwealth, in amounts proportionate to their appraised valuation, as declared in the returns required in the General Statutes of this Commonwealth, chapter sixty-eight, section twenty; and in case Delinquent comsuch gas light companies, or any or either of them, shall panies, proceedrefuse or neglect to pay into the treasury the amount or portion of said salary which shall be by said treasurer required of them respectively, for the space of thirty days. ings against. Appointment of deputies. Qualification. Disabilities. Fees, &c. Proviso. Standard of measure. Sealing of me ters. Apparatus. after written notice given by said treasurer to them respectively, to make such payment, then the said treasurer shall institute an action in the name of and for the use of the Commonwealth, against any such delinquent gas light company for their said portion or amount of such salary with interest thereon, at the rate of ten per centum per annum, from the time when said notice to make such payment was given, and the costs of the action. SECTION 4. Whenever the inspector shall find himself unable to attend to his duties in any city or town of any county, he shall appoint temporarily, and for such time as he may deem expedient, one or more deputy-inspectors of meters for such county, who shall act under his direction; they shall be duly sworn to the faithful performance of their duties, and shall not in any manner be connected with or employed by any gas company, and shall be subject to the same disabilities as are set forth in section second, and shall be paid by fees for examining, comparing, and testing gas meters, with or without stamping them, which fees shall be twenty-five cents for each meter delivering a cubic foot of gas in four or more revolutions, vibrations, or complete repetitions of its action, and thirty cents for each meter delivering a cubic foot of gas in any less number of revolutions as heretofore described, and for each meter thus delivering more than one cubic foot of gas as before-named the further sum of twenty cents for every additional cubic foot of gas delivered: provided, however, that in all cases of inspection by the deputy-inspector the gas company or consumer may appeal to the state inspector from the deputyinspector's decision. SECTION 5. The standard or unit of measure for the sale of illuminating gas by meter shall be the cubic foot, containing sixty-two and three hundred twenty-one onethousandth pounds avoirdupois weight of distilled or rainwater, weighed in air of the temperature of sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit scale, the barometer being at thirty inches. SECTION 6. No meter shall be set after the first day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, unless it be sealed and stamped in the manner required by this act. SECTION 7. There shall be provided at the expense of the gas companies of the Commonwealth, at the office of the inspector, a standard measure of the cubic foot, and such other apparatus as in his judgment shall be necessary for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. SECTION 8. Every gas light company with a capital paid Test gas-holders. in of one hundred thousand dollars, or more, and every maker and vender of meters, shall set up at some convenient place upon their premises a gas-holder, to be tested, and if correct, stamped and sealed, containing five or more cubic feet, by means of which meters shall be tested at the average pressure at which gas is supplied in the city or town where they are to be used, attention being paid to the temperature of the room where the trial is made, of the apparatus, and of the gas. There shall be provided by every gas light Test meters. company, a test meter of a construction approved by the inspector and stamped by him, to be used in cities and towns where no test gas-holders are provided, or whenever proving by a gas-holder is impracticable or inconvenient. proving and In the examination of a meter the inspector shall see that Examination, it is of an approved principle, and shall give his particular stamping. attention to the measure of the dial-plate; he shall prove the meter when set level, and for each burner which the manufacturer has stamped it to register, it shall be capable of passing gas accurately at the rate of six cubic feet per hour; and no dry meter shall be stamped correct which varies more than two per cent. from the standard measure of the cubic foot, and no wet meter shall be stamped correct, which is capable of registering more than two per cent. against the consumer, and five per cent. against the company. He shall keep at his office a correct record of all Record of meters. meters inspected by him, with their proof at the time of inspection, which record shall be open at all times for examination by the officers of any gas light company in this Commonwealth. ing meters. SECTION 9. Meters in use shall be tested on the request Expense of testof the consumer, or the gas light company, in the presence of the consumer if desired, with sealed apparatus, as provided for in section eight, by the inspector or deputy-inspector. If the meter is found to be correct, the party requesting the inspection shall pay the fees named in section four, and the expense of removing the same for the purpose of being tested, and the re-inspection shall be stamped on the meter. If proved incorrect, the gas light company shall pay such expenses, and shall furnish a new meter without any charge to the consumer. SECTION 10. Illuminating gas shall not be merchantable standard of gas. in this Commonwealth which has a minimum value of less than twelve candles: that is, a burner consuming five cubic feet per hour shall give a light as measured by the photometric apparatus in ordinary use, of not less than twelve |