EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN MANUFACTURING ESTABLISH

MENTS.

1. The meaning of the first section of the act passed on the sixteenth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, entitled "an act to provide for the better instruction of youth employed in manufacturing establishments," is hereby declared to be, that no child, under the age of fifteen years, shall be employed in any manufacturing establishment, unless such child shall have attended some public or private day-school, where instruction is given by a teacher, qualified according to the first section of the twenty-third chapter of the Revised Statutes, at least one term of eleven weeks, of the twelve months next preceding the time of such employment, and for the same period during any and every twelve months in which such child shall be so employed; but the provisions of this act, and of the act above-named, shall not apply to any child who shall have removed into this Commonwealth from any other state or country, until such child shall have resided six months within this Commonwealth. St. of 1849, c. 220, § 1.

2. The provisions of sections 16 & 17, of the title "School Committee" are repealed. Ib. § 2.

3. The owner, agent, or superintendent of any manufacturing establishment, who shall employ any child in such establishment, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty dollars for each offence, to be recovered by indictment, to the use of common schools in the towns respectively, where said establishment may be situated. Ib. § 3.

SELECTMEN, DUTIES OF, CONCERNING PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.

1. The mayor and aldermen of any city, or the selectmen of any town, may license all theatrical exhibitions, public shows, public amusements, and exhibitions of every description, to which admission is obtained upon payment of money, or the delivery of any valuable thing, or by any ticket, or voucher obtained for money, or any valuable thing, upon such terms and conditions as they shall think reasonable; and they may revoke or suspend the same

whenever there shall appear to them to be sufficient cause for such revocation or suspension. St. of 1849, c. 231, § 1.

2. Any person who shall offer to view, or shall set up, set on foot, maintain or carry on, or shall publish, or otherwise assist in or promote any such exhibition, show, or amusement, as mentioned in the preceding section, without a license as therein specified, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for each offence. 1b. $ 2.

3. Any person who shall get up and set on foot, or cause to be published, or otherwise aid in getting up and promoting any masked ball, or other public assembly, at which the company wear masks, or other disguises, and to which admission is obtained upon payment of money, or the delivery of any valuable thing, or by any ticket or voucher obtained for money, or any valuable thing, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars; and, for a repetition of the offence, by imprisonment in the common jail, or house of correction, not exceeding one year. Ib. § 3.

SALE OF ANTHRACITE COAL.

1. All anthracite, hard or mineral coal, when sold in greater quantities than five hundred pounds, except the cargo, shall be sold by weight, and two thousand pounds avoirdupois shall be the standard for the ton, by which the same shall be sold and weighed. St. of 1849, c. 143, § 1.

2. Before any such coal, so sold, shall be delivered to the buyer, it shall be the duty of the owner thereof to cause the same to be weighed by a sworn weigher, of the town or city in which the same shall be sold and delivered, and a certificate of the weight thereof, signed by the weigher, shall be delivered to the buyer at the time of the delivery of such coal. lb. $2.

3. Any person who shall offend against the provisions of this act, shall, for each offence, forfeit the sum of five dollars to the use of the town or city where the offence shall be committed. Ib. § 3.

4. The mayor and aldermen of any city, and the selectmen of any town, are hereby authorized and required to appoint one or more person or persons, to be weighers of such coal, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of

their duties, and shall be entitled to such fees as the mayor and aldermen, and selectmen, shall determine, which shall be paid by the seller. 16. § 4.

SIDEWALKS IN TOWNS.

1. It shall be lawful for any person owning or occupying lands adjoining a highway or road, to construct a sidewalk within such highway or road, and along the line of such land, indicating the width of such sidewalk by trees, posts or curbstones, set at reasonable distances apart, or by a railing erected thereto; and where a sidewalk shall be so constructed, every person who shall ride, or drive a horse or team upon and along the same, shall forfeit the sum of one dollar to the use of such owner or occupant, to be sued for in any court proper to try the same. St. of 1849, c. 24, § 1.

2. This act shall not diminish or interfere with the authority of surveyors of highways, or any other authority that can be now legally exercised over highway or roads; nor shall it in any manner diminish the liability of any person for unreasonably obstructing highways or roads. 1b.

2.

3. This act shall not apply to cities. Ib. § 3.

MILITIA.

1. Each and every officer and member of the volunteer companies shall receive compensation for the military duty performed by them, as follows, viz :—

For the May inspection, the sum of one dollar and fifty cents, and, for each day's duty in camp, the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per day; the said sums to be computed upon the pay roll of each company, to be made out and certified by the commanding officers of companies, as is now by law provided, and to be returned to the adjutant general's office, within ten days after the last day's duty, and by him examined and certified, and returned to the mayor and aldermen, or the selectmen of the several towns and cities, who shall, upon receipt thereof, pay over to the persons named therein the sums specified. And the pay rolls shall be returned, by the mayor and aldermen, or selectmen of the towns and cities, to the adjutant general's

office, on or before the thirty-first day of December, annually, to be by him presented, for allowance, to the governor, as now by law provided, for the reimbursement of the same, from the state treasury. St. of 1849, c. 217, $7. See page 276.

TOWN CLERK.

REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS. 1. Town and city clerks are hereby authorized and required to obtain, record, and index, the information concerning births, marriages, and deaths, now required by law. Towns and cities, containing more than ten thousand inhabitants, may choose a person, other than the town or city clerk, to be town or city registrar, to perform this duty, instead of the town or city clerk; and said registrar shall take an oath, faithfully to perform the duties of the office. St. of 1849, c. 202, § 1.

2. The fees of the clerk and registrar, for obtaining, recording, and indexing, the information required by this act, shall be as follows:-For each birth, twenty cents; for each intention of marriage, including the certificate to the parties, fifty cents; for each marriage solemnized, ten cents; for each death, five cents; and the undertaker shall be allowed ten cents for information concerning each death which he returns to the clerk or registrar; said fees for births, deaths, and marriages solemnized, shall be paid by the town; and for intentions of marriage by the parties having such intentions; provided, however, that the aggregate compensation, allowed to any clerk or registrar, may be limited by any town or city, containing over ten thousand inhabitants, but in no case so as to prevent the full execution of this act. Ib. § 2.

3. Any undertaker, or other person having the superintendence of the burial of any deceased person, who shall neglect or refuse to obtain and return the information required by this act, concerning each person deceased; whose burial shall come under his superintendence, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty dollars for each neglect, and, if an undertaker, to be deprived of his office. And every clerk or registrar, who wilfully neglects or refuses to perform the duties herein prescribed, shall be

liable to a penalty of not less than twenty, nor more than one hundred dollars, for each neglect or refusal. All penalties and forfeitures, under this act, may be recovered by any person who shall sue for the same, one half thereof to the use of said complainant, and the other half to the use of the town or city in which the forfeiture shall have been incurred.

4. The returns required to be made on the first day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, shall include the births, deaths and marriages, from the first day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, to said day of return. Ib. § 4.

5. Copies of records, in the several towns and cities, of the births, marriages, and deaths, which occurred during the next preceding year, ending December thirty-first, shall be returned to the Secretary of State, annually, on or before the first day of February. The blank forms of said returns shall be printed on paper of uniform size; and those for each year, when filled out and returned to the office of the Secretary of State, shall be bound together, in one or more volumes, and shall be furnished with an index. Blank books for indexes to the town registrars, shall be prepared by the Secretary of State, and furnished to the several towns and cities at the expense of the Commonwealth.

6. All parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Ib. § 6.