being built of brick, four stories high, 220 feet in length, and 45 feet in width. About 200 machinists, some of them the most skilful and ingenious workmen in the United States, or in the world, are constantly employed. About 600 tons of cast and wrought iron, two thirds of which at least are of American production, are annually converted into machinery, besides a large quantity of imported steel. It is computed that upwards of 5,000 tons of anthracite coal are annually consumed in the Lowell manufacturing establishments and machine-shop, besides immense quantities of charcoal and pine, and hard wood fuel. The rail road between this place and Boston was laid out through the whole line in 1832, and was rapidly pressed towards completion in 1833. TRIAL OF MAGISTRATES.-The mayor and aldermen of Boston were presented and tried in 1833 for hav. ing omitted to make a return of the votes given to Mr. Odiorne, the anti-masonic candidate for congress. The omission seems to have been purely accidental; the jury found a verdict of not guilty. LEGISLATION. The legislature commenced its annual session the 1st Wednesday of January, 1833. On the 5th, the governor and lieutenant governor elect appeared before a convention of the two houses and took the customary oaths of office. In his address to the legislature, the governor expresses an opinion, that the vending of ardent spirits is a subject that demands the attention of the legislature. The sale of the public lands in Maine has been very productive, one hundred and eighty thousand dollars having been realiz. ed from that source. Owing to the increased prices of wild lands, the commonwealth's property in the state of Maine continues undiminished. The governor recommends that additional powers be conferred on the land agent. The trigono. metrical survey of the state, for the purpose of constructing a new and correct map, is going on, and will probably be completed in the course of another year. The geological survey is already completed. A commission, agreeably to a resolve of the last legislature, has been appointed to collate, arrange, and revise the statute laws of the commonwealth, but the commissioners have not yet made much progress. The state lunatic hospital is just completed. The state prison is in a most prosperous condition, and the balance in its favour, after paying all expenses, exceeds $4000. The legislature of Massachusetts, at the January session of 1833, passed two hundred and twenty-two acts; of which, one hundred and six are acts establishing new corporations. ACTIONS, PARTIES TO.-At any time before issue joined, on a plea of non-joinder of a party as defend. ant in any action founded on debt or contract, the plaintiff may, on motion, be allowed to amend his writ, by inserting the name of any other persons as defendants; and the same proceedings shall be had on said amended writ, as if the same had been the original writ issued in the action, saving, however, to the plaintiff the benefit of any attachment, endorsement or security had upon the service of the first writ. Seven academies and three fe. male seminaries were incorporated. TAXES.-In lieu of all duties here. tofore imposed on sales by auction, of shares in the corporate property of turnpike road, bridge, canal, railroad and railway companies, and in incorporated athenæums and libraries, there is to be paid one tenth of one per cent. on the amount of such sales. The assessors of towns and districts are not to be responsible for the assessment of any tax upon the inhabitants of any school district, when the clerk thereof shall have certified to said assessors, that such tax was voted to be raised at a legal meeting of the inhabitants of such school district; but the liabili ty, if any, shall rest solely with said school district. BANKS AND BANKING.-If any person shall issue or pass any note, bill, order or check, other than foreign bills of exchange, the notes or bills of some bank incorporated by the laws of this commonwealth or by the laws of the United States, or of some one of the United States, or by the laws of either of the British Provinces in North America, with the intent that the same shall be circulated as currency, he is to forfeit for every such offence fifty dollars. Fourteen banking companies were incorporated, the aggregate capital stock of which amounts to $3,250,000. Six banks were al lowed to increase their capital stocks by sums amounting in the whole to $450,000. Two savings banks were also incorporated. BRIDGES. TWO companies were incorporated. An act was passed in relation to Warren bridge. CHARCOAL, ADMEASUREMENT OF.In the sale of charcoal, it is to be measured in boxes of the following capacities, viz. two bushels, five bushels, ten bushels, and twenty bushels; and the boxes are to be first duly sealed; in case of viola tion of this act, the offender forfeits one dollar for each offence, to the use of him who shall sue for the same. Two companies were incorporated for the purpose of mining and vend. ing coal, with capitals of $600,000 and $250,000. An act was passed to divide the state into twelve districts for the choice of representatives in congress, and to prescribe the mode of election. POOR. Any two justices of the quorum, in any county except Suffolk, may liberate from prison any poor convict within the county for which they are commissioned, if it appear that he has continued in prison, for three months, for fine and costs only, and that he has no property. CORPORATIONS.-Whenever, by reason of the death, or other legal impediment of the officers of any corporation, there shall be no person authorized to call or preside at a legal meeting thereof, any justice of the peace in the county where the corporation is situated, is authorized, on the written application of five of the proprietors, or other legal members thereof, to issue a warrant to either of said proprietors, directing him to call a meeting of said corporation, and said meeting, when duly organized, may elect officers to fill vacancies, and act upon such other business as may be transacted at regular meetings of a corporation. The mode of calling the first meeting of all corporations, shall be by a notice, setting forth the time, place and purposes of the meeting, signed by any one or more of the persons named in the act of incor poration, and seven days at least previously to the meeting, delivered to each member, or published in some newspaper in the county where the corporation may be established, or if there be no newspaper in the county, then in some adjacent county; but the notice of the first meeting of religious societies may be affixed to some conspicuous part of their meeting-houses. Nothing in this act is to affect any existing provisions of law. Whenever any process shall be commenced, which shall by law be required to be served upon any monied corporation, the service thereof may be made upon the officer having charge of their business, not less than fourteen days before the sitting of the court. All petitions for acts of incorpo. ration for canal, railroad, or turnpike road companics, shall be accompanied by plans of the proposed route, profiles of the land proposed to be taken, embankments and cuttings, and a report of the character of the soil, estimated expense of the work. The plans are to be drafted on a horizontal scale of eighty rods to an inch, and on a perpendicular scale of fifty feet to an inch, and shall also exhibit the true and magnetic meridian; they are to be retained in the state library. HIGHWAY.-No petition for a jury to alter or discontinue any high. way, or to estimate damages, or for a committee, if the same is or shall be agreed upon, shall abate by the death of the petitioner; but his executor or administrator, or the heirs or devisees, or the surviving petitioner or petitioners, may prose. cute the petition to effect. ELECTIONS.-The collectors of state and county taxes, are re. quired, in February and October in every year, to return to the selectmen a list of all persons from whom they shall have received pay. ment of any state or couuty tax, subsequently of the next pre. ceding return; and the selectmen are to post up lists of voters, ten days at least before the second Monday of November, annually. The officers of the several towns are to make and seal up a separate list of the persons voted for as governor, lieutenant governor, coun sellors and senators, and representa. tives in congress. and transmit the same to the secretary of state, or to the sheriffs of their respective counties. The seals are not to be broken, until they are delivered to the two branches of the general court, or to the executive autho rity. Selectmen, before entering on the execution of their official duties, are to take an oath or affirmation that they will faithfully discharge those duties respecting all elections. ESCAPE. No sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner, constable, or deputy jailor, shall be liable to be sued in an action of debt, for any escape. FARM SCHOOL.-An act was pass. ed incorporating the proprietors of the Boston Farm School, for the education and reformation of boys, who are exposed to extraordinary temptation and are in danger of be coming vicious or useless members of society. FORGERY AND Counterfeiting.— If any person shall have in his pos session any counterfeit bill or note, in the similitude of the bills or notes payable to the bearer thereof, issued by any bank, which shall purport to be established in any foreign state, knowing it to be counterfeit, he shall be punished by solitary imprisonment for a term not ex. ceeding three months, and by con finement afterwards to hard labour for a term not exceeding three years, or by fine not exceeding $1000 and imprisonment not exceeding one year. If any person shall engrave, form, make or mend any plate, paper, rolling press, or other tool,, designed for forging any such bill, or shall have them in his possession for that purpose, he is liable to the same punishment, except that the fine in this case is not to exceed $500. In all prosecutions for offences described in the first section, the testimony of the president or cashier of any such bank may be dispensed with, and the testimony of other witnesses is to be admitted. GUARDIANS.-Judges of probate are authorized to appoint guardians to persons residing on lands, not included in any incorporated towns; and the duties now, required of selectmen relative to the appointment of guardians, are to be performed by the assessors of the several districts, and if there are no assessors, by the selectmen of the oldest adjoining town. The county commissioners of any county, are authorized to establish the whole or any part of any turnpike road lying in such county, as a common highway, with the assent of the turnpike corporation and of the towns through which it passes. The county commissioners are to have power to allow to the corporation reasonable damages, to be paid out of the county treasury; but a part of the damages, not exceeding one half, is to be paid into the county treasury by the towns, &c. All original writs, writs of error, scire facias, or review, bills in equity, libels for divorce, petitions for par. tition, mandamus, certiorari, new trial, review, or for a sale by me. chanics and others, having by law a lien upon any buildings or land, if the plaintiff or petitioner is not an inhabitant of the state, shall, before they shall be entered, be endorsed by some responsible inhabitant of the state. If during the pendency of any of the processes aforesaid, the plaintiff or petitioner remove out of the state, the court, on motion, shall order him to procure such endorser; if the plaintiff or petitioner fail to comply with such order, the process is to be dismissed. In case of the avoidance or inability of the plaintiff or petitioner, the endorser of such process is to be liable for the costs to the defend ant. INSURANCE COMPANIES.-Where an insurance company has expired by the limitation of its charter, any stockholder may apply to the su preme court, for the appointment of two or more trustees, to settle the affairs of the company. Eight insurance companies were incorporated, whose united capitals amount to $1,000,000; five mutual insurance companies were also incorporated. LOTTERIES.-Lotteries were prohibited, also the sale of any ticket in any lottery not authorized by the laws of the state, under a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $2000. All money drawn and received by any inhabitant or resident of this state upon any lottery ticket, &c. purchased therein, is forfeited to the state. LUNATICS.-The judges of probate, in the several counties, are author. ized to commit to the hospital any lunatic, who in their opinion is so furiously mad as to render it manifestly dangerous to the peace and safety of the community, that such lunatic should continue at large. Three land companies, with $2,000,000 capital, and nineteen manufacturing companies, were in corporated; the aggregate capital stock which they are authorized to hold amounts to $2,825,000. MORTGAGES.-Whenever a bill in equity shall be brought for the redemption of a mortgage, the plaintiff shall pay to the defendant his costs, unless it shall appear to the court that the mortgagee has refused or unreasonably neglected, to render a true account of the money due on the mortgage, or has otherwise by his default prevented the plaintiff from performing the condition of the mortgage before the commence. ment of the suit. An act was passed to prevent fraud in the sale of oils. PROBATE COURT.-After the decease of any alien intestate, in this state, leaving no widow or next of kin therein, administration of his goods and estate shall, within thirty days, be granted to the consul or vice consul who shall have been duly appointed for the state by the government in which such alien shall have been born. Af ter the expiration of the thirty days, the judge of probate may commit administration of such estate to some of the principal creditors, and, in case of their refusal or neglect, to such other person as the judge shall think fit. In all cases in which a person has been or shall be prevented from prosecuting his or her claim to the commissioners of insolvency on any estate duly represented insol. vent, within the time limited by law for the presentation of claims against such estate, the judge of probate may, upon the petition of such person, and notice to the executor or administrator, authorize the executor or administrator to pay the claim; and in case of his neglect or refusal, the judge may empower the claimant to institute a suit at common law for the recovery of the same. In any suit brought by virtue of the provisions of this act, such executor or administrator may prove, under the general issue, that he has fully administered on said estate, or that there is only sufficient remaining to pay the said claim in part; and if it shall be necessary, in order to ascertain the amount of the property so remaining, that the same should be sold, the court are to continue the suit until the sale can be made. This act is not to extend to any case, where such estate shall prove to be insolvent, or where the petition is not presented, and notice thereof given within four years from the granting of administration on said estate. RECOGNISANCE.-In all cases where a city, town, parish, or precinct shall be required by law to enter into a recognisance, the mayor and aldermen of the city, the selectmen of the town, and the assessors of the parish or precinct, respectively, may, by an order or vote, authorize any person to enter into such recognisance in behalf of such city, &c. which shall be binding upon such city. RAIL-ROADS.-An act was passed to establish the Andover and Wilmington rail-road corporation, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from Andover to the Lowell railroad in Wilmington. The western railroad corporation was incorporated, and authorized to construct a rail-road from the western termination of the Boston and Worcester rail-road to Springfield, and thence to the western boundary of the state, towards the Hudson river. An act was also passed to in |
