[CHAPTER 397.]

An Act to provide for the Appointment of an Electric Light Board in the City of Chicopee.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The mayor of the city of Chicopee shall appoint, subject to the approval of the board of aldermen, an electric light board consisting of three citizens of the city, who shall not all be members of the same political party and who shall have all the powers which municipal electric light boards have in towns.

SECTION 2. Such appointments shall be made annually in the month of January unless a different mode of appointment is provided for in the charter of the city, and the term of office of the members of said board shall be three years: provided, however, that the members first appointed may be appointed at any time after the passage of this act and shall hold office for one year, two years and three years, respectively, as designated by the mayor, from the first day of January next succeeding the time of their appointment. Members of the said board may be removed by the mayor for cause, and vacancies shall be filled by appointment for the residue of the unexpired term, in the same manner in which the original appointments are made. The members of the board shall receive such compensation as the board of aldermen may fix. SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved May 9, 1907.

[CHAPTER 440.]

An Act to authorize the Webster Electric Company and the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company to consolidate.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The Southbridge Gas and Electric Company is hereby authorized, upon a vote of its stockholders at a meeting legally called for that purpose, to sell, assign, transfer and convey its locations, contracts, rights, licenses, privileges, franchises and other property to the Webster Electric Company, which is hereby authorized, upon a vote of its stockholders at a meeting legally called for that purpose, to purchase the same; and upon such sale, assignment, transfer and conveyance the said properties shall be held and enjoyed by the said Webster Electric Company in as full and complete a manner as the same are now held and enjoyed by the said Southbridge Gas and Electric Company.

SECTION 2. If the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company shall vote to sell and the Webster Electric Company shall vote to purchase the said properties, the Webster Electric Company shall have authority to change its name to the Webster and Southbridge Gas and Electric Company, and shall have authority, for the sole purpose of effecting such purchase and transfer, to increase its capital stock to an amount not exceeding one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and to exchange the shares of such increase or any part thereof for shares of the capital stock of the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company upon such terms and conditions as shall have been agreed to by the two corporations voting as aforesaid, and as shall be approved by the board of gas and electric light commissioners: provided, however, that the Webster Electric Company shall, upon the transfer and conveyance to it as above named, assume and be responsible for all debts, liabilities and obligations of the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company.

SECTION 3. The stock of the selling corporation received by the purchasing corporation as part of the transaction hereby authorized shall become the property of the purchasing corporation. Such stock shall not be sold, assigned, transferred or conveyed in whole or in part by the purchasing corporation, but shall be held by it to its use; and whenever all the properties of the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company have been transferred to and vested in the Webster Electric Company, and the indebtedness of the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company has been paid, the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company shall be dissolved, in the manner provided by law, upon petition either of the Southbridge Gas and Electric Company, of the consolidated company, or of the board of gas and electric light commissioners.

SECTION 4. The Webster Electric Company is hereby further authorized to carry on the business of furnishing gas and electricity for heat, light and power in the town of Sturbridge: provided, that it shall first obtain the consent thereto of the selectmen of the said town. For the above purposes the said company shall have all the rights, powers and privileges pertaining to such corporations.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage, but it shall become void of the said purchase and consolidation shall not have been effected according to the provisions hereof on or before the first day of January in the year nineteen hundred and eight. [Approved May 22, 1907.

[CHAPTER 465.]

An Act relative to the Operation and Inspection of Steam Boilers. Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. All steam boilers and their appurtenances, except boilers of railroad locomotives, motor road vehicles, boilers in private residences, boilers in public buildings and in apartment houses used solely for heating, and carrying pressures not exceeding fifteen pounds per square inch, and having less than four square feet of grate surface, boilers of not more than three horse power, boilers used for horticultural and agricultural purposes exclusively, and boilers under the jurisdiction of the United States, shall be thoroughly inspected internally and externally at intervals of not over one year, and shall not be operated at pressures in excess of the safe working pressure stated in the certificate of inspection hereinafter mentioned, which pressure is to be ascertained by rules established by the board of boiler rules, to be appointed as hereinafter provided; and shall be equipped with such appliances to insure safety of operation as shall be prescribed by said board. All such boilers installed after January first, nineteen hundred and eight, shall be so inspected when installed.. No certificate of inspection shall be granted on any boiler installed after May first, nineteen hundred and eight, which does not conform to the rules of construction formulated by the board of boiler rules.

SECTION 2. Whoever owns, or uses or causes to be used, any such boiler, unless the same is under the periodically guaranteed inspection of insurance companies authorized to insure boilers in this Commonwealth, shall annually report to the chief of the district police the location of such boiler.

SECTION 3. All such boilers shall also be inspected externally at least once each year when in operation, and it shall be the duty of the inspector to observe the pressure of steam carried, and the general condition of each boiler, and to ascertain if the safety valve, and the appliances for indicating the pressure of steam and level of water in the boiler, are in proper working order. No person shall remove or tamper with any safety appliance prescribed by the board of boiler rules, and no person shall in any manner load the safety valve to a greater pressure than that allowed by the certificate of inspection.

SECTION 4. The inspection of boilers and appurtenances shall be made by the boiler inspection department of the district police, under the supervision of the chief inspector of boilers, or by inspectors of such insurance companies as have complied with the laws of the Commonwealth and are authorized to insure steam boilers. Inspectors of boilers in the boiler inspection department hereafter appointed shall not be subject to the rules of the civil service commission requiring members of the district police to be of a certain height and weight, but shall be appointed solely on the basis of their ability and competency properly and thoroughly to inspect steam boilers.

SECTION 5. No person shall act as an inspector of boilers which are under the periodically guaranteed inspection of companies that have complied with the laws of this Commonwealth, unless he holds a certificate of competency as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 6. Whoever desires to act as an inspector of boilers, as specified in section five, shall make application upon blanks to be furnished by the chief of the district police. Three members of the boiler inspection department shall act as a board of examiners. The application shall show the total experience of the applicant and shall be accompanied by a letter of request for his examination from the boiler insurance company by whom he is or is to be employed. Wilful falsification in the matter of any statement contained in the application shall be deemed sufficient cause for the revocation of said certificate at any time. The applicant shall be examined as to his knowledge of the construction, installation, maintenance and repair of steam boilers and their appendages, and, if found competent, he shall receive a certificate of competency to inspect steam boilers for the boiler insurance company by whom he is or is to be employed, and the certificate shall continue in force during his employment by said company, unless revoked for incompetency or untrustworthiness. When a person ceases to be employed as an inspector by a boiler insurance company the insurance company shall notify the chief of the district police of the matter, giving the reasons therefor. A period of ninety days shall elapse between the dates of examinations, except in the case of an appeal as hereinafter provided. The certificate of competency shall be revoked for the incompetence or untrustworthiness of the holder thereof, and shall remain revoked until a new certificate is issued. If a certificate is lost by fire or other cause a new certificate shall be issued in its place, upon satisfactory proof of such loss, without re-examination.

SECTION 7. A person who is refused a certificate of competency, or whose certificate is revoked, may appeal from such decision to the chief of the district police, who shall grant a rehearing of the

case by a board of five examiners, no one of whom shall have acted as an examiner in the former instance, whose decision shall be final if approved by the chief of the district police. The applicant shall have the privilege of having one representative of the boiler insurance company by whom he is or is to be employed present during an examination or the hearing of an appeal.

SECTION 8. Any steam boiler insurance company which issues a certificate of inspection signed by an inspector who does not hold a certificate of competency may have its authority to insure steam boilers revoked by the commissioner of insurance for the Commonwealth. Any person in the employ of a steam boiler insurance company who applies for a certificate of competency as an inspector of boilers before this act takes effect shall be authorized to inspect boilers until his application is passed upon by the proper authority.

SECTION 9. The inspectors of the boiler inspection department of the district police shall make reports of all inspections and shall make such recommendations to the chief inspector of boilers as they may deem expedient.

SECTION 10. Every insurance company authorized to insure steam boilers within the Commonwealth shall forward to the chief inspector of boilers, within fourteen days after each internal and external inspection of boilers herein required to be inspected, reports of all boilers so inspected by it. Such reports shall be made on blanks furnished by the chief inspector of boilers, and shall contain all orders made by the company regarding the boilers so inspected.

SECTION 11. Every boiler insurance company shall report immediately to the chief inspector of boilers the name of the owner or user and the location of every boiler herein required to be inspected, upon which they have cancelled or refused insurance, giving the reasons for so doing.

SECTION 12. Boilers and their appurtenances used exclusively for heating purposes, but which are not herein required to be inspected, shall be provided with such appliances to insure safety as shall be prescribed by the board of boiler rules, and it shall be the duty of the boiler inspection department to inspect such boilers upon application of the owner.

SECTION 13. The owner or user of a boiler herein required to be inspected which is not insured by a boiler insurance company, shall, after due notice, prepare the boiler for internal and external inspection, at the appointed time, by drawing the water from the boiler and removing the manhole and handhole plates. The boiler inspection department shall give the owner at least fourteen days'