NEW LEGISLATION, 1907. [CHAPTER 54.] An Act relative to the Expenses of the Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. The board of gas and electric light commissioners may expend annually for necessary statistics, books, stationery and contingent expenses, and for clerical assistance, such sum as the general court shall annually appropriate. SECTION 2. The salary of the inspector of gas meters shall be twenty-five hundred dollars a year; of the first assistant inspector, fifteen hundred dollars a year; of the second assistant inspector, twelve hundred dollars a year; and the board of gas and electric light commissioners may expend annually for the compensation of deputies, and for office rent, travelling and other necessary expenses incident to the duties of said inspectors, such sum as the general court shall annually appropriate. SECTION 3. Section three of chapter one hundred and twentyone of the Revised Laws and section six of chapter two hundred and twenty-eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and two are hereby repealed. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved January 31, 1907. [CHAPTER 124.] An Act to authorize the Greenfield Gas Light Company to do Business in the Town of Montague. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. The Greenfield Gas Light Company is hereby authorized, upon the consent of the selectmen of the town of Montague and of the board of gas and electric light commissioners, to carry on the business of furnishing gas for heat, light and power in the town of Montague, with the rights, powers and privileges and sub 763722 ject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions set forth in all general laws now or hereafter in force relating to such corporations. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 16, 1907. [CHAPTER 126.] An Act to authorize the Taunton Gas Light Company to do Business in the Towns of Raynham and Dighton. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. The Taunton Gas Light Company is hereby authorized, upon the approval of the selectmen of the towns of Raynham and Dighton, respectively, and of the board of gas and electric light commissioners, to carry on the business of furnishing gas for heat, light and power in said towns, or in either of them, with the rights, powers and privileges and subject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions set forth in all general laws now or hereafter in force relating to such corporations. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 18, 1907. [CHAPTER 127.] An Act to authorize the Fall River Gas Works Company to do Business in the Town of Somerset. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. The Fall River Gas Works Company is hereby authorized to carry on the business of furnishing gas for heat, light and power in the town of Somerset: provided, that it shall first obtain the consent thereto of the selectmen of the town of Somerset, and of the board of gas and electric light commissioners. For the above purposes the said company shall have the rights, powers and privileges and shall be subject to the duties and liabilities set forth in all general laws now or hereafter in force applicable to such corporations. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved February 18, 1907. [CHAPTER 164.] An Act to provide for the Keeping of Medical and Surgical Appliances in Factories. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. Every person, firm or corporation operating a factory or shop in which machinery is used for any manufacturing purpose, or for any other purpose except for elevators, or for heating or hoisting apparatus, shall at all times keep and maintain, free of expense to the employees, such a medical and surgical chest as shall be required by the local board of health of any city or town where such machinery is used, containing plasters, bandages, absorbent cotton, gauze, and all other necessary medicines, instruments and other appliances for the treatment of persons injured or taken ill upon the premises. SECTION 2. Any person, firm or corporation violating this act shall be subject to a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for every week during which such violation continues. [Approved March 1, 1907. [CHAPTER 193.] An Act relative to the Weekly Payment of Wages by Cities, Counties and Other Employers. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. Section sixty-two of chapter one hundred and six of the Revised Laws, as amended by chapter four hundred and fifty of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and two, and by chapter four hundred and twenty-seven of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word "business", in the eighteenth line, the words: - the wages or salary earned by him, so as to read as follows: Section 62. Every manufacturing, mining or quarrying, mercantile, railroad, street railway, telegraph or telephone corporation, every incorporated express company or water company, and every contractor, person or partnership engaged in any manufacturing business, in any of the building trades, in quarries or mines, upon public works or in the construction or repair of railroads, street railways, roads, bridges or sewers or of gas, water or electric light works, pipes or lines, shall pay weekly each employee engaged in his or its business the wages earned by him to within six days of the date of said payment, but any employee leaving his or her employment, or being discharged from such employment, shall be paid in full on the following regular pay day; and the Commonwealth, its officers, boards and commissions shall so pay every mechanic, workman and laborer who is employed by it or them, and every county and city shall so pay every employee who is engaged in its business the wages or salary earned by him, unless such mechanic, workman, laborer or employee requests in writing to be paid in a different manner; and every town shall so pay each employee in its business if so required by him; but an employee who is absent from his regular place of labor at a time fixed for payment shall be paid thereafter on demand. The provisions of this section shall not apply to an employee of a co-operative corporation or association if he is a stockholder therein unless he requests such corporation to pay him weekly. The board of railroad commissioners, after a hearing, may exempt any railroad corporation from paying weekly any of its employees if it appears to the board that such employees prefer less frequent payments, and that their interests and the interests of the public will not suffer thereby. No corporation, contractor, person or partnership shall by a special contract with an employee or by any other means exempt himself or itself from the provisions of this and the following section. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved March 12, 1907. [CHAPTER 269.] An Act relative to the Hours of Labor of Workmen, Mechanics and Engineers. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. Section one of chapter five hundred and seventeen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six is hereby amended by inserting after the word "Laws", in the sixth line, the following: - No laborer, workman or mechanic so employed shall be requested or required to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day or more than forty-eight hours in any one week except in cases of extraordinary emergency. Only a case of danger to property, to life, to public safety or to public health shall be considered a case of extraordinary emergency within the meaning of this section. Engineers shall be considered mechanics within the meaning of this act, - and by adding at the end of the section the words: - Threat of loss of employment or threat to obstruct or prevent the obtaining of employment, or threat to refrain from employing in the future shall be considered requiring, within the meaning of this section, so as to read as follows: - Section 1. Eight hours shall constitute a day's work for all laborers, workmen and mechanics now or hereafter employed by or on behalf of the Commonwealth, or of any county therein, or of any city or town which has accepted the provisions of section twenty of chapter one hundred and six of the Revised Laws. No laborer, workman or mechanic so employed shall be requested or required to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day or more than forty-eight hours in any one week except in cases of extraordinary emergency. Only a case of danger to property, to life, to public safety or to public health shall be considered a case of extraordinary emergency within the meaning of this section. Engineers shall be considered mechanics within the meaning of this act. But in cases where a Saturday half-holiday is given the hours of labor upon the other working days of the week may be increased sufficiently to make a total of forty-eight hours for the week's work. Threat of loss of employment or threat to obstruct or prevent the obtaining of employment, or threat to refrain from employing in the future shall be considered requiring, within the meaning of this section.. SECTION 2. Section two of said chapter five hundred and seventeen is hereby amended by inserting after the word "mechanic", in the eighth line, the words: working within this Commonwealth, and by inserting after the word "be", in the eleventh line, the words: - requested or, - and by adding at the end of the section the words:- and every such contract which does not contain this stipulation shall be null and void, - so as to read as follows: Section 2. Every contract, excluding contracts for the purchase of material or supplies, to which the Commonwealth, or of any county therein, or of any city or town which has accepted the provisions of section twenty of chapter one hundred and six of the Revised Laws, is a party which may involve the employment of laborers, workmen or mechanics shall contain a stipulation that no laborer, workman or mechanic working within this Commonwealth in the employ of the contractor, sub-contractor or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work contemplated by the contract shall be requested or required to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day and every such contract which does not contain this stipulation shall be null and void. SECTION 3. Section four of said chapter five hundred and seventeen is hereby amended by inserting before the word "Any”. |