4 8 sonal property. And said Corporation shall have 9 power to assess upon each share such sums of money 10 as may be considered as necessary for constructing, 11 repairing and maintaining dams, docks, wharves and 12 buildings, and for the improvement and good manage13 ment of the property of said Corporation, and for the 14 incidental expenses thereof; and to sell and dispose 15 of the shares of any delinquent proprietor, for the 16 payment of assessments, in such manner as said Cor17 poration may, by its by-laws determine. Provided, 18 that no assessment shall be made at any meeting, 19 unless agreed to by two thirds at least, both in num20 ber and value, of those proprietors present and repre21 sented, nor unless notice of the purpose of such 22 meeting shall have been given ten days at least, 23 previous thereto, in the manner prescribed by the 24 by-laws: Provided, that nothing in this Act shall 25 interfere with the legal rights of any other person or persons whatsoever. 26 SENATE......No. 54. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JAN. 22, 1833. Ordered, that the Committee on Roads and Bridges be instructed to inquire into the expediency of repealing a Law, passed March 10, 1332, entitled An Act to authorize Central Bridge Corporation to Reduce and Compound their Tolls. IN SENATE, FEB. 20, 1833. Referred to the Committee on Roads and Bridges. Sent down for Concurrence. CHA'S. CALHOUN, Clerk. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEB. 20, 1833. Concurred. L. S. CUSHING, Clerk. IN SENATE, MARCH 15, 1833. The Joint Committee on Roads and Bridges, to whom was referred an Order of the Legislature of January 22, requiring them to inquire into the expediency of repealing a Law, passed March 10, 1832, entitled an Act to authorize Central Bridge Corporation to Reduce and Compound their Tolls, have had that subject under consideration, and ask leave to REPORT THE FOLLOWING FACTS, viz. : That in February 1825, Joseph Bradley and others were incorporated by the name of the Central Bridge Corporation, and were authorized to erect a Bridge over Merrimack River at Bradley's Ferry, between the Towns of Dracut and Chelmsford, and for the purpose of remunerating the Proprietors for the expenses of building and supporting said Bridge, a Toll was granted for the use and benefit of said Proprietors, equal to that then allowed by law to the Proprietors of the Middlesex Merrimack River Bridge at Patucket Falls, commencing at the opening of said Bridge for passengers, 4 and to continue for the term of seventy years ;-a right was reserved that the Legislature might at the expiration of eighteen years, regulate anew the Tolls to be received by said proprietors, and a further provision, that whenever the receipts of Toll and income should amount to a sum equal to the expense of building, repairing and sustaining said Bridge, with nine per cent. on the first cost, said Bridge should revert to the Commonwealth for the public use; or whenever the Towns of Dracut and Chelmsford should remunerate said proprietors for the expenses of said Bridge, deducting what may have been received for Tolls, the same might be opened free of Tolls. The Committe further Report, That on the second of March 1832, a petition, signed by Joshua Bennett and fourteen others, proprietors of Central Bridge, was presented to the Legislature, stating, "that the interest of said Corporation and the public, require that the Corporation should be empowered to reduce their Tolls;" accompanied with a vote of the Directors of the Central Bridge Corporation, not recorded in their books, as follows: "At a meeting of the Directors of the Central Bridge Corporation, on the second of March, A. D. 1832, Voted, That the President of the Corporation be directed to present a petition to the General Court for power to reduce the Tolls now established by the Charter, and to remit or compound the same, in such cases as the good of the Corporation and the public interest require." Signed, "ASA RICHARDSON, Clerk pro tem." |