INLAND FISHERIES. 21 



not exceed forty shillings, jiUowing an appeal to the court of general 

 sessions of the peace in the count}- aforesaid ; and where the penalty 

 prosecuted for shall exceed the sum of forty shillings, it may be sued 

 for and recovered in any court in the count}- of Barnstable proper to 

 try the same, and all sums recovered as forfeited b}' this act, shall be 

 for the support of the poor in the town of Harwich ; and no person, 

 by reason of his being one of the said committee, or an inhabitant of 

 the said town, shall thereby be disqualifled from being a witness in 

 any prosecution for breach of this act. 



Sect. 7. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the 

 committee aforesaid, to take care that a sufficient passage- wa}- be kept 

 open annuall}^ for the young alewives to pass from the ponds to the 



sea. — [Jul}^ 4, 1787. 



[1813, 57, 115; 1824, 107; 1844, 67.] 



1788. 



Ax Act for the Preservation of the Fish called Alewives in Mattapoiset Uiver, in 

 Rochester, in the County of Plymouth, and for the regulating the talking of the said 

 Fish, in the said River. 



Sp. Laws, vol. 1, p. 180. Whereas the law which was heretofore 

 made for the preservation of the fish called alewives, in Mattapoiset 

 River, in the town of Rochester, and for regulating the taking the 

 said fish, in the said river, has been found insufficient to answer the 

 said purposes : 



Sect. 1. That the owner or owners of each and every mill-dam on 

 the said river, shall make, provide and continue a sluice-way of three 

 feet wide, and eight inches deep, for the said fish to pass their respec- 

 tive dams, as low as the said selectmen of the said town of Rochester 

 shall judge convenient for the said fish to pass in. And the selectmen 

 of the said town of Rochester are hereby authorized, on the second 

 Monda\^ of April annually, to open the said sluice-ways which, when 

 opened by them, shall remain open until the twentieth day of May 

 annually ; and the owner or owners of any dam on the said river who 

 shall neo;lect or refuse to make, provide and continue a sluice-way as 

 aforesaid, shall shut or obstruct the same during the term the said 

 sluice-way is to be kept open as aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay the 

 sum of forty pounds for each offence. 



Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That the said town of Rochester, 

 at their annual meeting for the choice of town officers, in the months 

 of March or April annuall}', are hereby authorized to choose a com- 

 mittee consisting of not more than twelve, nor less than two suitable 

 discreet persons, for inspectors of the said river, whose duty it shall 

 be, within four days after their appointment, to post up in four public 

 places in the said town nearest the said river, a notification under 

 their hands, or the major part of them, pointing out the times when. 



