INLAND FISHERIES. 95 



Sect. 5. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said 

 agents, or any other person chosen by the said towns of Rochester and 

 Middleborough respectively, to sue for the recovery of any forfeiture 

 incurred by the breach of the regulations provided in this act ; and 

 also of such further regulations as may from time to time be provided 

 and established by said agents. And all fines and forfeitures re- 

 covered for any breach aforesaid, except such as are mentioned in the 

 third section of this act, shall, together with the net proceeds of said 

 fishing, be equally divided between said towns ; and the treasurers of 

 the towns aforesaid respectively, may, in behalf of their respective 

 towns, recover in an action on the case, of any person or persons, 

 corporation or corporations withholding the same, one moiety thereof, 

 in any court proper to tiy the same. 



Sect. 6. Be it further enacted, That the purchasers of the privilege 

 of taking said fish as aforesaid, shall in all respects conform themselves 

 to such regulations and conditions as said agents shall publish in their 

 conditions of sale as aforesaid, and in failure thereof shall forfeit and 

 pay for each offence a fine not exceeding one hundred nor less than ten 

 dollars. 



Sect. 7. Be it fartlier enacted, That either of the agents for the 

 said towns of Middleborough and Rochester may be admitted as com- 

 petent witness in any prosecution for the breach of any regulations as 

 aforesaid ; and said agents, previous to entering upon the execution 

 of their office, shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty, 



as other town officers are sworn. — [March 6, 1802. 



[1862, 202.] 



An Act authorizing the Erection of a Dam for certain purposes, and to regulate the 

 Taking of Shad and Alewives in the Town of Middleton. 



Sp. Laws, vol. 3, p. 5. Whereas the waters running from the Great 

 Pond in the town of Middleton, in the county of Essex, to Ipswich 

 River, becomes so low during the summer season that shad and alewives 

 cannot pass down to said river, but are detained in said pond, and 

 great numbers of them perish during the winter season, to the great 

 loss and damage of the inhabitants of said town : 



Sect. 1. Be it enacted, That the inhabitants of the town of 

 Middleton aforesaid, may erect and keep in repair a dam, sluice and 

 gate-way in the brook, at the beginning thereof, near the pond leading 

 from said pond to said river, for the purpose of keeping so much water 

 in said pond as may be sufficient to fill said brook, so that the 3'oung 

 shad and alewives may pass down from said pond into said river: 

 provided, that the water shall not be kept in said pond by means of 

 said dam after the twentieth day of October in every year : ayid 

 provided, also, that the gate in the sluice hereby authorized to be 



