82 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



inhabitant householders it shall be joined to the adjacent township 

 containing the smallest number of inhabitants. Are we justified in 

 concluding that Thurlow did not at this time contain thirty inhabitant 

 householders ? I hardly think so. The settlers of Thurlow were 

 principally grouped on the western side of the township and were 

 in closer touch with their neighbors in Sidney than with the other 

 scattered inhabitants of their own township. There was no settle- 

 ment to the north; they could not very well fraternize with the 

 Mohawks upon the Indian Reserve to the east and they were cut off 

 from the south by the bay. Sidney lay to the west and if they desired 

 to join with any one they had no alternative; but I am inclined to 

 the view that they found it to their advantage to unite for the purposes 

 of a town meeting with their friends on the other side of the river 

 and did so without taking the trouble to enquire whether or not it 

 was in accord with the provisions of the statute. Instances of a 

 tendency to disregard the requirements of legislative directions are 

 not uncommon. To the minutes for the year 1798 we find this note 

 appended, "This year the Township of Thurlow holds its first annual 

 meeting by itself." 



The regulations passed at the meeting of 1794 are interesting 

 inasmuch as they are the first attempt at Municipal enactment in 

 the County of Hastings. The putting of hogs upon their good be- 

 haviour under a penalty of imprisonment is rather unique. Here 

 again we find the town meeting leading the way and taking upon itself 

 authority to enact regulations before authority to do so had been 

 conferred by Parliament. The Act authorizing the town meetings 

 to determine in what manner and at what periods, animals might 

 run at large was not passed until the 9th July, 1794. 



We find no change in the proceedings at the annual meetings 

 for the next few years, the same regulations remaining in force by 

 resolution, year after year, until the meeting of 1798, when the follow- 

 ing restraint was put upon rams running at large, "that Rams be 

 confined from the first day of September to the tenth day of December 

 under the penalty of twenty shillings." There is no suggestion either 

 by statute or regulation as to the manner of imposing these penalties. 

 This defect in the means of enforcing the regulations was remedied 

 in part in the next year 1799 by the following: "Resolved that the 

 Laws and regulations be the same as in the year 1798 with the addition 

 that if any person or persons whomsoever shall find either said hog 

 or Ram during the ensuing year running at large on the Highways 

 or Commons they are hereby authorized and empowered to impound 

 the same, the pound keeper (not ?) to deliver them until the owner 



