264 History of Hingham. 



Are we ready to tax ourselves to the extent of some $8,000 or $9,000 

 per year, in addition to our already large annual taxation, and hand down 

 to a succeeding generation so large a burden of debt ? Already is the 

 question agitating our legislators whether some limit shall not be assigned 

 beyond which city and town may not go in assuming obligations in the 

 future ; and as wise and reasonable citizens we should carefully consider 

 and be able to fix a limit for ourselves, independent of any legislative 

 coercion. 



As was to have been expected in a conservative community like 

 Hingham, the report created considerable adverse feeling. 



The statement and estimates submitted were severely criti- 

 cised. It was doubted if the water could be made to flow over 

 Liberty Pole Hill, or if there was water enough to fill the main 

 pipes, if they should ever be laid : the water was full of snakes 

 and all kinds of impurities, and the pond was so shallow that a 

 two-inch pipe would drain it in a very short time if allowed to 

 run continually. 



These, and other doubts and objections to the scheme, were met 

 by Mr. George P. Hay ward in an able address, in which he re- 

 viewed the report of the committee, and read communications 

 from gentlemen connected with the Plymouth Water Works giv- 

 ing the practical working of the scheme in that place since the 

 the building of the works in 1854. 



The report was duly accepted, and the committee discharged. 

 Hon. Solomon Lincoln then moved — 



That a new committee be chosen, to cause an estimate to be made of 

 the expense of procuring water from Accord Pond for the use of the in- 

 habitants of the town, and to recommend in what streets the pipes should 

 be laid ; that the committee cause a thorough and accurate survey to be 

 made, by a competent engineer, of the pond and of the limits to be sup- 

 plied, and to report to the town at a future meeting; also, that the com- 

 mittee be instructed to petition the Legislature for authority to take water 

 from Accord Pond for the use of the inhabitants of the town. 



Mr. Luther Stephenson seconded the motion, and moved as an 

 amendment that the committee be appointed by the moderator, 

 Hon. John D. Long. E. Waters Burr, Andrew C. Cushing, Ebed 

 L. Ripley, Geo. P. Hayward, Arthur Lincoln, Luther Stephenson, 

 Jr., and Walter L. Bouve" were appointed the committee, to which 

 Mr. Long was added. 



This committee procured the passage of an act by the Legisla- 

 ture of 1876, authorizing the town of Hingham to take and hold 

 the waters of Accord Pond and the waters that flow into and from 

 the same, for the purpose of supplying itself and its inhabitants 

 with pure water for domestic and other uses ; and their report to 

 the town, made September 12, 1876, concludes as follows : — 



Therefore, believing no town ever had so favorable an opportunity as 

 that now offered to us for a full and free supply of water, having the 



