THE GIPSY MOTH. 155 
said vouchers and accounts have been approved by the governor 
and council. Vouchers so presented and approved shall be paid 
by the state treasurer out of any appropriation made for the pur- m 
poses of this act. All pay-rolls, schedules of bills, or other records 
of expense under this section shall be submitted monthly in 
such form as said state treasurer shall prescribe and shall be 
duly attested by the treasurer of the city or town. 
Sect. 4. The governor and council, through their agent afore- compulsory ae- 
said or directly, may order any city or town which, in their opin- JJSS^? Vr" 11 d 
ion, neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of the pre- if town fails to 
ceding section, to proceed in accordance with methods prescribed act. 
by them, to destroy said moths in their various stages, provided 
that the expense of the prescribed methods, together with such 
other sums as such city or town may have otherwise expended in 
such work during the same fiscal year, shall not exceed one tenth 
of one per cent, of the tax valuation of said city or town for the 
preceding year. If any city or town shall fail to comply with such . 
orders, the governor and council, through their agent or other em- 
ployees, may cause the work so ordered to be done; and in such 
case, the expense thereof, not exceeding said one tenth of one per 
cent, of the tax valuation aforesaid, less any sums spent by said 
city or town in complying with the provisions of this act, may be 
recovered of said city or town in an action of debt brought in 
behalf of the state by the attorney-general; and in addition ' 
thereto, any city or town failing to comply with the directions of 
the governor and council in the performance of said work, shall 
forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for its failure so to do, 
the same to be collected by information brought in the name of 
the attorney-general in the county in which said city or town be 
located. 
Sect. 5. The public officer or board designated or appointed in owner of infested 
cities as provided in section 3 and the board of selectmen in towns, premises to be 
on or before the first day of November in each year, and at such ure'f^owner fails 
other times as he or they may deem necessary, or as the governor to act. 
and council may order, may and, if so directed by order of the 
governor and council, shall, cause a written or printed notice to 
be delivered or mailed to the owner or owners, so far as can be 
ascertained, of any parcel of land therein which is infested with 
gipsy or brown-tail moths, requiring that said moths and the 
eggs, caterpillars, pupae, and nests thereof upon said land shall 
be destroyed within a reasonable time, to be fixed by said officer 
or board and specified in said notice. If such owner or owners 
shall be unknown or non-resident in said city or town, said no- 
tice shall be given to the occupant, if any, of said land, otherwise 
it shall be posted upon the land. Whenever, in the opinion of 
said officer or board, the cost of destroying such moths, eggs, 
caterpillars, pupae, and nests on lands contiguous and held under 
one ownership in the city or town, will exceed one half of one 
per cent of the assessed valuation of said lands, including build- 
ings and improvements thereon, as fixed by the last preceding 
tax appraisal, then a part of said premises upon which the cost 
of such destruction will not, in the opinion of said officer or board, 
exceed said percentage of the assessed valuation of the whole, 
shall be designated in said notice as the tract on which said moths, 
eggs, caterpillars, pupae or nests shall be destroyed, and such 
requirement shall not apply to the remainder of said premises. 
