SECRETARY'S REPORT. 255 



needful passages tlirough or round the dam thereof, or erect a temporary 

 dam on the land of any person, who is not a party to the proceedings, 

 and may maintain such dam, or such passages for the water, as long as 

 shall be necessaiy for the purposes aforesaid." 



Provision is made for previous notice to persons who are not parties, 

 and for compensation to them for injuries occasioned by the interference 

 and for appeal to the courts. 



This statute gives, by no means, the ]3owers necessary to compel con- 

 tribution to all necessary drainage, because, first, it is limited in its ap- 

 plication to " meadow, swamp, marsh, beach, or other low land." The 

 word meadow, in New England, is used in its original sense of flat and 

 wet land. Secondly, the statute seems to give no authoi'ity to open per- 

 manent ditches on the land of others than the owners of such low land, 

 although it provides for temporary passages for the purposes of " obtain- 

 ing a view of the premises, or for the more convenient or expeditious re- 

 moval of obstructions therein " — the word " therein " referring to the 

 " premises " under improvement, so that there is no provision for out- 

 falls, under this statute, except through natural streams. 



By a statute of March 28, 1855, the legislature of Massachusetts has 

 exercised a power as extensive as is desii-able for all purposes of 

 drainage, although the provisions of the Act referred to are not, perhaps, 

 so broad as may be found necessary, in order to open outfalls and 

 remove all obstructions to drainage. As this Act is believed to be pecu- 

 liar', we give its substance : 



" An Act to authorize the making of Roads and Drains in certain 

 cases. 



" Sect. 1. Any town or city, person or persons, company or body 

 corporate, having the ownership of low lands, lakes, swamps, quarries, 

 mines, or mineral deposits, that, by means of adjacent lands belonging 

 to other persons, or occupied as a highway, cannot be approached, 

 worked, di'ained, or used in the ordinary manner without crossing such 

 lands or highway, may be authorized to establish roads, drains, ditches, 

 tunnels, and railways to said places in the manner herein provided. 



" Sect. 2. The party desiring to make such improvements shall file 

 a petition therefor with the commissioners of the county in which the 

 premises are situated, setting forth the names of the persons interested, 

 if known to the petitioner, and also, in detail, the nature of the proposed 

 improvement, and the situation of the adjoining lands." 



Section 3 provides for notice to owners and town authorities. 



Section 4 provides for a hearing, and laying out the improvement, and 

 assessment of damages upon the respective parties, " having strict 

 regard to the benefits which they will receive." 



