of said petition the said state drainage board shall proceed at the expense 

 of the commonwealth to make such survej's of the land proposed to be 

 drained as it shall deem necessary, and shall further ascertain, by such 

 surveys or other investigations, the need of any drainage required for the 

 benefit of the public health, agricultural and other uses to which the land 

 can be put after drainage, and its value for such uses after drainage, and 

 in general the advisabiUty of undertaking the proposed drainage or main- 

 tenance, and shall make recommendations in relation thereto, including 

 a statement of what portion, if any, of the expense should be borne by 

 the state on account of the cost of that part of the improvement relating 

 to the public health; and if the state drainage board approve of che under- 

 taking, it shall issue a certificate appointing three, five or seven com- 

 missioners, who shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties, 

 and fix their compensation, which shall not exceed the sum of five dollars 

 per day while in conference and their necessary travelling expenses while 

 in performance of their duties, and authorize said commissioners to form 

 a drainage district under the provisions of this act. Said commissioners 

 or any of them may be removed by said state drainage board for cause. 



Section 5. The said commissioners, hereinafter styled the drainage 

 district commissioners, after being duly sworn, shall call by a notice 

 signed by a majority of them a meeting of such owners of lands to be im- 

 proved as are known to them, setting forth the time and place of the meet- 

 ing and its purpose, notice to be given in such manner as the said drainage 

 board may order, setting forth the time and place of the meeting and the 

 purpose of organizing a drainage district, that is, to carry out the pro- 

 posed improvements or maintenance under the provisions of sections 

 thirteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one of chapter one hundred and ten of 

 the Revised Laws. 



Section 6. The said drainage district commissioners, when the cer- 

 tificate of the organization of the drainage district is certified and approved 

 by the secretary of the commonwealth, shall petition the county com- 

 missioners of any county in which the greater part of the land to be im- 

 proved lies, annexing a certified copy of their previous petition to the 

 said drainage board, and of the determination of the said drainage board, 

 and shall request the said county commissioners to vote in the first instance 

 to pay the total expense involved in making the improvements found by 

 the said drainage board to be for the general advantage of the proprietors, 

 and the said county commissioners may in their discretion so vote; but 

 after the completion of the work, the towns or cities in which any portion 

 of the land improved may lie shall repay to the county their share of the 

 expense, except such share of the expense as the said state drainage board 

 shall determine should be borne by the state. 



Section 7. The drainage district commissioners shall, after due notice 

 and a hearing, and in such manner as they shall deem just and equitable, 

 determine what proportion of the total expense incurred under this act 

 shall be paid by any town or city, respectively, in which any of the land 



