CHAP. 130 session and the latter three days in closed session. No name, except as hereinafter provided, shall be added to or stricken from the general register of voters after nine o'clock in the afternoon of the last of said days devoted to registration as above. Said board shall not place upon said voting lists during said revision of the same, the name of any person who shall not personally appear before said board in open session and request it; but nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to require any voter, whose name is already upon any ward list and who afterwards moves from said ward to any other ward in said city, to appear personally before said board in order that his name may be transferred from one ward list to another. On the last of said secular days devoted to the completion of the records as above provided, the sessions of the board shall close at five o'clock in the afternoon, and certified copies of said voting lists shall at that hour be delivered to the clerks of said cities and receipts taken therefor. The wardens of cities shall be governed by said revised and corrected lists; and no names shall be added to or stricken from said lists on the day of election, except as hereinafter provided, and no person shall vote at any election whose name is not on said lists. No board of registration shall be answerable for any omission of a name or residence from said voting lists or for any error in the same, unless such name and residence are correctly entered in said general register of voters; but on the day of election said board shall be in session, and shall give to any voter whose name has been stricken from said general register or omitted from said voting list through any error of the assessors or said board, or in whose name or residence as placed on said voting list a clerical error has been made, a certificate signed by a majority of the board, giving the corrected name and residence of such person, and directed to the officer presiding over the election; such officer shall on receipt of such certificate, allow the person therein named to vote and shall check his name on said certificate, and securely attach said certificate to said voting list. In case any person is aggrieved by any order or decision of said board, the whole case, upon petition for mandamus, shall be re-examined and determined by any justice of the supreme judicial court in said county, which determination, however, shall not affect any election held prior to said decision of said justice. No costs shall be allowed either party in any such proceeding.' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 130. An Act to Amend Chapter Eighty-three of the Public Laws of Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-three, Relating to Close Time on Scallops, for the Purpose of Correcting a Clerical Error. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: P. L., 1923, c. 83; reference to R. S., c. 22, changed to c. 45 to correct CHAP. 131 clerical error. The first paragraph of chapter eighty-three of the public laws of nineteen hundred and twenty-three is hereby amended by striking out the word "twenty-two" in the first line thereof, and inserting in place thereof the word 'forty-five,' so that said paragraph, as amended, shall read as follows: 'Section sixty-seven of chapter forty-five of the revised statutes, as amended by chapter twenty-two of the public laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, is hereby amended, by adding thereto the following: 'So much of this section as relates to buying or selling or exposing for sale or the possession of scallops shall not apply to scallops taken outside of the waters of the State of Maine,' so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows:' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 131. An Act to Amend Section Seventy-seven of Chapter Ten of the Revised Statutes, Relating to Assessors Making Abatements and Recording and Reporting Abate ments. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: R. S., c. 10, sec. 77; relating to abatement of taxes by assessors, amended. Section seventy-seven of chapter ten of the revised statutes is hereby. amended, by striking out in the fifth line the word "said" and inserting in lieu thereof the word 'any' and striking out in the thirteenth and fourteenth lines of said section, the words "They shall keep in suitable book form a record of such abatements, with the reasons for each, and report the same," and inserting in place thereof, the words 'When such abatement is made, a record thereof together with the name of the party or parties benefited by the abatement, and the amount of the abatement together with the reasons for such abatement shall, within thirty days. after such abatement, be made and kept in suitable book form, open to the public at reasonable times, and a report of the same be made,' so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows: 'Sec. 77. Record of all abatements to be made and kept in book form and open to public inspection. The assessors for the time being, on written application, stating the grounds therefor, within two years from the assessment, may make such reasonable abatement as they think proper. If after two years from the date of assessment a collector is satisfied that a poll-tax or tax upon personal property, or any portion of any tax, committed to him or to any of his predecessors in office for collection, cannot be collected by reason of the death, absence, poverty, insolvency, bankruptcy, or other inability of the person assessed to pay, he shall notify CHAP. 132 the assessors thereof in writing, under oath, stating the reason why such tax cannot be collected. The assessors, after due inquiry, may abate such tax or any part thereof, and shall certify such abatement in writing to the collector; and said certificate shall discharge the collector from further obligation to collect the tax so abated. When such abatement is made, a record thereof together with the name of the party or parties benefited by the abatement, and the amount of the abatement together with the reasons for such abatement, shall, within thirty days after such abatement, be made and kept in suitable book form open to the public at reasonable times, and a report of the same be made to the town at its annual meeting, and to the mayor and aldermen of cities, by the first Monday in each March.' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 132. An Act to Repeal Sections Seventy-four, Seventy-five, Seventy-six and Seventyseven, of Chapter Forty-five of the Revised Statutes, and Enacting a New Law for the Better Protection of Smelts. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: R. S., c. 45, sec. 74, 75, 76 and 77; P. L., 1917, c. 71; relating to regulation of smelt fishing, repealed. Section seventy-four as amended by chapter seventy-one of the public laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, and sections seventy-five, seventy-six and seventy-seven of chapter fortyfive of the revised statutes are hereby repealed and in lieu thereof the following be substituted: 'Uniform close time on smelt fishing established. No smelts shall be taken or fished for in any waters of the state between the first day of April and the first day of October of each year except by hook and line. Anyone violating any provision of this act shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars for each offense. Nothing in this act shall apply to smelts taken in fish weirs or traps maintained and operated for the catching of sardines and herring.' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 133. An Act to Amend Section One Hundred and Twenty-two of Chapter Four of the Revised Statutes, Relating to License for Building a Fish Weir or Trap. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: R. S., c. 4, sec. 122; relating to when licenses to build fish weirs shall become void, amended. Section one hundred and twenty-two of chapter CHAP. 134 four of the revised statutes is hereby amended by inserting in the third line of said section between the word "section" and the word "shall," the following words: 'or any right or privilege granted by the legislature for the building or extension of any such fish weir or trap,' and after the word "license" in the fourth line, the words, 'or the granting of such right or privilege,' so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows: 'Sec. 122. Provisions extended so as to include privileges granted by legislature. The license for the building or extension of a fish weir or trap issued under the provisions of the preceding section or any right or privilege granted by the legislature for the building or extension of any such fish weir or trap shall terminate and become void unless such weir or trap shall be built within one year from the date of the license, or the granting of such right or privilege, and maintained and operated in good faith for some part of each year thereafter.' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 134. An Act for the Control and Suppression of the European Corn Borer. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: Sec. 1. European corn borer declared a public nuisance; commissioner of agriculture directed to suppress. The insect known as the European corn borer is hereby declared in all its stages to be a public nuisance, and the commissioner of agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to use all lawful methods for its control and suppression. He may act in cooperation with any person or organization, any other state or the United States, in conducting investigations, gathering and distributing information concerning the said corn borer, and in enforcing the provisions of the following sections. Sec. 2. Commissioner of agriculture may establish districts and quarantine same; notice of establishment to be published. The commissioner of agriculture shall have authority to establish districts comprising that portion of the state known or suspected of being infested with the European corn borer, and to quarantine such districts against the further spread of the borer. He may alter the boundary lines of such district or establish new districts as conditions may require, and he shall give notice of such establishment by publication in some newspaper published in such district, if any, otherwise in some paper published in Augusta. Sec. 3. Persons in quarantined or infested districts shall plow in or burn stubble; corn stalk fodder to be fed or destroyed by April 10th. In CHAP. 135 such district or districts as the commissioner of agriculture may designate as being known or suspected of being infested with the European corn borer, any person growing corn of any kind, or other vegetation subject. to infestation by the European corn borer, shall, not later than November first in the year in which said corn or other vegetation is grown, plow the land on which said corn or other vegetation was grown in a manner which shall be satisfactory to the said commissioner of agriculture or his duly authorized agents, or shall pull up said stubble and destroy it by burning. Any person who uses corn stalks as fodder and who stores them for that purpose shall feed or destroy all such corn stalks not later than the tenth day of April in the year following that in which the said corn shall have been grown. Sec. 4. Penalty. Whoever neglects or refuses to comply with the requirements of section three shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 135. An Act to Amend Section Nine of Chapter Ten of the Revised Statutes, Relating to Real Estate Where Taxed. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: R. S., c. 10, sec. 9; relating to where real estate shall be taxed, amended. Section nine of chapter ten of the revised statutes is hereby amended by adding to said section the following words, 'Whenever a purchaser of real estate assumes and agrees with the previous owner or party to whom the land is formerly assessed, to pay the pro rata or proportional share of taxes; the taxable year of such assessed taxes shall be from April to April,' so that said section when amended, shall read as follows: 'Sec. 9. Purchaser of real estate agreeing to pay pro rata share of taxes, taxable year declared to be from April to April. Taxes on real estate shall be assessed in the town where the estate lies, to the owner or person in possession thereof on the first day of each April. In cases of mortgaged real estate, the mortgagor, for taxation, shall be deemed the owner, until the mortgagee takes possession, after which the mortgagee shall be deemed the owner. Whenever a purchaser of real estate assumes and agrees with the previous owner or party to whom the land is formerly assessed, to pay the pro rata or proportional share of taxes; the taxable year of such assessed taxes shall be from April to April.' Approved March 31, 1923. |