CHAP. 141 may perform all the duties required of the attorney-general by chapter fifty-one and such other duties as the attorney-general may require of him. The attorney-general may also appoint such assistant attorneys-general as the duties of the office may require with such powers and duties as he may delegate. The compensations of the deputy attorney-general and any assistant attorneys-general appointed, shall be fixed by the attorney-general with the approval of the governor and council, but such compensations shall not in the aggregate exceed the amount appropriated therefor. The attorney-general shall biennially designate one of the assistant attorneysgeneral to assist the members of the legislature in the drafting of acts and resolves. Such assistant attorney-general shall devote all his time during the legislative session to this work, but shall not receive extra compensation therefor. The attorney-general shall also instruct one of his assistant attorneys-general to devote his entire time to the enforcement of the inheritance tax law and the salary and expenses of such assistant attorney-general shall be paid from the appropriation for salaries and clerk hire of said department.' Sec. 2. Inconsistent acts repealed. All acts and parts of acts incon sistent herewith are hereby repealed. Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 141. An Act Additional to and Amendatory of Chapter Two Hundred and Eleven of the Public Laws of Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-one, Relating to Lights on Motor Vehicles. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: Sec. 1. P. L., 1921, c. 211, sec. 99; renumbered sec. 100. Section ninetynine of chapter two hundred and eleven of the public laws of nineteen hundred and twenty-one is hereby renumbered to become section one hundred. Sec. 2. P. L., 1921, c. 211; amended by adding new sec. 99. Chapter two hundred and eleven of the public laws of nineteen hundred and twentyone is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section, to be numbered section ninety-nine: 'Sec. 99. Provisions governing use of front lights on motor vehicles used for fire fighting purposes, eliminated. The provisions of this chapter, governing the equipment or use of front lights on motor vehicles, shall not apply to motor vehicles owned or controlled by municipalities or village. corporations, and used for fire fighting purposes.' Approved March 31, 1923. CHAP. 142 Chapter 142. An Act to Provide for the Licensing, Inspection and Regulation of Hotels and Private Lodging Houses. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: Sec. 1. Municipal officers may, by ordinance, require lodging houses to be licensed; lodging house defined. The municipal officers of cities and towns shall have authority to require by ordinance the granting of licenses to lodging houses. The term "lodging house" shall not be deemed to include a house where lodgings are let to less than five lodgers, nor to the dormitories of charitable, educational or philanthropic institutions, nor to the emergency use of private dwelling houses at the time of conventions or similar public gatherings. The term "lodger" shall not be deemed to include persons within the second degree of kindred to the person conducting a lodging house. Sec. 2. Licenses may be issued by same persons issuing innkeepers' and victuallers' licenses; term of license; no fee. Licenses under this act may be issued by the same persons issuing innkeepers' and common victuallers' licenses, as provided in section one of chapter thirty-one of the revised statutes and shall be for the same period as provided in said section. All innkeepers' licenses issued after the passage of this act shall be expressed to be subject to the provisions of this act. No license fee shall be collected for a lodging house license. Sec. 3. Register to be kept; true name of guests to be inscribed therein; contents and method of keeping register prescribed; register open to inspection of licensing authority; penalty for violation. Every person conducting any hotel or lodging house as defined and designated in this act shall at all times keep and maintain, or cause to be kept and maintained therein a register in which shall be inscribed the true name of each and every guest or person renting or occupying a room or rooms therein. Such register shall be signed by the person renting such room or rooms, or by some one under his direction; and the proprietor of such hotel or lodging house, or his agent, shall thereupon write opposite such name or names so registered the number of each room assigned to and occupied by each such guest, together with the date such room is rented. The proprietor of such hotel or lodging house, or his agent, shall also keep and preserve a record showing the date when the occupant of each room so rented shall quit and surrender the same. Such record may be made a part of the register, and both shall be kept available for a period of two years at all reasonable times to the inspection of any lawful agent of the licensing authority. Any person who wilfully violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more CHAP. 142 than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days for each offense or by both such fine and imprisonment. Sec. 4. No person shall write other than true name in register; all persons must register; penalty for violation. No person shall write, or cause to be written, or if in charge of a register knowingly permit to be written, in any register in any lodging house or hotel any other or different name or designation than the true name or names in ordinary use of the person registering or causing himself to be registered therein. Nor shall any person occupying such room or rooms fail to register or fail to cause himself to be registered. Any person violating any provision of this section. shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars for each offense. Sec. 5. License may be revoked or suspended; hearing must be held and licensee given opportunity to hear evidence; notice, how served; appeals. A license issued under the provisions of this act or an innkeeper's license, may be revoked if at any time the licensing authority shall be satisfied that the licensee is unfit to hold the license. It shall also have the right to suspend and make inoperative for such period of time as it may deem proper all the aforesaid licenses mentioned herein for any cause deemed satisfactory to it. The revocation and suspension shall not be made until after investigation and hearing, nor until the licensee shall have been given opportunity to hear the evidence in support of the charge against him and to cross-examine, himself or through counsel, the witnesses, nor until the licensee shall have been given an opportunity to be heard; notice of hearing shall be served on the licensee or left at the premises of the licensee not less than three days before the time set for the hearing. The licensing authority, as designated in this act, is hereby specifically charged with the duty of enforcing its provisions and of prosecuting all offenders against the same. Appeal from the decision of the licensing authority may be had to the supreme judicial court, or to the superior court in and for the county in which the licensing authority is located, in the usual manner provided for appeals from municipal courts; courts of competent jurisdiction, for due cause shown, may issue temporary orders returning the enforcement of such revocations and suspensions and after full hearing may vacate such temporary orders or make same permanent. Sec. 6. Copy of this act to be posted near the register. All licensed innholders and all licensees under this act shall post in a conspicuous place near the register, if required by the licensing authority, a notice to be furnished by it containing the provisions of this act relating to the entry CHAP.143 of names in the register, together with the penalties herein provided for their violation. Sec. 7. Record of convictions to be transmitted by clerk of court to licensing authority. The clerk of a court in which any person is convicted of a violation of any provision hereof shall forthwith send a copy of the record of the conviction to the licensing authority in the city or town where the offense occurred. Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 143. An Act to Amend Section Twenty-four of Chapter Seventy of the Revised Statutes, Relating to Deposits in the County Treasury of Certain Sums of Money Derived from Estates in the Probate Court. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: R. S., c. 70, sec. 24; relating to deposits in county treasury on money derived from estates, amended. Section twenty-four of chapter seventy of the revised statutes is hereby amended by striking out the words "county commissioners" in the fourth line thereof and inserting in place thereof the words 'judge of probate,' and striking out the words "county commissioners" in the fifth and sixth lines thereof, and inserting in place thereof the words 'judge of probate,' and by striking out the word "warrant" in the sixth line thereof, and inserting in place thereof the word 'decree,' so that said section, as amended, shall read as follows: 'Sec. 24. Persons entitled to deposits to present evidence to judge of probate. At any time within twenty years from the date when the deposit mentioned in section twenty is made with the county treasurer, the person entitled thereto or his executor, administrator or assigns, may present to the judge of probate evidence of his right to the same, and upon satisfactory proof that he or they are entitled thereto, the judge of probate shall by decree, direct the county treasurer to pay over to such person or persons the amount of the original deposit, with interest at the rate of two per cent per annum from the date of deposit; provided, that all sums of money paid to the county treasurer by any savings bank shall draw interest at the same rate as was paid by said bank at the time of payment to the county treasurer. The county treasurer shall annually in the month of January publish in one or more newspapers, published and printed within the county, and in the state paper, a list of all persons. entitled to such deposits. The county shall have the use and income of all such deposits and after twenty years from the date of each deposit, if not claimed and paid over to the person entitled thereto, his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, the same shall escheat to the county; pro CHAP. 144 vided, however, that in the case of deposits assigned by the judges of probate to the several county treasurers, the said period of twenty years shall commence on the date of such assignments; but every person entitled to receive and be paid any such deposit made before the twenty-ninth day of March, nineteen hundred and eleven, shall be entitled to receive and be paid the amount of such original deposit with such interest thereon as is shown by the bank-book of such original deposit at the date of such payment to such person.' Approved March 31, 1923. Chapter 144. An Act to Revise and Consolidate the Banking Laws of This State. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: THE BANK COMMISSIONER. UPON BANKING. RESTRICTIONS Sec. 1. Appointment of bank commissioner. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint a bank commissioner, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor is appointed and qualified, and who may be removed from office by the governor and council for cause, and shall not during his continuance in office hold any office in any bank in the state, nor receive directly or indirectly any remuneration or fee of any kind from any bank, banking house, corporation, association or individual for examining any property or properties or securities. He shall give bond with sureties or authorized surety company in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, to be approved by the state treasurer for the faithful performance of his duties, and the expense of securing said bond shall be paid by the state. No information derived by or communicated to the commissioner, deputy commissioner or any examiner or employee of the department in the course of official duty shall be disclosed except, first, to United States government officials charged with the duty of supervising national banks; second, to Federal Reserve officials; third, to banking departments of other states. Whoever violates the foregoing provision shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Sec. 2. Banking business must be authorized; banking defined. No person, copartnership, association, or corporation shall do a banking business in this state unless duly authorized under the laws of this state or the United States, except as provided by section four. The soliciting, receiving, or accepting of money or its equivalent on deposit as a regular |