Chap. 0325 An Act in aid of williamsburg and Northampton. 

Be it enacted, &c, as follows:

Section 1. The county commissioners of Hampshire County shall, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, cause the public roads and bridges in Williamsburg, which were recently destroyed or damaged by the flood in Mill River, to be rebuilt and repaired with all necessary alterations as in their judgment the public safety and convenience may require, and they shall direct the expenses and charges of said work to be paid out of the treasury of said county : provided, however, that said work shall not be begun until said commissioners have submitted to the governor and council a plan and statement of the required work, with an estimate of the probable expense, and the course determined upon by them for its completion, and the governor and council have approved the same. The governor and council are authorized to employ a competent engineer, or expert in building roads and bridges, to superintend said work so far as they shall deem it necessary to protect the interests of the Commonwealth ; he shall be paid from the state treasury such compensation as the governor and council shall approve.
Section 2. Upon the completion of said work, said commissioners shall make a written statement in detail, under oath, of their doings and of the amount of actual expenditure incurred as herein provided, and upon its approval by the governor and council there shall be reimbursed and paid out of the state treasury into the treasury
of said county one hundred thousand dollars to be applied to defraying the expenditure made as aforesaid in Williamsburg, or such portion of said sum as shall have been actually expended as aforesaid; the balance of such expenditures not reimbursed as aforesaid, if any, shall be borne by said town or by said county, in whole or in part, as said commissioners may determine. Reimbursements made as herein provided shall be applied to the extinguishment or reduction of the county debt incurred, as hereinafter provided.
Section 3. If said town is required by said commissioners to pay any portion of said balance, like proceedings shall be had for the collection of the same, and like authority and power shall be vested in said commissioners as are provided in sections forty-nine and fifty of chapter forty-three of the General Statutes.
Section 4. For the purposes of this act, the jurisdiction of said commissioners over said roads and bridges for the performance of all said work shall be exclusive.
Section 5. Said commissioners are authorized to borrow, upon the credit of said county, a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the first section of this act.
Section 6. Said commissioners shall keep an accurate account of the actual services performed and expenses incurred by each one of them under the provisions of this act, and upon the completion of said work shall return to the governor and council a statement of said services and expenses, under oath. The governor and council, upon their approval of the same, shall establish the compensation of each of said commissioners, and payment thereof shall be made from the state treasury.
Section 7. The assessors of taxes of Williamsburg and Northampton for the present year, in their respective towns, upon the application of any person claiming"to be aggrieved by the state, county and town taxes assessed upon him for the present year, for the reason that his taxable property has been destroyed or damaged by the recent flood in Mill River in said towns, are authorized to make such abatement of such taxes as were assessed upon taxable property so destroyed or damaged as they shall judge to be just and reasonable. Said assessors, for their respective towns, shall, after all such abatements have
been made, return to the governor and council a written statement in detail, under oath, of all such abatements, and upon the approval thereof b}' the governor and council, the amounts of actual abatements so made shall be reimbursed out of the state treasury to said towns respectively, as follows : to Williamsburg, a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars ; and to Northampton, a sum not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars.
Section 8. No abatement of taxes as aforesaid shall be allowed to a person unless he makes application therefor within two months from the date of his tax bill. The decision of the assessors upon any application for abatement as aforesaid shall be final so far as concerns the claims of the applicant.
Section 9.   This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved June 11, 1874.