Chap. 0029 An Act to provide for the appointment of inspectors of provisions in cities and towns.

Be it enacted, &c, as follows :

Section 1. The mayor and aldermen of cities and the selectmen of towns may annually appoint one or more persons to be inspectors of provisions, who shall bo sworn to discharge the duties of their office faithfully, and who shall receive such compensation as the city council of cities or the selectmen of towns shall determine.
Section 2. Said inspectors shall have power to inspect all meats, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit and provisions of all kinds found in said cities or towns; and may for this purpose enter into all buildings except dwelling-houses unless a tavern, store, grocery or eating-room is kept therein, where said meats, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions are found. When such meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions are found on such inspection to be tainted, diseased, corrupted, decayed or unwholesome from any cause, said inspectors may seize the same and cause it to be destroyed or disposed of otherwise than for food: provided, however, that if the owner of the property seized shall at the time of seizure notify said inspector in writing of his desire to appeal to the board of health, said inspector shall cause said meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions to be inspected by said board of health or by a committee thereof, consisting of not less than two members, and if said board or committee shall find the same to be tainted, diseased, corrupted, or unwholesome, they shall order the same to be destroyed or disposed of otherwise than for food. All moneys received by said inspector or board of health for property disposed of as aforesaid, shall', after deducting all expenses incurred by reason of said seizure, be paid to the owner thereof.
Section 3. Said inspectors shall have power to inspect all veal found in said cities or towns : provided, they shall not have authority to enter for that purpose into any dwelling-house unless a tavern, store, grocery or eating-room is kept therein ; and if said veal is, in the judgment of the inspector, that of a calf killed under four weeks old, he shall seize the same and cause it to be destroyed or disposed of, as provided in the preceding section, subject, however, to the same provisions concerning appeal and the disposal of moneys that are therein contained. 5
Section 4. When complaint is made on oath to any police court or magistrate authorized to issue warrants iu criminal cases, that the complainant believes that any tainted, diseased, corrupted, decayed or unwholesome meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions of any kind, or any veal of a calf killed under four weeks old is kept or concealed in any particular house or place with the intent to sell or offer the same for sale, the court or magistrate, if satisfied there is reasonable cause for such belief, shall issue a warrant to search for such articles, and all such warrants shall be directed and executed as provided in the third section of chapter one hundred and seventy of the General Statutes.
Section 5. Whoever knowingly sells, or offers, or exposes for sale, or has in his possession with intent to sell as articles of food, any tainted, diseased, corrupted, decayed or unwholesome meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions of any kind whatever, shall be punished by imprisonment in jail not exceeding sixty days, or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.
Section 6. The place where property condemned under this act shall be found, and the name of every person in whose possession it may be found and condemned, or who shall be convicted of an offence under the previous section, shall be published iu two newspapers published in the county.
Section 7. Chapter two hundred and thirty-one of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, is hereby repealed.
Section 8. This act shall not be in force in any city or town, unless adopted by the city council of such city, or by the inhabitants of such town.
Approved February 24, 1875.