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TOWN OF WEYMOUTH
1912
Pres by E. W. Hunt
1
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
TOWN OF WEYMOUTH
CONTAINING THE REPORTS OF THE
SELECTMEN, TOWN TREASURER, TOWN ACCOUNTANT, TOWN CLERK, ASSESSORS, AND OTHER OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31
1912
LS2
WEYMOUTH, MASS. GAZETTE AND TRANSCRIPT PUBLISHING COMPANY
1913
W.C. Ref. 352 192
Lower Stack
MAY 8 1939 Ew. Hunt
INDEX.
Town Officers
1
Report of the Selectmen
5
Report of the Town Treasurer
22
Report of the Auditors.
28
Report of the Town Accountant.
33
Schools .
Street Department
33 47 60
Bridges .
Public Parks
60 60 61
Preservation of Shade Trees
Suppression of Gypsy and Brown Tail Moths
Street Records Indexing
63 63 64
Surveying and Plotting Town
Pump at Lovell's Corner
64 64 71
Health Department
74
Miscellaneous Account
74
State, Town and Primary Election Expenses
78 79
Town Offices
81
Town Hall Care ·
.
State and Military Aid .
81 82 82
Soldiers' Relief
82 82
Electric Lighting .
83
Tufts Library
83
Printing and Advertising .
83 84
Fogg Library Reading Room
84
Assessors' Card Index
84
Interest and Discount .
84
Old Home Week .
84 84
Equipment of Town Vault .
85
Tax Deed Account
85
Taxes Paid to State and County
85
Street Watering and Oiling .
Fire Department .
Police Department
Superior Court Judgments .
Abatement and Remittance of Taxes .
Hydrants and Drinking Fountains
Memorial Day
Notes Payable
Town Accountant's Report-Continued.
Town Officers
86
Poor Department . 89
Statement of Appropriations
99
Statement of Appropriations and Expenditures Trial Balance
101
Report of Overseers of the Poor
103
Report of Town Clerk
107
Report of Superintendent of Streets .
190
Report of Fire Engineers
195
Report of Chief of Police
199
Report of Superintendent of Moth Work .
204
Report of Burial Agent
205
Report of Tree Warden
205
Report of Sealer of Weights and Measures
206
Report of Inspector of Live Stcok
207
Report of Committee on Auto Fire Apparatus .
207
Report of Registrars of Voters .
207
Report of Park Commissioners
209
Report of Assessors
211
Report of Tax Collector for Years 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910 1911, 1912
212
Report of Survey of the Town
214
Report of Board of Health .
218
Report of Inspector of Licensed Slaughter Houses .
219
Report of Trustees of Tufts Library
221
Jury List
250
Town Ways .
255
Legislative Acts Accepted by the Town
259
Report of Water Commissioners
261
Report of Tufts Fund . .
298
Report of Fire Warden
299
Report of School Committee. .
100
TOWN OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 1912-1913.
Town Clerk. JOHN A. RAYMOND. P. O. address, East Weymouth
Town Treasurer.
JOHN H. STETSON. P. O. address, South Weymouth
Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor.
EDWARD . W. HUNT, Chairman. P. O. address, Weymouth BRADFORD HAWES, Clerk. P. O. address, East Weymouth GEORGE L. NEWTON, WILLARD J. DUNBAR, A. FRANCIS BARNES.
Assessors
JOHN F. DWYER, Chairman Term expires 1913
FRANK H. TORREY, Clerk .
.
Term expires 1913
WALDO TURNER .
Term expires 1915
WARREN T. SIMPSON Term expires 1914
EDWARD I. LOUD .
Term expires 1914
Collector of Taxes.
WINSLOW M. TIRRELL. P. O. address, East Weymouth
Auditors.
JOHN P. HUNT, WILLIAM H. PRATT, FRANK N. BLANCHARD.
Engineers of the Fire Department.
MATTHEW O'DOWD, Chief. P. O. address, South Weymouth WALTER W. PRATT, Clerk. P. O. address, East Weymouth JOHN Q. HUNT,
CHARLES W. BAKER, PHILIP W. WOLFE.
School Committee.
H. FRANKLIN PERRY
Term expires 1913
CLARENCE P. WHITTLE
Term expires 1913
A. LILLIAN MCGREGOR .
Term expires 1914
ARTHUR H. ALDEN
PRINCE H. TIRRELL .
.
Term expired 1915
Term expires 1915
Board of Health.
DR. GEORGE E. EMERSON, Chairman JOHN S. WILLIAMS
Term expires 1913
Term expires 1915
NELSON B. GLADWIN
. Term expires 1914
Superintendent of Schools.
PARKER T. PEARSON. P. O. address, East Weymouth
Park Commissioners.
LOUIS A. COOK
Term expires 1914
WILLIAM H. CLAPP
.
. Term expires 1915
ARTHUR H. ALDEN
. Term expires 1913
Tree Warden. CHARLES L. MERRITT.
Trustees of Tufts Library.
WILLIAM A. DRAKE
Term expires 1914
FRANCIS M. DROWN
.
Term expires 1914
JOSEPH E. GARDNER
. Term expires 1914
JOHN B. HOLLAND . Term expires 1915
LOUIS A. COOK
Term expires 1915
WILLIAM F. HATHAWAY
Term expires 1915
JAMES H. FLINT Term expires 1913
CLARENCE P. WHITTLE. Term expires 1913
FREDERICK T. HUNT · Term expires 1913
Superintendent of Water. IVERS M. LOWE. P. O. address, East Weymouth
Term expires 1914
THERON L. TIRRELL
Registrars of Voters.
PATRICK E. CORRIDAN .
Term expires 1914
BENJAMIN F. SMITH Term expires 1915
MARSHALL P. SPRAGUE
Term expires 1913 JOHN A. RAYMOND, Town Clerk (ex-officio ).
Superintendent of Streets.
JOHN L. MAYNARD
Water Commissioners.
GEORGE E. BICKNELL Term expires 1914
FRANK H. TORREY
Term expires 1915
DOUGLAS M. EASTON Term expires 1913 EDWARD W. HUNT, Chairman of Selectmen (ex-officio ).
JOHN H. STETSON, Town Treasurer (ex-officio).
Sealer of Weights and Measures.
FRANK D. SHERMAN. P. O. address, Weymouth
Burial Agent for Indigeut Soldiers. WALDO TURNER. P. O. address, East Weymouth
Chief of Police.
THOMAS FITZGERALD. P. O. address, Weymouth
Constables.
1
ISAAC H. WALKER, GEORGE W. NASH,
PATRICK BUTLER,
THOMAS FITZGERALD,
ARTHUR H. PRATT, JOHN D. WALSH,
GEORGE B. BAYLEY, GEORGE W. CONANT,
JOHN L. MAYNARD,
ELBERT FORD.
Commissioners of Ward Two Schoolhouse Sinking Fund.
HENRY A. NASH
FRANK H. TORREY .
WILLARD J. DUNBAR .
Term expires 1914 Term expires 1915 ·
. Term expires 1913
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Weymouth :
The report of the Selectmen for the year ending December 31, 1912, together with the annexed schedule of appropriations and expenditures, as prepared by the Accountant, is hereby submitted :
APPOINTMENTS .- The appointed officers have in the main remained the same as last year. The Superintendent of Streets is an exception to this statement. The town having directed the appointment of a man holding no other town office this position was filled by the appointment of John L. Maynard. Mr. Mayn- ard having worked upon the streets for many years and used them extensively in his business of teaming, is, perhaps, as familiar with their needs as any one who could be selected. He entered upon his duties on April 1st and has handled the business of his office with zeal and energy, and with a good degree of efficiency.
In accordance with the authority conferred on him at the last annual meeting, the Accountant has employed a general office clerk whose duties are to do the clerical work of the Assessors, to assist the Accountant and make himself generally useful in the office. Emerson R. Dizer was appointed to the position at the salary provided for by the town, viz., $600.
Mr. Dizer has had exceptional facilities for becoming familiar with the duties of the office, having been employed by Mr. Cush- ing a considerable part of the time for the last two years. We consider the appointment a wise one and heartily endorse it.
The town, at a special meeting held November 30, 1912, hav- ing voted to accept the so-called Tenement House Act of that year, which provides for the appointment of an inspector of build- ings thereunder, we appointed to that position Matthew R. Loud, for a term ending April 1, 1913, with the understanding that no payment was to be made for such service until provision shall have been made for the same by the town.
6
HIGHWAY REPAIRS.
There is always an opportunity to expend much more money on the repairs of highways than the appropriation provides for. It has been our purpose to have all of our town ways kept in safe and reasonably commodious condition. Owing to the weather con- ditions considerable work became necessary after the time when the ground is usually frozen and the appropriation was thereby exceeded to a small amount.
NEW WORK.
The speclal appropriations for new work were expended as fol- lows: Evans street, Standish street and Squanto road were completed, also the sidewalk on Bates avenue. The $800 appro- priated for Whitman street was used in putting the street in reasonably good condition for foot travel throughout, thus ac- comodating those who wish to reach the James Humphrey school thereby.
In order to complete this street an additional appropriation will be needed.
The retaining wall on Norton Street has been built as far as the appropriation would carry it.
The curbing and sidewalk at Lovell's Corner has not been completed.
The furnishing and setting of the curbstone on the four corners was let out at contract in 1911 for the amount of the appropriation, viz. : $200; this being a much lower price than the cost would have been if done by day labor.
In the progress of the work the contractor was trusteed, and the amount due him at the time was necessarily held up. This · gave the contractor an opportunity, of which he took advantage, to claim that the withholding of his pay was a breach of contract on the part of the town and he declined to finish the work under the contract and it was continued under day labor conditions. The case was not finished in court so that we could settle for the amount due until after the last annual meeting. The cost of the work done by the day was so much greater than the estimate that with the appropriation of $100 made in the March meeting there remained but $21 balance, and the work was consequently not taken up. One corner remains to be curbed.
7
GUIDE BOARDS.
The guide boards required by law to be maintained are in serviceable condition, though some of them should be renewed or repaired.
BRIDGES.
The bridge over the herring brook on Broad street is in need of rebuilding, and an appropriation is asked for that purpose. When this bridge is rebuilt we think it would be wise economy on the part of the town to have the structure of such material as will obviate the necessity of constant repairs.
After the serious interruption of travel over the Weymouth and Quincy and Weymouth and Hingham bridges of the last two years, we are glad to report both of these bridges now open to public travel.
STATE ROAD.
In accordance with the vote of the town we have filed a petition with the Highway Commission for the taking as a State Highway of that part of Washington street, between its junction with Main street and the division line between Weymouth and Hingham.
This petition is now pending.
SIDEWALKS.
Improved sidewalks have long been one of the urgent needs of our town.
The acceptance by the town of the so-called Betterment Act, in its application to the construction of sidewalks, was, we are convinced, a move in the right direction.
We have made a good beginning in this work, having laid about a mile of concrete walk of excellent quality. One-half the cost of this has been assessed upon the abuttors. It does not seem to be generally known-notwithstanding the fact that we called attention thereto in the local press-that if the owner of land abutting on a street where a sidewalk has been constructed under the Betterment Act "within thirty days after receiving notice of a sidewalk assessment thereon or of any charges made for widening or otherwise improving any sidewalk, notifies in writing the Board of Assessors to apportion the same, the Asses- sors shall apportion it into such number of equal parts, not ex-
. 1
8
ceeding ten, as the owner shall request in said notice, but no one of said parts shall be less than five dollars, and the Assessors may, in their discretion, without said notice to them, make such an apportionment at any time before proceeding to enforce the collection of the assessment or other charges." The interest on the unpaid balance to be added annually. Acts of 1908, Chap- ter 216.
The object of this law is evidently to make this assessment as little burdensome as may be.
We trust this work will be continued until all of our principal streets are provided throughout with at least one good sidewalk.
It would be an injustice to the abuttors on the streets, where sidewalks have been built, should the work not be continued.
STREET OILING.
The subject of street oiling has been one of the most perplexing matters with which we have had to deal. Owing to the long-con- tinned dry weather of the spring and early summer we were met by conditions of unusual difficulty in determining how best to pre- serve the streets so that they could be used with a fair degree of comfort to travellers. They became extremely dusty and as the season advanced began to break up in many places. We disliked exceedingly to see roads which had been put in good condition the previous season going to pieces for want of a dressing of oil. The call for oil by the people using the streets and by the resi- dents along them who were annoyed by the clouds of dust were so persistent that we finally applied the oil much in excess of what was originally intended. In so doing the appropriation was exceeded by $2,534. Unless a much larger proportion of the cost was assessed on the abuttors than what we considered just, this, under the circumstances, seemed unavoidable.
When both the summer and winter condition of the streets are considered the question of how far it is advisable to go in street oiling is one of considerable difficulty, especially in the case of gravel roads, which most of ours are. Undoubtedly, the asphalt oils are best adapted to keeping the streets in good condition in the summer, but they operate to make the surface muddy and disagreeable in times of wet weather and when the frost is coming out of the ground.
We have to some extent used the so-called emulsion oils ; that
9
is, oil so treated that it emulsifies with water when used in about the proportion of one to twenty. This treatment has the follow- ing advantages : cleanliness when applied, no expense for sand- ing, no mudding up when the ground becomes wet. On the other hand it is not effective in keeping the dust laid in a dry time unless used as often as once in one or two weeks and it fails to produce the hard dustless surface so much desired.
ARTICLES FOR THE WARRANT.
It is a fact apparent to all that our warrant for the annual meeting has of late years grown to almost an alarming length.
The Selectmen are supposed to insert all articles necessary for the regular appropriations. They are moreover required by law to insert such articles as are presented to them with the signatures of ten or more citizens of the town. It is usually the case that a number of articles are presented with a less number of signers than above-sometimes with a single name.
As an act of courtesy to the persons interested we have inserted all such articles in the warrant for the present season. We would, however, suggest the advisability of all articles designed for future warrants bearing the legal number of signatures. It is easily conceivable of a warrant growing to such formidable length that the Selectmen would feel compelled to exclude all articles which they were not legally required to insert, or possibly be placed in the embarrassing position of admitting an article for one person and declining to do so for another.
POLICE.
Owing to the Weymouth and Hingham bridge being closed for rebuilding; a very heavy automobile travel was diverted from Bridge street, nearly all of which passed through Jackson square occasioning an almost constant sfream of travel, especially on Sundays and holidays. This stream of automobile travel, together with the large number of summer travellers by the street cars, many of whom are transferred at this point, created a condition which made it necessary to place an extra officer on constant duty there all through the season of summer travel. Considerable difficulty was experienced with some of the automobile drivers at first who wished to take the square at the same rate of speed as
10
they travelled elsewhere. However, they soon learned that the officer was there for business and the greater part of them gave but little trouble after the first few weeks. The employment of this extra officer will occasion a small deficiency in the police ap- propriation. The new bridge over Back river being now open for public use it is expected that the summer travel to Nantasket, both by automobile and trolley cars, will resume its natural course the coming season.
SUITS AT LAW.
No action has been taken during the year in the matter of the petition of Louis A. Cook for an assessment by a jury of his land damages sustained in consequence of a taking made in the widen- ing of Pleasant Street and the case is still pending-
The case of James J. Naughton to secure money paid for seventy four alleged invalid tax titles has been further heard by the auditor, Winfield S. Slocum, Esq., but hearings are not con- cluded.
By writ dated March 1, 1912, Johanna Burke brought suit against the town in the sum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by her in conse- quence of an alleged defect in the westerly sidewalk on Neck Street, opposite the premises of Alexis Torrey, while walking on said sidewalk May 25, 1911. It is expected the case will be heard at Dedham early in February.
On June 25, 1912, Alvin Hollis and Nelson W. Gay filed a petition in the Supreme Judicial Court against the water com- missioners of the town of Weymouth asking for a writ of manda- mus to require the water commissioners to issue to the petitioners a permit to boat and fish in Weymouth Great Pond. The matter came on for hearing before the court on July 8 and was referred to Walter H. Hitchcock, Esq., as auditor to find the facts.
Hearings were had during the month of July and on August 2d, the auditor filed his report which on October 29th was confirmed by the court and a decree entered dismissing the petition. To this decree the petitioners filed exceptions preliminary to taking the case before the full bench of the Supreme Judicial Court. A copy of the report and decree follows :
11
AUDITOR'S REPORT.
Pursuant to the order of the Court appointing me Auditor in this case, I have heard the parties and their evidence and now report my findings of fact to the Court.
The petitioners are inhabitants and taxpayers of the Town of Weymouth. The respondents are also inhabitants of that town and its duly appointed Water Commissioners. All the parties are residents of Norfolk County, and none of them have usual places of business in Suffolk County.
Weymouth Great Pond is a natural pond of about two hundred and ninety acres in area, situated in the southerly part of the Town of Weymouth. At the suggestion of the Court I took a view of the pond and its vicinity. It is an attractive sheet of water about one and one quarter or one and one half miles in length and of an average width of about one half a mile. Its shores are for the most part wooded, and though in part they consist of swampy land a substantial portion of them are suitable and attractive for camping or building purposes. There are now sixteen small summer cottages or camps scattered around the shores of the pond. Many of them, however, appeared to be unoccupied at the date of my view. July 10, 1912. There are three gunning stands on the shores of the pond, which are used in the fall for the purpose of shooting wild ducks and geese that may come to the pond. At one end is an ice house used by a local ice company capable of storing five thousand tons of ice. At the other end is a large ice house owned and used by a Boston ice company, . and having a capacity of about fifty thousand tons. These houses are in regular use for the storage of ice cut from the pond. There is another smaller ice house not now in use.
Some twenty-seven years ago the Town of Weymouth, acting under statutes of 1881, chapter 171, adopted Weymouth Great Pond as the source of its public water supply. The pond has ever since been the sole source of that supply. A very large portion of the thirteen thousand inhabitants of the town, probably ninety per cent of them, are users of the water. The water sys- tem is under the supervision of the Board of Water Commission- ers.
In 1903 the State Board of Health made certain rules and regu-
12
lations for the protection of the water of the pond. Sections 14 and 15 of these regulations are as follows :
14. No person shall bathe in, and no person shall, unless per- mitted by a special regulation or by a written permit of the Board of Water Commissioners of the Town of Weymouth, fish in, or send, drive or put any animal into Weymouth Great Pond, so called, said pond being in the town of Weymouth and used by said town as a source of water supply. No person other than a member of said Board of Water Commissioners, its officers, agents or employees, or public officers whose duties may so require, shall, unless so permitted by regulation or permit of said Board, enter or go, in any boat, skiff, raft or other contrivance, on or upon the water of said pond, nor shall enter or go upon, or drive any animal upon, the ice of said pond.
15. No person shall enter upon Weymouth Great Pond, so called, said pond being in the town of Weymouth and used by said town as a source of water supply, for the purpose of cutting or taking ice, or cut or take ice from said pond, without a written . permit signed by the Board of Water Commissioners of the town of Weymouth, stating the time and place for which such per- mission is given.
These regulations are still in force.
Whether or not the delegation of authority to the Water Com- missioners to issue permits contained in these sections was valid when the regulations were originally adopted, it became valid after the passage of statute of 1907, Chapter 467.
Prior to 1903 the use of this pond seems to have been entirely unrestricted. There were boats to let upon the pond and people from Weymouth and other towns frequently came there to boat and fish. After the adoption of these rules by the State Board of Health and down to January 1, 1911, permits to boat and fish were issued by the Water Commissioners with little or no restric- tion to such taxpayers of the town as applied for them. No let- ting' of boats was allowed and the permits were not transferable. Most of the camps and cottages now about the pond have been built since 1903, and most of the boating in recent years has been done by the occupants of these camps. At least two of them are practically inaccessible except by boat. There were about twenty-five boats owned upon the pond in and prior to the spring
13
of 1911. There are no public picnic or recreation grounds near the pond. 1
Since about the year 1908 there has been considerable discus- sion in the town as to the condition of its water supply. This had more especial reference to conditions around the pond than to the pond itself. As a result, the Water Board asked the advice of the State Board of Health, and at its suggestion reme- died certain unsanitary conditions in connection with the camps and houses near the pond. For the last two years the Town Board of Health has had the shores and vicinity of the pond under its careful supervision. In their report for 1909, the Water Commissioners called the attention of the town to the probability of future danger to its water supply from an increased number of camps. It suggested that the town consider the ad- visability of acquiring a part of or all the land bordering on the pond. The warrant for the annual town meeting held on March 14, 1910, contained an article upon this subject, but the town voted against action upon the matter. The warrant for that meeting also contained the following article :
"At the request of the Water Commissioners: To see if the town will instruct the Water Commissioners not to issue licenses for boating and fishing on Weymouth Great Pond."
The town voted to indefinitely postpone the subject matter of this article. The same matter came before a special town meet- ing on December 3 and December 9, 1910. A vote to instruct the Water Commissioners not to issue permits was lost on the first occasion by a vote of twenty to forty-five, and on the sec- ond occasion by a tie vote of sixty-seven to sixty-seven. At about this time there was also considerable discussion about con- ditions at the pond among the citizens of the town, both indivi- dually and at various public meetings. The Water Commission- ers were frequently requested by different individuals to prohibit boating and fishing.
On May 4, 1911, the water Commissioners voted as follows : "That a notice be published in the Gazette and notice be posted arounu the pond reading, "All boating or entering upon Wey- mouth Great Pond is hereby strictly prohibited." Since this date they have declined to issue any permits for boating and fishing. On April 18, 1912, they voted to continue in force the vote of
14
May 4, 1911. Since these votes they have strietly and impar- tially enforced the regulation prohibiting boating and fishing and have maintained an officer at the pond during the boating season for that purpose.
I find that in passing the foregoing votes and in maintaining their policy of refusing to issue permits, the Water Commission- ers have acted in good faith and with no other motive than a desire to preserve the purity of the waters of the pond. There was no evidence that boating and fishing upon this pond had ever in any way of itself caused a pollution of the water. There has been no disease of any sort in the town traceable to the water supply as its cause. Examinations of the water made by the State Board of Health in 1911 show no perceptible change in the water after a year or more of no boating. Very probably boating could be continued under careful restrictions without danger ; but looking at the matter broadly I find that the action of the Water Commissioners was not unreasonable or arbitrary. They were unwilling to take any unnecessary chance of danger in the future. Boating of itself may cause some danger of pollution, especially if diseased or careless persons go upon the pond. Then the increase in the number of camps and cottages about the pond would tend to increase the danger of pollution from that source. The prohibition of boating would discourage the build- ing of such camps and prevent the pond from becoming a sum- mer resort. The growth of the town and certain changes in the character of the population in that part of it made it seem wise to the Commissioners to adopt a farsighted policy. They have acted on the reasoning just suggested and have been influenced not so much by actual danger in the present as by future proba- bilities.
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