various districts the money collected for such roads in the proportions assigned to each overseer by the said commissioners. of cities, and towns. 4. And be it enacted, That every city, borough, and town, Proportion corporate, shall be required annually to raise and pay boroughs, over to the commissioners of highways of the several townships adjoining such city, town or borough, and from which public roads lead into such city, town or borough, at least ten per cent. of the amount in each year allotted by such commissioners to be expended in the repairs of the roads in the several districts next adjoining such city, town or borough, which sums so paid shall be by the said commissioners paid to the overseers of such districts respectively, to be by them expended thereon in the manner provided by the eighth section of this act, and as part of the sums so allotted to such districts by the said commissioners. overseers of 5. And be it enacted, That the overseers of roads for each Election of district shall be elected by the taxpayers of each road roads. district in the state on the fourth Monday of March, at some convenient place agreed upon by the people of the various districts; and at the time of such election for overseer, the taxpayers of the district shall also determine whether the work in the district shall be done by the inhabitants of the district or by contract, putting the work out to the lowest bidder, and instruct their overseers accordingly; and the said overseers of highways shall receive one dollar and fifty cents per day for each and every day actually engaged in contracting for, working on, or superintending said roads or highways. advertise for working 6. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Overseers to overseers of the several highways immediately after their proposals for election to advertise for proposals, when the work is deter- roads. mined to be done by contract, for making and working the public roads for the ensuing year, which proposal or proposals shall be sealed up when received by the overseer, and by him opened on the fourth Monday in April of each and every year, when the lowest bidder, having regard at Districts aggrieved all times to the ability of the person to perform the work, shall be awarded the contract, and in every way comply with the contract for the work which shall be necessary to be done, either by the day or by contract, on the district which it would be the duty of the overseer to make and keep in repair, and if said work is done by the day, said contractor is required to work ten hours per day with his men and teams; and when worked by the inhabitants, ten hours shall constitute a day's work, and each man working shall be entitled to one dollar per day, or ten cents per hour, and each man and team two dollars per day, or twenty cents per hour. 7. And be it enacted, That any district which feels ag may appeal. grieved or dissatisfied in apportioning the moneys of the several townships by the commissioners of highways, may through their overseer apply to the township committee whose duty it shall be to meet at their usual place of meeting in the township on the third Monday after town meeting, for the purpose of receiving the apportionment of money made by the commissioners of highways to the overseers of roads, and hear any report from any overseer who may consider his apportionment unjust, and make any change which they in their judgment may see fit, which decision shall be conclusive and remain in force for the year in which they may be called upon to decide. Manner of repairing roads. 8. And be it enacted, That when done by contract or otherwise, the overseers of the various districts where it is practicable shall have the roads regularly formed, or turnpiked and gravelled; and when done by contract, the contractor to whom the work to be done is awarded, or the overseer when the work is not contracted for, shall proceed to form up the roads in the several districts, always giving preference to the roads which are travelled most, and which have never been formed up or gravelled; the said roads shall be formed usually twenty-one feet in width, and in no case to exceed twenty-five feet from outside to outside, and to raise the centre when formed not less than twelve inches, and when formed twenty-five feet wide, not less than fifteen inches in the centre, measuring from the bottom of the ditch on the side of the road, with a regular curve from the centre to the outside, and all roads so formed. shall be required to be completed by the first day of July in each and every year; and the said overseer or his contractor shall have liberty to enter the enclosure of any person owning lands on said highways, and to dig a ditch or drain for the purpose of carrying off the surplus water from the said road; provided, that said ditch or drain is not Proviso. made at such a point as to interfere with buildings, or in any way to become a nuisance to the owner or owners of lands on such highways; and it shall not be lawful for the said owners or any other person to fill up or obstruct said ditch or drain, under the penalty of twenty dollars, to be sued for in the name of the overseer of the district in which such offence shall have been committed, in any court having proper jurisdiction of the same, which money, when collected, shall go towards the making and repairing of the said road in said district, and it shall be made the duty of the overseer to sue for and collect the same; also the overseers of the various districts shall be authorized to make and build as many small bridges, such as can be built by common laborers, as they may deem necessary to thoroughly drain the said roads. of district to gravel. 9. And be it enacted, That the inhabitants of each road Inhabitants district be required to furnish the overseer with gravel furnish when to be had conveniently, and of sufficient quantities to enable such overseer to gravel all roads made and formed in said district, as described in the eighth section of this act; and it shall be the duty of said overseers to attend to gravelling the same, and to keep sufficient moneys in hand. to pay for said gravel when necessary, and that any district may be permitted to use gravel from an adjoining district when directed by the commissioners. assessment 10. And be it enacted, That hereafter it shall not be lawful Amount of for any township to assess more than seventy nor less than for roads. twenty per cent. of the amount raised for county and poor tax for road purposes. 11. And be it enacted, That any obstructions to highways caused by floods, snow drifts, or otherwise, shall be removed by the overseer of the district as soon as practicable to be done; it shall be the duty of the overseers of the various highways requiring such obstructions to be removed to order out the people of the districts adjacent to the place or places where such obstructions shall be, and proceed forthwith to remove the same, for which service the persons engaged in performing the labor shall receive the same compensation for men or men and teams as is paid for working on the roads at other times; and in case the labor is required to be done at a season of the year when the overseer has no funds in hand, the amount due for work shall be accredited to each person's name who is entitled to receive pay for the same, and deducted from his or her road tax for the ensuing year. 12. And be it enacted, That each road district where it is practicable to use it shall be required to own a road scraper, to be bought and paid for by the district, for the purpose of scraping and smoothing the surface of said roads; and it shall be the duty of the overseers of the various districts immediately after the frost is out of the ground in the spring to scrape and smooth the said roads at least once before the first day of April, or sooner if the weather does not interfere; and that any overseer neglecting to attend to such scraping and smoothing of said roads shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, to be sued for and collected by any person who is an inhabitant of the district, which fine, when collected, to be appropriated for the benefits of the roads of said districts. 13. And be it enacted, That any public road that may lay along streams or rivers in this state, and which may be washed away in whole or in part, shall be required to be made and kept in good repair, where it is practicable to repair and widen the same when washed away; but where it is not practicable to repair and widen the said road, then it shall be the duty of the overseer of the district to have the road relayed and widened, as provided for by law, so as to make it at least two rods in width; and where the road is located upon a high river bank, the overseer to cause to be put up good and sufficient railing, so as to be entirely secure for the travelling public, and pay for the said railing out of the moneys received for the respective district. veyor of 14. And be it enacted, That no surveyor of the highway Compensashall at any time when called to lay out a public road, re- highway. ceive a greater compensation or larger per diem when they grant a new road than when they do not grant such road, under a penalty of twenty dollars, to be recovered by any person, in a court having proper jurisdiction of the same, and applied for the use and benefit of the said road of said district. 15. And be it enacted, That hereafter when any public road or highway shall be laid out or altered in this state, and damages shall be assessed in favor of any owner or owners of land or real estate, taken thereof in pursuance of a certain supplement to the said act, which was approved on the first day of March, eighteen hundred and fifty, the six surveyors, or a majority of them, shall at the same time, and without additional compensation, assess the said damages as equitably as may be upon the owner or owners of any land or real estate in the neighborhood of said road or highway which, in their opinion, will be benefited thereby, as nearly as may be in proportion to the benefits which the said lands of each of the said owners shall be deemed by them to have derived from the laying out and opening of the said road, and shall certify the same in writing as a part of their return now required by law. Assessment of damages. township 16. And be it enacted, That a copy of the said return, Copy of re. certified by the clerk of the said county, shall within ten served on days after the same has been filed, be served upon the clerk. township clerk of the township in which said road or highway is situated, to be kept by him with the other papers and writings of his office; and that the clerk of the said county shall be entitled to receive the sum of one dollar for such certification of the said copy, and the said township clerk the sum of twenty cents for filing the same among |