U - Newton Free Library

44 ORGANIZATION.
N
The prayer of the petitioners was granted, and
March 18th the following act passed: —
"An Act to establish a fire department in the
town of Newton.
"SECTION 1.
The selectmen of the town of
Newton are hereby authorized to establish a fire
department in said town in the manner and according
to the provisions prescribed in an act to
regulate fire departments, passed on the ninth
day of April, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-nine, and the said fire department
when so established, and the several
members thereof, and all the officers and companies
appointed by them, and the said town of
Newton, and the inhabitants thereof shall be
subject to all the duties and liabilities, and be
entitled to all the privileges and exemptions
specified in such act so far as the same relates
to them respectively."
The act of April 9, 1839, referred to in the
petition and the above act, provided that the
selectmen of towns should annually, in April,
appoint a board of fire engineers, not to exceed
twelve in number, who should have the entire
management and control of the department, appoint
and discharge all its members, expend the
appropriations made for its maintenance, and
ill special appropriations therfor, unless otherwise
specially provided; to have absolute com-