Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-12-25

be set and maintained and such other precau
lions 10 be taken to preveas the spread OF ihs
Ere As be may dsess necessary.
Il Section I5-It shall be the duty of tbs
municipal officers in towns and the Count,
Commissioners, the latter With respect 20 IN
organized places within their respective
counties, to proceed Immediately to . strici
inquiry into the cause and origin of fires
/ within woodlands; and in all cases vhers
such fires are foani To have originated from
the unlawful act Of ally person TO cause The
offender TO be prosecuted .irhou. delay
| The authority to prosecute hereby conferred
shall extend 70 all cases where the FIRE &C.
Cured VII bin the tIwn or county - the case
+ may be of the municipal officers or coanty
I commissioners respectively whether the FIRE
I began 10 such torn or county or not
I Section ls-In fixing for the purposes OF
taxation the value Of forest lands within thu
limits of any town, the value Of the growing
timber or wood, standing upon the same shall
not De estimated, 80 long as the said timber
or wood or any part thereof is not cut of
leased to De Gu. 20 be converted into timber
I or fuel.
! Section 1.-THE municipal officers Of
/ every town as aforesaid and 10 which a forest
IRE of more than one acre in extent has &C.
Cured within year shall report TO the said
commissioner the exteas Of area burned over
10 the best of their information, together
with The probable amount Of property de.
stroyed, specifying the value of timber as
near as may be and amount of cord wood
logs, bark or other forest product, and
fencing, bridges anil buildings that have been
burned. They shall also make inquiries and
report as to the cause of these fires, if they
can be ascertained, and a. 10 the measures
employed and founi most effective in check
ing their progress. Blanks for the reports
required in this act shall be furnished by the
said commissioner 10 the several towns al the
expense Of the State.
Section ls-Esery railroad company whose
road passes through waste or forest lands, or
lands liable to be oserrun BY fires within the
State, shall twice in each year cut and burn
of or remove from its right Of way all grass
brush or other infiamable material but under
proper care and at all times when the fires
thus set are not liable to spread beyond con
troll.
Section l9-All locomotives which shall
be run through forest land, shall be provided
with approved and efficient arrangements for
preventing the escape of IRE and the escape
of sparks.
Section 20-No railroad company shall
permit its EN- oloyea to deposit lire, Goals or
ashes upon their rack in the immediate
vicinity of wood lands or land liable to be
oyerrun with fires, and in all cases where
any engine ers, conductors or trainmen dis
cover that fences along the right of way, or
woodlands adjacent to the railroad are burn
ing or in danger from fire, il shall be their
duty to report the tame at their next stop
ping place. and the person in charge of said
station shall take prompt measures for ex-
tinguishing such fires. And where q forest
fire is raging near the line of their road they
shall concentrate such help and adopt such
measures as shall most effectually arrest its
progress.
Section 2l-Any railroad company viola
ting the provisions or requirements of this
act shall be liable 10 fine of one hundred
dollars for each offence.
Section 22-The Forest Commissioner
shall take such measures as the State Super
intendel 1t of Common Schools and the presi-
dent of the State College of Agriculture and
the Mechanic Arts may approve for awaken
ing an interest in behalf of forestry in he
public schools, academies and college' of
the State, and of iInparting some degree of
elementary instruction upon this subject
therein.
Section 23. The Forest Commissioner
shall, as soon as practical, prepare tracts or
circulars of information giving plain and
concise advice for the care of woodlands
upon private lands, and for the starting of
new plantations upon lands that have been
dennded, exhausted by cultivation, eroded
b, torrents, or injured by fire, or that are
sandy, marshy, broken, sterile or waste and
unfit for other use. These publications
shall be furnished without cost to any citizen
of the State, upon application, and proper
measures may be taken for bringing them to
the notice of persons who would be benefited
b. this advice.
Section "a. 1t shall be the duty Of the
Forest Commissioner to cause. at the ex-
pense of the State, copies of this charter
and of all other laws of the State, relating
TO forest fires to be printed, and freely dis
trbnted to the selectmen of all the towns of
the State whose duty it shall be
to paste them up in school houses, saw mills.
logging camps, and other places, and similar
copies shall be furnished by 'ad Commits
sloner to the owner of any forest lands not
within the limit of any town, who may apply
for the same to be posted up at the expense
of such owner in such places as he may
deem proper. Any person maliciously or
wantonly tearing down, destroying or defac-
ing any such notices, so printed, shall on
conviction therefor be punished by fine of
i've dollars.
Section 25-All acts aad parts of acts in
consistent with the provisions of this act are
hereby repealed, but none of the penalties
proposed by this act shall be con ,idered as
substitutes for or as repeating the provisions
of existing laws making persons guilty of
such acts of trespass also liable for civil
damages to the person or persons injured by
such acts.