The Portland daily press., 1895-03-25
DONE AND LEFT UNDONE.
Things For Which the Sixty-Seyenth
Legislature viii BE Recalled.

lIeGISlAtulG w III Dt 1tcCdIlGus
Some of the Laws 1t Has Paased-Soms 1t
Has Not Passed-The Money 1t Has
voted-Its Session Has Been Busy One
and It's Acts are Numerous-so Are Its
Resolves.
Especial to the PRESS.)
Augusta, March 23.-The legislators are
| coming hack tomorrow, but their labors
| for this year are practically over, and as
they take the trains for home two questions
will naturally occur to them. How far has
the munincent salary granted by their
grateful Commonwealth gone towards.pay-
ing their board bills? and what has the Com
monwealth to be grateful for as the result
of their laborsl The 'short session. which
was predicted on the first of last January
will cast confusion upon The prophets by
lasting almost until April's Fool Day. II
has been record breaker in the amount of
work done by the legislators. When the
Governor left Portland Friday afternoon,
37S acts and 1O2 resolves had been approved
by him. When the legislature finally ad-
1ourns. the number of acts approved will
laws may reach nearly the half thousand
mark. Seventeen bills providing special
legislation in regard to the protection of
fish and game. the Governor has allowed to
become law without his signature. The
Governor has approved 103 resolves and this
numb Der will be increased to about l30. The
legislature of 1893 passed 454 acts and JOG re-
solves. SO that this legislature is likely to
exceed its predecessor in the number of
measures enacted by about rs. Of these
new laws, there are many of course of little
Importance. There ate some which will
make the Sixty-seventh legislature remem-
bered.
1t will be remembered as the les islatue
which passed the laws giving to mothers
equal aut thority with fathers in the custody
of their minor children and the care of their
property. and further as the legislature
which gave TO widows an absolute right of
dover In the property Of the husband. SINH
lar provision being made for the widowers.
| 1t LAS also been decreed that where hus-
band and wife live apart. the courts may
| force the husband to make an allowance to
his wife. without divorce being granted.
| The bill changing the law as to dover was
drawn by Judge Savage of Auburn, and is
| said by lawyers to be particularly credita-
| BILE piece of legislation in the care and skill
shown in its framing.
| The men who make the next map of Maine
will have cause to remember the law max
ers of 1895. for they took consid era BILE liber-
| ty with the lines on the map of the state.
| They out Cape Elizabeth in two, took slices
of Lewiston and Green and added them to
Webster. made the new towns of Sorrento
| and Winter Harbor and ADDED a section of
| Peru to Rumford. Village charters have
been granted to the people of Gorhan, r um-
ford Falls, Rangeley and Van Buren,. Dex-
ter and South Portland have been provided
| with charters and may become cities if
| their people vote in favor of pting the
| new conditions. New Sweden has shown
the wisdom of The movement which resulted
| in the pla ting of the seeds in the " ildeT-
ness twenty years ago by blossoming out in
| to full grown town. The people of Madi-
| son and Deering will recall this legislature
not SO much, perhaps, for things it has done
as for something which it left undone.
| CoNCEKNING INSURANCE.
The fire insurance agents in particular
and their patrons in general are grateful
| to the Soons for SO promptly undoing the
work of their predecesso sors by the repeal OF
| the anti-cumpact law and that aimed al Eco
| insurance. Two measures designed 10 low
er insurance rates by preventing fires are
the acts providing for investiga tions into
the causes of fires by muiciapl officers and
the inspection of buildings during the pro-
| cess of erection and from time to time
| thereafter. These are The measures intro
duced by Mr.. Hutchinson of Auburn and
described in the PRESS sometime ago.
Anything which affects a man's pocket
book will not soon be forgotten. SO the
| new law for he taxation of vesselsproperty
| the amendments TO tho collateral inherit
| ance Jaw and the act providing for ap-
peals fro1n the decision o. assessors to The
| Supreme Judicial court are notew orthy
among the doings OF tbeAGeneral court.
| The old soldiers will remember this leg
islature for it has reyamped the pension
laws, making provision for worthy sons of
Maine who returned here to live after fight
ing in the quota of other states striking out
The clause making the granting of pension
dependant upon proof of injury or death
receive in the line of duty. proof which in
| many deserving cases it has been found i'm
possible to obtain; and finally increasing
by $4,000 year the appropriation for PEN
sions.
FISHERMAN'S LUCK,
The fisherman, whether he be the pleas
ure seeking follower of good cid IZaak Wal
ton or the hardy toiler along the rough
Maine coast. has been given something to
be thankful for. The fsu and game inter,
ests of the interior of the state have been
looked after by the passage of the gene
raj law about which SO much has been said
and the granting of the S25, 900 ar nually
appropriation. IL like way the laws in
regard to the sea and shore fishery have
been ,codified land Commissioner Whitten has
been given sufficient money and help te
see that they are properly enforced and
reliable information obtained as to theil
operation. The Holsters, too, have been put
under guardianship until they reach the ten
and one-half inch length.
Besides the general law in relation to fish
and game, the legislature has enacted oil
the bills presented by the com mission OF
general legislation. those relating to the
organization of telegraph and telephone
companies and electric light and power
companies.