Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-02-11
LOYAL CHINA RESIDENTS
Wish to Save Their Town from En-.
crachments of Water District.


day Afternoon before the committee
on judiciary in behalf of an amend
ment To the charter Of the Kennebcc
Water District, SO as to only exempt
from taxation that property of the
district within tn, confines of the dis
trict. namely. the city of WatervinoI
and Fairfield Village Corporation. The
bill was opposed by Harvey d. Eaton.
attorney for the Water District. who
claimed that the general law eXnmptea
al the property that the district might
acquire The proponents OF the
amendment were represented by Judge
benedict +. Mah"r of Augusta. who
| contcnded that Justice demanded that
| The property acquired by the water
district in China should be taxed and
that it had been ruled in similar cases
IN other states thar property :" held
nnlld bc taxed.
Judge Nahcr in OPP ming the case ex-
planned that ii vas the purpose of the
bill introduced by Representative
Drtton to tax all real estate owned
ny til" district outside of the confines
of the district. II presented the bill
i'll q naW draft at the beginning Of
tn" hearing which exempted from the
provisions of The anne ndment amy part
Of the pipe line n any Dniding used
in the operation IF the said system.
which he said would be satisfactory
To the proponents Of the measure.
Representatives Dutton of China
made an eloquent speech in favor OF
the taxation of the property Of the
water district in the town Of China.
He stated that the district was char
tered by the Legislature OF 1899 and
tie district as created consisted of tho
city of Waterville and Fairfield Vii
la9e Corporation and was given the
privilege OF taking its water supply
from kennebec river Sobasticook rv-
cr and their lakes. The district was
also authorized 10 operate in Benton
and WinsloW and also a portion of
FaSSalboro. but these towns We're not
included in the district. The water
was first taken from the Messalon-
ske" stream hut after an epidemic OF
typhoid fever they discovered that the
water of China lake WAS superior to
any that they had previously exam
med. be didn'l blame them for that
The only thing liz did blame them
| FOR was that they didn't take il from
Ghina lake before, knowing the i'm
purity of Mess1lonskec stream The
only thing the residents of China Oh
| iect to is the exemption of the prop
erty the district has taken in China
| from taxation
| Section u of the charter of the dis
trict says that al property Of said
! district shall he exempt from taxation
Pretty broad provision. isn't it? The
Of NJ, (i-,y ;, Iii; a III 1;rI
pipes at China LAKE, and it was sun
posed that they had everything they
needed - give supply of pure va
ter. For some unknown cause they
began reaching out for something more
| and began buying up whole farms
| around the lake. In many cases they
| sold back the land cXeept q strip
around the lake. outing in - provis-
| ion that public travel should not be
| allowed To the lake.
They purchased the Clark farm OF
| Mr. Jealous. the agent of the North
| Naesalbor" wooden mills. located three
| miles from the intake and then leased
| the farrt back to Mr.. Jealous. None
| of those purchases have helped the
| purity of ;ho vat" one iota. When
| an assessor rame around to assess
| the land on 81 reasonable and not on
! the enormous price that they paid for
| it the Officers nC the district said, We
| will nor pay any tax on it, Do YOU
| suppose the Legislature when they
| granted this charter thought that the
| k6aneb,c Water district would go in
| to real estate business? This is what
| they arc doing and viii continue To
| do when they can buy III five or six
| miles Of our lake shore They have
| the sarac right to buy UP hall ot tt"
| .uv.n of China if they want to-.
| "E-hat viii become of the rest Of
| the town that will be obliged to pay
| the whole tax" cried Mr.. Dutton WITH
| = blrst Of cloquence. 1t is not Just.
| We are here for equal rights 10 all and
| special privileges to none. | hope that
| the committee will act upon the Cold
| en- Rule.
o. +. Sproul. chairman Of the board
OF selectmCnt of the town of China
testified that the district had taken
about three miles of the shore front
in China and about four miles of the
lake front in Vassalboro. Between
20 and 81 miles are included in the
water shed, which embraces tWo-thirds
| of the valuation of China.
Mr.. Sproul went on to explain that
| the taking of this land shore prop
erty was driving the summer resi-
dents from China. About II years ago
| the first cottage for summer use was
built in China, costing about 5000, now
they had summer property valued at
| over $15, 900. The district is going to
buy up all this property around the
lake. II heard Mr.. Eaton say. he
| went on, THAT the district proposed
| to obtain the entire shore property
| around the large lake
| He explained that the property taken
| in China was 10 miles away from Wa
| terville He declared that the people
| of China wished what WAS just and
| right and felt that the district ought
| to pay a tax. So far the property the
| district had taken represented only
! about SiiOo in valuation. but il was
| what the company could do and pro-
| posed 10 do tina. scared the people
! of China We don't want to see
l off no