1874-Annual Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 implication of the statute, to be paid in the first instance by the town. This is readily admitted; and the very fact stated shows the authority for it ; the statute provides for it ; that is the end of the matter; and we need look no farther for authority. Besides, by providing that the town may incur these expenses, the law prohibits the town from incurring others, on the principle, that an enumeration excludes what- ever is not enumerated. Besides, the money expended on the road culverts, is expended not on private property, but on land dedicated to the public, where the town has an over- sight, and may make such improvements as it pleases. Examine the subject, therefore, as you may, and you will, we think, fail to find any legal foundation for the doctrine, that the town may assume this debt. And if we look at the equity of the case, the objection is equally strong. Lexington happens to have a large amount of Peat meadows, situated in different parts of the town- ship ; and there is no justice or equity in taxing a meadow owner in the extreme northern, western, southern, or eastern part of the town, to pay for improvements made in the meadows in the central part of the town, for the benefit of the owners thereof. Why should a man owning a portion of the Great Meadows in" the easterly section of the town, or of Bull Hill Meadows in the extreme northerly part of the town, be made tributary to the men who own a portion of Vine Brook meadows? In fact, to tax the farmers in the outparts of the town to pay for benefits conferred upon a few individuals in the centre, would in our judgment, be an act of palpable injustice, even if it were legal. But we are satisfied that the town will not attempt any such act of illegality and injustice. Let the subject be understood, and we have no fears of the result. Those who till their rough acres in the outparts of the township, will never consent to be taxed to enhance directly the value of land more favorably situated than their own. And the people in the centre, if they are wise, will not attempt to press a measure so unjust and un- lawful, and thereby array one portion of our citizens against another. 2