establishment more than fifty-eight hours in a week," extends to and includes "a woman employed by a mercantile establishment as the manager and superintendent of a special department in such establishment, said woman being the buyer for such department, and having, at times, as many as four hundred employees under her direction, consisting of men, women and minors; she having no special hours for arriving at or leaving such establishment, the times necessary for her to be present being determined by herself." I have no hesitation in advising you that the statute to which you refer is not applicable to a woman who is a manager and superintendent of a large department, entrusted with the control and supervision of numerous persons employed therein, and whose duties require the exercise of judgment and discretion, and do not necessarily involve either manual labor or labor performed within any fixed and definite hours. To the House of Representatives. 1910 February 21. CIVIL SERVICESTATE BOARDS, DEPARTMENTS OR COMMIS- No State board, department or commission is authorized to require of applicants Ordered, That the Attorney-General inform the House of Representatives what boards, departments and commissions, if any, of the Commonwealth can specially require of applicants for positions under them qualifications other than required by the Civil Service Commission, and to what extent they may go in those qualifications; also, to what extent the Civil Service Commission are bound to accede to requisitions made for certain qualifications by boards, departments and commissions in making up or advertising notices of examinations for applicants for positions so qualified by departments, boards and commissions. In reply thereto I would inform the Honorable House of Representatives that section 6 of chapter 19 of the Revised Laws provides: The commissioners shall from time to time prepare rules regulating the selection of persons to fill appointive positions in the government of the commonwealth and of the several cities thereof and the selection of persons to be employed as laborers or otherwise in the service of the commonwealth and said several cities, and altering, rescinding, amending or adding to the rules now established. Such rules may be of general or limited application and shall take effect only when approved by the governor and council. In pursuance of the authority given the Civil Service Commission by said section, said commission has adopted certain rules. The rule relating to special qualifications, under which the commission acts, is Rule 22, section 1: Whenever any appointing officer shall make requisition not expressly calling for women, the commission shall certify from such list as it shall deem suitable only the names of all veterans who have passed the examination for the position sought, in the order of the respective standing of such veterans upon the eligible list, and the position, if filled, must be filled by the appointment and employment of some veteran so certified, and in case there is no such veteran upon the list, then the commission shall certify, from such list as it shall deem suitable, the names of the three persons most eligible. If in any requisition a request shall be made for the certification of persons possessing a special qualification or experience, the commission may in its discretion include in the list of names certified the name of one or more persons possessing such special qualification or experience. I am informed that the practice of the Civil Service Commission is as follows: when a requisition is received from an appointing official to fill a vacancy, the commission certifies from such list as it deems most suitable, first certifying the names of all veterans, and if there are no veterans, next the names of the three persons standing highest on the list, who have signified a willingness to accept such position at the rate of pay stated in the requisition. If the appointing official states in his requisition that he desires persons possessing special qualifications, the commission acts upon his request, either granting or refusing it, after consideration of the reasonableness of the request, the public needs in general, the special needs of the vacant position, the respective rights of the other eligibles on the list, and the question whether such request appears to be an attempt to reach some particular person on the list, in evasion of the intent of the civil service law. If appointing officials ask for more extreme special qualifications than the commission considers reasonable, or than it is advised by its experts are reasonable, it prepares its examinations irrespective of such requests. Examination papers, when upon technical subjects, are prepared by experts, or persons technically or specially fitted by training or experience to perform the task. Thus, civil engineering papers are prepared largely by civil engineers outside of the office of the commission; visitors' papers are prepared by persons specially trained in charitable work; papers for architectural positions are prepared by architects. In reply to the specific questions asked by the Honorable House of Representatives, as to what boards, departments and commissions, if any, of the Commonwealth, can specially require of applicants for positions under them qualifications other than required by the Civil Service Commission, and to what extent they may go in those qualifications, I would say that no boards, departments and commissions of the Commonwealth can specially require of applicants qualifications other than those required by the civil service law and rules; and as to what extent the Civil Service Commission is bound to accede to requisitions made for certain qualifications by boards, departments and commissions in making up or advertising notices of examinations for applicants for positions so qualified by departments, boards and commissions, I would inform the Honorable House of Representatives that the civil service law and rules do not in any case bind or make it compulsory upon the Civil Service Commission to accede to such requisitions. The law and rules give the commission the right and authority to so accede at its discretion; and in the exercise of its discretion it should be governed by the needs of the public service, as presented by the appointing officials or by others specially fitted to advise with it in the matter. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-GREAT POND - RIGHT OF LEGISLA- It is within the constitutional power of the Legislature to pass an act establishing en You inquire, on behalf of the joint standing committee on harbors and public lands, whether or not a proposed act, titled An Act relative to establishing a low-water mark Lake Attitash in the towns of Amesbury and Merrimac,” would be legal and constitutional. This bill provides, in section 1, that: in The low-water mark in Lake Attitash, situated in the towns of Amesbury and Merrimac, is hereby established at the low-water mark where the lake originally discharged into Powow river at the flume at Tuxbury's pond; the low-water mark being the bed of the brook at the bridge, so called, the original discharge of the lake into Tuxbury's pond. In sections 2 and 3 it is in substance provided that the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners shall fix the elevation of such low-water mark with reference to some suitable base, and duly record the same; and that such Board, subject to the approval of the Governor and Council, shall take, by eminent domain or otherwise, such land at the outlet of the lake as may be necessary, and shall construct a suitable dam to prevent the drawing of the water below the mark so established. Section 4 provides, in part, that: The commonwealth shall pay all damages to property sustained by any person or corporation by the taking of any land, right of way, water right or easement or by any other thing done under the authority of this act. To the Com- mittee on Public Lands. and due provision is made for the determination of such damage and for the vesting of title of the property so taken in the Commonwealth. By section 6 it is provided that all expenses incurred by said Board under the provisions of this act shall be reimbursed to the Commonwealth by the towns of Amesbury and Merrimac, the proportion to be determined apparently by the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners. Your letter further states that the passage of this act is opposed by the Hamilton Woolen Company, located in the town of Amesbury, on the ground that it is the owner and assignee of a grant made by said town of the right to draw the waters of Lake Attitash below the level to be established, and that it has acquired further rights in the premises by prescription.. The form of the proposed act appears to have been copied from chapter 539 of the Acts of 1909, which was an act to establish a low-water mark in Lake Quannapowitt in the town of Wakefield. The determination of the precise location of the "low-water mark" upon the shores of a great pond, in its ordinary signification, is ordinarily a question of fact as to where upon such shores may be found the point below which the waters are not accustomed to fall. See Paine v. Woods, 105 Mass. 160, 171; Waterman v. Johnson, 13 Pick. 261, 265; West Roxbury v. Stoddard, 7 Allen, 158, 167; East Boston Co. v. Commonwealth, 203 Mass. 68. It appears, however, from section 3 of the proposed act, that its real purpose is to establish a point upon the shores of Lake Attitash below which the waters therein shall not be drawn by persons entitled to the use thereof. This, in my opinion, is within the power of the Legislature. See Attorney-General v. Jamaica Pond Aqueduct, 133 Mass. 361. It follows, therefore, that the passage of an act establishing the height at which the water in a great pond must be permanently maintained, so far as concerns the use thereof, which is, in my opinion, the true purpose and effect of the act under consideration, is within the constitutional power of the Legislature, if adequate provision is made for compensation if the condition thus established inter |