To the Board of Registration in Pharmacy. 1906 May 9. REGISTERED PHARMACIST PRESCRIPTION-REGISTERED PHY SICIAN - PLACE OF RESIDENCE. A registered pharmacist may, under the provisions of St. 1906, c. 281, fill a prescription written by a registered physician practising medicine in the city or town where such registered pharmacist is engaged in business, without regard to the place of residence of such physician. I am in receipt of your letter of the 7th inst., in which you ask if a registered pharmacist can fill a prescription written by a physician residing in another city or town, under chapter 281 of the Acts of 1906, and I reply that a registered pharmacist may fill such prescription given by a registered physician practising in such city or town, whether he resides there or not. To the Board BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN PHARMACY CIST INTOXICATING LIQUOR - SALE REGISTERED PHARMA CERTIFICATE. A registered pharmacist who holds a certificate issued by the Board of Registration in Pharmacy, under the provisions of R. L., c. 100, § 23, and stating that such pharmacist is a proper person to be entrusted with a license to sell intoxicating liquor, as provided in section 21, such certificate having been issued before the passage of St. 1906, c. 281, authorizing registered pharmacists to sell without license intoxicating liquor upon prescriptions of registered physicians practising within the same city or town, under the conditions set forth in such chapter, must, before taking advantage of the provisions of St. 1906, c. 281, receive a new certificate of fitness from such Board. In your letter dated May 24 you request my opinion upon the following question: A certificate having been issued to a registered pharmacist previous to May 1, 1906, in accordance with section 23, chapter 100, and the owner of such certificate having been refused a sixth-class license, can the owner of said certificate sell intoxicating liquor on a physician's prescription in accordance with chapter 281 of the Acts of 1906, without obtaining another certificate applicable to said chapter 281, Acts of 1906 ? In reply to your inquiry I beg to say that in my opinion a registered pharmacist who holds a certificate issued in accordance with the provisions of section 23 of chapter 100 of the Revised Laws, before St. 1906, c. 281, took effect, and who has not received a sixth-class license, is not authorized to sell intoxicating liquor on a physician's prescription in accordance with chapter 281 of the Acts of 1906 without obtaining another certificate, issued in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of chapter 281 of the Acts of 1906. ME SEALER OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - INSPECTION The duty of the Deputy Sealer of Weights and Measures, and of sealers of weights Treasurer and Receiver General. 1906 Your inquiry of June 11 requires my opinion upon the ques- To the tion whether or not the Sealer of Weights and Measures has authority to seal and test computations "on barrel-shaped scales, so called, which register the price of the amount purchased as well as the weight in pounds and ounces." I am advised that the scales in question are known as "computing scales," and display the price of the article weighed upon the platform as well as the weight of such article. R. L., c. 62, § 8, provides for the appointment of a Deputy Sealer of Weights and Measures, whose duty, as determined by section 9, is to "try, adjust and seal the standard weights, measures and balances of every city and town at least once in five years. . . . He may also inspect the weights, measures and balances of any person which are used for sealing any goods, wares, merchandise or other commodity, or for public weighing in any city or town, and if he finds them inaccurate he shall forthwith inform the mayor or selectmen, who shall cause the provisions of this chapter to be enforced." Section 10 provides that the deputy "shall keep a record in detail of the places visited, and of the weights, measures and balances tested by him. . . ." June 14. A consideration of the provisions of this chapter and of the duties imposed upon the Deputy Sealer of Weights and Measures, as well as upon sealers of weights and measures appointed in the various cities or towns in accordance with the requirements of such statute, shows conclusively that the responsibility of such officers is confined to the determination of the accuracy of appliances for registering weights and measures as enumerated in section 6 relating exclusively to quantity, and that there is no authority to permit the trial, adjustment and sealing of such appliances as register the pecuniary value of any article weighed. The duty and responsibility of the officers in the premises are, therefore, to determine only the accuracy of such appliances as register weights and dry or liquid measures, and do not extend to such mechanical devices as purport to register the value of the commodity weighed. To the 1906 June 20. KEEPING GASOLENE. The word "building" as used in St. 1904, c. 370, § 3, as amended by St. 1905, c. 280, providing that no building shall be erected or used in any city or town for the keeping, storage, manufacture or sale of gunpowder and certain other explosives without a license from the mayor and aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, a permit from the Chief of the District Police, or some person designated by him, applies to and includes an iron tank, closed except by pipe connections, and placed upon an uncovered brick foundation, designed and intended as a "container" of gasolene, and would apply to and include such a structure, even if under ground, from which the liquid is taken by means of a pump. Replying to your letter of the 12th, in which you ask for my District Police. opinion as to whether the word "building," as used in section 3 of chapter 370 of the Acts of 1904, as amended by chapter 280 of the Acts of 1905, applies to or includes an iron tank closed except by pipe connections and placed upon a brick foundation uncovered, and intended as a "container" for gasolene to be kept for sale, I have to say that in my opinion it does so apply. Considering the nature of the articles to be stored, namely, crude petroleum or any of its products, or other inflammable fluids, and the likelihood that they would be stored in a tank, so called, I think the Legislature intended to include such a structure in the word "building;" otherwise, a structure of any size might be erected for the purpose of the storage of petroleum or other inflammable fluids, without any regulations applying thereto. I am also of opinion that the word "building" would cover a tank similarly constructed, for a similar purpose, if underground, and the liquid pumped therefrom. RAILROAD CORPORATIONS- ACQUISITION AND CONTROL OF House Bill No. 1358, providing in section 1 that "it shall be unlawful for a railroad corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth to acquire, own or hold, directly or indirectly, the stock or bonds of any street railway company having a location in any city or town in this Commonwealth, or to lease the franchise and property of any such street railway," and in section 2, that "upon petition of the attorney-general of the Commonwealth to the supreme court in equity . . . a receiver shall be appointed who shall take possession and control of the property of any street railway" included in section 1, with further provision in section 4 for forfeiture of the charter of such company, after due notice and hearing, is ineffective to prevent the purchase of the stock of a domestic street railway by a railroad corporation chartered in another State and duly authorized thereto by the laws of that State. Such bill prohibits the leasing of the franchise of a domestic street railway company by a railroad corporation operating a steam railroad within the Commonwealth. By reason of the provision for the dissolution of the charter of a domestic street railway company if its stock or bonds are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a railroad corporation operating a steam railroad within the Commonwealth, such bill would prevent such acquisition and control. of Repre 1906 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of an order To the House adopted by the House of Representatives on the nineteenth sentatives. day of June, requiring the opinion of the Attorney-General June 21. upon certain questions regarding House Bill No. 1358, entitled "An Act relative to Investments by Railroad Corporations in Street Railway Companies." The bill submitted to me is in form as follows: SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for a railroad corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth to acquire, own or hold, directly or indirectly, the stock or bonds of any street railway company having a location in any city or town in this Commonwealth, or to lease the franchise and property of any such street railway company, or to become an associate in the formation of a company for the purpose of constructing, operating and maintaining such a street railway. SECTION 2. Any railroad corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth which now owns, directly or indirectly, stocks or bonds of a street railway company having a location in any city or town in this Commonwealth is hereby requested to sell and dispose of said stock or bonds within one year from the time this bill becomes a law. SECTION 3. Upon the petition of the attorney-general of the Commonwealth to the supreme court in equity and such notice as said court may order to parties in interest, a receiver shall be appointed who shall take possession and control of the property of any street railway company having a location in a city or town in this Commonwealth the capital stock or bonds of which are believed to be owned or controlled by any railroad corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth. SECTION 4. After a hearing upon said petition, if the court shall find that the capital stock or any part thereof or bonds or any part thereof of any street railway company having a location in the Commonwealth is held directly or indirectly by any railroad corporation operating a railroad in the Commonwealth, or that the franchise of any street railway company is held by lease by any railroad corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth, the court shall enter a decree that the charter and franchise of such street railway company are forfeited and that its offices be closed, and shall direct said receiver to sell and dispose of the property and franchise of said street railway company and apply the funds received from such sale to the payment of debts and liabilities of such street railway company in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of the Commonwealth applicable to insolvent debtors. SECTION 5. After the payment of debts and liabilities of such street railway company and the payment of expenses of said receivership the remaining surplus, if any there be, shall be ordered to be distributed as a dividend to stockholders of said street railway company. SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon its passage. The first inquiry presented by the honorable House of Representatives is "whether the bill annexed is legally sufficient to prevent the purchase of the stock of street railway companies |