RHODE ISLAND.

Pathologist of State Board of Health-Appointment, Powers, Duties, and Salary-Appointment and Salary of Assistant Pathologist. (Ch. 1916, Act Apr. 28, 1920.)

SECTION 1. Section 14 of chapter 115 of the general laws, entitled "Of the State board of health," as amended by chapter 10701 of the public laws, passed at the January session, A. D. 1914, and by chapter 1753 of the public laws, passed at the January session, A. D. 1919, is hereby further amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 14. The board shall appoint a well-qualified pathologist, who shall, under the direction of the board, have full charge of the pathological and bacteriological part of the laboratory maintained by the board, and shall conduct and supervise the pathological and bacteriological researches made in such laboratory, and who shall devote all of his time to the office. He may, with the consent of the board, appoint an assistant pathologist, and the board shall fix the salaries of said pathologist and assistant, but not exceeding $4,000 annually for the pathologist, nor $2,500 annually for the assistant pathologist, and such salaries shall be in full compensation for any of their services in connection with said board."

SEC. 2. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act during the fiscal year ending December 31, 1920, the sum of $500, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same hereby is, appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; and the State auditor is hereby directed to draw his orders upon the general treasurer for the payment of said sum, or so much thereof as may from [time] to time be required, upon receipt by him of proper vouchers.

Manufacturing and Mercantile Establishments—Toilet Facilities-Dressing Rooms and Seats for Female Employees-Suction Shuttle Prohibited. Foodstuffs-Inspection and Protection. (Ch. 1907, Act Apr. 26, 1920.)

SECTION 1. Section 8 of chapter 78 of the general laws, entitled “Of factory inspection," as amended by chapter 1522 of the public laws, passed at the January session, A. D. 1917, and by chapter 1632 of the public laws, passed at the January session, A. D. 1918, is hereby further amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 8. The owner of any building which is situated in a city or town having a public water service and on or adjacent to any highway, street, road, or other way in which is laid a public main, and in which said building is located one or more factory, manufacturing, or mercantile establishments employing 25 persons or less, shall equip each of such establishments with at least one effectively trapped and ventilated water-closet for the use of the

1 Reprint 279 from Public Health Reports, p. 161.

2 Supplement 42 to Public Health Reports, p. 807.

3 Supplement 37 to Public Health Reports, p. 470.

• Supplement 38 to Public Health Reports, p. 345.

employees: Provided, however, That if the employees are of different sex, then and in such case there shall be at least two effectively trapped and ventilated water-closets, one for male and one for female employees, separately located, with separate entrances, properly designated, and so built as to insure privacy.

"The owner of any building, in which said building is located one or more factory, manufacturing, or mercantile establishments employing more than 25 persons, shall equip each of such establishments with one effectively trapped and ventilated water-closet for every 40 employees or fraction thereof exceeding one-half: Provided, however, That if the employees are of different sex then there shall be separate water-closets for the different sexes, with separate entrances, properly designated, and so built as to insure privacy.

"Water-closets, earth closets, or privies shall be provided in all other places where women and children are employed, in such manner as shall, in the judgment of said inspectors, meet the demands of health and propriety.

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Separate dressing rooms for women and girls shall be provided in all establishments where such are deemed a necessity by said factory inspectors, and in every manufacturing, mechanical, or mercantile establishment in which women or girls are employed there shall be provided, conveniently located, seats for such women and girls, and they shall be permitted to use them when their duties do not require their standing.

"It shall be unlawful for any proprietor of a factory, or any officer or agent or other person, to require or permit the use of suction shuttles, or any form of shuttle in the use of which any part of the shuttle or any thread is required to be put in the mouth or touched by the lips of the operator."

SEC. 2. Section 18 of chapter 78 of the general laws, entitled "Of factory inspection," as enacted by chapter 576 of the public laws passed at the January session, A. D. 1910, and amended by chapter 1352 of the public laws passed at the January session, A. D. 1916, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 18. Said chief inspector, or any assistant factory inspector required by him, shall have charge of the inspection of bakeries, confectioneries, and icecream manufactories, and any premises upon which bread or other products or [of?] flour or meal are baked or mixed or prepared for baking or for sale as food in this State. Said inspector shall have charge of the inspection of cooked and prepared foods and foodstuffs displayed or offered for sale in any store, market, restaurant, lunch cart or lunch counter, or other place of public display, and all foods of this description shall be kept in tight wooden or glass cases or cupboards, or under glass, earthen, or tin covers, or in cases or cans, or wrapped in paraffin paper, or protected in such a manner that no dust or animals can come in contact with such foods while thus displayed or offered for sale. Said foods, when carried through any street, private way, or public place, shall be protected in a similar manner. All candies, confectionery, dried or preserved fruits, dates, figs, cut fruits, cut melons, cracked nuts, or nut meats shall be protected as provided above when displayed or offered for sale, and any such inspector so acting, whether one or more of such inspectors, or whether acting at the same or different times, shall for such purposes be designated as a State inspector of bakeries and foods. Such inspector shall not be pecuniarily interested. directly or indirectly, in the manufacture or sale of any article or commodity used in any business included in the provisions of this act and shall not give certificates or written opinions to a maker or vendor of any such article or commodity."

5 Reprint 406 from Public Health Reports, p. 186.

43163-23-26

Waters of the State-Regulation and Prohibition of Pollution of. (Ch. 1914, Act Apr. 28, 1920.)

SECTION 1. As used in this act the following terms shall, where the context permits, be construed as follows:

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The term 'sewage "shall be held to mean and to include any human or animal excremental liquid or substance, any decomposed animal or vegetable matter, garbage, offal, filth, waste, chemicals, acid, dyestuff, starch, coloring matter, oil, and tar, and any compound, solution, mixture, or product thereof, and every substance which may be injurious to public health or comfort, or which would injuriously affect the natural and healthy propagation, growth, or development of any fish or shellfish in the waters of this State, or of the nourishment of the same, or which would injuriously affect the flavor, taste, or value as food of any such fish or shellfish, or which would injure or defile any vessel, boat, wharf, pier, or any public or private property upon, in, or under said waters or any shore thereof.

The term "waters" shall include all tidewaters within the State and all inland waters of any river, stream, brook, pond, or lake.

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The term person" shall include an individual, firm, or corpartnership, and association, and a private or municipal corporation.

The term "board" shall be taken to mean and refer to the board hereinafter created.

The term "pollution "shall be held to mean the entrance or discharge of sewage into any of the waters of the State in such quantity as to cause or be likely to cause, either by itself or in connection with other sewage so discharged, damage to the public, or to any person having a right to use said waters for boating, fishing, or other purposes, or owning property in, under, or bordering upon the same.

The term "polluting" shall be held to mean the causing of pollution.

Wherever reference is made in this act to any order of the board and such order shall have been modified by the court, the order referred to shall be taken to be the order of the board as so modified.

SEC. 2. There shall be a board of purification of waters consisting of three members. At the present session of the general assembly the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint one member of said board to hold office until the 1st day of February, A. D. 1921; one member to hold office until the 1st day of February, A. D. 1922; and one member to hold office until the 1st day of February, A. D. 1923. In the month of January, A. D. 1921, and in the month of January in every year thereafter, the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a member of said board to hold office for the term of three years beginning on the 1st day of February next following, to succeed the member of said board whose term shall then expire. Any vacancy which may occur in said board from any cause whatsoever when the senate is not in session shall be filled by the governor until the next session thereof, when the governor shall, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint some person to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term. Any member of said board may be removed by the governor, for cause shown, with the advice and consent of the senate. Said board shall elect one of its members as chairman and shall have power to employ from among its members or otherwise a clerk and such other expert and clerical assistance as it may deem necessary or expedient, and to fix the compensation therefor within the limit of the amount appropriated therefor by the general assembly. The members of the board shall serve without compensation.

SEC. 3. The board is hereby authorized and directed to regulate or prohibit the pollution of the waters of the State in accordance with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 4. If the board shall have reasonable cause to believe that any person is polluting the waters of the State, or if complaint shall be made to it that such is the fact, it shall be the duty of the board to investigate such matter. For the purpose of such investigation the board may hold public or private hearings, summon witnesses, and take testimony under oath. Before making any finding that a person is polluting the waters of the State, the board shall grant such person a hearing and give him at least 30 days' notice thereof. At all hearings before it the board shall receive evidence and hear witnesses in behalf of the person believed to be polluting the waters of the State. All subpoenas shall be signed and issued by a member of the board and served as subpoenas in civil cases in the superior court are served, and witnesses so subpoenaed shall be entitled to the same fees for attendance and travel as are provided for witnesses in civil cases in the superior court. If the person subpoenaed to attend before the board fails to obey the command of such subpoena without reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance before the board shall without reasonable cause refuse to be sworn or be examined or to answer a legal and pertinent question, the board may apply to any justice of the superior court for any county, upon proof by affidavit of the fact, for a rule or order returnable in not less than two nor more than five days directing such person to show cause before the justice who made the order, or any other justice of said court, why he should not be adjudged in contempt. Upon the return of such order the justice before whom the matter is brought for a hearing shall examine under oath such person, and such person shall be given an opportunity to be heard, and if the justice shall determine that such person has refused without reasonable cause or legal excuse to be examined or to answer a legal and pertinent question, he may impose a fine upon such offender or forthwith commit the offender to jail, there to remain until he submits to do the act which he was so required to do, or is discharged according to law. The board may employ such professional or expert services as it may deem desirable in making any investigation or in conducting any prosecution for the violation of the provisions of this act, within the limit of the amount appropriated therefor by the general assembly.

SEC. 5. If any person is polluting the waters of the State, and if after such investigation the board shall so find, it shall make its findings in writing to that effect and may enter an order directing such person to adopt or use or to operate properly, as the case may be, some practicable and reasonably available system or means to prevent such pollution, having due regard for the rights and interests of all persons concerned. Such order may specify the particular system or means to be adopted, used, or operated: Provided, however, That where there is more than one such practicable and reasonably available system or means, such order shall give to the person complained of the right to adopt or use such one of said systems or means as he may choose. Such order shall specify the time within which such system or means shall be adopted or used or such operation thereof shall be commenced. Such time may be extended by the board in its discretion from time to time upon application being made to it by such person, and any such order may upon like application from time to time be modified by the board in any other particular not inconsistent with the provisions hereof. Where any such order of the board does not specify the system or means to be adopted, the person against whom such order is entered shall, before proceeding to install any such system or means, submit to the board a plan or statement describing the system or means which he proposes

to adopt. In case such person subsequently desires to make any substantial change in such system or means so adopted, he shall, before proceeding to do so, file with the board a plan or statement describing such change. The board may, upon the application of any person at any time, enter an order approving any such system or means which he has adopted or may desire to adopt. Any order of the board may at any time or from time to time, after at least 30 days' notice in writing to the person or persons affected thereby and a hearing, be modified or revoked by an order duly entered by the board. The board shall forthwith cause an attested copy of each order entered by it to be served upon the person or persons affected thereby in the same manner as writs of summons in actions at law are served.

SEC. 6. Any person who shall adopt or use and shall properly operate a system or means to prevent the pollution of the waters of the State with the approval or in compliance with an order of the board shall thenceforth, as long as such approval or order remains unrevoked and unmodified, be deemed to have complied with all orders of the board issued during such period under the authority conferred upon it by section 5 or 8 hereof.

SEC. 7. Any person who shall be guilty of polluting the waters of the State in violation of an order of the board shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than one year or by both such fine and imprisonment; and every such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate and distinct offense for each month or part thereof during which such pollution in violation of an order of the board shall be repeated or continued. In case the board finds that any person has been guilty of pollution in violation of any order of the board, the board shall enter an order stating such finding and specifying the order deemed by it to have been violated, and no prosecution shall be instituted under this act or under the common law without such order having first been entered. No such order shall be entered pending the stay by the court under the provisions of section 12 hereof of the order so found to have been violated, nor until the board shall have given the person accused of such violation at least 30 days' notice in writing to show cause why such order should not be entered and have granted him a hearing.

SEC. 8. The board shall have full power to inspect, and make orders regulating and directing all methods, means and devices employed on any steamer or other vessel in the public waters of the State, in receiving, carrying, or discharging any petroleum, gasoline, kerosene, tar, oil, or any product or mixture thereof; and the board may by order establish all rules and regulations to prevent the discharge or escape of any of said substances into the public waters; and the violation of any order under this section made shall be punished as provided in section 7 hereof. Before making any order under this section establishing any rule, regulation, or direction the board shall grant a hearing thereon to all persons interested therein, first giving notice of such hearing by advertising the same at least once a week for four successive weeks in at least two public newspapers published in the city of Providence and by giving at least 30 days' notice thereof by registered mail to each person interested therein who shall have registered with the board his name and address with a request to be so notified. All orders made under this section shall be served upon all persons interested therein in the same manner in which notices are given as above provided.

SEC. 9. All prosecutions for polluting the waters of the State in violation of an order of the board shall be by complaint and warrant and shall be made in the district courts of the State. Said board, without being required to enter into any recognizance or to give surety for costs, or the attorney general of his