ART. 21.] WASHINGTON COUNTT. 927

285. The burgess, assistant burgess and commissioners shall,
before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take
an oath before some justice of the peace of Washington county,
to act without favor, partiality or affection in all things apper-
taining to their several trusts.

286. The said burgess and commissioners, or a majority of
them, may meet from time to time as often as occasion may
require, upon the business of the town, not less than once in
every three months, and the assistant burgess shall preside at all
meetings in the absence of the burgess, but when the burgess is
present, the assistant burgess shall have the same power aa one
of the commissioners.

287. The burgess and commissioners shall have power to make
all by-laws and ordinances they may deem expedient for the
comfort, health, convenience and prosperity of the town and its
inhabitants; for the prevention and removal of nuisances, the
preservation of health, and suppression of vice and immorality
within the town.

288. They may by ordinance direct all or any of the footways
in the town to be laid off, levelled and paved or mended, with
any materials they may deem best, and the same shall be done
at the expense of .the proprietors of the different lots before
which the same shall be directed to be done.

289. They may lay an equal tax on the property within the
town to sucli amount as may from time to time be deemed neces-
sary for the purposes of the corporation, and may appoint a
collector to collect the said taxes; and the said collector shall
have the same power to distrain therefor as collectors of county
taxes, and shall, when he has collected the said taxes, pay the
same to the burgess and commissioners; and the said burgess
and commissioners may prescribe the term of office, responsi-
bility and compensation of the collector.

290. The said corporation shall not issue any note, token,
device, scrip, or other evidence of debt to be used as currency.

291. Any justice of the peace, residing within the said town,
may take cognizance of all violations of the ordinances of the
•said corporation; and, upon information, may cause all persons
offending against them to be brought before him for trial, and,