1138 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

Council may direct, then and in such case the obligation to be
void, but otherwise to remain in full force and virtue in law.
And the tax collector shall receive such compensation as may
be fixed by ordinance for the services rendered in collecting the
taxes under the annual levy; or if the Mayor and Council shall
pass no ordinance fixing the amount of his compensation, he
shall receive such compensation or commission as the Mayor
and Council may appoint, by order noted in the minute book at
or about the time of his appointment; and in the absence of
any such ordinance or note in the minute book, he shall receive
a commission of four per cent, on all sums collected. Any tax
collector appointed by virtue of this Act is hereby authorized
and empowered if so directed by the Mayor and City Council
to collect in the manner herein provided all taxes in arrears
that may have been legally levied during the term of office of
any of his predecessors, unless the same shall have been barred
by limitation.

42. Besides the power and authority conferred upon the
Mayor and Council in the other sections of this sub-title of this
article, the Mayor and Council shall have power and authority
to make such by-laws and in conformity with this charter as
they may deem necessary for the good government of said town,
for the following purposes, to wit: (1) To promote and pre-
serve the health of the town and the people thereof, and to pro-
tect and safeguard the town generally and every section there-
of, and to protect and safeguard the property belonging to the
town as a corporate body as well as the property of the resi-
dents thereof, and also to protect and safeguard persons who
are non-residents, and the property of such non-residents while
they or their property are within said town. (2) To forbid and
prevent or remove and abate all nuisances and to define and de-
scribe what shall be a nuisance, and to declare any existing
thing within said town to be a nuisance which prejudices or is
liable to prejudice the health of the people thereof, or of any
considerable number of the same, and to prescribe and appoint
means for removing any nuisance, and to enforce the use of
such means, and to prescribe penalties for a refusal or failure
to remove any nuisance after the Mayor and Council have or-
dered the removal thereof. (3) To open, build or construct
and to enclose or keep open, and to regulate and to keep in re-
pair all necessary and useful drains and sewers, and to demand
and obtain for the policeman, employes, workmen and laborers
in the service of the town the right to enter .any private prop-
erty and premises for the purpose of improving the condition
of any such drain or sewers; for opening the same when they
become closed or obstructed; to rebuild or repair them when