town there shall be erected,
unless the town at the annual meeting agrees upon some suitable
substitute therefor, a substantial post of not less than eight feet
in height, near the upper end of which shall be placed a board or
boards, with plain inscription thereon, directing travellers to the
next town or towns and informing them of the distance thereto.

Every town which neglects or refuses to erect and maintain such
guide-posts, or some suitable substitutes therefor, shall forfeit
annually five dollars for every guide-post which it neglects or
refuses to maintain.[23] These forfeitures can be recovered either by
indictment or by an action of tort for the benefit of the county
wherein the acts of negligence or refusal occur; and any interested
or public-spirited person can make complaint of such negligence or
refusal to the superior court, or to any trial justice, police,
district or municipal court, having jurisdiction of the matter.[24]

[23] Pub. St. c. 53, Secs. 1-5.

[24] Pub. St. c. 217; 108 Mass. 140.

The selectmen may establish and maintain such drinking-troughs,
wells, and fountains within the public highways, squares, and
commons of their respective towns, as in their judgment the public
necessity and convenience may require, and the towns may vote money
to defray the expenses thereof.[25] But the vote of a town
instructing the selectmen to establish a watering-trough at a
particular place would be irregular and void, because towns in their
corporate capacity have not been given the right by statute to
construct drinking-troughs in the public highways. And towns would
not be liable for the acts of the selectmen performed in pursuance
of this statute, because the law makes the selectmen a board of
public officers, representing the general public, and not the agents
of their respective towns. However, if the inhabitants of a town
should construct a drinking trough or fountain of such hideous
shape, and paint it with such brilliant color, that it would
frighten an ordinarily gentle and well-broken horse, by reason of
which a traveller should be brought in contact with a defect in the
way or on the side of the way, and thus injured, the town might be
held liable to pay damages.[26]

[25] Pub. St. c. 27, Sec. 50.

[26] 125 Mass. 526.

It is my purpose to state what the law is, and not what it ought to
be; but I will venture the suggestion that it would not be an
unreasonable ha