But, as pointed out in Miner v. Franklin, 78 N.H. 240, the decision in the earlier case related to a road which had been "put under state control by the legislature." Ib. 242. The details of such legislative action were not given in either of those cases, but are fully set forth in the Opinion of the Justices, 77 N.H. 606, 608, 609. In 1907, the legislature directed the governor and council to designate for state improvement a highway from the Massachusetts state line to Lake Winnipesaukee. Laws 1907, c. 139.

It is true that incomes have certain similarities to inheritances. Incomes are strictly incidents of property rather than the property itself, and relate to events rather than ownership, as is set forth in the minority opinion in Opinion of the Justices, 77 N.H. 606. But this comparison between incomes and inheritances and the contrast between them and property owned does not prove either that proportion between them and general property may not be observed in taxing them or that the 1903 amendment intended that proportion should not be thus observed if it might be.

This claim is well supported. Laws 1915, c. 48, s. 2; Kelsea v. Stratford, 79 N.H. 273; Tilton v. Sanbornton, 78 N.H. 389; Grace v. Belmont, 78 N.H. 112; Opinion of the Justices, 77 N.H. 606. The question is whether the construction and repair of "state aided" highways has by the road improvement legislation been placed in the immediate charge of the selectmen instead of the highway agents.

" This language clearly indicated that highways wholly or in part maintained by the towns were not regarded as state highways. See also c. 104, Laws 1907. Opinion of the Justices, 77 N.H. 606, 608. If, as is claimed by the defendant, the highway in question is a state road and therefore exempt from the liability mentioned in s. 1 of the act of 1915, there is a clear conflict between s. 1 and s. 2.

"Chapter 155, Laws of 1909, substantially reenacted the law of 1907, provided that the route of the Merrimack Valley road should extend over the road designated by the governor and council under chapter 139, Laws of 1907, . . . The trunk-line statutes do not require the towns to engage in the proposed improvement, but aim to induce them to do so by the provision that towns through which the route runs shall not be entitled to state aid for other roads therein until the improvement on the trunk line is completed." Opinion of the Justices, 77 N.H. 606, 609. No provision of the statutes existed prior to 1913 by which the towns of Tilton and Belmont could be required to improve that portion of the route of the Merrimack Valley road covered by this, bridge.