In addition, there are clear indications that the 1906 act and its predecessor, St. 1885, c. 323, were passed with the intention of separating the authority of the licensing board from that of the mayor and city council of Boston. It is necessary to do some tracing here. Most of the duties given to the licensing board under the 1906 act were formerly handled for a time by the board of police of the city. Welch v. O'Meara, 195 Mass. 541, 543 (1907). St. 1885, c. 323, § 2.

" It was "a tribunal appointed to relieve the police commissioner by hearing the evidence and finding the facts in such cases as he thinks it best to refer to it." Welch v. O'Meara, 195 Mass. 541, 542 (1907). No substantial change was made in this respect when § 10 was reenacted as § 12 by St. 1962, c. 322, § 1.

" In re Berkowitz, 143 Fed. 598, presented for construction a provision of the bankruptcy law, and a United States district judge of Pennsylvania there said: "My own inclination is to think that 'herein' refers to the whole statute, including general order 12 (89 Fed. vii; 18 Sup. Ct. vi) by force of the authority given by section 30, and therefore that clauses 3 and 4 of section 4, and section 3 of the general order should be construed together." Likewise, in Welch v. O'Meara, 195 Mass. 541 [81 N.E. 264], where it was sought to nullify a section of a statute for the same reason here presented, the court said: "The argument of the petitioner is founded largely upon an assumption that the word 'herein,' in this section, means in section 10, and not in the statute generally. . . . This is an error. . . .