Cutter, J.
Upon this bill for declaratory relief the following facts were established by the pleadings or justifiably found by the trial judge. The plaintiffs own land in the “West Wareham annexation” of the Wareham Fire District (the district). See St. 1907, c. 178 (fn. 2, infra). West Wareham was added to the district by vote of the district at its 1966 annual meeting. At the annual district meeting held on March 11, 1968, the district accepted G. L. c. 40, §§ 42G-42I.1
[162]*162In 1967, the district engaged engineers to prepare plans for supplying water to the West Wareham. annexation and later made appropriations, to be paid for by borrowings, for acquiring land for, and constructing, a standpipe and for laying mains. The water commissioners 2 were “authorized to take all action necessary to carry out these projects.” The work began in July, 1967, and was completed about February 1, 1968.
On July 2, 1968, the water commissioners adopted an order, relating to the completed extension of the system to West Wareham, in part as follows: “That the [district’s] water system ... be extended . . . over certain streets and ways which are located within the . . . [d]istrict . . . that by reason thereof the area . . . along and about said streets and ways will receive a benefit or advantage other than the general advantage to the community known as the . . . [district, and that the betterments are to be assessed in the amounts respectively estimated below. . . . The estimated cost of the improvement is $299,251.53. On the attached sheets the persons liable to assessment . . . the locations of the parcels to be assessed . . . and the estimated amounts of the assessments are listed.” Notice of the order was recorded in the Plymouth County registry of deeds on July 25, 1968, and amended hsts were recorded on October 11, 1968. About September 20, 1968, the assessors of Wareham notified each landowner in the West [163]*163Wareham annexation of the amounts of the betterment assessments and of their right to request apportionment.3 About October 15, 1968, the tax collector mailed a bill to each such landowner.
The plaintiffs, by their bill filed December 27, 1968, sought declaratory relief concerning the validity of the assessments, and whether valid liens thereby were imposed on their properties.4 After the bill was brought, St. 1969, c. 407, was enacted by the Legislature 5 and approved on June 10, 1969.
On July 28, 1969, the trial judge ruled that the betterment assessments and liens would become valid when St. 1969, c. 407, became effective.6 From a final decree to [164]*164this effect, the plaintiffs appeal. There was no request for a report of material facts. The evidence is reported.
1. The work, the cost of which is the subject of the betterment assessments, was completed about February 1, 1968. The provisions of G. L. c. 40, §§ 42G-42I, were not accepted (see Brucato v. Lawrence, 338 Mass. 612, 614-615) by the district until March 11, 1968. There is no allegation, finding, or evidence that the district thereafter “provide[d] by” (see § 42G, supra, fn. 1, at point [A]) any “by-law or vote for the levy of special assessments to meet . . . the cost thereafter incurred of laying pipes in public and private ways” (emphasis supplied) as authorized by § 42G, or that any vote to “provide” (see § 42G, fn. 1, supra, at point [B]) for use of the procedures set forth in § 42H was adopted after the district accepted that section on March 11, 1968.7 No order for imposing betterment assessments for the project appears to have been promulgated either by the district or by the water commissioners until the latter, on July 2, 1968, adopted the order, already quoted, and recorded it.
This order related to a project already completed, so the order was not made at the time when the commissioners “ determine[d] to lay water pipes,” as required by the first sentence of § 421. Because § 42G (and probably also § 42H, and [by reference to § 42G] § 421) related only to “cost thereafter incurred,” the situation was not, on July 2, 1968, one where “assessments may be made under said sections for the construction of such improvement” (see § 421, fn. 1, supra, at point [C]). Also the recording (on July 23, 1968) of the order of July 2, 1968, may not satisfy the re[165]*165quirement of § 421 that it be recorded “forthwith.” There may also have been failure to comply with the procedural requirements of G. L. c. 80, § 1 (as amended through St. 1933, c. 254, § 62) and § 2 (as amended through St. 1962, c. 234). See Union St. Ry. v. Mayor of New Bedford, 253 Mass. 304, 312-313. These procedural requirements, so far as they related to apportionment, division, reassessment, abatement, collection, and interest, were incorporated by reference by c. 40, § 421 (see fn. 1, supra, at point [D]). These delays and failures doubtless led the commissioners (see fn. 5) to seek the 1969 legislation (c. 407).
2. Before the 1969 statute became effective, the district had not effectively acted under c. 40, §§ 42G-42I, at least in the respects noted above. It thus is necessary to consider whether St. 1969, c. 407, cured these defects. We assume, without deciding, that c. 407, § 2 (fn. 5, supra), adequately and specifically validated any lateness in the recording of orders, plans, estimates, and assessments, so far as required under c. 80, §§ 1 and 2, and c. 40, § 421. Section 1 of the 1969 statute, however, does not use apt language to cure such defects, arising under c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H (neither of which is mentioned in c. 407, § 1), as fa) failure of the district to adopt a vote or by-law providing for levying betterment assessments, (b) failure to “provide” for the methods of assessment discussed in § 42H, and (c) the circumstance that at least §§ 42G and 42H in terms apply only to projects thereafter undertaken, and then only if so provided in a district vote (or votes) in addition to and after the vote accepting the section.
A validating, curative statute, which “may affect personal or property rights [here liability of particular land to betterment assessments and liens] . . . should be precise and clear.” See Loriol v. Keene, 343 Mass, 358, 362; Opinion of the Justices, post, 894, 898. The meager language of § 1 does not seem to us broad enough to cover the deficiencies in the district's purported actions and its applica[166]*166tian of c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H, to a project already completed when the district accepted these sections.
Because, in any event, c. 407, § 1, does not cure the defects in the district’s action under c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H, we need not decide (and intend no suggestion) whether that chapter, applicable only to a fire district wholly within the town of Wareham, was “an act in relation to . . . towns” adopted without compliance with pertinent (but somewhat ambiguous) provisions (especially § 8) of the so called Home Rule Amendment, art. 89 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, or whether any such compliance was required. See Opinions of the Justices, 356 Mass. 775, 788-791; Opinion of the Justices, 357 Mass. 831, 834-835. See also Marshal House, Inc. v. Rent Review S Grievance Bd. of Brookline, 357 Mass. 709, 719-720; 1967 Senate Doc.
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Cutter, J.
Upon this bill for declaratory relief the following facts were established by the pleadings or justifiably found by the trial judge. The plaintiffs own land in the “West Wareham annexation” of the Wareham Fire District (the district). See St. 1907, c. 178 (fn. 2, infra). West Wareham was added to the district by vote of the district at its 1966 annual meeting. At the annual district meeting held on March 11, 1968, the district accepted G. L. c. 40, §§ 42G-42I.1
[162]*162In 1967, the district engaged engineers to prepare plans for supplying water to the West Wareham. annexation and later made appropriations, to be paid for by borrowings, for acquiring land for, and constructing, a standpipe and for laying mains. The water commissioners 2 were “authorized to take all action necessary to carry out these projects.” The work began in July, 1967, and was completed about February 1, 1968.
On July 2, 1968, the water commissioners adopted an order, relating to the completed extension of the system to West Wareham, in part as follows: “That the [district’s] water system ... be extended . . . over certain streets and ways which are located within the . . . [d]istrict . . . that by reason thereof the area . . . along and about said streets and ways will receive a benefit or advantage other than the general advantage to the community known as the . . . [district, and that the betterments are to be assessed in the amounts respectively estimated below. . . . The estimated cost of the improvement is $299,251.53. On the attached sheets the persons liable to assessment . . . the locations of the parcels to be assessed . . . and the estimated amounts of the assessments are listed.” Notice of the order was recorded in the Plymouth County registry of deeds on July 25, 1968, and amended hsts were recorded on October 11, 1968. About September 20, 1968, the assessors of Wareham notified each landowner in the West [163]*163Wareham annexation of the amounts of the betterment assessments and of their right to request apportionment.3 About October 15, 1968, the tax collector mailed a bill to each such landowner.
The plaintiffs, by their bill filed December 27, 1968, sought declaratory relief concerning the validity of the assessments, and whether valid liens thereby were imposed on their properties.4 After the bill was brought, St. 1969, c. 407, was enacted by the Legislature 5 and approved on June 10, 1969.
On July 28, 1969, the trial judge ruled that the betterment assessments and liens would become valid when St. 1969, c. 407, became effective.6 From a final decree to [164]*164this effect, the plaintiffs appeal. There was no request for a report of material facts. The evidence is reported.
1. The work, the cost of which is the subject of the betterment assessments, was completed about February 1, 1968. The provisions of G. L. c. 40, §§ 42G-42I, were not accepted (see Brucato v. Lawrence, 338 Mass. 612, 614-615) by the district until March 11, 1968. There is no allegation, finding, or evidence that the district thereafter “provide[d] by” (see § 42G, supra, fn. 1, at point [A]) any “by-law or vote for the levy of special assessments to meet . . . the cost thereafter incurred of laying pipes in public and private ways” (emphasis supplied) as authorized by § 42G, or that any vote to “provide” (see § 42G, fn. 1, supra, at point [B]) for use of the procedures set forth in § 42H was adopted after the district accepted that section on March 11, 1968.7 No order for imposing betterment assessments for the project appears to have been promulgated either by the district or by the water commissioners until the latter, on July 2, 1968, adopted the order, already quoted, and recorded it.
This order related to a project already completed, so the order was not made at the time when the commissioners “ determine[d] to lay water pipes,” as required by the first sentence of § 421. Because § 42G (and probably also § 42H, and [by reference to § 42G] § 421) related only to “cost thereafter incurred,” the situation was not, on July 2, 1968, one where “assessments may be made under said sections for the construction of such improvement” (see § 421, fn. 1, supra, at point [C]). Also the recording (on July 23, 1968) of the order of July 2, 1968, may not satisfy the re[165]*165quirement of § 421 that it be recorded “forthwith.” There may also have been failure to comply with the procedural requirements of G. L. c. 80, § 1 (as amended through St. 1933, c. 254, § 62) and § 2 (as amended through St. 1962, c. 234). See Union St. Ry. v. Mayor of New Bedford, 253 Mass. 304, 312-313. These procedural requirements, so far as they related to apportionment, division, reassessment, abatement, collection, and interest, were incorporated by reference by c. 40, § 421 (see fn. 1, supra, at point [D]). These delays and failures doubtless led the commissioners (see fn. 5) to seek the 1969 legislation (c. 407).
2. Before the 1969 statute became effective, the district had not effectively acted under c. 40, §§ 42G-42I, at least in the respects noted above. It thus is necessary to consider whether St. 1969, c. 407, cured these defects. We assume, without deciding, that c. 407, § 2 (fn. 5, supra), adequately and specifically validated any lateness in the recording of orders, plans, estimates, and assessments, so far as required under c. 80, §§ 1 and 2, and c. 40, § 421. Section 1 of the 1969 statute, however, does not use apt language to cure such defects, arising under c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H (neither of which is mentioned in c. 407, § 1), as fa) failure of the district to adopt a vote or by-law providing for levying betterment assessments, (b) failure to “provide” for the methods of assessment discussed in § 42H, and (c) the circumstance that at least §§ 42G and 42H in terms apply only to projects thereafter undertaken, and then only if so provided in a district vote (or votes) in addition to and after the vote accepting the section.
A validating, curative statute, which “may affect personal or property rights [here liability of particular land to betterment assessments and liens] . . . should be precise and clear.” See Loriol v. Keene, 343 Mass, 358, 362; Opinion of the Justices, post, 894, 898. The meager language of § 1 does not seem to us broad enough to cover the deficiencies in the district's purported actions and its applica[166]*166tian of c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H, to a project already completed when the district accepted these sections.
Because, in any event, c. 407, § 1, does not cure the defects in the district’s action under c. 40, §§ 42G and 42H, we need not decide (and intend no suggestion) whether that chapter, applicable only to a fire district wholly within the town of Wareham, was “an act in relation to . . . towns” adopted without compliance with pertinent (but somewhat ambiguous) provisions (especially § 8) of the so called Home Rule Amendment, art. 89 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, or whether any such compliance was required. See Opinions of the Justices, 356 Mass. 775, 788-791; Opinion of the Justices, 357 Mass. 831, 834-835. See also Marshal House, Inc. v. Rent Review S Grievance Bd. of Brookline, 357 Mass. 709, 719-720; 1967 Senate Doc. No. 1547, pp. 24-36.
3. The district contends that the assessments may be sustained under G. L. c. 80, §§ 1, 2, and that these sections in effect provide an alternative to the provisions of c. 40, §§ 42G-42I. Chapter 40, § 421 (see fn. 1, at point [D]) does incorporate by reference the procedural methods of dealing with betterments contained in c. 80. In this, § 421 is similar to a number of other provisions of the General Laws. See c. 80A, §§ 1, 15 (alternative method of eminent domain); c. 82, § 12 (highways, benefits may be assessed); c. 83, §§ 14, 26, 28 (sewers, drains, and sidewalks); c. 85, § 6 (snow removal); c. 111, § 136 (drainage of wet lands); c. 161, §§ 78-80 (street railway changes). In these instances, the authority for assessing betterments appears to arise elsewhere than in c. 80, § 1, so that c. 80 provides only the procedure for betterment assessments and not the. basic authority.
Chapter 80 arises from a codification of betterment statutes (see Preliminary Report of the Commissioners to Consolidate and Arrange the General Laws, p. 220 et seq.) made in 1918 during the compilation of the General Laws. The same report recommended revision of the eminent [167]*167domain statutes (see pp. 3-53). Chapter 80, § 1, now reads, in relevant portions, substantially as it did when recommended in 1918: “Whenever a limited and determinable area receives benefit . . . other than the general advantage to the community, from a public improvement made by or in accordance with the formal vote or order of a board of officers of the . . . district, and such order states that betterments are to be assessed for the improvement, such board shall within six months after the completion of the improvement determine the value of such benefit ... to the land within such area and assess upon each parcel thereof a proportionate share of the cost of such improvement, and shall include in such cost all damages awarded therefor under . . . [c. 79]; but no such assessment shall exceed the amount of such adjudged benefit . . .” (emphasis supplied). The provisions which now constitute G. L. c. 80 obviously are closely related to the suggested revision (in the same report, p. 3 et seq.) of the eminent domain laws. Section 1 of the latter suggested revision is in essentially the form of what is now G. L. c. 79, § l.8 These statutes, on their face and in the light of their simultaneous recommendation, strongly suggest that “the formal vote or order” mentioned in c. 80, § 1, has reference principally to an eminent domain taking order under c. 79, § 1 (fn. 8), which must make specific provision whether betterments are to be assessed if the taking is one for which such an assessment is permissible, although other types of votes and orders, initiating or laying out a public improvement, may also be covered. See Folan v. Dedham, 259 Mass. 347, 348-350.
[168]*168Even if, standing alone, the language of c. 80, § 1, may seem to have broader application, we think that it does not provide an alternative basic authorization for the assessment of betterments, apart from an order or vote for an eminent domain taking or one initiating a public improvement, especially where another statute expressly authorizes the particular betterment assessment.9 This interpretation of c. 80, § 1, is essentially that given "in Nichols, Taxation in-Massachusetts (3d ed.) 765-769; see also p. 828. 10
In any event, even if no eminent domain taking is necessary to permit action under c. 80, § 1, that section provides no authority for the water commissioners’ inclusion of betterment assessments in their order of July 2, 1968. The improvement here in issue was not made “in accordance with” that order of July 2, 1968, but pursuant to earlier [169]*169votes of the district itself. We conclude that c. 80, § 1, provides no basis for the assessments here in issue.11
4. We have, of course, no occasion to consider what, if any, more adequate, curative legislation could now be devised to sustain these assessments, or to what extent and in what manner such curative legislation must protect persons who may have changed their position with respect to land affected by the order of July 2, 1968, after that date. See Opinion of the Justices, post, 894, 897-900.
5. The final decree is reversed. The case is remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. If no further relevant legislation is approved prior to April 15, 1972, a new final decree is to be entered declaring the rights of the parties in accordance with this opinion.
So ordered.