All of a sudden, a bill was dropped into the legislative hopper by Sen. John H. Parker (R) of Taunton seeking to direct the Metropolitan District 
Commission to sell at public auction some 700 acres of the Neponset marshland it now controls in Canton and Westwood.
STATE HOUSE, Boston, Aug. 17 — While residents of this area looked hopefully forward to the strong likelihood of an MDC dredging project to clean up the Neponset River, the real reason for the big state project — drainage of the upper Neponset marshes — this week took on the aspect of mystery and intrigue.
Meanwhile, a widely supported petition reposed in the House Ways and Means Committee providing for the issuance by the MDC of a $I,750,000 bond issue to dredge the Neponset along its 13-mile course in order to provide proper drainage for some 3,000 acres of swamp land in the upper reaches of the stream.
The area to be developed is declared by the State Department of Commerce as, potentially, the most valuable industrial site in Massachusetts.
Rep. Harold Putnam (R) of Needham, one of the petitioners in the original dredging project petition, described the latest move as a “last-minute land grab at the expense of the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.”
Putnam stated that he believes the purpose of the new effort to provide, for the sale of MDC park land Was to open the way for a huge railroad freight yard in Dedham, Canton and Westwood.
The petition to bring about sale of the marsh land still awaits admission for consideration at this session. It has been referred to the joint committee on rules on the question of admitting it for consideration. Senator Parker, the petitioner has made no comment on his legislative move.
“These acres lying between Route 128 station and Hyde Park now constitute the most valuable industrial site in Massachusetts,” Putnam said “It is about to be drained and improved by public funds. 1 do not subscribe to the theory that it is all right for land to remain under public ownership while it is of little value, but upon improvement it should be peddled to predatory private interests for a song ”