Acts of 1885, Chapter 224.

An Act in relation to the payment of the Salaries of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, of the Clerk and the Accountant of said Board, and of the Inspector and Assayer of Liquors.

SECTION I. The salaries of the board of railroad commissioners, and of the clerk and the accountant of said board, and the salary of the inspector and assayer of liquors, shall be paid monthly on the first day of each month.

SECTION 2. So much of section ten of chapter one hundred and twelve of the Public Statutes, and so much of section twenty-nine of chapter one hundred of the Public Statutes, as require the payment quarterly of the salaries of the officers named in section one of this act, are hereby repealed.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved May 12, 1885.

SECTION 12. The annual expenses of the board, including the salaries of the commissioners and clerk and the compensation of the accountant, shall be borne by the several corporations owning or operating railroads or street railways, according to their gross earnings by the transportation of persons and property, and shall be apportioned by the tax commissioner, who, on or before the first day of July in each year, shall assess upon each of said corporations its just proportion of such expenses, in proportion to its said earnings for the year next preceding that in which the assessment is made; and such assessments shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon corporations.

General Powers and Duties of the Board.

SECTION 13. The board shall make an annual report of its doings to the general court, including such statements, facts, and explanations as will disclose the actual working of the system of railroad transportation in its bearing upon the business and prosperity of the commonwealth, and such suggestions as to its general railroad policy, or any part thereof,

or the condition, affairs, or conduct of any railroad corporation, as may seem to it appropriate.

SECTION 14. The board shall have the general supervision of all railroads and railways, and shall examine the same; and the commissioners shall keep themselves informed as to the condition of railroads and railways and the manner in which they are operated with reference to the security and accommodation of the public, and as to the compliance of the several corporations with their charters and the laws of the commonwealth. The provisions of the six following sections shall apply to all railroads and railways, and to the corporations, trustees, or others owning or operating the same.

SECTION 15. The board, whenever in its judgment any such corporation has violated a law, or neglects in any respect to comply with the terms of the act by which it was created or with the provisions of any law of the commonwealth, shall give notice thereof in writing to such corporation; and, if the violation or neglect is continued after such notice, shall forthwith present the facts to the attorney-general, who shall take such proceedings thereon as he may deem expedient.

SECTION 16. The board, whenever it deems that repairs are necessary upon any railroad, or that an addition to its rolling stock, or an addition to or change of its stations or station-houses, or a change in its rates of fares for transporting freight or passengers or in the mode of operating its road and conducting its business, is reasonable and expedient in order to promote the security, convenience, and accommodation of the public, shall in writing inform the corporation of the improvements and changes which it considers to be proper; and a report of the proceedings shall be included in the annual report of the board.

SECTION 17. Upon the complaint and application of the mayor and aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town within which a part of any railroad is located, the board shall examine the condition and operation thereof; and if twenty or more legal voters in a city or town, by petition in writing, request the mayor and aldermen or selectmen to make such

complaint and application, and they decline so to do, they shall indorse upon the petition the reason of such non-compliance and return it to the petitioners, who may within ten days thereafter present it to said board; and the board may thereupon proceed to make such examination in the same manner as if called upon by the mayor and aldermen or the selectmen, first giving to the petitioners and to the corporation reasonable notice in writing of the time and place of entering upon the same. If upon such examination it appears to the board that the complaint is well founded, it shall so adjudge, and shall inform the corporation operating such railroad of its adjudication in the same manner as is provided in the preceding section.

SECTION 18. The board shall investigate the causes of any accident on a railroad resulting in loss of life; and of any accident, not so resulting, which it may deem to require investigation.

SECTION 19. Every railroad corporation shall at all times, on request, furnish to the board any information required by it concerning the condition, management, and operation of the road of such corporation, and particularly copies of all leases, contracts, and agreements for transportation with express companies or otherwise to which it is a party, and also with the rates for transporting freight and passengers upon its road and other roads with which its business is connected.

SECTION 20. No request or advice of the board shall impair in any manner the legal duties and obligations of a railroad corporation, or its legal liability for the consequences of its acts, or of the neglect or mismanagement of any of its agents or servants.

SECTION 21. The board shall from time to time in each year examine the books and accounts of all corporations operating railroads or street railways, to see that they are kept in a uniform manner and upon the system prescribed by the board. Statements of the doings and financial condition of the several corporations shall be prepared and published at such times as the board shall deem expedient.

SECTION 22. On the application in writing of a director, or of any person or persons owning one-fiftieth part of the paid-in capital stock of a corporation operating a railroad or street railway, or owning the bonds or other evidences of indebtedness of such corporation equal in amount to one-fiftieth part of its paid-in capital stock, the board shall examine the books and the financial condition of said corporation, and shall cause the result of such examination to be published in one or more daily papers in the city of Boston.

SECTION 23. The board shall at all times have access to the list of stockholders of every corporation operating a railroad or street railway, and may at any time cause the same to be copied, in whole or in part, for the information of the board or of persons owning stock in such corporation.

SECTION 24. A corporation refusing to submit its books to the examination of the board, or neglecting to keep its accounts in the method prescribed by the board, shall be liable to the penalties provided in section eighty-four, in the case of the neglect or refusal to make a report or return.

SECTION 25. Either of the said commissioners, in all cases investigated by the board, may summon witnesses in behalf of the commonwealth, and may administer oaths and take testimony. The fees of such witnesses for attendance and travel shall be the same as for witnesses before the superior court, and shall be paid from the treasury of the commonwealth, and a certificate of the board shall be filed with the auditor; and any justice of the superior court, either in term time or vacation, upon application of the board, may in his discretion compel the attendance of such witnesses and the giving of testimony before the board in the same manner and to the same extent as before said court.

For additional Powers and Duties of the Board affecting Street Railways, see

APPENDIX IV

THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW

THE ACT TO REGULATE COMMERCE

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of this act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used, under a common control, management, or arrangement, for a continuous carriage or shipment, from one State or Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other State or Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of transshipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property, or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property, wholly within one State, and not shipped to or from a foreign country from or to any State or Territory as aforesaid.