THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1883. CONCORD: PARSONS B. COGSWELL, PUBLIC PRINTER. 1883. 375 730 RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. To the Legislature of the State of New Hampshire : The Railroad Commissioners of the state of New Hampshire herewith submit for your consideration their thirty-ninth annual report, for the year ending March 31, 1883, together with the returns made to this office by the several railroads doing business in the state. In the early history of the railroads of New Hampshire, the commissioners had important duties to perform, and their reports were doubtless valuable and interesting. To-day they are officials with few duties and small power, and their reports at the best can be but essays upon matters to which their official attention has been called, and reprints of the annual reports of the directors of the several railroad corporations, which are obtainable in other publications. To continue the republication of such reports, especially in years when the legislature does not meet and no action can be taken upon them, seems an unnecessary expense. If it is to be continued, the law should be so changed as to require the officials of the several railroads to furnish the data earlier than now, as under the present statute they may and do withhold them until the last day of May, rendering it impossible for the commissioners to comply with the law in regard to furnishing the copy to the public printer. They should be required to furnish them to the board of commissioners as early as the 20th of May, that they may have time to tabulate the report in season to meet the requirements of the law. |