within which all railroad corporations shall furnish, after demand therefor, all cars, equipment and facilities necessary for the handling of freight in carload and less than carload lots, the time within which consignors or persons ordering cars shall load the same, and the time within which consignees or persons to whom freight may be consigned shall unload and discharge the same and receive freight from the freightrooms, and to provide penalties to be paid for failure on the part of the railroad corporations, consignors and consignees to conform to such rules.32

§ 237.

Demurrage Charges.-Charges for demurrage shall be uniform so that the same penalty shall be paid by both shipper or consignee and railroad corporation for an equal number of cars for each day for which demurrage is charged."

§ 238. Express and Telegraph Rules and Regulations. The Commission shall also have power to provide the time within which express packages shall be received, gathered, transported and delivered at destination, and the limits within which express packages shall be gathered and distributed and telegraph and telephone messages delivered without extra charge."

§ 239. Power of Commission as to Service, etc., of Public Utilities.-The Commission shall have power, after hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements or service to be furnished, imposed, observed and followed by all electrical, gas and water cor

porations; to ascertain and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the measurement of quantity, quality, pressure, initial voltage or other condition pertaining to the supply of the product, commodity or service furnished or rendered by any such public util- ity; to prescribe reasonable regulations for the examination and testing of such product, commodity or service and for the measurement thereof; to establish reasonable rules, regulations, specifications and standards to secure the accuracy of all meters and appliances for measurements; and to provide for the examination and testing of any and all appliances used for the measurement of any product, commodity or service of any such public utility."

§ 240. Power of Commissioners, etc., to Enter Premises, etc.-Right to be Present at Test.—The commissioners and their officers and employees shall have power to enter upon any premises occupied by any public utility, for the purpose of making the examinations and tests and exercising any of the other powers provided for in this act, and to set up and use. on such premises any apparatus and appliances necessary therefor. The agents and employees of such public utility shall have the right to be present at the making of such examinations and tests.

36

§ 241. Consumers and Users may have Appliances Tested. Any consumer or user of any product, commodity or service of a public utility may have any appliance used in the measurement thereof tested upon paying the fees fixed by the Commission."

§ 242. Commission may Prescribe Fees for Testing. The Commission shall establish and fix rea

35 Section 46 (a), p. 41. 36 Section 46 (b), p. 41. 87 Section 46 (c), p. 41.

sonable fees to be paid for testing such appliances on the request of the consumer or user, the fee to be paid. by the consumer or user at the time of his request, but to be paid by the public utility and repaid to the consumer or user if the appliance is found defective or incorrect to the disadvantage of the consumer or user, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Commission.38

§ 243. Valuation of Property.-The Commission shall have power to ascertain the value of the property of every public utility in this state and every fact which in its judgment may or does have any bearing on such value.39

§ 244.

Revaluation, etc., Extension, etc.-The Commission shall have power to make revaluations from time to time and to ascertain all new construction, extensions and additions to the property of every public utility."0

§ 245. Uniform System of Accounting-Commission may Prescribe.-The Commission shall have power to establish a system of accounts to be kept by the public utilities subject to its jurisdiction, or to classify said public utilities and to establish a system of accounts for each class, and to prescribe the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. It may also in its discretion prescribe the forms of accounts, records and memoranda to be kept by such public utilities, including the accounts, records and memoranda of the movement of traffic as well as the receipts and expenditures of moneys, and any other forms, records and memoranda which in the judgment of the Commission

88 Ib.

89 Section 47, p. 42.

may be necessary to carry out any of the provisions of this act.41

§ 246. Forms in Addition to Those of Commerce Commission.-The system of accounts established by the Commission and the forms of accounts, records and memoranda prescribed by it shall not be inconsistent, in the case of corporations subject to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled "An act to regulate commerce," approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, with the systems and forms from time to time established for such corporations by the Interstate Commerce Commission, but nothing herein contained shall affect the power of the Commission to prescribe forms of accounts, records and memoranda covering information in addition to that required by the Interstate Commerce Commission.12

§ 247. -Unlawful to Keep Records and Accounts Otherwise Than as Prescribed.-The Commission may, after hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, prescribe by order the accounts in which particular outlays and receipts shall be entered, charged or credited. Where the Commission has prescribed the forms of accounts, records or memoranda to be kept by any public utility for any of its business, it shall thereafter be unlawful for such public utility to keep any accounts, records or memoranda for such business other than those so prescribed, or those prescribed by or under the authority of any other state or of the United States, excepting such accounts, records or memoranda as shall be explanatory of and sup

41 Section 48, p. 42.

plemental to the accounts, records or memoranda prescribed by the Commission.13

§ 248. Depreciation Accounts.-The Commission shall have power, after hearing, to require any or all public utilities to carry a proper and adequate depreciation account in accordance with such rules, regulations and forms of account as the Commission may prescribe."

8 249. Rates of Depreciation to be Fixed by Commission.-The Commission may, from time to time, ascertain and determine and by order fix the proper and adequate rates of depreciation of the several classes of property of each public utility."

§ 250. Public Utilities to Conform Depreciation to Rates of as Fixed.-Each public utility shall conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so ascertained, determined and fixed, and shall set aside the moneys so provided for out of earnings and carry the same in a depreciation fund and expend such fund only for such purposes and under such rules and regulations, both as to original expenditure and subsequent replacement as the Commission may prescribe. The income from investments of moneys in such fund shall likewise be carried in such fund.46

§ 251. New Construction-Certificate from Commission. No street railroad corporation, gas corpora

48 Ib.

44 Section 49, p. 42.

Depreciation in value of a public utility,-as a waterworks plant,and not the value of the service rendered to consumers due to a diminution of supply,-as of a quantity of water from a long-continued drought from which the surrounding country has suffered since the fixing of the rates,-may be considered in determining the reasonableness of the rates as fixed. San Diego L. & T. Co. v. Jasper, 189 U. S. 439, 23 Sup. Ct. 571, 47 L. ed. 892, affirming 110 Fed. 702. 45 Section 49, p. 42.