terms, upon the organization of the board which shall succeed them pursuant to said act as hereby amended, shall cease to be such commissioners and shall transfer and deliver to the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners, provided for by the act hereby amended, as so amended, all furniture, books, maps, records, plans and other papers and property of what kind soever appertaining or belonging to or in the custody of the board of which they were commissioners, or in their possession, or under their control as such commissioners, or held by them, or for which they are responsible in their official capacity. The expenses incurred by said commissioners for which an appropriation or appropriations shall have been made pursuant to section ten of the act hereby amended, shall be paid upon vouchers to be furnished by said commissioners and otherwise, as provided in said section. Said commissioners shall also be entitled to receive a reasonable compensation for the services which have been rendered by them, which may have been, or which shall be, determined on their application in the manner provided for in said section. The comptroller, or other chief financial officer of said city, is hereby authorized and directed to issue and sell revenue bonds of such city in anticipation of the receipt of taxes, and out of the proceeds of such bonds to pay said compensation so ascertained and determined, and the amount necessary to pay the principal and interest of said bonds shall be included in the tax levy of said city for the year next following the issue and sale of the same. (Thus amended by chap. 752, Laws 1894.)

§ 12. The said board of rapid transit railway commissioners shall cause the question, whether such railway or railways shall be constructed by the city and at the public expense, to be submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the city within which such railway or railways is or are to be constructed, and to that end it shall be the duty of the said board, after completion of the detailed plans and specifications, as required by the act hereby amended, at least thirty days prior to the next general election, to file with the public officer or officers within the county in which such city is located, who may be charged with the duty of printing the ballots to be used at such election, a request that separate ballots be printed and supplied to such electors, one-half in number of which shall read: "For municipal construction of rapid transit road," and the other half in number of said ballots shall read, "Against municipal construction of rapid transit road." Upon such request being so filed, such ballots shall be printed and supplied to such electors at such general election, and separate ballot boxes shall be provided for the reception of the same in each election district within such city, and the provisions of chapter six hundred and eighty of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two,

entitled "An act in relation to the elections constituting chapter six of the general laws," and any act or acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto shall apply thereto as far as the nature of the case may allow. No ballot which may be provided under this section shall be deemed invalid by reason of an error in dimensions, style of printing, or other formal defect, or through having been deposited in the wrong ballot box, but all of such ballots shall be canvassed and returned as if such formal defect had not existed, or as if they had been deposited in the box provided for the purpose. Upon the canvass of such votes by the board of county canvassers of the county in which such city is located, it shall be the duty of said board to file with the county clerk of said county a statement which shall declare the total number of votes cast in said city "for municipal construction of rapid transit road," and the total number so cast therein "against municipal construction of rapid transit road." And the said railway or railways shall be constructed by the said city and at the public expense, if it shall be found from such statements so filed that there is a majority of the votes so cast in favor of such municipal construction. (Thus amended by chap. 752, Laws 1894.)

§ 13. In case the majority of votes cast at such election shall be in favor of such municipal construction of said railway or railways, it shall be the duty of said board of rapid transit railway commissioners within thirty days after the official declaration of the said vote to proceed to construct the said railway or railways, and to make and let all contracts required for the performance of the work necessary to be done and performed in and about the construction thereof. All such contracts must, before execution, be approved as to form by the counsel to the corporation, or other chief legal adviser for said city. (Thus amended by chap. 752, Laws 1894.)

§ 14. This act shall take effect immediately; except that the building of said road, or the sale of the franchises as provided for in sections seven and thirty-four of the act hereby amended, as so amended, is postponed until, and made dependent upon, the determination of that question by the vote of the people as called for by sections twelve and thirteen of this act. (Thus amended by chap. 752, Laws 1894.)

CHAP. 102, LAWS OF 1892.

AN ACT to amend chapter four of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An act to provide for rapid transit railways in cities having over one million inhabitants."

§ 38a. The board of directors of any company incorporated for the purpose of constructing, maintaining or operating a bridge or bridges

connecting a city of more than one million inhabitants with any other city in this state, and by the act of incorporation of which authority shall have been conferred or intended to be conferred, to construct, maintain or operate, as a part of or in connection with its bridge, an approach or approaches thereto extending generally in an easterly and westerly direction, may determine in lieu of constructing such approach or approaches, to build, maintain and operate an elevated railway, the route of which shall be coincident with the route of such approach or approaches as defined in said act, and shall adopt a general plan for the construction thereof, and which shall show the general mode of operation, and contain such details as to manner of construction as may be necessary to show the extent to which any street, avenue, or other public place is to be encroached upon and the property abutting thereon affected, a copy of which plan shall be transmitted to the common council of the city in which the same is to be located. Such proceedings shall thereupon be had by such common council as are provided by section five of this act, as though such plans had been transmitted by the rapid transit commissioners as contemplated in said section. Provided, that where, in any such city the exclusive control of any street, route, highway or avenue, which is to be occupied by any railway or railways constructed under the provisions of this section is by law vested in any local authority other than the common council of such city, the approval of the aforesaid plans, and consent to the construction of a railway thereunder shall be given by such local authority in place of, and if required in addition to such approval and consent by such common council, and with like effect. Upon obtaining the approval and consent of the local authorities as in said section provided, the said board of directors shall take the necessary steps to obtain, if possible, the consent of the property owners along the line of the said route or routes, and all proceedings in respect of such consents or when such consents cannot be obtained shall be similar in all respects to the proceedings in said section provided. Any consent of the local authorities to construct or operate such railway shall be given only upon the condition that the rate of fare upon such elevated railway shall not exceed five cents for each passenger, and that payment of such fare shall entitle each passenger to and from such elevated railroad to free transit across the bridge or bridges with which it is intended to connect the same. When the consents of the local authorities and the property owners, or in lieu thereof, the authorization of the supreme court upon the report of the commissioners shall have been obtained, and the said company shall have accepted such condition it shall have all the powers of corporations formed under this act, it shall be authorized to build, construct, maintain

and operate such elevated railway or railways, but all provisions of this act, or of any act requiring the sale of the right, privilege and franchise of construction, maintaining and operating such railway or railways, or requiring a corporation or corporations to be organized for the purpose of acquiring such right, privilege and franchise, and all other provisions of this act or of any act inconsistent with this section, are hereby declared inapplicable to such elevated railway and to such company. The entire route of any elevated railway constructed under the provisions of this section shall not exceed three miles in length, nor shall any part of said railway, except at the termini thereof be less than sixteen fect above any street, avenue or public place, or less than fourteen feet above any existing elevated railway, which may be crossed, intervened or intersected thereby. The said railway may be located and constructed sc as to cross any intersecting street, avenue, highway or place otherwise exempted, except that no public park shall be occupied or crossed thereby, the structure of such elevated railway shall be liable to taxation. as provided by law for similar structures. (Thus amended by changing the number of the section from 38 to 38a, by chap. 519, Laws 1895.)

INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT.

APPROVED FEBRUARY 4, 1887, AS AMENDED TO DATE.

CARRIERS AND TRANSPORTATION SUBJECT TO THE ACT.

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 coun try 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 pro visions 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.

WHAT THE TERMS 66
INCLUDE.

RAILROAD" AND "TRANSPORTATION*

The term "railroad" as used in this act shall include all bridges and ferries used or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement or lease; and the term "transportation" shall include all instrumentalities of shipment or carriage.

CHARGES MUST BE REASONABLE AND JUST.

All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection