APPLICATIONS BEFORE THE COMMISSION FOR Approval Of Bond and STOCK ISSUES, JULY 1, 1907, TO DECEMBER 31, 1917 (Concluded) NAME OF COMPANY Class of Pending Bonds. Bonds. $1,500,000 New York Dock Railway Stock. New York Municipal Ry. Corporation. Stock New York Municipal Ry. Corporation. Bonds. 697,500 Stock. Richmond Light & Railroad Co. and Staten Island Midland Ry. Co.8.. Stock. Staten Island Midland Ry. Co. Car trust cert.. Third Avenue Bridge Co. Stock. Third Avenue Bridge Co.. Notes. Third Avenue R. R. Co.. Bondholders' Com- Total Transportation Companies. $717,336,529 48 $586,503,277 64 $118,358,308 12 $10,277,443 72 $2,197,500 $169,296,800 00 $109,631,400 00| NOTE. The statement does not include the Supplemental mortgage of 42nd Street, Manhattanville & St. Nicholas Avenue Railway Co. and extension of term of 2 Three-year notes for which the bonds previously authorized were pledged as security. 3 Replaced and abrogated by order immediately following except as to $3,407,000 bonds. 4 Of this amount $32,896,000 are to discharge or refund bonds previously authorized by the Commission. 5 An issue of $765,000 stock was authorized by the Commission in an order dated Feb. 5, 1914. This was abrogated by order dated March 10, 1914, the application having been withdrawn by the company. • The original application asked for an order authorizing the company to issue capital stock and bonds in such amount as should be deemed proper by the Commission. 7 Proceedings are held in abeyance at the request of the company. 8 A joint petition was presented by the Richmond Light & Railroad Company and the Staten Island Midland Railway Company for permission to consolidate and to recapitalize. In accordance with amended petition of the Metropolitan Street Railway Co. Bondholders' Committee. 10 Certificate of approval given by the Commission in accordance with a direction by the Court. 11 Discontinued without prejudice. 12 New York Central & Hudson R. R. Co. bonds were issued, secured by a mortgage on the Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris R. R. Co. property. COMPLAINTS, MEETINGS AND HEARINGS During the year the Commission received 7,891 complaints, an increase of 1,772 over 1916. Of the complaints received 1,982 related to transportation matters and 5,909 to gas and electric matters. Included, however, in the gas and electric complaints were 4,409 applications for tests of gas meters and 557 applications for tests of electric meters, so that the informal gas and electric complaints in relation to service conditions not involving tests of meters numbered 943. During 1917 the Commission's experts tested 328,199 gas meters; and since the establishment of the Commission in 1907 there have been tested a grand total of 3,785,348 gas meters. The Commission considered 264 formal cases in 1917, of which only 78 remained open on December 31. Of the cases still open 37 were commenced in 1917. Final orders to the number of 102 were issued during the year, and 99 new cases were begun. A total of 490 hearings was held. The Commission held 146 meetings, of which 43 were stated meetings, 92 adjourned meetings and 11 special meetings. The following tables show the number of cases considered in 1917 and the years preceding it, together with the nature of the cases: CLASSIFICATION OF FORMAL CASES BEFORE THE COMMISSION (FROM JULY 1, 1907, TO DECEMBER 31, 1917) Applications as to grade crossings... Grade crossings. Applications as to abandonment of routes. Applications for approval of discontinuance and relocation of stations Applications for approval of change of motive power. Miscellaneous applications.. Cases on complaint: Facilities, service and equipment. Rates or transfers. Grade crossings.. Cases on motion of the Commission: Facilities, service and equipment. Rates or transfers. Filing information or investigations. Totals... Applications for approval of discontinuance and relocation of stations. 87 28 GAS AND ELECTRIC CORPORATIONS As the fiscal year for gas and electric corporations is synchronous with the calendar year, the most recent statistics available of these companies are for the year ended December 31, 1916. In that year gas companies operating in the First District sold 44,565,753,000 cubic feet of gas and received from the sale thereof $36,372,618. This was at the average rate of 81.62 cents per 1,000 cubic feet and represents an increase in consumption of 4.76 per cent for the year. In the same twelve months the electric companies sold 846,201,369 kilowatt hours, and received from sales $38,687,806. The sales of electric current represented an increase of 16.40 per cent. The gas and electric companies combined paid aggregate dividends of $14,625,935, and together showed an accumulated surplus of $73,865,734. The receipts from gas sales were substantially $6.61 per capita, and the receipts from sales of electric current about $7.03 per capita. The grand total of money paid to transportation, gas and electric companies was $170,263,301, almost $2,000,000 more than was paid for the same services in 1915 and represented a per capita payment of approximately $31 for the twelve months for transportation, gas and electric services. TRANSPORTATION CORPORATIONS Due to the surface railroad strikes in 1916 the figures of transportation corporations, including street railroads and rapid transit lines, show less than the normal increase for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917. There were carried on these lines 1,918,812,226 passengers, as against 1,898,735,615 for the preceding year, an increase of only 20,076,611, and less by 70,000,000 than that of 1916. The loss in the rate of increase, however, was almost entirely confined to street railroad lines, which showed a net decrease of 84,426,068 over 1916, confined to Manhattan, The Bronx and Queens, where the effect of the labor difficulties was chiefly felt. In Brooklyn, where there was no strike, surface railroad operation showed an increase of more than half a million passengers over the preceding year, while in the Borough of Richmond, which suffered very little from strike conditions, only a small decrease in the rate of increase was shown. Traffic increased very greatly on Interborough elevated and subway lines, a fact generally attributed to the opening of a number of new rapid transit lines. Street railway travel in New York City has increased rapidly in the last half century. Figures collected by experts show that the rate of increase in travel is much greater than the rate of increase of population. These computations are based upon the number of fares collected. In 1860 fares collected per capita were 43; twenty years later 152; twenty years later 246; ten years later 321. In 1916 the figure was 356, but fell off to 353 for 1917 on account of the strikes, about half of the calendar year of 1916 being represented in the 1917 figures. Statistics of travel also more or less indicate general business conditions, as, in years in which there is a depression, the number of fares collected, and hence the number of passengers carried, is materially reduced. The receipts from passenger fares for 1917 amounted to $94,547,916 as against $93,176,216 in 1916, the increase being |