Legal effect of recommendations and action of the board.

§ 162. No examination, request or advice of the board, nor any investigation or report made by it, shall have the effect to impair in any manner or degree the legal rights, duties or obligations of any railroad corporation, or its legal liabilities for the consequence of its acts, or of the neglect or mismanagement of any of its agents or employes. The supreme court at special term shall have power in its discretion in all cases of decisions and recommendations by the board which are just and reasonable to compel compliance therewith by mandamus, subject to appeal to the general term and the court of appeals, and upon such appeal, the general term and the court of appeals may review and reverse upon the facts as well as the law. Thus amended by chap. 676, Laws of 1892.

See 89 App. Div., 325.

Corporations must furnish necessary information.

§ 163. Every railroad corporation shall, on request, furnish the board any necessary information required by them concerning the rates of fare for transporting freight and passengers upon its road and other roads with which its business is connected, and the condition, management and operation of its road, and shall, on request, furnish to the board copies of all contracts and agreements, leases or other engagements entered into by it with any person or corporation. The commissioners shall not give publicity to such information, contracts, agreements, leases or other engagements, if, in their judgment, the public interests do not require it, or the welfare and prosperity of railroad corporations of the state might be thereby injuriously affected. See section 416, Penal Code, post.

Attendance of witnesses and their fees.

§ 164. All subpoenas shall be issued by the president of the board, or by any two members thereof, and may be served by any person of full age authorized by the board to serve the same. The fees of witnesses before the board shall be two dollars for

each day's attendance, and five cents for every mile of travel by the nearest generally traveled route in going to and returning from the place where the attendance of the witness is required, and the fees shall be audited and paid by the comptroller on the certificate of the secretary of the commission.

Fees to be charged and collected by the board.

§ 165. The board shall charge and collect the following fees: For copies of papers and records not required to be certified, or otherwise authenticated by the board, ten cents for each folio of one hundred words; for certified copies of official documents. filed in its office, fifteen cents for each folio, and one dollar for every certificate under seal affixed thereto; for each certified copy of the quarterly report made by a railroad corporation to the board, fifty cents; for each certified copy of the annual report of the board, one dollar and fifty cents; for certified copies of evidence and proceedings before the board, fifteen cents for each folio. No fees shall be charged or collected for copies of papers, records or official documents, furnished to public officers for use in their official capacity, or for the annual reports of the board in the ordinary course of distribution. All fees charged and collected by the board belong to the people of the state, and shall be paid quarterly, accompanied with a detailed statement thereof into the treasury of the state to the credit of the general fund.

Annual report of board.

§ 166. The board shall make an annual report on or before the second Monday in January in each year, which shall contain: 1. A record of their meetings and an abstract of their proceedings during the preceding year.

2. The result of any examination or investigation conducted by them.

3. Such statements, facts and explanations as will disclose the actual workings of the system of railroad transportation in its bearing upon the business and prosperity of the state, and

such suggestions as to the general railroad policy of the state, of the amendment of its laws, or the condition, affairs or conduct of any railroad corporation, as may seem to them appropriate.

4. Drafts of all bills submitted by them to the legislature and the reasons therefor.

5. Such tables and abstracts of all the reports of all the railroad corporations as they may deem expedient.

6. A statement in detail of the traveling expenses and disbursements of the commissioners, their clerks, marshal and experts.

Five hundred copies of the report with the reports of the railroad corporations of the state, in addition to the regular number prescribed by law, shall be printed as a public document of the state, bound in cloth for the use of the commissioners, and to be distributed by them in their discretion to railroad corporations and other persons interested therein.

Certified copies of papers filed to be evidence.

§ 167. Copies of all official documents filed or deposited according to law in the office of the board, certified by a member of the board or the secretary thereof to be true copies of the originals under the official seal of the board, shall be evidence in like manner as the originals.

Acts prohibited.

§ 168. No railroad commissioner shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or request from, or recommend to any railroad corporation, or any officer, attorney or agent thereof, the appointment of any person to any place or position nor shall any railroad corporation, its attorney or agent, offer any place, appointment or position or other consideration to such commissioners, or either of them, nor to any clerk or employe of the commissioners or of the board; neither shall the commissioners or either of them, nor their secretary, clerks, agents, employes or experts,

accept, receive or request any pass from any railroad in this state, for themselves or for any other person, or any present, gift or gratuity of any kind from any railroad corporation; and the request or acceptance by them, or either of them, of any such place or position, pass, presents, gifts or other gratuity shall work a forfeiture of the office of the commissioner or commissioners, secretary, clerk or clerks, agent or agents, employe or employes, expert or experts, requesting or accepting the same. See section 417, Penal Code, post; also section 416, Penal Code, post. Salaries and expenses of members and officers of the board.

§ 169. The annual salary of each commissioner shall be eight thousand dollars; of the secretary six thousand dollars; of the marshal fifteen hundred dollars, of the accountant and of the inspector such sum as the board may fix, not exceeding three thousand dollars each; of the clerical force such sums respectively as the board may fix. In the discharge of their official duties, the commissioners, their officers, clerks and all experts and agents whose services are deemed temporarily of importance, shall be transported over the railroads in this state free of charge upon passes signed by the secretary of state and the commissioners shall have reimbursed to them the necessary traveling expenses and disbursements of themselves, their officers, clerks and experts, not exceeding in the aggregate five hundred dollars per month. All salaries and disbursements shall be audited and allowed by the comptroller and paid monthly by the state treasurer upon the order of the comptroller out of the funds provided therefor.

Thus amended by chap. 534, Laws of 1892.

Total annual expense to be borne by railroads.

§ 170. The total annual expense of the board authorized by law, excepting only rent of offices and the cost of printing and binding the annual reports of the board as provided by law, shall not exceed sixty thousand dollars; and shall be borne by the several corporations owning or operating railroads according to

their means, to be apportioned by the comptroller, who, on or before July first, in each year, shall assess upon each of such corporations its proportion of such expenses, one-half in proportion to its net income for the fiscal year next preceding that in which the assessment is made, and one-half in proportion to the length of its main road and branches, except that each corporation whose line of road lies partly within and partly without the state, shall in respect of its net income be assessed on a part bearing the same proportion to its whole net income that the line of its road within the state bears to the whole length of road, and in respect of its main road and branches shall be assessed only on that part which lies within the state. Such assessment shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon corporations.

Thus amended by chap. 456, Laws of 1896.

Application of this article.

§ 171. The provisions of this article shall apply to all railroads within the state, and the corporations, receivers, trustees, directors or others, owning or operating the same or any of them, and to all sleeping and drawing-room car corporations, and to all other associations, partnerships or corporations engaged in transporting passengers or freight upon any such railroad as lessee or otherwise.

§ 172. The railroad commissioners may in their discretion act as judges to award prizes which may be offered by any responsible person for improvements in machinery or appliances for operating railroads.

This section added by chap. 452, Laws of 1894.

Sections 180 to 183, both inclusive, were repealed by chap. 676, Laws of

1892.