price to be paid by the railway company for such right of way through such lands shall be paid into the treasury of the State, and the Comptroller of the State shall not indorse his approval upon the agreement provided for in the second section of the act until he shall receive satisfactory evidence that such payment has been made. The amendments appear to be in the nature of improvements, and the Board deems that the bill can with propriety receive Executive approval. By the Board. WILLIAM C. HUDSON, Secretary. XII. REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE BILL ENTITLED "AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 140, LAWS OF 1850, ENTITLED 'AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE FORMATION OF RAILROAD COMPANIES AND TO REGULATE THE SAME,' AND THE ACTS AMENDATORY THEREOF, RELATING TO THE INCREASE OF CAPITAL STOCK," REFERRED TO IT BY THE GOVERNOR. To the Governor of the State of New York: ALBANY, May 21, 1889. The Board herewith respectfully returns Assembly bill (printed No. 587, Executive No. 102) entitled "An act to amend chapter 140 of the Laws of 1850, entitled 'An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same,' and the acts amendatory thereof, relating to the increase of capital stock." Section nine of the General Act reads: "In case the capital stock of any company formed under this act is found to be insufficient for constructing and operating its road," etc. The bill under consideration reads: "In case the capital stock of any railroad company formed under this act or organized and existing under the laws of this State is found to be insufficient," etc. The only amendment, therefore, consists in inserting the words "or organized and existing under the laws of this State." The Board does not know what corporations it is intended to reach by this amendment, but presumes it must be some organized under special act which are not given the authority to increase their capital stock. There appears to be no objection to the bill. Indeed, if there be any corporation without authority to increase its capital stock it is but proper that such corporation should be put upon the same footing with other railroad corporations of the State. The Board deems, therefore, that the bill can with propriety receive Executive approval, By the Board. WILLIAM C. HUDSON, Secretary. XIII. REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE BILL ENTITLED "AN ACT TO REGULATE THE CUSTODY AND DISBURSEMENT OF ELEVATED' RAILWAY INCOME PERCENTAGE SPECIAL TAX RECEIPTS IN CERTAIN CASES," REFERRED ΤΟ IT BY THE GOVERNOR. To the Governor of the State of New York: ALBANY, May 22, 1889. The Board here with respectfully returns Senate bill (printed No. 608, Executive No. 43) entitled "An act to regulate the custody and disbursement of elevated railway income percentage special tax receipts in certain cases." 66 As stated by the corporation counsel of the city of New York in a brief with regard to this measure, The object of the bill is to turn over to one Charles T. Harvey the sum of $206,611.70 now in the treasury of the city of New York and the property of the corporation, as an indemnity to him for certain wrongs which he is alleged to have suffered by reason of some supposed acts of bad faith toward himself on the part of State officers or State authority in connection with a railroad enterprise in the city of New York." The merits of Mr. Harvey's claim have been differently viewed by bodies and committees investigating it. The Board is not prepared to express an opinion thereon at the present writing. It deems, however, that it can with propriety fall back upon a decision of the Court of Appeals rendered June 1, 1886, in a suit brought by the city of New York to resist the payment of these funds to Charles T. Harvey in accordance with chapter 554 of the Laws of 1885, which law at that time was declared unconstitutional. In that decision, speaking of the experiments which Mr. Harvey made and for which he demands this compensation, the court says: "But these were Harvey's experiments. No one directed him to make them. Neither the city nor the State, so far as the record shows, owed him anything for them or was under the slightest legal or equitable obligation to bear their expense and compensate him therefor." Chapter 554 of the Laws of 1885 having been declared unconstitutional, Mr. Harvey has secured the passage of the present bill. Section one provides that the amounts of income percentage special tax receipts paid to the comptroller of the city of New York under the provisions of the various acts requiring certain percentages to be paid into the city for certain purposes, shall be turned over to the State Treasurer as a trustee for the purposes mentioned in the bill under consideration. Section two provides that the State Treasurer as such trustee shall designate the moneys received under the provisions of this bill as belonging to the "Experimental Elevated Railway Credit Fund," "and shall pay therefrom only such sums as are declared by law to be equitable claims incurred in securing the benefits to the city of New York of the introduction of elevated railroads as a means of rapid transit therein, until said claims are duly liquidated." It appears from this section that such equitable claims are made a preferred lien upon the income of the city of New York derived from the elevated railroads, and should the bill become a law, would probably all be absorbed by the claimant. Section three provides: In subdivision one, that the sum of $206,611.70 shall be paid to Charles T. Harvey as indemnity for experiments made by him heretofore. In subdivision two, that such sum as the Attorney-General shall certify to be a proper one shall be paid to Harvey to reimburse him for costs and counsel fees incurred in endeavoring to obtain the moneys claimed by him. In subdivision three, that other sums shall be paid him equal to the interest upon the original sum mentioned from the date of acceptance of said experimental section by the State, provided he can show to certain State officers that certain methods of propulsion that he advocated, viz., by cable, would have been better for the city of New York than that adopted by the city subsequently, viz., locomotives, for elevated structures. Section four provides that in case the accumulations of the fund in the city treasury are not sufficient to meet the appropriations made in the bill, that such portions as are available from time to time shall be paid in sums of five thousand dollars or multiples thereof. Section five makes it the duty of the Attorney-General to take all such legal measures as may be necessary to insure prompt compliance with the provisions of the act. Section six repeals all acts inconsistent with the act. Section seven provides that the act shall take effect immediately. An elaborate brief from the corporation counsel of the city of New York, as before mentioned, is among the papers filed with this Board. Mr. Beekman first gives a narrative of the facts connected with the building of elevated railroads in the city of New York, and finds that Harvey is entitled to no legal or equitable claim for compensation by the city. His objections to the bill are briefly as follows: First. The money is the property of the city. It has been paid to it under a contract made inviolable by act of the Legislature as compensation for the use of certain of the streets elevated railroads. of the city by the Second. The bill is claimed to be unconstitutional, in that it violates section second of article eight of the Constitution of the State, which declares that "no county, city, town or village shall hereafter give any money or property or loan its money or credit to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation. Third. That the bill violates section ten of article eight of the State Constitution which provides that "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be given or loaned to or in aid of any association, corporation or private undertaking." Fourth. That it violates section nineteen of article three of the Constitution which provides that "The Legislature shall neither audit nor allow any private claim or account against the State, but may appropriate money to pay such claims as shall have been audited and allowed according to law." Fifth. That the bill violates the Constitution of the United States, which forbids the passage of any law impairing the obligation of a contract, in that the payment of certain sums from the elevated roads to the city of New York is a contract obligation and that this bill requires their diversion to some other party than the city of New York. For the reasons, as elaborated by Mr. Beekman and for the others enumerated by the Board, the Board is of the opinion that the bill is one from which the Executive might with great propriety withhold approval. By the Board. WILLIAM C. HUDSON, Secretary. XIV. REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE BILL ENTITLED "AN ACT REGULATING RAILWAY APPLIANCES TO BE USED ON ALL RAILWAY LINES WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK," REFERRED TO IT BY THE GOVERNOR. To the Governor of the State of New York: ALBANY, May 22, 1889. The Board herewith respectfully returns Senate bill (printed No. 572, Executive No. 147) entitled "An act regulating railway appliances to be used on all railway lines within the limits of the State New York." This bill provides that all persons and corporations operating any line or lines of railway by steam power in this State shall, after the first day of November, 1892, equip all of their own engines and freight cars run and used in freight trains or other trains in this State with automatic self-couplers. Section two empowers the Railroad Commissioners to extend the time for a year in special cases. Section four of chapter 439 of the Laws of 1884, provides that "after July 1, 1886, no coupler shall be placed upon any new freight car to be built or purchased for use in whole or in part upon any railroad in this State," unless the same can be coupled and uncoupled automatically. The Board has not the information before it of the number of cars in the State equipped with automatic couplers in conformity with this last quoted section. Inasmuch as it applied only to new cars, the Board is under the impression that comparatively few have thus been equipped. The bill under consideration provides that after November, 1892 (three years and a half from date), all the cars of corporations operating railroads in this State shall be equipped with such couplers. The reports from the railroads of the State show that the cars owned within the State aggregate 155,746. The type of coupler adopted finally by the Master Car Builders' Association, in order to permit interchange of cars between different railroads, is the Janney. There are several filling this type, of which the average cost would be, perhaps, $12. To conform with the law, and with the recommendations of the Master Car Builders' Association would, therefore, cost the railroads about $1,800,000. The Board does not deem that this is too large a sum or that the time within which to conform is too short to secure this much needed reform. The difficulty is that no provision is made in the bill for the cars coming from other States being provided with this coupler. As a very large proportion of the cars run within the State of New York belong to corporations without the State and are, therefore, not within the scope of this bill, it is questionable whether the act would produce the beneficial results that its projectors anticipate. Possibly an improvement to the bill would have been that no car would be permitted to run within the State after the date mentioned, unless equipped with such coupler. On the whole, however, the Board is of the opinion that the bill is a step in the right direction, and that it can receive Executive approval with benefit to public interests. By the Board. WILLIAM C. HUDSON, Secretary. XV. REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE BILL ENTITLED "AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF THE UTICA BELT LINE STREET RAILROAD COMPANY," REFERRED TO IT BY THE GOVERNOR. To the Governor of the State of New York: ALBANY, May 22, 1889. The Board herewith respectfully returns Senate bill (printed No. 605, Executive No. 179) entitled "An act for the relief of the Utica Belt Line Street Railroad Company." The bill relieves the Utica Belt Line Street Railroad Company from constructing and operating a portion of its road in the city of Utica, defined in the first section of the bill.. The Board has no official information as to the merits of this measure, but it is informally advised that the bill is a meritorious one and not detrimental to public interests. REPORT OF THE BOARD ON THE BILL ENTITLED "AN ACT RELATIVE TO AND PERCENTAGES TO BE PAID BY STREET SURFACE RAILROAD COMPANIES," REFERRED TO IT BY THE GOVERNOR. To the Governor of the State of New York: ALBANY, May 22, 1889. The Board herewith respectfully returns Senate bill (printed No. 627, Executive No. 189) entitled "An act relative to and percentages to be paid by street surface railroad companies." |