Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company.- Number of passengers, running time and headway of trains upon cer Resolved, That the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company be requested to furnish the following information: 1. Statement of the number of passengers by the month carried on the Brighton Beach line during the year ending December 31, 1907. 2. Statement as to whether these figures are based on cash fares, or, if otherwise, on what basis. 3. Statement of the number of passengers, if possible, carried between New York and Kings Highway, and also between Kings Highway and Brighton Beach or points beyond. 4. Statement of running time between Culver depot, Kings Highway, Franklin avenue, Sands street and New York, as well as trains running to and from Fulton Ferry for the full twenty-four hours of week days and Sundays. 5. Schedule of headway of trains and number of cars going to make up trains (if not shown in the above) as operated between New York and Kings Highway; also between New York and Brighton Beach. Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company.- Number of trains operated on Brooklyn Bridge during rush hours. Resolved, That the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company be required to make answers by Saturday, January 11, 1908, at twelve o'clock, to the following questions: 1. Whether the number of trains operated on the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hours on January 9, 1908, was greater or less than usual and if the maximum was not operated, the reasons therefor. 2. What are the plans of the company as to the number of local trains to be operated on the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hours, until such time as the company will begin the operation of through trains. Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad Company.- Operation of DeKalb avenue line. In the Matter of the Filing by the CONEY ISLAND AND BROOKLYN RAILROAD COMPANY of certain facts relative to the operation of cars on the routes herein mentioned. CASE No. 1017. Resolved. That the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad Company be required 1. To file on or before December 14, 1908, the operating schedule of cars as of December 11, 1908, on the DeKalb Avenue line of the said company, and a stat ment of the exact length of the route as operated; 2. To file daily for a period of one month from December 14, 1908, a sworn statement showing for the preceding day the following facts as to the operation of the said route: (a) Number of cars in use on the route. (b) Number of full trips made. (e) Number of car miles run. (d) Number of passengers carried. (e) Seating capacity of the types of cars in use on the route. Interborough Rapid Transit Company.- Operation of trains through subway at Twentieth street on January 11, 1908. In the Matter Information- to be furnished by the INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT COMPANY in respect to operation of trains through the Subway at Twentieth street on Saturday, January 11, 1908. ORDER No. 199. January 11, 1908. Resolved, That the Interborough Rapid Transit Company be required to make answer to the following questions by Monday, January 13, 1908, at eleven A. M.: 1. At what hour did the company or any of its officers receive orders or directions from the fire, police or other city departments, not to operate trains through the Subway at Twentieth street on Saturday, January 11? 2. What plans were thereupon made to give notice to the public that through service was not to be rendered? 3. At what stations was the public given notice of lack of through service, outside of the stations, or before members of the public had bought tickets or had deposited them in ticket boxes; and at what stations was notice given only on station platforms, of the limitation of service? 4. What plans were made for increasing service on the elevated lines, in view of the lack of service on the Subway? Street Railroads.- Inventory of property. ORDER No. 618. June 29, 1908. Resolved. That each street railroad in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx be required to furnish on or before July 15th, an inventory of all property owned by it as of June 30, 1908. It is hereby ordered. That the regulations contained in Tariff Circular No. 1 be adopted by this Commission prescribing, from and after September 1, 1908, the form, and governing the construction and filing of schedules of fares for passenger service of street railroad corporations subject to the jurisdiction of this Commission. Ordered, That such street railroad corporations file, in conformity with the said circular and on or before September 15, 1908, schedules, effective upon filing, showing fares, transfers, and all regulations relating thereto actually in effect for thirty days prior to the said September 15, 1908, changes therefrom to be filed in accordance with the regulations with full notice unless otherwise ordered. Ordered, That the provisions of Order No. 53 in so far as they relate to street railroads be rescinded. EXTENSION ORDER No. 722. September 11, 1908. An order of the Commission, No. 708, having been made herein on or about the 28th day of August, 1908, ordering and directing that all street railroad corporations subject to the jurisdiction of this Commission file, in conformity with tariff circular No. 1 adopted by this Commission, and on or before September 15, 1908, schedules, effective on filing, showing fares, transfers, and all regulations relating thereto, actually in effect for thirty days prior to said September 15, 1908; and application in writing having been made for an extension of such time within which to file said schedules. Now, on motion made and duly seconded, it is Ordered, That the time for filing the schedules above mentioned be, and the same hereby is, extended to and including the 1st day of October, 1908. New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company.Inspection and examination of accounts, records and memoranda. In the Matter of the Inspection and examination of the accounts, records and memoranda of the NEW YORK, WESTCHESTER AND BOSTON RAILWAY COMPANY and of the NEW YORK AND PORTCHESTER RAILROAD COMPANY. ORDER No. 586. June 16, 1908. It is ordered, That Elwood T. Baker, who is employed by this Commission as an accountant, be designated and is hereby directed to inspect and examine the accounts, records and memoranda kept by the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company and the New York and Portchester Railroad Company, and all books of original entry, all ledgers, all balance sheets, and any and all other books showing or purporting to show the assets and liabilities of the corporations. And the said New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company and the New York and Portchester Railroad Company are hereby directed and required to afford to said Elwood T. Baker access to all such accounts, records and memoranda. . It is further ordered, That this order shall take effect forthwith and continue in force for a period of six months from the date hereof. SUBWAY MATTERS. OPINIONS OF Counsel. *[Building department of the city of New York has no jurisdiction over subway work.] OPINION OF COUNSEL. Public Service Commission for the First District: June 15, 1908. SIRS I have the letter of the Secretary of the 5th inst. transmitting a copy of the letter of Chief Engineer Pegram of the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company to the Chief Engineer of the Commission dated May 29th, and Mr. Rice's letter to the Chairman of June 4th. From Mr. Pegram's letter it appears that the building department of the borough of Brooklyn refuses to allow the contractor for the construction of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Rapid Transit Railroad to carry out the Commission's plans for remodeling building No. 58 Joralemon street, in the borough of Brooklyn, to answer the requirements of a ventilating shaft for the See footnote, page 9. Vol. II-11 railroad unless detailed drawings are filed with it, and my opinion is asked whether it is necessary for the Commission to comply with this requirement. This is simply another aspect of the question of the jurisdiction of the former Rapid Transit Board and of the Commission which has arisen so frequently in the past. The Rapid Transit Board has been consistently advised by its counsel, and the Counsel to the Commission has several times advised you to the same effect, that in all matters affecting rapid transit railroad construction, except where expressly limited by the Rapid Transit Act, the authority of the Rapid Transit Board and of the Commission, as its successor, was supreme. This position has also been taken by successive corporation counsel and was last year upheld by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the case of Rapid Transit Subway Construction Co. et al. against Coler et al., 121 App. Div. 250. The claim of the building department in regard to rapid transit railroad construction was dealt with in an opinion of counsel to the Rapid Transit Board dated April 23, 1906, printed at page 4077 of Volume VII of the Board's minutes. There the building superintendent claimed jurisdiction over the underpinning of buildings along the line of the work, and that the contractors would have to file plans and specifications with the building department and obtain its permits to do the work. In that opinion the reason for the complete control of the Rapid Transit Board over its work is clearly stated as follows: "It is quite plain that if the various city departments that have to do directly or indirectly with the control of the city's streets, could require the contractors to obey their orders, there would be endless and intolerable confusion and delay in construction. The bureaus of highways, of sewers and of buildings in the borough president's office, and the department of water supply, gas and electricity, might issue orders conflicting entirely with those of the Rapid Transit Commission, thus possibly paralyzing the work of construction. No danger to the publie interest need follow from the fact that the Rapid Transit Commission is by law placed in paramount control of the work, for if the building superintendent or any other officer of the city government finds improper or dangerous conditions existing, he may notify the Rapid Transit Commission, who will doubtless act promptly in every proper case." Although this matter affects a building and not the streets along the line of the work, the question of control over which has heretofore occupied the attention of counsel, the reasoning of the opinion referred to is conclusive on the present case, for the filing of plans and the obtaining of a permit necessarily presupposes the right of the building superintendent to exercise his discretion as to such plans and his idea of the proper remodelling of a building for the ventilating purposes of the railroad might differ radically from that of the Chief Engineer to the Commission, thus producing a confusion and a division of authority which it was one of the underlying purposes of the Rapid Transit Act to prevent. I therefore advise the Commission that in my opinion the building superintendent is without jurisdiction over this matter. Respectfully yours. (Signed) GEO. S. COLEMAN, [Necessity for certification of subway contracts by comptroller. Certificate not necessary where requisition is made for less than full amount.] OPINION OF COUNSEL. May 11, 1908. Hon. WILLIAM MCCARROLL, Commissioner: SIR: In answer to your oral request for an opinion whether the comptroller of the city is required to certify contracts for the construction of rapid transit railroads, I desire to advise you as follows: Certification of contracts entered into by the various city departments is required by section 149 of The Greater New York Charter, which in part provides: No contract hereafter made, the expense of the execution of which is not by law or ordinance, in whole or in part, to be paid by assessments upon the property benefited, shall be binding or of any force, unless the comptroller shall endorse thereon his certificate that there remains unexpended and unapplied, as herein provided, a balance of the appropriation or fund applicable thereto, sufficient to pay the estimated expense of executing such contract, as certified by the officer making the same." Rapid Transit contracts are, however, expressly excepted from the operation of this provision by virtue of amendments to section 149, adopted as part of the revision of 1901, and to section 45 adopted as Chapter 7 of the Laws of 1900, and any duty the comptroller may be under to certify rapid transit contracts cannot rest upon the authority given him by section 149, but is dependent on section 45 of The Greater New York Charter and section 37 of the Rapid Transit Act. The history of these provisions throws such a light on this question that it is necessary to review it at some length. Prior to 1891 the power to construct rapid transit railroads was in rapid transit commissions which were appointed from time to time by the mavor, but this was changed as regards the city of New York by the enactment of the Rapid Transit Act of that year which contemplated the creation of a single permanent commission, and even more radically by the amendments of 1894 to that act which took the control of such construction out of the hands of the local authorities and * See footnote, page 9. lodged it in a board appointed by the Legislature. To make the board's authority complete, the Legislature gave it ample power to carry on the work independently of other boards or officials, and itself prescribed the limit of the amount of indebtedness which the board could incur on behalf of the city at fifty-five million dollars. The only province therefore of the municipal authorities after the form of the contract had been approved by the corporation counsel was to advance the necessary means upon the requisition of the Rapid Transit Board. Section 37 of the Rapid Transit Act, as amended by chapter 519 of the Laws of 1895, provided in part: * * * * For the purpose of providing the necessary means for such construction the board of estimate from time to time, and as the same shall be necessary, and upon the requisition of said board of rapid transit railroad com missioners shall direct the comptroller, and it shall thereupon become his duty, to issue the bonds of said city at such a rate of interest, not exceeding three and one-half per centum per annum, as said board of estimate and apportionment • may prescribe. The amount of bonds authorized to be issued and sold by this section shall not exceed fifty millions of dollars, par value, without the consent of the Legislature first had and obtained, provided, however, that such amount shall be increased by a sum not exceeding five millions of dollars, if the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners shall certify that such increase is made necessary by payments required for any lands, property, rights, terms, easements or privileges which shall be acquired by the said city as hereinafter provided." This was the financial provision of the Rapid Transit Act as it existed in 1900 at a time immediately prior to the execution of the contract with Mr. McDonald for the construction of the present Manhattan-Bronx Rapid Transit Railroad. It will be noted that the maximum amount of bonds to be issued was fixed by legislative enactment, and the only duty of the board of estimate was "from time to time, and as the same shall be necessary," to "direct the comptroller to issue bonds." the theory of the act evidently being that the maximum expenditure being fixed, the rapid transit board should call on the board of estimate for funds as they were needed, the intention being to provide for carrying on the work without coming into conflict with the debt limit provision of the Constitution. The provision for the construction of the railroad by sections was drawn with this end in view, and it seems to me the framers of the act contemplated the requisitioning of funds as the work progressed without perhaps embarassing the city by an appropriation at the outset of the many million dollars necessary to complete the work. At that time section 149 of The Greater New York Charter was in force but without the proviso excepting the rapid transit board from its provisions, and when the time came for making the contract with Mr. McDonald the question of certification proved most embarrassing. To obviate this difficulty a bill was presented to and passed by the Legislature which was explained in a memorial addressed to Governor Roosevelt, printed in full at pages 876 to 880 of Volume II of the minutes of the Rapid Transit Board. On page 878 it is stated: "On looking into the statutes, the comptroller saw two apparent difficulties: (a) The Rapid Transit Act plainly provided that the bonds should be issued by the board of estimate and apportionment or other local authority so that it was tolerably apparent that the vote of the municipal assembly would be necessary for the issuance of the bonds required to pay for the road. (b) The Greater New York Charter in general terms provided that no contract should be valid unless endorsed with a certificate which the comptroller could not truthfully give in respect to the Rapid Transit contract, and doubted whether the proviso of section 45 covered this point. Accordingly, the bill recently passed by both houses of the Legislature was drafted. To meet the first point above the bill provides in express terms that the vote of the municipal assembly shall not be necessary thus doing away with this objection. As to the second point, the comptroller is of the opinion that for the orderly conduct of the business of his office it is very important that the system established by the Greater New York Charter of making his certificate essential to the validity of each contract, and of keeping a record of each contract, shall be maintained. This is a matter of the routine of his office. In order to meet these views, in which the mayor fully concurs, the bill was drawn in its present form, so as to provide that the Rapid Transit Commissioners in the city of New York might make one requisition for the entire amount of bonds necessary to the completion of the contract. This they could not do under the existing act which provides (Laws of 1895, chapter 519, section 12) that the Board shall make requisition for bonds from time to time as the same shall be necessary.' It is further provided by the bill now before you that when such requisition is approved by the board of estimate and apportionment, the comptroller shall certify the contract, and that no further certificate shall be necessary, but that the bonds shall only be disposed of from time to time as may be necessary to meet the payments due to the contractors." The bill which was enacted into law as chapter 7 of the Laws of 1900 took the form of an amendment to section 45 of the charter, which although changed by later amendments is, in so far as it affects this question, the same as originally drawn, and provided: "The board of estimate and apportionment and the comptroller of the city of New York shall, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, be subject to all the duties and obligations prescribed in said chapter four of the |