Vacancies. In Case Six Year Term tional. be six years from the time of his appointment and qualification and until his successor shall qualify. Vacancies in said Commission shall be filled by the Governor for the unexpired term. Each Commissioner shall be eligible for reappointment, in the discretion of the Governor. In the event that the term of office above ascertained Unconstitu- and prescribed for each of said Commissioners, or the term of office hereinafter prescribed for the General Counsel, shall in respect to any of said Commissioners or the General Counsel be held and decided by the courts, and particularly by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, to be in excess of the period or term of office allowed or permitted by the Constitution of Maryland, then, in such event, the term of office of each of said Commissioners, or said General Counsel, shall, and this Act hereby declares and determines that the term of office of each of them shall be, for the period of two years from and after the first Monday of May, in the year nineteen hundred and ten (unless removed from office) and until their successors, respectively, qualify according to law. Removal of Governor. The Governor may remove any Commissioner for insloners by efficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct in office, giving to him a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity of being publicly heard in person or by counsel, in his own defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. If such Commissioner shall be removed, the Governor shall file in the office of the Secretary of State a complete statement of all charges made against such Commissioner, and his findings thereon, together with a complete record of the proceedings. Salaries of Commissioners. The salary of each of said Commissioners shall be three thousand dollars ($3,000) per annum, payable out of the State Treasury by the State of Maryland; and in addition to said sum of three thousand dollars per annum, the Chairman of said Commission shall also receive the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000) per annum, which shall be paid out of its funds by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to said Chairman of said Commission as an employee of said municipal corporation; and each of the other two Commissioners shall receive, in addition to said three thousand dollars per annum aforesaid, the sum of two thousand dollars ($2,000) per annum, which shall be paid out of its funds by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to each of said other two Commissioners, as employees of said municipal corpora tion. sel: Appointment. The Governor shall, upon the recommendation of the General CounCommission, appoint an attorney-at-law of the State of Maryland to be and act as the General Counsel to said Public Service Commission. The term of office of said General Counsel shall be six years from the beginning of his term of office. His term of office shall begin on the first Monday in May, 1910, and his appointment shall be made and announced by the Governor not less than ten days before said last-mentioned date. The Governor may remove said General Counsel for inefficiency, neglect Removal of of duty, or misconduct in office, giving him a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity of being publicly heard in his own defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. He shall be eligible for reappointment by the Governor. He shall be allowed and have the right to appoint an assistant, who shall be a member of the Bar Assistant of the State of Maryland, to aid him in the performance General Counsel. Additional of his duties, and said General Counsel may remove such assistant at pleasure. The Governor may, if at any time he deems it necessary, authorize and empower the General Counsel to employ other attorneys-at-law as additional assistants to said General Counsel for the performance of such extraordinary legal services for or in behalf of the Public Service Commission at such special compensation for such additional assistants as the General Counsel, with the written approval of the Governor, may ascertain and prescribe. Said General Counsel may also employ a Stenographer. stenographer and assistant stenographers in connection. with the work of his office. The annual salary of such General Counsel shall be three thousand dollars ($3,000), and the annual salary of the assistant employed by him shall be three thousand dollars ($3,000), and the annual salary of the chief stenographer employed by him shall be one thousand five hundred dollars; the salary of each of the other stenographers employed by the General Counsel shall be ascertained in the manner herein prescribed for the ascertainment of the compensation or salary of the general employees of the Commission. Salaries. Compensation from Baltimore City to General Counsel. Duty of Baltimore City as The General Counsel shall also receive, as additional compensation, the sum of $1,800 per annum, which shall be paid out of its funds by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to said General Counsel, as an employee of said municipal corporation. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and City Council of to Salaries. Baltimore, and it is hereby directed and required to pay out of its funds the salaries and compensations provided and prescribed by this Act to be paid by it, and it shall pay said salaries and compensations to the said several Commissioners and General Counsel of said Commission in monthly installments, payable at the same time and in the same manner in all respects as the salary and compensation of the Mayor of said municipal corporation is paid to him by it. Duties. The said Commission shall have a Secretary, to be Secretary: appointed by it and to hold office at its pleasure. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a full and true record of all the proceedings of the Commission, of all books, maps, documents and papers ordered filed by the Commission, and of all orders made by each of the Commissioners, and of all orders made by the Commission or approved and confirmed by it and ordered filed, and he shall be responsible to it for the safe custody and preservation of all such documents at its office. Under the direction of the Commission, the Secretary shall have general charge of its office, superintend the clerical business and perform such other duties as the Commission may prescribe. He shall have power and authority to administer oaths in all parts whatsoever of the State, so Administering far as the exercise of such power is properly incidental to the performance of his duties or that of the Commission. The Secretary shall designate from time to time Secretary pro one of the clerks appointed by the Commission to perform the duties of Secretary during his absence, and during such time the clerk so designated shall, at the office, possess the powers of the Secretary of the Commission. The annual salary of the Secretary shall be three thou- Salary. sand dollars ($3,000). Oaths. tem Employees: Appointment. The Commission shall have the power, subject to the Officers and approval, in writing, by the Governor, in each and every instance, to employ such officers, clerks, stenographers, Governor's Oath of Office. Eligibility. Official Rela tion to Corporations. typewriters, inspectors, experts and employees as it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act or to perform the duties and exercise the powers conferred by law upon the Commission; no person, however, shall be appointed or employed by the Commission in any position whatsoever, unless the Commission shall certify to the Governor that it deems such appointment or employment, and the compensation or annual salary which it proposes shall be paid in each instance, actually necessary for carrying out the purposes and requirements of this Act, and unless the Governor shall thereupon approve in writing such appointment or employment, and such compensation or annual salary or salaries. If in any case the Commission cannot ascertain in advance the value of any service to be rendered to it or the proper compensation to be paid therefor, it shall certify such fact to the Governor, who may authorize the employment or acquisition of the service in question, leaving the value or compensation thereof to be ascertained by subsequent agreement or adjustment. Each Commissioner and each person appointed to office or employment by the Governor or by the Commission, with the approval of the Governor, or by the General Counsel to the Commission, shall before entering upon the duties of his office or employment, take and subscribe to the constitutional oath of office. No person shall be eligible for appointment or shall hold the office of Commissioner, or be appointed by the Commission, or by the General Counsel to the Commission to or hold any office or position under the Commission, who holds any official relation to any common carrier, railroad corporation, street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical cor |