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 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 fifty 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 onehalf 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. 534, Laws 1892.)

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 asso ciations, partnerships or corporations engaged in transporting pas sengers or freight upon any such railroad as lessee or otherwise. (Sections 180 to 183, both inclusive, were repealed by chap. 676, Law 1892.)

§ 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 rails roads. (This section added by chap. 452, Laws 1894.)

Sections of the Constitution of the State of New

York Relating to Railroads.

ARTICLE I.-SECTION 18. The right of action now existing to recover damages for injuries resulting in death, shall never be abrogated; and the amount recoverable shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.

ARTICLE III.-SECTION 18. The legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the following cases:

Granting to any corporation, association or individual the right. to lay down railroad tracks.

Granting to any private corporation, association or individual any exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise whatever.

The legislature shall pass general laws providing for the cases enumerated in this section, and for all other cases which in its judgment may be provided for by general laws. But no law shall authorize the construction or operation of a street railroad except upon the condition that the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the property bounded on, and the consent also of the local authorities having the control of, that portion of a street or highway upon which it is proposed to construct or operate such railroad be first obtained, or in case the consent of such property owners cannot be obtained, the appellate division of the supreme court, in the department in which it is proposed to be constructed, may, upon application, appoint three commissioners who shall determine, after a hearing of all parties interested, whether such railroad ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, confirmed by the court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of the property

Owners.

ARTICLE VII.-SECTION 7. The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any cor

482 SECTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO RAILROADS.

poration, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.

ARTICLE VIII.-SECTION 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time or repealed.

§ 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.

§ 3. The term corporations as used in this article shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued in all courts in like cases as natural persons.

ARTICLE XIII.-SECTION 5. No public officer, or person elected or appointed to a public office, under the laws of this state, shall directly, or indirectly ask, demand, accept, receive or consent to receive for his own use or benefit, or for the use or benefit of another, any free pass, free transportation, franking privilege or discrimination in passenger, telegraph or telephone rates, from any person or corporation, or make use of the same himself or in conjunction with another. A person who violates any provision of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall forfeit his office at the suit of the attorney-general. Any corpora tion, or officer or agent thereof, who shall offer or promise to a public officer, or person elected or appointed to a public office, any such free pass, free transportation, franking privilege or discrimination, shall also be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to punishment except as herein provided. No person, or officer or agent of a corporation giving any such free pass, free transportation, franking privilege or discrimination hereby prohibited, shall be privileged from testifying in relation thereto, and he shall not be liable to civil or criminal prosecution therefor if he shall testify to the giving of the same.

GENERAL ACTS RELATING TO RAILROADS

ENACTED

PRIOR TO MAY 1ST, 1891, AND NOT IN TERMS REPEALED BY ANY OF THE PRECEDING LAWS, ALSO ACTS PASSED SINCE 1892.

CHAP. 300, LAWS OF 1835.

AN ACT to enlarge the powers of commissioners of highways. LAWFUL FOR COMMISSIONERS OF HIGHWAYS, HAVING SUPERVISION THEREOF, TO GIVE WRITTEN CONSENT FOR CONSTRUCTION ACROSS ROAD OR HIGHWAY.

SECTION 1. Whenever any association or individual shall construct a ailroad upon land purchased for that purpose, or a route which shall cross any road or other public highway, it shall be lawful for the commissioners of highways, having the supervision thereof, to give a written consent that such railroad may be constructed across, or on such road or other public highway; and thereafter such association or individual shall be authorized to construct and use such railroad across or on such roads or other highways as the commissioners aforesaid shall have permitted; but any public highway thus intersected or crossed by a railroad shall be so restored to its former state as not to have impaired its usefulness.

CHAP. 300, LAWS OF 1837.

AN ACT relative to unclaimed trunks and baggage. DESCRIPTION OF SAME TO BE ENTERED IN A BOOK.

SECTION 1: The proprietor or proprietors of the several lines of stages, and the proprietors of the several canal boat lines, and the proprietors of the several steamboats, and the several incorporated railroad companies, and the keepers of the several inns and taverns within this state, who shall have any unclaimed trunks, boxes or baggage within his, their, or either of their custody, shall immediately enter the time the same was left, with a proper description thereof, in a book to be by them provided and kept for that purpose. In case the name and residence of the owner shall be ascertained, it shall be the duty of such person who shall have any such property as above specified, to immediately notify the owner thereof by mail,