on or before said thirtieth day of June, furnish such companies, trustees, or receivers with duplicate blank forms which shall conform to the requirements of this section. The provisions of §§ 3820 and 3821 shall apply to street railway companies. Said returns shall be published annually by the commissioners in their report, and the expense of such publication shall be paid in the manner provided by § 3882.

§ 3873. Penalty for neglect to make returns. Every company whose president and treasurer or trustees or receivers shall refuse or neglect to make such returns shall forfeit to the state twenty-five dollars for each day of such neglect or refusal, and the commissioners shall report such forfeiture to the state treasurer. The books of every such company shall at all times be open to the inspection of any committee of the general assembly appointed to make such inspection.

§ 3874. Apportionment of cost. Forfeiture. Every 1897, ch. 200. such company which has not apportioned the cost of its road, equipment, and permanent improvements strictly according to the form prescribed pursuant to § 3873 by the railroad commissioners under the head of "cost of road, equipment, and permanent improvements," shall cause such apportionment to be made, if the same be practicable, to the approval of said commissioners, in the annual returns hereafter filed by such company. In case any such company has built or shall hereafter build its road or any portion thereof by contract, or has purchased or shall purchase its road or any portion thereof already constructed, such company shall cause the contract or purchase price thereof to be apportioned as above provided, if such contract for building or agreement to purchase is so apportioned. Every such company failing to comply with the provisions of this section shall forfeit to the state one thousand dollars.

§ 3875. Sunday laws not applicable to electric cars. No law affecting travel, business, or labor on Sunday, or the operation on Sunday of any railroad or railway, shall apply to any railroad company or street railway company so as to prohibit or limit the operation on Sunday of electric cars.

3875, A street railway company is liable for negligence resulting in injury to passenger riding for pleasure on Sunday. 66 C. 272.

1899, ch. 68.

79

1908, ch. 85.

1907, ch. 223:

§ 1. Title by adverse possession not acquired to land used by electric railway company. If any person shall take into his enclosure any part of land belonging to a railway company within the limits of which said company has located an electric railway, or shall erect any building upon any part of such land, said person shall not by adverse possession acquire any title to the land so enclosed or built upon.

§ 2. This act shall take effect from its passage.

Certificate of merger to be filed with secretary. Whenever any railroad or railway company, pursuant to any authority contained in its charter, shall have acquired any of the franchises of any other corporation or consolidated or merged with or in any other corporation, such railroad or railway company shall, upon consummation of such acquisition, consolidation, or merger, file with the secretary of the state a certificate, signed and sworn to by its president or its secretary, setting forth the fact of such acquisition, consolidation, or merger and, in case of consolidation or merger, the name of the consolidated corporation.

1853, 1858, 1865, 1874, 1877, 1887.

CHAPTER 218.

Railroad Commissioners.

§ 3876. Appointment. There shall be three railroad comRev. 1888, 3413. missioners. The governor shall, within sixty days from the organization of the general assembly at its regular session in 1903, and within sixty days from the organization of said assembly at its regular session quadrennially thereafter, nominate, and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint, one railroad commissioner, and shall within sixty days from the organization of said assembly at its regular session in 1905, and within sixty days from the organization of said assembly at its regular session quadrennially thereafter, nominate, and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint, two railroad commissioners.

§ 3877. Term of office. The commissioners so appointed shall hold their respective offices for four years from the first day of July next succeeding their respective appointments. The senate shall act on all such nominations within ten days after they are made. If the governor shall fail to nominate, within the sixty days prescribed, a person or persons for railroad com

missioner or commissioners who shall be confirmed by the senate, the general assembly shall fill the vacancy or vacancies which would otherwise occur.

§ 3878. Qualifications of commissioners. One of the commissioners shall be a lawyer in good standing in his profession, and of at least ten years' practice; one shall be a capable and experienced civil engineer, of at least ten years' practice; and the remaining commissioner shall be a practical business man; and they shall constitute the board of railroad commissioners. No stockholder or agent of any railroad or street railway company shall be a commissioner.

§ 3879. Vacancies how filled. If any vacancy occurs in said board at a time when the general assembly is not in session, the governor shall appoint a commissioner to fill such vacancy until the rising of the next session of the general assembly. All other vacancies shall be filled for the remainder of their respective terms in the manner provided in § 3877.

1877.

Rev. 1888, §3414.

1877.

Rev. 1888, §3415.

§ 3880. Clerk and office. The commissioners shall ap- 1871, 1874, 1877point a clerk. The comptroller shall furnish them an office in the capitol, which they shall keep open during the usual business hours, and they shall keep their records there.

1877.

Rev. 1888, §3417.

§ 3881. Records. Employment of experts. The commissioners shall keep a record of all communications addressed to 1901, ch.156, §13. them officially, of all their official acts and proceedings, and of all facts learned in relation to any casualty, with the names of the persons from whom such facts were obtained or by whom they may be proved. Said commissioners may when necessary employ an electrical engineer and other experts and agents.

1877. Rev. 1888, §3418

§ 3882. Payment of commissioners. The office expenses, salaries, and traveling and incidental expenses of the com- 1901, ch.156, $12. missioners shall be paid monthly from the treasury of the state, and in July of each year the whole amount so paid during the year ending the fourth of July shall be apportioned by the comptroller among the several companies, trustees, receivers, assignees, lessees, or other parties operating railroads and street railways in the state in proportion to the respective valuations of their property made and corrected for the purposes of taxation during the year next preceding, under the provisions of § 2424, who shall

1853.

Rev. 1888. §3419.

pay to the treasurer the amount so apportioned to them respectively.

§ 3883. Commissioners to have free passage. The 1901, ch.156, §14. commissioners shall have the right to pass free of charge, in the performance of their duties, on all railroads and street railways in the state, and to take with them any person in their official employment.

1874. Rev. 1888, §3423.

1849.

Rev. 1888, §3420.

§ 3884. General duties. The commissioners may at any time, and on the complaint in writing of five of the stockholders or creditors of any railroad company assigning sufficient reason shall, examine the railroad of such company and all its appurtenances, engines, and cars, and its by-laws and rules; and in such examination shall pass over the road at a rate not exceeding six miles an hour, shall stop at each culvert, bridge, and piling, and examine the same, and shall examine the rails and ties in every mile, after notifying the company in writing of the time of such examination. They shall notify the company to make all repairs required within a time limited; shall make such rules as to platforms and outbuildings at stations as are for the public interest; may prescribe the time during which any ticket office shall be open for the sale of tickets, and no company neglecting to comply with such order shall receive more than the regular ticket price for fare; shall make necessary orders for compelling companies to furnish comfortable seats for passengers, and for regulating the manner in which companies shall manage their engines and cars at highway crossings; shall direct that suitable warning boards be put up at dangerous crossings; may require companies to maintain a gate across a highway at any crossing, and to provide an agent to open or close the same; shall, when two roads meet or intersect, at the request of the directors of the company owning either, prescribe rules relative to the exchange of passengers and baggage; and shall cause printed copies of §§ 3783 and 3784 to be kept posted up at all railroad stations, and may cause any other portion of the law relating to railroads to be posted as they may direct.

§ 3885. Notices concerning layout and real estate. Before the commissioners shall approve the layout of any rail

§ 3884. Railroad commissioners have no powers of arbitration, and cannot render conditional judgments. 41 C. 355. Their duties are administrative rather than judicial. 43 C. 382.

road, or the taking of any real estate for the purposes of such road, or any change or alteration of the same, they shall give reasonable notice to all persons having an interest in such real estate to attend and be heard; and the appraisers shall cause a like notice to be given to all persons interested in such real estate. If any such person resides out of this state, or is a feme covert, infant, or cestui que trust, or is non compos mentis, any judge of the superior court may prescribe the notice to be given to such person.

1856.

§ 3886. Road not to be opened without certificate of Rev. 1888, 3421. commissioners. No part of any railroad or street railway shall 1901, ch. 156, $1. be opened for public travel unless the company operating such railroad or street railway shall first obtain a certificate signed by the commissioners that it is in a suitable and safe condition.

§ 3887. Commissioners to examine roads. The commissioners shall examine the several railroads and street railways in the state once in each year, and oftener when they deem that public safety so requires, and shall make a like examination of any railroad or street railway within the limits of any town, when so requested in writing by the selectmen of such town or by the authorities having control and supervision of the streets and highways therein, and shall see that such railroads and railways are kept in suitable repair, and that the companies operating them faithfully comply with all provisions of law.

1850, 1856, 1862.

Rev. 1888, §3422. 1901, ch. 156, §2.

§ 3888. May order gates, flagmen, and signals. Rev. 1988, $3424. Penalty. The commissioners, when requested in writing, by the selectmen of any town, the mayor and common council of any city, or the warden and burgesses of any borough, to order a gate or electric signal to be erected, or a flagman to be stationed at any railroad crossing within such town, city, or borough, shall visit such place, first giving the authorities making such request, and the company operating the road, reasonable notice thereof; and if they find that public safety requires it, shall order such company to maintain a gate or electric signal, or to keep a flagman at such place, or to do any other act necessary for the protection of the public, and may specify when such gate shall be opened and closed, or when a flagman shall be on duty, and may change any such order when they deem it necessary, first visit§ 3888. Unless ordered by commissioners, only such safeguards as the

statute requires need be furnished.

57 C. 23.