ATTLEBOROUGH BRANCH-INTERSTATE RATES.

Notice of Attleborough Branch Railroad Company and Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company of proposed changes in rates of fare for passengers.

BENTLEY W. WARREN for Attleborough Branch Railroad Company and Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company. HAROLD E. SWEET

EARL B. THOMPSON for Town of Plainville.

CHARLES R. REMINGTON for Town of Seekonk and Village of Hebronville.

WILL D. BROMLEY

ARTHUR F. GEHRUNG

for Village of South Attleborough.

The Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company owns. and operates about 26 miles of track in the city of Attleboro and three adjoining towns, the population of which in 1915 was as follows:

At two points on the state boundary connection is made with lines of the Rhode Island Company, and the cars run through into Pawtucket. Much of the traffic is to or from that city.

The Interstate Consolidated has a somewhat complicated history. Most of its lines were originally constructed by two

companies, known as the Interstate Street Railway Company and the Attleborough, North Attleborough and Wrentham Street Railway Company. In 1893 these companies passed into the hands of a receiver and their properties, which included the lines running into Pawtucket, were sold at public auction. In 1895 a new corporation, known as the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company, was chartered in Rhode Island and was authorized by a special act of Massachusetts (St. 1895, c. 448) to take over these properties. Subsequently, on November 11, 1895, this new company was authorized by the Board of Railroad Commissioners to issue for this purpose securities amounting to $317,200, being "the amount which the purchased properties have actually cost the corporation or its stockholders in cash, including not only the specific price, but such other legitimate and necessary cash expenditures as actually and in good faith have been incurred in effecting the purchase, securing the title, and putting the railways in fit condition for use." Securities to the further amount of $62,800 · making $380,000 in all—were authorized to provide means for necessary additions and improvements.

Some objection seems to have been raised to operation of a foreign company in Massachusetts, and in 1901 a domestic corporation having the same name was chartered (St. 1901, c. 159) to take over the portion of the property located in this commonwealth. On July 23, 1901, the Board of Railroad Commissioners authorized the new company to issue capital stock to the amount of $275,000 for this purpose, upon condition that an equal amount of capital stock of the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company of Rhode Island should be surrendered and cancelled. At about the same time the portion of the property located in Rhode Island was sold to the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company.

The stock of the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Company of Massachusetts seems from the beginning to have been held by the Union Trust Company of Providence in trust for the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, and it is so held now. The latter company, however, was in 1902 leased to the Rhode Island Company for 999 years, and in 1906 the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company acquired the Rhode Island Company. By this process the stock of the Interstate Consolidated company passed into the control of the New Haven railroad. This situation was modified in 1909, when the benefit and enjoyment of this stock was sold by the Rhode Island Com

pany to the New England Investment and Security Company for $500,000, an amount figured by capitalizing on a 4 per cent basis the average net earnings of the Interstate Consolidated company for a period of years. The purpose of this transaction was to disguise New Haven control, but it continued to exist in indirect form till 1914, when the preferred shareholders of the New England Investment and Security Company secured control of that voluntary association, and trustees appointed by the United States District Court assumed possession of the Rhode Island Company. At present, therefore, the Interstate Consolidated company and the Rhode Island Company are separately controlled and neither is under the control of the railroad. The latter, however, has the largest financial interest in the property of both.

The Attleborough Branch Railroad Company was incorporated in 1870 and operates about 5 miles of track on private right of way, paralleling the line of the Interstate Consolidated between Attleboro and North Attleborough. Originally it was a steam railroad, leased to the Boston and Providence Railroad Company. This lease, however, expired in 1900, and not long afterward stock control passed to the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company and the road was electrified for operation in combination with the Interstate Consolidated. The outstanding stock ($131,700 in all) is still owned by the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, but the benefit and enjoyment thereof were sold in 1909 to the New England Investment and Security Company for $100,000, so that the road is now in the same hands as the Interstate Consolidated and is controlled in precisely the

same manner.

In local nomenclature, the Interstate Consolidated railway is divided into four parts. The "Plainville Line" extends from Plainville through North Attleborough to Attleboro; the "North Line" from Wamsutta Corner in North Attleborough through Orr's Corner in South Attleborough to the State boundary; the "South Line" from Attleboro to Orr's Corner and thence over the same tracks to the State boundary; and the "East Line" from Attleboro through a corner of Seekonk to the State boundary. Between Plainville and Pawtucket the fare via the "North Line" is now 10 cents. Southbound the full amount is collected and retained by the Interstate Consolidated, but northbound the Rhode Island Company collects and retains the first 5 cents. The average fare, therefore, which is collected by the Interstate Consolidated on through traffic between Plainville and the State

boundary, a distance of 8.5 miles, is 74 cents. Between Plainville and Pawtucket via Attleboro and the "East Line" the fare is 15 cents, but a similar arrangement with the Rhode Island Company exists, so that the average fare collected by the Interstate Consolidated on through traffic over this route between Plainville and the State boundary, a distance of 10.8 miles, is 12 cents. These are maximum distances, for the fare to and from North Attleborough is the same, the distance to the State boundary being 6.7 miles via the "North Line" and 9 miles via Attleboro and the "East Line." Between Attleboro and Pawtucket the fare via the "South Line" is 10 cents, but in this case only 5 cents is collected by the Interstate Consolidated, in either direction, for the ride of 6.3 miles between Attleboro and the State boundary.

The company now proposes to retain the 5-cent minimum fare but to increase the number of zones, dividing the road into sections in each of which 5 cents will be charged, as follows:

The result of this change, if it is permitted, will be to make the following increases in the charges for typical rides:

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The entire benefit of the increase indicated by this table will not in all cases go to the Interstate Consolidated company. The Rhode Island Company has recently been permitted by the Rhode Island authorities to charge 5 cents between Pawtucket and the State boundary, and to discontinue the present joint fare arrangement with the Interstate Consolidated. Temporarily this arrangement has been continued, pending the consideration of the Interstate Consolidated fares in Massachusetts, but it would cease to exist under the proposed new tariff. Between North Attleborough and Pawtucket, the present fare is 10 cents, but the Interstate Consolidated's portion of this averages but 7 cents. Under the new tariff the fare would be 15 cents and the Interstate Consolidated's portion would be 10 cents, an increase of 2 cents, the other 2 cents going to the Rhode Island Company. The situation between Attleboro and Pawtucket is similar.

The company also proposes, in connection with its new schedule, to eliminate all overlaps and transfer privileges. The result would be that in Attleboro and North Attleborough 10 cents. would be charged for any ride, however short, passing the railroad station in one case and Wamsutta Corner in the other. No change is proposed in the fares charged by the Attleborough Branch Railroad Company.

The company's dividend record since the organization of the Massachusetts corporation in 1901 has been as follows:

Since 1914, revenue has fallen off, owing to conditions in the jewelry business in the Attleboroughs, while operating expenses have increased, as follows: