(c) Interest reckoned at the rate of four and one-quarter per cent per annum upon the cost of the land for said station, which shall be considered as fixed at $470,895.50.

(d) A return at the rate of six per cent per annum, representing an interest charge of four and one-quarter per cent and a depreciation charge of one and three-quarters per cent upon the cost of the station, exclusive of the land, which shall be considered as fixed, as of the effective date of this award, at $592,356.66. This amount shall be increased from time to time by the net cost of additions, alterations, betterments or renewals made by consent of the parties, or rendered necessary by the act of God, fire, civil commotion, violence, casualty or operation of law, or required by any public authority, less the proceeds of insurance, if any, and subject to such adjustment, on account of payments theretofore made to cover depreciation upon property destroyed or abandoned in connection with renewals or replacements so made, as may be agreed to by the parties or determined by the Commission upon petition of any party under the statute. (e) The cost of maintenance and repairs of said station and such renewals as are not chargeable to capital account.

(f) The cost of operating said station, including the salaries and wages of all station employees and the cost of heat, light and water used at said station, and the cost of all supplies and services furnished in joint behalf.

(g) Any sums paid or allowed by the Boston and Albany Railroad Company on account of loss or damage or personal injury arising out of the use of said station by lessees or licensees, other than the said railroad companies.

These five items shall be payable monthly.

In reckoning the items (e) and (f) there shall be added to the pay roll cost of labor ten per cent and to the stock prices of material fifteen per cent to cover supervision, inspection, handling, transportation, accounting and similar items of expense to the Boston and Albany Railroad Company.

From the total amount of the five items (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g), there shall be deducted before determining the respective proportions chargeable against the Boston and Maine Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, the following:

(x) Such sums as the Boston and Albany Railroad Company may receive from lessees or licensees other than the said railroad companies for the use of said station and facilities.

(y) The entire amount chargeable against all of the said rail

road companies on account of office space occupied by them, respectively, at the rate hereinafter specified.

2. Said proportions shall be 58.78 per cent for the Boston and Albany Railroad Company, 15.73 per cent for the Boston and Maine Railroad, and 25.49 per cent for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company for the year ended December 31, 1916, and for each year thereafter during the continuance of this award, subject to any revision which may be made by agreement of parties, as of the first day of January of each year, upon the basis of the number of tickets sold and the amount of baggage, milk and mail handled at the station for the respective companies during the preceding year.

3. In addition to the payments herein before provided for, the Boston and Maine Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company shall each pay to the Boston and Albany Railroad Company for the office space occupied by them respectively in the said station, at the rate of ninety cents per square foot per annum. This sum is to include light, water and heat and all such payments are to be made monthly.

4. This award shall be effective as of the first day of January, 1916, and shall continue in force thereafter until terminated in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of chapter 422 of the Acts of 1905.

Petition of the Boston Elevated Railway Company for approval of plan numbered 15551, dated January, 1918, showing relocation of spur and relay track at the temporary terminal station in Everett. The annexed plan marked "Boston Elevated Railway Elevated and Subway Construction Everett Extension Temporary Terminal Station Spur and Relay Track Inbound," and numbered 15551, is hereby approved.

FREDERICK J. MACLEOD,
EVERETT E. STONE,
JOHN F. MEANEY,

JOSEPH B. EASTMAN,
CHARLES A. RUSSELL,

JANUARY 14, 1918.

[P. S. C. 2042]

Commissioners.

MISCELLANEOUS.

STREET RAILWAYS EARNING FIVE PER CENT DIVIDENDS.
Communication.

To the Honorable the Bank Commissioner of the Commonwealth, State
House, Boston, Mass.

DEAR SIR: Pursuant to the provisions of Acts of 1908, chapter 590, Part V, section 68, Fifth, and amendments thereof, and of section 2 of chapter 122 of the General Acts of 1917, we certify and transmit the following list of street railway companies incorporated in this Commonwealth which appear from the returns made by them and filed with the Commission for the year ended December 31, 1917, to have annually earned and properly paid without impairment of assets or capital stock, an amount in dividends equal to five per cent on all outstanding capital stock in each of the five preceding years:

Boston and Revere Electric Street Railway Company.

East Middlesex Street Railway Company.

East Taunton Street Railway Company.

Fitchburg and Leominster Street Railway Company.
Union Street Railway Company.

West End Street Railway Company.

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Company.

The statutes cited above, as construed by this Commission and its predecessor, do not require the Commission to determine whether the provisions for maintenance and depreciation made by street railway companies as shown by their returns have or have not been adequate.

For the Commission,

FREDERICK J. MACLEOD,

JUNE 1, 1918.

[P. S. C. 2147]

Chairman.

CIRCULARS.

To All Common Carriers under Federal Control performing Intrastate Service within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Whereas, The President of the United States, acting through the Director-General of Railroads, as set forth in General Order No. 28 of the Director-General, dated May 25, 1918, has initiated certain freight, passenger and baggage rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations and practices by filing the same with the Interstate Commerce Commission under authority of an act of Congress, approved March 21, 1918, entitled, "An Act to Provide for the Operation of Transportation Systems While Under Federal Control, for the Just Compensation of Their Owners and For Other Purposes;"

And whereas, The tariffs so initiated by the President are to become effective on June 10, 1918, so far as they relate to passenger and baggage service, and on June 25, 1918, so far as they relate to freight service, it is

Ordered, That common carriers subject to the supervision of this Commission be hereby permitted, under the authority of section 20 of chapter 784 of the Acts of 1913, to make changes in intrastate rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations and practices, to become effective in less than thirty days, when such changes are made under authority of the Director-General, United States Railroad Administration; provided, that printed copies of such tariffs bear a notation showing that the rates therein contained are initiated by the President of the United States through the Director-General, United States Railroad Administration, in General Order No. 28 dated May 25, 1918, be filed with this Commission in the usual manner, within five days. of the effective date of the tariff, and not later than June 30, 1918, and designated by a distinguishing serial M. P. S. C. number.

This order is issued without formal hearing and shall not affect any subsequent proceeding relative to any schedule filed hereunder.

JUNE 8, 1918.

Attest: ANDREW A. HIGHLANDS,
[P. S. C. 2049-B]

Secretary.

Order of the Commission relative to certain quarterly statements as to payments by railroad, street railway and other corporations and associations subject to its supervision.

On November 24, 1913, the Commission adopted an order (P. S. C. 173) requiring the various utilities subject to its supervision to file quarterly statements, open to public inspection, showing the amounts expended on account of advertising, legal and miscellaneous general expenses. This order followed disclosures as to various improper expenditures of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company in influencing legislation and public opinion, and was designed, by affording publicity, to operate as a deterrent to such practices in the future. Recently the principal railroad corporations operating in the commonwealth have come under direct control of the federal government, and the management of the Boston Elevated Railway Company has been placed in the hands of a board of public trustees appointed by the Governor. Under the circumstances we see no reason why these companies should now be required to file the statements required by order No. 173, since their expenditures are directly in the control of public authorities.

The accounting department of the Commission, with whom the statements are filed, also informs us that in a comparatively large number of cases the expenditures reported are small in amount and importance, and that its files are being encumbered with records which are of little or no value. Upon consideration, it seems to the Commission that time and expense will be saved and procedure simplified if provision is made so that if the total expenditures of any company during any quarter, for the purposes specified, do not exceed $2,500 it may report that fact without furnishing details.

It is therefore

Ordered, That the following corporations, which are now under direct public control, are hereby excused from the operation of Public Service Commission order No. 173 until otherwise ordered by the Commission:

Boston and Maine Railroad.

Central New England Railway Company.

Central Vermont Railway Company.

New York Central Railroad Company (lessee of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company).

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company.

Union Freight Railroad Company.

Boston Elevated Railway Company.