CHAP. 82

Board shall fix rates.

Authorized to lay pipes in any highway.

Shall file notice of taking of water, etc., in registry of deeds.

missioners are elected, the mayor and aldermen of the city shall perform the duties of the water commissioners.

SECT. 8. Said board of water commissioners is authorized to fix the rates of water to be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually, by persons supplied with the same, subject to the action of the city council, and in the same manner determine the conditions and manner of such supply, and shall have general charge and control of the city's water system.

SECT. 9. Said city or said trustee, or any corporation of which either may obtain control directly or indirectly, as described in section two, are authorized, for the purposes of carrying into effect the provisions of this act, to dig up and excavate any highway, lay pipe therein, and fill the same under the direction of the street commissioner.

SECT. 10. Whenever said city, or said trustee, or any corporation of which either may obtain control, as provided in section two, either directly or through ownership of stock, shall, under section one, take water from any of the sources therein named, it shall file in the registry of deeds, in the county of Androscoggin, a notice of such taking, describing the size, location and depth of the pipe, or pipes, through which said water is to be taken from said sources. The said -damages, how city, or said trustee, or said corporation, shall pay all damages sustained by any person or corporation in property, by the taking of any water, water sources, water right, or easement, or by any other thing done by said city, or by said trustee, or by said corporation first named in this section, under the authority of this act, which shall be determined and assessed in the same manner as provided in section four, for land taken under the provisions of this act.

determined and

assessed.

Act shall Lot take effect unless city, within fifteen months, offers to purchase property of the Auburn Aqueduct Company.

SECT. 11. Subject to the provisos hereinafter contained, the preceding sections of this act shall not take effect, unless the city of Auburn shall, within fifteen months from the approval hereof, give the Auburn Aqueduct Company a written notice offering to buy all its property, franchises, rights and privileges except only its cash assets, and shall also thereafter pay, or cause to be paid, therefor, a price to be determined in the manner herein provided. Unless the said city and said company shall agree upon the price to be paid, or upon some other method of determining said price, then within three months after the giving of said notice, but not

СНАР. 82

parties cannot Judicial Court, shall appoint a determine value

agree upon price, Supreme

upon request,

commissioner to

of property.

-proceedings.

thereafter, either the city, or the Auburn Aqueduct Company may file in the clerk's office of the supreme judicial court, in and for the county of Androscoggin, either in term time or vacation its request to the court to appoint a commission, for the purposes hereinafter set out, to consist of five disinterested persons, none of whom shall be residents of Androscoggin county; at least one of whom shall be a person learned in the law, and at least one a competent and skillful engineer, and the others well qualified to judge of the value of said property, franchises, rights and privileges. Thereupon, after reasonable notice ordered by the court sitting in said county, or by any judge, either the court, or such judge in vacation, in said county, or elsewhere, may appoint said commission. Such commission shall, as soon as may be, but after reasonable notice, hear the parties, their proofs, and arguments, and determine the value of said property, franchises, rights and privileges, except only cash assets as aforesaid. In determining such value the commission shall take into account any existing contracts between the company and the city, the considerations thereof, and all acts done thereunder or in pursuance thereof. The commission shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production of books and papers pertinent to the issue, and may administer oaths; and any witness or person in charge of such books or papers, refusing to attend or to produce the same, shall be subject to the same penalties and proceedings, so far as applicable, as witnesses summoned to attend the supreme judicial court. The commission, or a majority thereof, after such hearing, shall report to the court, in said county, in term time, what in its judgment is a fair and just value of the property, franchises, rights and privileges, which it is directed to appraise, and all other findings which it may have been directed by the court or judge to make, and such papers and proofs taken by it, as the court or any judge thereof has directed, or may from time to time direct it to return; and in its report, the commission shall state the date as of which the value aforesaid was fixed. The court may confirm such report, or reject it, or recommit the same, or submit the subject matter thereof to a new commission. The fees and fees, how expenses of all the commissioners shall be paid to them, onehalf by the city and one-half by the Auburn Aqueduct Company.

All proceedings of the court, or any judge, with

paid.

CHAP. 82

reference to any matter herein, raising a question of law, whether in term time or vacation, shall be subject to exceptions in the manner provided by statute. But notwithstanding said exceptions, the case shall proceed at nisi prius, and shall not be marked "law" until after judgment is entered, as hereinafter set forth, unless the court or the judge being of the opinion that any question involved is sufficiently important, shall otherwise order. When the court confirms the report of the commission, it shall enter judgment thereon, and within two calendar months after the entry of such judgment, the city shall notify the Auburn Aqueduct Company, in writing, of its willingness to purchase said property, franchises, rights and privileges, at the price determined by said judgment, and to pay said company therefor. And within two calendar months after such notice is received by said company, it shall notify said city, in writing, that it will or will not, sell its property to said city at said price. And if said company shall accept the offer, it shall forthwith cause deeds of transfer and conveyance to be made, and filed in the clerk's office of the supreme judicial court for Androscoggin county, for the inspection of the city of Auburn, and to be approved by the court, or any justice thereof, in term time or vacation. Said deeds shall convey all the property, franchises, rights and privileges, except cash assets, then owned by the Auburn Aqueduct Company, to said city, or to such person or persons, or corporation, in trust, for the benefit of the city, as the city may designate, subject to any mortgages given to secure the payment of bonds not then due, existing thereon at the time the notice is given by the city, as herein before provided, and subject to a lien for the adjustment of matters remaining to be adjusted, as hereinafter set out. And if said city shall designate that said property, franchises, rights and privileges, shall be conveyed to any person or persons, or corporation, in trust, as aforesaid, it shall also designate the terms of said trust, which shall be incorporated in said deed. And when said deed or deeds shall be approved, as aforesaid, they shall be delivered to said city, or said trustee, as the case may be, and said city, or said trustee, shall thereupon pay said company the amount determined by said judgment, and interest thereon, less the face value and accrued interest of any bonds secured by any

CHAP. 82

pending company shall supply water,

conveyance,

continue to

etc.

existing mortgage of any of its property or franchises, as hereinbefore provided. If at the time of said conveyance, there shall be any existing mortgage, as aforesaid, the city, or such trustee, in his said capacity, shall assume the payment of all the principal sums, and interest, remaining unpaid, or thereafterwards coming due; and such trustee, in his said capacity, and also the city, so far as lawful under the provisions of the constitution of the state, shall be holden to pay all the sums so assumed. Nothing in this act, nor any proceedings thereunder, so long as the same are pending, until conveyance is made, as hereinbefore directed, shall prevent or embarrass the Auburn Aqueduct Company from supplying water as authorized by its charter, or extending its works, or making any improvements which will inure to its own interests, or the interests of the inhabitants of Auburn, nor from receiving water rents and other dues and tolls, thereafter accruing. After said property, rights, franchises and privileges are transferred, as hereinbefore provided, the court shall take account of all receipts and expenditures properly had or incurred by the Auburn Aqueduct Company, from and after the date on which said property is valued, as aforesaid, and shall enter judgment for the net balance for or against the Auburn Aqueduct Company, as the against either case may be, and shall fix the time within which the same enforced. shall be paid. And in the event the same is in favor of the Auburn Aqueduct Company, if not paid within the time so fixed, the court shall enforce the same against the property, franchises, rights and privileges conveyed as aforesaid by sale, or otherwise, according to the principles governing courts in equity, with reference to enforcing liens and securities, and by issuing execution against the city, so far as may lawfully be done under the constitution of the state, and against such person or corporation trustee; and in like manner it shall issue execution against the Auburn Aqueduct Company, for any balance then due from it. When said conveyance is made as aforesaid to said city, or trustee, the city shall thereupon enter into possession and control of the property, rights, franchises and privileges therein transferred, subject to be divested thereof only upon a failure to pay the mortgaged indebtedness aforesaid of the Auburn Aqueduct Company, or otherwise, as is herein provided. Provided, nevertheless, that if the Auburn Aqueduct Company shall refuse to accept

-judgments

party, how

if company

refuses to accept

price, then all

the price as determined by said judgment, or to sell its property therefor, or shall neglect to notify said city, within the time limited by this section, of its acceptance or refusal, then all other sections of this act shall have the same effect as though this section did not exist.

SECT. 12. Any person or persons, or corporation to whom the property and franchises of the Auburn Aqueduct Company shall be conveyed in trust, as provided in section eleven, or to whom any stock in any company shall be conveyed in trust for the benefit of said city, shall hold the same as security for any person or corporation who may have advanced money for its purchase, and may, from time to time, sell and deliver the same, or debentures representing the same, to the city, discharged of its trust, in such manner and upon such terms as may be agreed upon by the city and such trustee, and the persons advancing such money. And as further security, such trustee or trustees may be entitled by contract to receive the net rents and profits of said property, with one per cent of the principal annually, and apply them to the payment of any such advances and the interest thereon. Such trustee, with the consent of the city, may also create or hold security on said property, rights, privileges and franchises, for money advanced by any person or corporation to improve or extend the system of water works hereinbefore described.

SECT. 13. For the purpose of raising money to carry out the provisions of this act, the city of Auburn may issue bonds, registered, or with interest coupons, under the direction of its city council, to an amount which, taken in connection with the other indebtedness of the city, will not exceed the amount limited by the constitution of Maine. And such bonds shall be signed by the mayor and treasurer of the city, but the coupons need be signed by the treasurer only, and shall be designated and marked, "The Auburn Water Loan." And for the same purposes the city may sell any stock which it now holds in any corporation.

SECT. 14. The rates for the supply of water under this act shall be fixed so that all expenses for repairs and management shall be paid annually, together with interest, and not less than one per cent of the principal expenditures.

SECT. 15. For the purpose of raising money to carry out the provisions of this act, and to extend and improve the