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A. D. 1892.

Repealing

clause.

SEC. 3. That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved December 19th, A. D. 1892.

No. 12. AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 1 OF AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT

A. A. 1885, 81, 19 St a t., 377, amended.

TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED 'AN ACT TO LIMIT THE
SCHOOL AGES OF PUPILS ATTENDING THE FREE PUBLIC
SCHOOLS,' APPROVED DECEMBER 22ND, 1883," APPROVED
DECEMBER 26TH, A. D. 1885.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That Section 1 of an Act entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to limit the ages of pupils attending the free public schools,' approved December 22nd, 1883," approved December 26th, 1885, be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out Age extended. the word "eighteen" in the third line of said Section and inserting in lieu thereof the words "twenty-one," and by adding to said Section after the words "public schools" in the same line the words "of this State." So that said Section when amended shall read as follows:

Section as amended.

SECTION 1. That from and after the passage of this Act it shall not be lawful for any person who is less than six or more than twenty-one years of age to attend any of the free public schools of this State.

Approved December 19th, A. D. 1892.

No. 13.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE XII, CHAPTER XL, OF RAILROAD
CORPORATIONS AND GENERAL RAILROAD LAW, AND TO
PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION OF RAILROAD FREIGHT
AND PASSENGER TARIFFS IN THIS STATE, TO PREVENT
UNJUST DISCRIMINATION AND EXTORTION IN THE RATES
CHARGED FOR TRANSPORTATION OF PASSENGERS AND
FREIGHTS, AND TO PROHIBIT RAILROAD COMPANIES AND
CORPORATIONS AND LESSEES IN THIS STATE FROM CHARG-
ING OTHER THAN JUST AND REASONABLE RATES, AND TO
PUNISH THE SAME, AND PRESCRIBE A MODE OF PROCEDURE
AND RULES OF EVIDENCE IN RELATION THERETO, PROVID-
ING FOR THE ELECTION OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, AND
TO PRESCRIBE THEIR POWERS AND DUTIES IN RELATION
TO THE SAME.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep

A. D. 1892.

missioners.

term of office.

resentatives of the State of South Carolina, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That there shall be three Railroad Commissioners Three Comelected in accordance with the provisions hereafter contained; that is to say: They shall be elected by the present General Election and Assembly for the term of two years, beginning with the first day of January, 1893. At the expiration of said terms they shall be succeeded by their successors in office, who shall have been elected at the next general State election. The Commissioners of Election for the several Counties in the State shall at each general election herein provided for conduct the election of the Commissioners as is conducted the election of other State officers other than Governor and Lieutenant-Governor.

Subsequent elections.

The term of office Terms of office.

pro

Oath and disabilities.

of the Commissioners to be elected at the general election of 1894 shall be for two, four and six years, respectively, the term of each Commissioner to be determined by lot, in the presence of the Governor. At the expiration of said terms, respectively, they shall each be succeeded by his successor in office, who shall have been elected at the general election next preceding the date of said expiration. Said Commissioners shall take the oath of office vided by the Constitution and laws of this State for State officers, and shall not, jointly or severally, or in any way, be the holder or holders of any railroad stock or bond. The Governor shall have Vacancies. the power to fill vacancies in the office of Commissioner until the successor in such office for a full term or an unexpired term, as the case may be, shall have been elected at the next ensuing general election and qualified. The salary of each Commissioner shall be Salaries. twenty-one hundred dollars per annum, to be paid from the Treasury of the State. The expenses of the Commissioners, Assessment on including salaries, and the salary of their Secretary or Clerk, shall be borne by the several corporations owning or operating railroads in this State according to their gross income proportioned to the number of miles in this State, to be apportioned by the Comptroller-General of the State, who, on or before the first day of October in each and every year, shall assess upon each of said corporations its just proportion of such expenses in propor- Basis of assesstion to its gross income for the current year ending on the thirtieth day of June preceding that on which the assessment is made; and the said assessment shall be charged up against the said corporations, respectively, under the order and direction of the Comptroller-General, and shall be collected by the several When payable. County Treasurers in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon each corporation, and shall be paid by the

R. R. Co.'s.

ment.

A. D. 1892.

portation.

agents.

said County Treasurers as collected into the Treasury of the State, in like manner as other taxes collected by them for the Free trans- State. The Commissioners and their Secretary shall be transported free of charge, when in the performance of the duties of their office concerning railroads, over all railroads and railroad Experts and trains in this State, and they may take with them experts or other agents whose service they may deem to be temporarily of importance, and they shall in like manner be transported free of charge. A majority of said Commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business pertaining to their Eligibility of office. The Commissioners to be elected under the terms of this Commissioners. Act shall be elected from the State at large: Provided, That any male citizen of this State above the age of twenty-five years shall be eligible to election to the position of Railroad Commissioner, any law or Act of the Legislature to the contrary notwithstanding.

Quorum.

Office, &c.

Clerk and his salary.

office.

SEC. 2. The said Commissioners shall be furnished with an office, necessary furniture and stationery, and may employ a Secretary or Clerk at a salary of twelve hundred dollars per annum Location of at the expense of the State. The office of said Commissioners shall be kept in Columbia, and all sums of money authorized to Payment of be paid by this Act out of the State Treasury shall be paid only on the warrant of the Comptroller-General: Provided, That the total sum to be expended by said Commissioners for office rent, Limit to ex- furniture and stationery shall in no case exceed the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), or so much thereof as may be necessary, per annum.

expenses.

penditures.

Charge of unreasonable rates

SEC. 3. That from and after the passage of this Act, if any railroad corporation organized or doing business in this State under the Act of corporation, or general law of this State now of force, or which may hereafter be enacted, or any railroad corporation organized, or which may hereafter be organized, under the laws of any other State, and doing business in this State, shall charge, collect, demand or receive more than a fair and reasonable rate of toll or compensation for transportation of passengers or freight of any description, or for the use and transportation of any railroad car upon its track, or any of its branches, or upon any railroad within this State which it has the right, license or permission to use, operate or control, the same shall Declared to be be deemed guilty of extortion, and upon conviction thereof shall Punishment. be fined in a sum not less than one hundred nor more than one

extortion.

thousand dollars.

A. D. 1892.

Unjust dis

hibited.

Punishment.

Commissioners

tariffs.

And rules and regulations.

SEC. 4. That if any railroad corporation, as aforesaid, shall make any unjust discrimination in its rates and charges of toll as compensation for transportation of passengers or freights of crimination proany description, or for the use and transportation of any railroad car upon its said road or upon any of the branches thereof, or upon any railroads connected therewith which it has the right, license or permission to operate or control within this State, the same shall be deemed guilty of having violated the provisions of this Act, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars. SEC. 5. That the Commissioners elected as herein before pro- to make freight vided shall, as provided in the next Section of this Act, make and passenger reasonable and just rates of freight and passenger tariffs, to be observed by all railroad companies doing business in this State on the railroads therein; they shall make reasonable and just rules and regulations to be observed by all railroad companies doing business in this State, as to charges to any and all points for the necessary hauling and delivery of all freights; shall make such just and reasonable rules and regulations as may be necessary for preventing unjust discrimination in the transportation of freight and passengers on the railroads in this State; shall have Joint rates. the power to make just and reasonable joint rates for all connecting roads doing business in this State, as to all traffic or business passing from one of said roads to another, and to require the Connecting making of such connection at intersecting points of the schedules of trains as the public convenience may in their judgment demand: Provided, however, That before applying joint rates to roads that are not under the management and control of one and the same company the Commissioners shall give thirty days' panies. notice to said roads of the joint rate contemplated and of its division between said roads, and give hearing to roads desiring to Hearing. object to the same; shall make reasonable and just rates of charges for use of railroad cars carrying any and all kinds of freight and passengers on said railroad, no matter by whom owned or carried, and shall make just and reasonable rules and regulations to be observed by said railroad companies or railroads, to prevent the giving or paying of any rebate or bonus, directly Rebates and or indirectly, and from misleading or deceiving the public in any manner as to the real rates charged for freight and passengers: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be taken as in any Proviso as to manner abridging or controlling the rates for freight charged merce. by any railroad company in this State for carrying freight which comes from or goes beyond the boundaries of the State,

schedules.

Notice to be given to com

Rates for use of cars.

bonuses.

inter-State com

A. D. 1892.

and on which freight less than local rates on any railroad carrying the same are charged by such railroad, but said railroad companies shall possess the same power and right to charge such rates for carrying such freights as they possessed before the passage of this Act; and Commissioners shall have full power, by Long and short rules and regulations, to designate and fix the difference in rates of freight and passenger transportation to be allowed for shorter and longer distances on the same or different railroads, and to ascertain what shall be the limit of longer and shorter distances.

hauls.

R. R. Commissioners to make

rates.

schedule.

be posted.

SEC. 6. That the said Railroad Commissioners are hereby schedules of authorized and required to make for each of the railroad corporations doing business in this State, as soon as practicable, a schedule of just and reasonable rates of charges for transportation of passengers and freights and cars on each of said railroads, and ule as evidence. said schedule shall, in suits brought against any such railroad corporations wherein is involved the charges of any such railroad corporation for the transportation of any passenger or freight or cars, or unjust discrimination in relation thereto, be deemed and taken in all Courts of this State as sufficient evidence that the rates therein fixed are just and reasonable rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freights and cars upon the Revision of railroads; and said Commissioners shall from time to time, and as often as circumstances may require, change and revise said Schedules to schedule. When any schedule shall have been made or revised it shall be the duty of all such railroad companies to post at all their respective stations, in a conspicuous place, a copy of said When to be- schedule for the protection of the people: Provided, That the schedules thus prepared shall not be taken as evidence as herein provided until schedules have been prepared and published as aforesaid for all the railroad companies now organized under the laws of this State, or that may be organized at the time of Printed copies said publication. All such schedules purporting to be printed and published as aforesaid shall be received and held in all such suits as prima facie the schedules of said Commissioners without further proof than the production of the schedule desired. to be used as evidence, with a certificate of the Railroad Commission that the same is a true copy of the schedule prepared by them for the railroad company or corporation therein named, and that the same has been duly published as required by law: Notice of Provided, That thirty days' notice of any change or revision of the schedule of rates shall first be given to the railroad company to be affected thereby before the same shall go into effect.

come evidence.

as evidence.

changes.

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