REGULATIONS-RAILROAD COMMISSION.

LORD'S OREGON LAWS, VOL. III, P. 2465.

TITLE XLVI.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE RAILROAD COMMISSION, ITS POWERS AND DUTIES.

Sec. 6875. Commission Created (Number of Members, Term of Office, Appointment and Confirmation-Election-Vacancies.)

A railroad commission is hereby created, to be composed of three commissioners.

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Sec. 6884. Rules-All Hearings to be Open.

The Commission shall have power to adopt and publish rules or orders to govern its proceedings and to amend the same, and to regulate the mode and manner of all investigations and hearings of railroads and other parties before it, and all hearings shall be open to the public. Any person may appear before the commission, and be heard, or may appear by attorney. (Laws 1907, p. 70, Sec. 9.)

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Sec. 6886. What Embraced in Term “Railroad ”—What Transportation Governed by Act.

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The provisions of this act panies, tank lines companies.

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shall apply to all * * oil com(Laws 1907, p. 70, Sec. 11.)

NOTE: This Act contains very complete provisions for the regulation of railroads and these, according to this section, apply to oil companies and tank line companies.

TAXATION.

OIL AND GAS-VALUATION,

LAWS 1919, P. 626.

CHAPTER 356.

MARCH 4, 1919.

AN ACT authorizing the assessor of each county within the state of Oregon to assess minerals, gas, coal, oil and other similar interests in real estate owned separately and apart from the ownership of the surface of such real estate and the method of determining the valuation of said mineral reservation.

Be it enacted, etc.:

Sec. 1. That whenever any mineral, gas, coal, oil or other similar interests in real estate are owned separately and apart from and independently of the rights and interests owned in the surface of such real estate, such minerals, gas, coal, oil or other similar interests may be assessed and taxed separately from such surface rights and interests in said real estate and may be sold for taxes in the same manner and with the same effect as other interests in real estate are sold for taxes.

Sec. 2. That any person, firm or corporation that (who) owns any mineral, gas, coal, oil or other similar interests independently of the ownership of the surface rights of the real property shall, before the first day of March each year file with the county assessor his sworn statement of the value of said reservation of mineral, gas, coal, oil or other mineral products. The assessor shall assess the said reservation at a valuation of not less than ten per cent of the total value of the entire surface rights and interest in said real estate.

Regulating transportation, storage and sales of oil_-_.

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Protection of wells, tanks, and pipes-Malicious injury....

283

AN ACT to protect the property of natural gas companies and other furnishers of gas, and the interest of consumers of gas.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That whoever, except the authorized agent or employe for the purpose of the owner, manufacturer or operator thereof, maliciously opens, closes or in any manner or to any extent adjusts or interferes with any valve, regulator, gauge, gate, disc, curbcock, stopcock, meter or other regulating, operating or measuring device or appliance in or attached to the wells, tanks, conduit, pipe-lines, mains, service pipes, house-pipes, display-pipes or other distributing pipes of any gas company, manufacturer or furnisher of gas, with intent to cause the escape of any gas or to injure or destroy any of such property, or maliciously enlarges or alters any mixer, furnished or approved by any gas company, manufacturer or furnisher of gas, to or for a consumer of its, his or their gas, or maliciously removes from its connection any mixer so furnished or approved of, or puts on any mixer without express permission first obtained, or consumes for fuel or light the gas of any gas company, manufacturer or furnisher of gas, or taps, severs or opens any main or pipe used or intended for the transmission of gas, or connects with such main or pipe any other main or pipe, shall be deemed

guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars, or undergro an imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both, or either, at the discretion of the court. The word “gas” in this act shall include and mean natural and artificial gas used for heating and illuminating purposes.

LAWS 1885, P. 29.

NATURAL GAS COMPANIES.

INCORPORATION AND REGULATION.

MAY 29, 1885.

AN ACT to provide for the incorporation and regulation of natural gas companies.

WHEREAS, By the discovery of natural gas and its production in such quantities as to render it a prime necessity for use as a fuel and otherwise in the development of trade in this Commonwealth, it has become essential that the creation of corporations for the production, storage, conveyance and distribution of said gas shall be authorized and provided for by legislation, Now, therefore,

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That corporations may be formed in the manner mentioned herein by the voluntary association of five or more persons, or as otherwise provided herein, for the purpose of producing, dealing in, transporting, storing and supplying natural gas to such persons, corporations or associations, within convenient connecting distance of its line of pipe, as may desire to use the same, upon such terms and under such reasonable regulations as the gas company shall establish, and when so formed, each of them, by virtue of its existence as such, shall have the following powers:

First. To have succession by its corporate name for the period limited by its charter, and when no period is limited thereby, perpetually, subject to the power of the General Assembly, under the Constitution of the Commonwealth.

Second. To maintain and defend judicial proceedings.

Third. To make and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure, and have a capital stock, not exceeding five million dollars, divided into shares such as each company may determine.

Fourth. To produce, mine, own, deal in, transport, store and supply natural gas, for either light, heat, or both, or other purposes, and have all the rights and privileges necessary or convenient therefor.

Fifth. To hold, purchase, maintain, lease, mortgage, sell, and transfer such real and personal property, including pipes, tubing. tanks, office and such other machinery, devices or arrangements, as the purposes of the corporation requires, and the right also to enter upon, take and occupy such lands, easements and other property as may be required for the purpose of laying its pipes for transporting and distributing gas.

Sixth. To appoint and remove such subordinate officers and agents as the business of the corporation requires and to allow them suitable compensation. Seventh. To make by-laws, not inconsistent with the law, for the election and regulation of its directors and officers, the management of its property, the regulation of its affairs and the subscription, collection and transfer of its stock. Eighth. To enter into any obligation necessary to the transaction of its ordinary affairs.

SEC. 2. The charter of such intended corporation must be subscribed by five or more persons, three of whom, at least, shall be citizens of this Commonwealth, who shall certify in writing to the governor:

First. The name of the corporation.

Second. The place or places where natural gas is intended to be mined for and produced or received, the place or places where it is to be supplied to consumers, the general route of its pipe line or lines and branches, the location of its general office.

Third. The term for which said corporation is to exist, which may be limited as to time, or be perpetual.

Fourth. The names and residences of the subscribers, and the number of shares subscribed by each.

Fifth. The number of its directors, and the names and residences of those chosen directors for the first year.

Sixth. The amount of its capital stock, and the number and par value of shares into which divided.

Notice of the intention to apply for any such charter shall be inserted in two newspapers of general circulation, printed in each of the counties named in the charter of said corporation, for three weeks, setting forth briefly the character and object of the corporation to be formed, and the intention to make application therefor, and the places where its business in its various branches is to be conducted. The certificate to the governor shall state that ten per centum of the capital stock named therein has been paid in cash to the treasurer of the intended corporation, and the name and residence of the treasurer shall be therein given; said certificate shall be acknowledged by at least three of the subscribers thereto, before the recorder of deeds of the county in which its principal office is situate, and the subscribers shall also make and subscribe an oath or affirmation before him, to be endorsed on the certificate, and the statements contained therein are true; the certificate so endorsed, accompanied with proof of publication of notice as heretofore provided, shall then be produced to the governor of the commonwealth, who shall examine the same, and, if he finds it to be in proper form within the purpose named herein, shall approve thereof and endorse his approval thereon and direct letters patent to issue in the usual form incorporating the subscribers and their associates and successors into a body politic and corporate, in deed and in law, by the name chosen; and the certificate shall be recorded in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, in a book to be by him kept for that purpose, and he shall forthwith furnish to the auditor general an abstract therefrom showing the name, location, amount of capital stock, and name and address of the treasurer of the corporation. The original certificate with all of its endorsements shall then be recorded in the office for recording deeds in and for each of the counties named therein, and from thenceforth, the subscribers thereto, and their associates and successors, shall be a corporation for the purposes and upon the terms named in said certificate: Provided, That neither this act nor any other shall be so construed as to confer, authorize or give color to any claim of exclusive right in any corporation, howsoever formed, dealing in any way or for any purpose in natural gas.

Sec. 3. It shall be lawful for all corporations named in this act to borrow money to secure any indebtedness created by them, by issuing bonds with or without coupons attached thereto, and to secure the same by a mortgage or mortgages, for the use of the bondholders, upon their property real and personal and their franchises to an amount not exceeding one-half of the capital stock of the corporation paid in, and at a rate of interest not exceeding six per centum.

Sec. 4. The capital stock of indebtedness, of any corporation created under this act, may be increased or its capital stock may be reduced from time to time by consent of the person or bodies corporate holding the larger amount in value of the stock of such company, but such increase of capital stock or

indebtedness shall only be made for labor done, or money or property actually received. But every corporation, created under the provisions of this act, may purchase such real and personal estate, mineral rights, patent rights and other property as is necessary for the purpose of its organization and business, and issue stock therefor, and the stock so issued shall be declared and taken to be full paid stock and not liable to any further calls or assessments, and in the charter and certificates and statements to be made by the subscribers and officers of the corporation, such stock shall not be stated or certified as having been issued for cash paid into the company, but it shall be stated or certified in this respect according to the fact.

Sec. 5. When and as often as any such corporation shall be desirous of enlarging or altering its territory of production or of supply, for consumption, both or either of them, and its pipe line or lines and branches, it shall, thereupon, make, under its common seal and deposit in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, a certificate setting forth the particulars of such enlargement and alteration, and shall record in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county or counties to which the enlargement or alteration applies, a copy of the certificate, and thereupon and thereafter the rights, powers and duties of the corporation shall be as to the extension of its business and lines as if the same had been originally provided for and embodied in its charter.

Sec. 6. That any corporation formed hereunder, desirous of increasing its capital stock or indebtedness as provided by this act, shall, by a resolution of its board of directors, call a meeting of its stockholders therefor, which meeting shall be held at its chief office or place of business in this Commonwealth, and notice of the time, place, and object of the meeting shall be published, once a week for sixty days prior to such meeting, in at least one newspaper published in the county, city, or borough wherein such office or place of business is situate.

Sec. 7. At the meeting thus called an election of the stockholders of the corporation shall be taken for or against the proposed increase, which shall be conducted by three judges, who shall be stockholders of the corporation appointed by the board of directors to hold the election, and if one or more of the judges be absent the judge or judges present shall appoint a judge or judges who shall act in the place of the judge or judges absent, and who shall respectively take and subscribe an oath or affirmation before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths well and truly and according to law to conduct the election to the best of their ability, and the judges shall decide upon the qualification of voters, and when the election is closed count the number of shares voted for and against such increase, and declare whether the persons or bodies corporate, holding the larger amount of the stock of the corporation, have consented to the increase or refused to consent thereto and shall make out duplicate returns of the election stating the number of shares of stock that voted for the increase, and the number that voted against the same, and subscribe and deliver the same to one of the chief officers of the company.

Sec. 8. Each ballot shall have endorsed thereon the number of shares thereby represented, and be signed by the holder thereof or by the person holding a proxy therefor, but no share or shares transferred within sixty days shall entitle to vote at such election or meeting, nor shall any proxy be received or entitle the holder to vote unless the same shall bear date and have been executed within three months next preceding the election or meeting; and it shall be the duty of the corporation to furnish the judges at such meeting with a statement of the amount of its capital stock, with the names of persons or bodies corporate holding the same, and the number of shares by each respectively held, which