unfilled storage capacity, provided no publicity shall be given by the commission to the reports as to stock of crude petroleum on hand of any particular pipe line; but the commission in its discretion may make public the aggregate amounts held by all the pipe lines making such reports, and of their aggregate storage capacity. The commission shall have the power and authority to hear and determine complaints, to require attendance of witnesses, pay their expenses out of the fund herein created, and to institute suits and sue out such writs and process as may be necessary for the enforcement of its orders.

Sec. 7. No such common carrier in its operations as such shall discriminate between or against shippers in regard to facilities furnished or service rendered or rates charged under same or similar circumstances in the transportation of crude petroleum; nor shall there be any discrimination in the transportation of crude petroleum produced or purchased by itself directly or indirectly. In this connection the pipe line shall be considered as a shipper of the crude petroleum produced or purchased by itself directly or indirectly and handled through its facilities. No such carrier in such operations shall directly or indirectly charge, demand, collect or receive from any one a greater or less compensation for any service rendered than from another for a like and contemporaneous service; provided this shall not limit the right of the commission to prescribe rates and regulations different from or to some places from other rates or regulations for transportations from or to other places, as it may determine; nor shall any carrier be guilty of discrimination when obeying any order of the commission. When there shall be offered for transportation more crude petroleum than can be immediately transported, the same shall be equitably apportioned. The commission may make and enforce general or specific regulations in this regard. No such common carrier shall at any time be required to receive for shipments from any person, firm, corporation or association of persons, exceeding three thousand barrels of petroleum in any one day.

Sec. 8. The commission, when necessary, shall make and enforce rules and regulations either general in their nature or applicable to particular oil fields for the prevention of actual waste of oil or operations in the field dangerous to life or property.

Sec. 9. Any common carrier as herein defined who shall violate any provision of this Act or who shall fail to perform any duty herein imposed or any valid order of the commission when not stayed or suspended by order of court, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each offense, such penalty to be recoverable at suit of the Attorney General of the State of Texas in the name of the State and for its use. Such penalty may also be recorded by and for the use of any person, corporation or association of persons against whom there shall have been an unlawful discrimination as herein defined; such suit to be brought in the name of and for the use of party aggrieved and may be maintained in any court of proper jurisdiction, having due regard to the ordinary statutes of venue. For the wilful violations of the provisions herein forbidding discrimination on the part of common carriers, it is hereby provided that the owners, officers, agents or employees of such carriers who may be guilty thereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, each violation of such provisions shall be deemed a separate offense and upon conviction thereof the party violating same shall be fined in a sum of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and may be further punished by confinement in the county jail for not less than ten days nor more than six months.

Sec. 10. Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules of (or) regulations which may be prescribed by the commission, every such common carrier

shall receive and transport crude petroleum delivered to it for transportation and shall so receive and transport same and perform its other duties with respect thereto without discrimination.

Sec. 11. It shall be the duty of the commission to employ an expert who shall gather information and assist the commission in the performance of its duties under this act. The salary of this expert shall be at the rate of thirtysix hundred dollars per annum, payable to equal monthly installments. And the commission shall employ such other assistants as may be necessary. These salaries and expenses and the expenses of the hearings and investigations conducted by said commission shall be paid out of a fund to be derived from a tax of one-twentieth of one per cent of the market value of crude petroleum produced within this State, which tax is hereby levied, and which tax shall be in addition to and collected in the same manner as the present gross receipts production tax on crude petroleum. Producers of crude petroleum are hereby required to make reports of production in the same manner and under the same penalties as for the gross production tax. The tax thus collected shall be paid into the State treasury as other revenue, and shall be paid out in warrants as other State funds. Any yearly excess of the tax over and above the requirements of the commission shall become a part of the general revenue of the State and any deficit shall be made up out of the general revenue of the State. Sec. 12. The sum of five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of the general revenue of the State not otherwise appropriated for the purpose of paying the salary of the expert for the commission, and other expenses incurred by the commission hereunder until the petroleum tax becomes available.

Sec. 13. The salary of the expert for the commission shall be paid by monthly warrants drawn by the State Comptroller on the State Treasurer. Other expenses of the commission, such as traveling expenses, expenses of witness, stenographers and stationery, shall be paid by like warrants issued upon duly verified statements of the persons entitled, with the approval of the chairman of the commission endorsed thereon.

Sec. 14. This Act shall be cumulative of all the laws of this State, which are not in direct conflict herewith, regulating the control of pipe line companies or similar corporations, in this State.

Sec. 15. If any provision of this Act shall be held unconstitutional or for any other reason shall be held to be void, or if more than one provision of this Act shall be held to be void, such holding shall not have the effect to nullify the remaining parts of this Act, but the parts not so held to be void shall nevertheless remain in full force and effect.

Sec. 16. Whereas, there is no law in this State regulating corporations, persons or associations of persons engaged in the business of transporting crude petroleum by pipe line for hire, and no law bringing persons and associations of persons so engaged in the transportation of crude petroleum by pipe lines within the definition of common carriers and public utilities, and no tribunal having jurisdiction thereof, now therefore it is hereby declared that an emergency exists creating an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days and the same is hereby suspended, and this law shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved February 20, 1917.

Takes effect 90 days after adjournment.

NOTE: The sections of this act from 1 to 11, inclusive, are the same as Articles 7321 to 7321j, Vernon's Texas Civil & Criminal Statutes, 1918 Supplement. Sections 13 to 15, inclusive, are Articles 7321k to 7321m, inclusive, of the same work.

PIPE LINES, TANKS AND RESERVOIRS- -RIGHTS OF WAY.

COMPILED LAWS 1917, P. 848.

TITLE 71.

4024. Right of way for pipe lines.

Any person, corporation, or association desirous of obtaining the right of way for a pipe line or lines, or for the location of any gas tank or reservoir, shall be entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain.

COMPILED LAWS 1917, P. 1451.

CHAPTER 65.

EMINENT DOMAIN.

7330. Exercised in behalf of what uses.

Subject to the provisions of this chapter, the right of eminent domain may be exercised in behalf of the following public uses:

6. * * * Natural gas or oil pipe lines, tanks, or reservoirs. (Laws 1909, p. 50.)

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OIL AND GAS.

WELLS- -PLUGGING.

COMPILED LAWS 1917, P. 848.

TITLE 71.

NATURAL GAS AND OIL.

4020. Confining gas in unused well.

Any person or corporation in possession as owner, lessee, agent, or manager of any well in which natural gas has been found, shall, unless said gas is being utilized, within three months from the completion of said well, or at any time

upon ceasing to use such well, confine the gas in said well until such time as it shall be utilized; provided, that this section shall not apply to any well operated as an oil well.

4021. Plugging abandoned well.

Upon abandoning or ceasing to operate any well sunk in exploring for gas, the person or corporation that sunk the same shall fill up the well with sand or rock sediment to a depth of at least twenty feet above the gas-bearing rock, and drive a round, seasoned wooden plug, at least three feet in length, equal in diameter to the diameter of the well below the casing, to a point at least five feet below the bottom of the casing; and immediately after drawing the casing, shall drive a round, seasoned wooden' plug to a point just below where the lower end of the casing rested, which plug shall be at least three feet in length, tapering in form, and of the same diameter at the distance of eighteen inches from the smaller end as the diameter of the hole below the point at which it is to be driven. After the plug has been properly driven there shall be filled on the top of the same, sand or rock sediment to a depth of at least five feet; provided, that in case such geological formation shall be encountered in the bore as to make some other method more effective for preventing flooding by water from superposed strata, the State mine inspector may direct what other plan shall be pursued, without unreasonable cost to the owner or lessee of the well.

4022. Penalties for neglect.

Any person or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of Sections 4020, 4021, shall be liable to a penalty of $200 for each and every violation thereof and to the further penalty of $200 for each thirty days during which such violation shall continue; and all such penalties shall be recovered, with costs of suit, in a civil action or actions, in the name of the state for the use of the county in which the well shall have been opened.

4023. Rights of adjacent owner.

Whenever any person or corporation shall abandon any gas well, and shall fail to comply with section 4021, any person or corporation lawfully in possession of lands adjacent to or in the neighborhood of said well may enter upon the land upon which said well is situated and take possession of said well, and plug the same in the manner provided by Section 4021, and may maintain a civil action in any court the state, against all or any of the owners or persons abandoning said well, to recover the costs thereof. This shall be in addition to the penalties provided by Section 4022.

NOTE: Section 4024 is given under the title, Eminent domain.

4025. Duties of owner when drilling well.

When any well shall be drilled in this state on lands producing or containing petroleum or natural gas, it shall be the duty of the owner or operator thereof, before drilling said well into the oil or gas bearing sand or strata, to incase such well in such manner as to effectually exclude and prevent all water from reaching said oil or gas-bearing sand or strata. (Laws 1909, p. 268.) 4026. Duties of owner upon abandonment of well.

And it shall be the duty of said owner or operator, before abandoning or ceasing to operate any such well, to securely and effectually plug said well and to fill it up with sand or rock sediment to a depth of at least fifty feet above the top of the oil or gas-bearing sand or strata in such manner as to exclude all water from reaching said oil or gas-bearing sand or strata and also as to prevent any oil or gas escaping therefrom. (Laws 1909, p. 268.)

4027. Penalty.

Any peron, firm, or corporation violating the provisions of sections 4025–4026 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be sentenced upon conviction thereof to the payment of a fine of not exceeding $1,000. p. 268.)

(Laws 1909,

STATE LANDS.

NATURAL GAS LANDS-SALE OR LEASE.

COMPILED LAWS 1917, P. 1095.

TITLE 101.

CHAPTER 1.

5575. Board to control state lands.

The board of land commissioners shall have the direction, management, and control of all lands heretofore, or which may hereafter be, granted to this state by the United States government, or otherwise, and to lands lying below the water's edge on any lake or stream to the bed of which the state is entitled, for any and all purposes whatsoever, except lands used or set apart for public purposes or occupied by public buildings, and shall have the power to sell or lease the same for the best interests of the state and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the constitution of the state. (Laws 1917, p. 387.)

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5582. Plats. Irrigable lands and water supply. Classification of lands. The board shall provide, for field and office use, uncertified plats of the surveyed lands of the state; shall ascertain, as far as practicable, what of the unappropriated government lands in the state are capable of irrigation, and the sources and reliability of the supply of water for the same; and shall select such lands as may be suitable under the various grants made by the general government to the state, and shall classify said lands upon the office plats according to the following classification: Natural gas producing

* ** *

* * * and show whether the same are improved or occupied. (Laws 1899, p. 87.)