INSTALLATION OF TELEPHONES IN RAILWAY

CANADA.]

STATIONS.

[BOARD OF RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

PEOPLES' AND CALEDON TELEPHONE Cos. v. GRAND TRUNK AND CANADIAN PACIFIC RY. Cos.

(File Nos. 8762, 8883.)

Jurisdiction-Installation of telephones in railway stations-Public convenience-Exclusive contract-Provincial companies to be bound by contract-Fair and reasonable conditions-Railway Act, sec. 245.

Upon application to the Board by the P. and C. telephone companies for an order compelling certain railway companies to permit the installation and maintenance in railway stations of telephones, Held, 1. That under sec. 245 of the Railway Act the Board has jurisdiction to grant the order applied for and may impose such terms as it deems best and expedient but should not take into consideration any contract giving exclusive privileges to any other telephone company.

2. That the only point to be considered by the Board is whether such telephone connection will be of benefit and convenience to the public having business with the railway company.

3. That telephone companies who may be entitled to such an order being usually incorporated by the province, and thus not subject to the jurisdiction of the Board should enter into a contract containing fair and reasonable conditions to be prescribed by the Board.

THE applications were heard at Ottawa on the 6th day of May, 1908, and on the 2nd days of February and March, 1909, and at Toronto on the 27th day of April, 1909.

W. H. Biggar, K.C., for the Grand Trunk Ry. Co.

Angus MacMurchy, K.C., and E. W. Beatty, for the Canadian Pacific Ry. Co.

J. W. Curry, K.C., for the applicants.

May 5, 1909. THE ASSISTANT CHIEF COMMISSIONER:-The Board has heard applications from the Peoples' Telephone Company and the Caledon Telephone Company, for an order to compel certain railway companies to permit the telephone companies to install their instruments in a number of railway stations. Under section 245 of the Railway Act, the Board may grant such an order, and may impose such terms as it deems just and expedient; but in determining them, shall not take

11-C.RY.C.

into consideration any contract giving exclusive or other privileges to any other telephone company by the railway company, with regard to the installation or maintenance in its stations of the instruments of such telephone company.

The only points to be considered then are whether such telephonic connection will be of public benefit, and if so, what terms should be imposed on the telephone company seeking the privi lege. It will be a saving of time if the Board lays down certain general principles upon which it will act when such applications come before it.

If the telephone company's instruments are in general use in the district surrounding the station in question, and it appears that the installation of a telephone in the station would be of substantial convenience to the public having business with the railway company, and would not be unduly oppressive or inconvenient to the railway company, then I think the Board should grant the application.

As nearly all telephone companies in Canada are incorporated by provincial laws, and are consequently not under the jurisdiction of the Board, difficulty might be experienced in compelling such a company to comply with the terms and conditions the Board might desire to impose, unless the company was bound to do so by contract.

I therefore suggest that, where the Board is of the opinion that the application of a telephone company for an order to compel a railway company to permit the installation of a telephone in its station should be granted, that before any order is issued, the telephone company be asked to execute an agreement in the following, or like form, in which I have set out fair and reasonable conditions upon which such order should be granted: THIS AGREEMENT made the day of year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and

AND BETWEEN

in the

BY

hereinafter called the "Rail

herein

way Company" of the First Part, AND after called the "Telephone Company" of the Second Part.

WHEREAS the Telephone Company is desirous of placing a telephone instrument in the station of the Railway Company at in the Province of

AND WHEREAS the Railway Company is willing to permit the said telephone instrument to be placed in its said station upon the terms and conditions hereinafter stated.

WITNESSETH, that in consideration of the premises, it is hereby agreed by and between the parties hereto, as follows:

1. Upon the terms and conditions hereinafter stated, the railway company will permit the telephone company to install a telephone instrument in its said station, the telephone company to pay the railway company a rental of $1 per annum for the privilege, to be paid on the first day of January in each year, during the continuance of this agreement.

2. The telephone instrument shall be placed and maintained at the said station without damage to the railway company's property, and entirely at the risk and expense of the telephone company, free from any rental or other charge to the railway company, and the telephone company will not seek to hold the railway company responsible for any damage to said instrument, no matter how such damage may occur.

3. The telephone company may erect and maintain such poles and wires on and across the lands of the railway company as may be necessary for the installation and operation of the said telephone instrument, provided that such poles shall be placed, and such wires strung, to the satisfaction, and under the supervision of a duly authorized official of the railway company, and at such places only as he shall designate.

4. The said telephone instrument shall be of the most modern and efficient type in use by the telephone company; it shall be a desk or wall instrument, whichever the railway company may desire; it shall be placed in such position in the said station as the railway company may indicate, and shall be connected by private wire with the central of the telephone company.

5. The railway company, its officials, agents and employees, shall have service from, to, and through the said telephone instrument with local and rural subscribers over the telephone lines of the telephone company, without charge therefor.

6. The telephone company may, with the approval of the Board of Railway Commissioners for Canada, remove its telephone instrument from the said station, and its poles and wires from the property of the railway company at any time upon giving the railway company 30 days' notice in writing of its intention so to do. All damage done to the property of the railway company in removing the said telephone instrument, poles and wires, shall be repaired by, and at the expense of the telephone company.

7. This agreement shall terminate at any time upon the order of the Board of Railway Commissioners for Canada, granted on the application of the railway company, or otherwise, and the telephone company will, at all times, carry out and obey any order of the said Board, with regard to the installation, maintenance, operation or removal, of the said telephone instruments, poles or wires, and hereby submits itself, in so far as this contract is concerned, to the jurisdiction of the said Board.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties hereto have executed these presents.

Upon such an agreement being signed for each of the stations in which the telephone companies before us desire to install instruments, I think the order asked for should be issued.

My suggestions in this matter, apply only to cases where one or two telephone companies desire to put their instruments in a railway station; if a third or more companies desire the privilege, a special application should be made to the Board, other wise a railway company might be put to much inconvenience.

The Chief Commissioner and Mr. Commissioner McLean concurred.

CANADA.]

UNREASONABLE RATES.

[BOARD OF RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

STOCKTON & MALLINSON V. CANADIAN PACIFIC RY. Co.

(Case No. 1212.)

Rates on citrus fruits from California-Competition of railways and markets in United States-Blanket rates-Local and proportional ratesUnreasonable rates-Discrimination-Fair and reasonable rates-New tariffs with connections in United States.

Complainants alleged that the rates charged by the respondents on shipments of citrus fruit from points in California, United States, to Regina were unreasonable as compared with the rates charged from the same points to Winnipeg and other points in Manitoba and Ontario.

At the time the complaint was heard the rate to Regina on citrus fruits via Kingsgate, British Columbia, was $1.70 per 100 pounds made up of the full local rates in United States territory with a proportional rate over the Canadian Pacific Railway. Before the opening of the Kingsgate route the rate to Regina via Emerson and Winnipeg was $1.72, when the Kingsgate route was opened this rate was reduced to $1.60 via Kingsgate, and was afterwards raised to $1.70.

On account of the competition of railways and markets in, the United States the blanket rate to Missouri river common points from shipping points in California is $1.15, and the rate to Winnipeg is $1.25.

Held, 1. That the advantage in rates of Winnipeg over Regina is not unreasonable.

2. That the former rate of $1.60 to Regina was fair and reasonable and should be restored.

3. That the respondents should be required to arrange for the publication of new tariffs with its connections from California shipping points to Regina via Kingsgate or Emerson on basis of $1.60 per 100 pounds on oranges in straight carloads, or on mixed carloads of oranges and lemons, and $1.45 per 100 pounds on lemons in straight carloads.

THE application was heard at Regina on the 11th day of February, 1909.

Mr. Mallinson, the applicant, in person.

Mr. W. H. Curle, for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

The facts are fully set out in the judgment of Mr. Commissioner McLean.

April 26, 1909. MR. COMMISSIONER MCLEAN:-That applicants are fruit and produce merchants in the city of Regina. The