Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1851-05-29
From tie HoaeSdaie Democrat
neia ware k Hudson Canal 60.

.;od of the late session of the Legislature,
Mr.. Dobbins, of Philadelphia county, offered'
in his place in the House of Representatives,
! resolution instructing the Standing Com
mittee on Inland Navigation and lnternai
improvements to enquire into the expedlency
of the resumption of the Pennsylvania Sec
ton of the Delaware and Hudson Canal by
this Commonwealth. In prosecuting this IN
quiry the Committee addressed series OF IN
to the President of the Company
relative both to the expenditures upon the
section in construction, superintendence and
repairs, and the revenues accruing from 1t
AnsweA to the interrogatorles were not re-
turned until Just before the close oil the ses-
sion,-and until after the Committee had
made its report to- the House. The report
states that the Commonwealth, in the origl-
nal charter. granted to Maurice Wurts on the
18th of March, 1923, and which was after
wards by Legislative authority, transferred to
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company,
reserved the power to resume all the rights,
liberties and franchises granted, upon certain
conditions. 1t was stipulated that if. at the
end of thirty years, it should appear, upon
examination, that the profits of the work had
been sufficient to reimburse the whole sum
expended in construction, repairs and super
intendence, with interest at the rate of per
ct. per annum, the work should then belong
to the state, and it was further stipulated,
that if at the expiration of the thirty years 1t
should appear that the profits arising from
the work had not been sufficient to repay the
cost of construction, repairs and superlnten-
dence, with interest, the State should have
the right of resumption upon making up the
deficit This proviso attaches only to the
Canal, for the reason that the privilege to
construct the railroad was granted subse-
quently, and without any such conditions
The report further state that there is abun-
dant reason to believe that the profits of the
work, have more than paid all the legal char
ges against it, so that the Commonwealth
will be entitled, in 1853, to enter upon the
possession of it, without paying the Company
dollar In conclusion, the report recon-
mends the resumption of the work by the
State
After the presentation of this report the
House of Representatives adopted the follow
ing resolution, to wit:
d" RcsoIred That Committee of three be
appointed, who are hereby authorized and
empowered to sit after the adjournment ofthe
Legislature, at such places as they shall
deem expedient. to take testimony and gen
erally to Investigate the affair ofthe Dela-
a,care and Hudson Canal Company, with ref
erence to the resumption of that work by the
Commonwealth. and to report to the Iegisla-
ture The said Committee are hereby au-
thorized to send for persons and papers, and
to administer oaths.'
1t will be perceived that this resolution was
carefully drawn-that it does not confine the
investigation of the Committee to the cost
and profits of the Pennsylvania section ofthe
canal-but, requires a general investigation
of the affairs of the Company. 1t Is to be
expected, therefore, that many points of
great interest TO individuals as we'll as to the
Commonwealth will be broached and devel-
oped in the course of the examination and
it has been intimated in certain quarters that
an effort will be made to establish the allega-
ton that the Company has, by misconduct,
forfeited all its rights and franchises, and can
legally and equitably be entirely dispossess-
ed.
1t is understood that the committee of In
vestigation will meet in Honesdale on the
twenty-fifth day of June, and, after finishing
It's labors here, viii proceed to Carbonda le.-
John NJ. Reed, Esq. of Philadelphia, has been
retained as counsel for the Company.
The Company and the Internal Improve
ment Committee of the Legislature are wide
apart i'll their respective computations
While the Committee assert that the Pennsyl-
vania section of the Canal has reimbursed
its total cost with interest, the Company AYERS
that, according to its books, the work has not
kept itself in repair, saying nothing about
the original cost of instruction and the in
tcrest upon the investment. This difference
of computation is accounted for in part by the
fact that the Company contends that in esti-
mating the revenues it is not to charge tolls
upon its own coal or other freight, while the
Committee insists that tolls are to be compu-
| ted upon all property passing along the ca
nal-and also in part by the fact that the
Company contends that if the state resumes
it must reimburse the cost of the enlarge.
ment, while the Committee insists that as the
enlargement was undertaken and prosecuted