The Portland daily press., 1888-06-05
[coNrrNurn FROM FIRST rAor.1

with capital of not less than thirty nor
more than one hundred thousand dollars.
Evidently the latter sum was made the capt.
TAI, because on the Goth of January, 1858, the
city paid $56,062.7 70 for its half of the capital
STOCK of the company, which sum represent
cd one-han Of the paid capital, with ten per
cent added thereto. By, two subsequent
tai stock was increased until it had an ali-
thoriZed issue of 100000. Only S34o go
worth of stock has ever been issued. By
section of the act Of incorporation. after
performing certain conditions, they were to
"have and enjoy the franchises and privil-
eyes granted them by this act exclusively for
the term Of thirty years from the date of
their organization. BY section of the same
act, the city had the authority to take the
property of the company at its appraised
value after thirty years from the time of the
granting Of the charter By section 10 of the
same act, If the city did not take the prom
erty then the franchises and privileges
hereby granted to said company shall be CON
tinued to them, and shall be held and enioy-
ed by them exclusively for the further term
thirty years The city d O. n 1ns
avail itself Of its right under section 8 of tie
charter By chapter 7 Of the Private and
ed Jan. rs, 1887, the charter rights Of the
company were extended thirty years before
the time fixed in the 10th section of the
charter
The city now owns seventeen hundred
snaIes Oh the par value OF fifty dollars each,
In this company.
The property of the company at the pres
ent time, consists of the plant, including
buildings, wharf, gas making apparatus, sta
tion meter and gas, holders. On this, the
engineer reports, that one of the holders is
OF ittle value, and the other has been in use
nearly two thirds of the life of the holder. A
portion OF the gas making apparatus is badly
worn but the rest is in fair condition. There
are over twenty-eight miles of street mains
which are in fairly good condition. The real
estate Of the company consists of S9,733 feet
OF land between the Maine Central r. X.
tracks and the old +. S. & p. r. r. location.
There is an additional area of uplands out
side of the p. s. & p. r. X. location of 72.5O5
feet and there are "a, LOG feet of flats partially
hlled. There Is also what is known as the
reservoir lot on Summer street containing
$3.50 feet OF land A strong retaining wall
protects the water front. The company has
about hfty feet Of wharf to maintain to reach
the hareor commissioners line. There is
depth OF seventeen feet at the end of the
wharf at low water and along two hundred
and sixty-two feet of the water front. The
entire length of the water front, following the
harbor commissioners line, is 506 feet. The
committee believes that it is a conservative
and mains, at a sum equal to the capital
stock; and this estimate is made with the
view, that the company is to continue to tran
sact business in accordance with its rights
under III, charter. The company had on
hand at the time Of its annual statement,
cash to the amount of $41, l36.45.
1t had bills receivable to the amount of
fifty-eight thousand dollars. This sum rep
resents money loaned to individuals, firms
and corporations on esllaterals, and, in every
case, the company has perfect security. These
two items represent the working CAPITAL of
the com pany, which Is largest at this period
of the year, because the large receipts Of the
company come in the winter, and the heavy
expenditures, including the June dividend.
are made during the summer months. The
other large item in the account is the one
called renewal and insurance" The com
paHy insures itself and has placed certain
sum of money to the credit of this account
every year, until it has reached its present
figures. Fifty thousand dollars may be re-
quired at any time for a new gasometer. and
the officers claim that the balance of one hun
dred thousand dollars is required for their
renewals and insurance. A statement of the
renewal apd insurance. or investment fund.
showing the securities in which it is invested
and the premiums with interest thereon to
April 80, 1888, is made part of this report