The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-01-24
THE PROPOSED ROCHESTER EXTENSION.
Text Of the sill to be Presented to the
Legislature.
Adopted by the Board of Mayor and
Aldermen
After an Interesting Discussion Of Its
Provisions.

A special meeting of the Board of Mayor
ana Aldermen was held yesterday afternoon
at o'clock. to act upon the text of bill to
be presented to the legislature in reference
TO the Portland g. Rochester extension, in
accordance, Mayor Chapman said with the
action taken by the Board at its informal
meeting held lately. He said he had the
City Solicitor draw the bills. one of which
had proved acceptable to the Portland q
Rochester road. This latter bill he would
have read and any amendments could be Of
fered that were desired before the bill was
adopted. The City Clerk then read the bill
which reads as follows:
An act additional to the charter of the Portland
| & Rochester railroad.
Be u enacted on the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentatiCes in Legislature assembled as foll0lcs:
Section 1.-The Portland a. Rochester railroad
is hereby authorized, subject so far as the loca-
of the city of Portland to the approval of the le
gal voters of said city of Portland voting in the
manner hereinafter provided, to extend its road
or branch thereof, commencing at a point In
Portland or Deering in or near the mill pond on
the westerly side OF Green street. thence wester-
ly to and crossing Grove and Saint John streets
thence s0uthwesterly to connection with the
railroads OF the Maine Central Railroad Company
and Boston & Maine Railroad, between Portland
maintain and use the same; provided, that said
location, If made shall be subject TO the Joint use
| by other railroad companies in such manner and
| upon such terms as may be determined by the
| Mayor and Aldermen OF Portland, subject to re-
vision by the Supreme Judicial Court, as provided
| in section one hundred and twenty chapter fifty
| one of the Revised Statutes.
Section 2-The qualified voters OF said city shall
| be called upon TO give In their votes upon the
| question of any extension which may be proposed
by said Portland & Rochester railroad or its off,
| GERS, under the provisions Of the preceding sec
tiOQ. AT the meetings In the Qqypral
Of duly warned by the Mayor and Aldermen to be
held on the day Of the Municipal election, which
q its Officers, shall : hle in writing with
full and complete description of any such a Intend
ed extension and a statement of the terms
and conditions upon which the same shall be con-
structed and maintained If granted. Such question
shall be determined in the following manner, that
is to say: Each voter in favor -of such proposed
lot bearing the word yes, 'and each voteriopposed
thereto by ballot bearing the word no. all
such ballots to be deposited in separate ballot
boxes In the manner provided by law for the sub
mission Of constitutional amendment. And
| thereupon the same proceedings shall be had re-
speeding the sorting. counting,i declaring and
cording the returns of said Votes as is provided
| by law at the election OF mayor OF said city.
| And the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, shah,
within three days after such meetings, meet to
gether and compare the returns of the ward off,
GERS; and, If 1t appears that majority of all the
votes given on the question Of such nh proposed ex
thereof, the city clerk shall make record of the
| fact and thereupon by force of such vote and
record, said Portland a. Rochester railroad shall
be authorized to locate, construct, maintain and
use any such extension upon the terms and con-
niIl9ns SCI 1ut IN tne statement MED Dy SAID Port
clerk OF said city OF Portland, as hereinbefore
provided.
Section 3-AIl damages for land taken shall be
estimated and paid and all other proceedings shall
be conducted In accordance with The provisions of
Section 4-Proceedings under sections one and
two OF this act shall precede the filing of the loca-
non IN the manner now required by law.
Section 5-This act shall take effect when an
| proved.
The city solicitor in answer to questions
by the Mayor, said he considered the city
interests fully protected by the bill. The
only question that came into his mind when
he framed it, was whether there should be
majority. or two-thirds, vote required from
the citizens for its passage. The Rochester
road informed him, however. through Mr..
Putnam, thatsthey would fight the bill If it
| depended upon two-thirds vote Of the citi-
zens. As to the location of the extension it
will have to be filed by the company, and in
corporated in the warrant of election before
the voters act on it,
Mr.. Cunningham, in order to bring the
matter before the Board for amendment or
discussion, or both, moved its adoption, and
Mr.. Smith seconded the motion.
Mr.. Tukesbury opposed the whole thing.
He said he believed the aldermen had duties
to perform, and one of them was to stand up
and be counted when an important matter
was placed before them, and not throw the
responsibility on some one else. He wanted
to be put on record as opposed to this action
of the Board.
Mr.. Shaw said that he understood the City
Solicitor to say that was the only bill the Ro-
chester would accept, and If so it was the
only one that could be acted upon by the
Board.
Solicitor Coombs said the Rochester didn'C
think the Board should insist on terms from
them such as was not required in other SIM
liar cases. The road wasn't disposed to OBJ
ject to any clause that would protect the
city's interests.
Mr.. Shaw moved to amend the bill by sub
shutting two-thirds vote in place of ma
jority vote of the citizens to make the bill a
law.
Mr.. Tukesbury seconded the amendment.
Mr.. Smith was surprised at this amend
ment. BE had been in favor of the matter
being disposed Of by the Board in the first
place, but at the informal meeting of the
| Board he understood they were in favor of
this plan, and later many OF the opponents
Of the extension had told him they approved
OF It also. He had believed better terms
could have been obtained by settling the mat
ter in this Board, but after these other as
surances had been given him, he didn't see
why gentlemen should wish to place the
road in this position.
Mr.. Shaw thought that here was a yery
valuable property at issue which it is pro-
posed to give to the railroad when the city
is very much divided in its opinion as to
whether such action is advisable, and it is
well known that when such questions are
submitted to the people that manipulation
can be used to effect results that are not adj
yantageous to the city. He therefore Thought
his amendment would not entail any hard
ships on the road.
Mr.. Smith didn't believe any more manip-
nlation would be used there In disposing of
the Ogdensburg to the Maine Central.
Mr.. Cunningham took the same view of
the bill as did Mr.. Smith. He thought if
Mr.. Shaw's amendment prevailed it would
Kill the bill and prevent the people from
voting on it.
Mr.. Hobbs believed majority of citizens
should be sufficient to give the bill passage.
Mr.. Galley didn't see why a two-thirds
vote should be required from the citizens
when majority Of the Board would be suffi-
clent to pass the bill.
Mr.. Shaw said he didn't believe In their
shifting their responsibilities on to the people.
lie believed they should stand up and be
counted in this matter.
The vote on the amendment was called for
by yeas and nays and stood as follows:
Yeas-Tukesbury, Shaw.
Nays-Gatley, Cunningham, Redlon, Smith and
Hobbs.
Mr.. Cunningham then called for the main
question, and the bill had passage yeas
and nays. This was the vote:
Yeas-Messrs. Galley, Cunningham Smith and
Hobbs.
Nays-Messrs. Tukesbury, Redlon and Shaw.
The Senators and Representatives from
our city were requested to urge the passage
of the bill.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Recorder of the Municipal Courts
last report was ordered ON file.
The petition of the Maine Genealogical
Society for room in City Building, was re-
ferred.
A communication was received from the
City Solicitor stating that the owner of the
buildings on Somerset street had given
bond in $500, that the buildings should be
removed, and was ordered on file.
Mr.. Cunningham offered an order that tbe
committee on finance inquire into Mr., e. p.
Chase's offer of $4,000 for the poor farm.
and report at the next meeting.
Mr.. Shaw thought the gentleman misun-