The San Francisco call., 1898-02-12

called upon to expend nearly million dollars to increase the supply.
 MT. Schussler-The city expert? The company expends it.
 MT. Dodge-The city pays for 1t.
 MT. Satisfactorily the interest.
 Dr. Rottanzi-We should not pay in- terest on old and worn-out material, when you put in new pipe.
 MT. Schussler-A fair allowance when the fire department demands new and large mains.
 MT. Ewald sought to ask a few ques- tfons about the Sunnyside district, and the chances of getting water there, but the board put stop to the interroga- tories.
 MT. Dodge-Would we not save time by getting the company to file state ment of what it desires?
 MT. Kellogg said that MT. Ames would give all the data demanded.
 Supervisor Britt - MT. Schussler, should the board reduce your rate, where would you curtail expenses?
 Mir. Schussler-In pumping. In order to keep the reservoirs full of water we must keep on pumping. We have 5O7 men employed. We expect to have 1O60 men employed sixty days hence We pay $2 a day, but demand constant work.
 MT. Britt-In the event of reduc- ton, would you be obliged to discharge these men or limit their labor?
 MT. Schussler-We would have to largely curtail the quantity of water used and keep down expenses.
 MT. Clinton-You would deem it a duty. in the event of a reduction, to keep up the supply as far as possible
 Mir. Schussler-I have fully stated to ~l- +l L -.l. water for domestic uses and fire pur- poses.
 MT. Clinton asked if, in the event of a reduction, the company would still in- sist on paying its stockholders $ per cent, and the engineer replied that per cent would be paid if possible. If we cut interest down to per cent we would not get more than $50 for a share of our stock"
 pr. Clinton and. MT. Schussler ex- changed views as to the gilt-edged character of Spring Valley securities The engineer paid tribute to the busi- ness sagacity of the Spring Valley board.
 Supervisor Dodge recalled the ealam- tiles threatened last year when a re- duction of rates was suggested. The dire calamities and the discharge of workmen did not follow.
 l eludiI w. AuleS, lIlG secretary or the corporation, was next sworn. He was asked to explain items concerning the receipts of money by the company. He pointed out that the amount re- ceived from shipping which was not scheduled in former reports was placed in this years report, because the meth cd of supplying the ships had been sold to Goodall, Perkins & Go. for s1e00 a month. Now the water company deals directly with the ships. The revenue received last year from this source was $41, 900.
 MT. Arnes was ready to go right along with the explanations, but the Super visors preferred to adjourn the hearing until o'clock in the evening, so an adjournment was taken until that time.
 The Supervisors convened shortly after o'clock with pr. Clinton in the chair. The first witness called was F. B. Howard, accountant of the Spring Valley Water Works. After some questions this statement was Rroduced as an estimate of the amount of money that the company would require for the year 1888:
 Maintenance 460 900 Coupons 49S. 800 IaHes 1O5 0O0 Dividends -.......-,..--.--.-.-..... $500
 Total .............................. s1, ,si2 900
 An inquiry was directed to ascertain why the company did not place all it's obligations in bonds paying f per cent interest.
 Attorney Kellogg said that the ques- tion of consolidating the bonds would come up when the first bonds matured
 In response to a question, Mr. How ard gave the income from rent of the new building at s2200 month.
 George E. Booker, chief clerk of the Spring Valley Water Works, gratified Supervisor Dodge by replying to sev- eral interrogatories respecting the in- come of the corporation under the first section of the existing ordinance relat- ing to water rates. He promised to pro- duce figures desired.
 Supervisor Dodge, in giving expres- sion to his delight over the ready and responsive answers of the chief clerk, said:
 We fought for weeks last year to get this information. We could not tell whether the reduction to householders was $141000, the highest calculation. or s34 900, the lowest. Now that MT. Book CT says he can give us the information as to the amounts received under each classification, we can proceed intelli- gently
 There was considerable time lost in framing the request for information. but finally it was put in this form: That MT. Booker at the next meeting of the board give the number of houses in each classification of section 1 in 1896 and 1S97.''
 Under the classification the company collects $40,000 a month or $4SO,00O a year. In the class householders are represented.
 MT. Booker could not give the num- Der of bath tubs, but was obliged to admit that he must have made some calculation when he figured last year that a certain reduction would follow. The witness said: T must have guessed at it.'
 Dr. Clinton-Isn't that loose way of conducting a public trust?
 MT. Booker said the company could not tell how much was collected in each section.
 The information was elicited from MT Booker that there were 44,600 dwelling houses and 1S,720 places of 'EMENTS.