Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-12-17
i Am Duty Bound to
Grant It," Says Chan
ceIlOr aIker.
APPLICATION WILL BE
MADE MONDAY AT TRENTON
Whole Court Will Be Asked to
Reconsider Minority Decision
Against 9O-Cent Gas in the
Passaic District.
special TO The Evening star.

special to the Evening Star.
TRENTON, Dec. 17.-When the
represent tatives of a great number OF
cites appealed to Chapcel or Walker
today to cal the Court of Errors and
Appeals together to give the State
Board of Public Utility Commission
ers and the cities of Passaic and
Paterson the opportunity to ask that
the record of the court in the ninety
cent gas decision be held, the chan
ceilor Immediately granted the re-
quest.
'I think you are entitled to the op
portunity to ask for rearg Iment of
the case" said the chancellor, "and
/ am going to give IL to you. l feel
that ] am in duty bound to do so.
will call the meeting of the court for
next Monday morning at 1880
o'clock, at which time you will have
tne opportunity to hold the record In
the case so that you will be afforded
a further opportunity to ME petit
ton for q reargument.
Representatives of more than thirty
New Jersey towns and cities appeared
before the chancellor to join with the
counsel of the litigants in pleading
with the chancellor to give them the
opportunity from which they would
otherwise be deprived because the
Court of Errors and Appeals was not
in session at the time the opinion OF
Justice Parker was handed down. The
court was in the position of only be-
ing able to hear the COUNSEL for the
litigants in the case, but George l..
Record who appeared as associate
counsel for the city of Paterson, ex-
planned that the array of lawyers was
to show the court the great public in
terest that is in this question at this
time.
Aside from Mr.. Record, an appeal
was made to the chancellor by Frank
Fl. Sommer, as counsel for the Board
Of Public Utility Commissioners;
Charles z. Bird appeared for Trenton.
Edward F. Mercy for Paterson, John
Milton for Jersey City, John F'allon
for Hoboken, Mayor Seger and Albert t
o. Miller for Passaic, Borden s. Whit
ing for East Orange buFene Turton
for Irvington, Jerome II. Coneleten
for Millburn and Oscar Redrow for
Camden and twenty fvs9 other South
Jorsey nuuieip ipalitfes.
In addressing the court Mr.. Record
said that the question was one that
aroused great public interest. and the
position itself was a matter of i'm
mense public Importance. Mr.. Record
held that in this particular instance
1t was not dispute between two par
ticular iitigants, but one affecting
vital public rights which had been
decided by the court upon a very
narrow margin. Mr.. Record cited
this fact to show that the court had
great difficulty reaching its conclu-
sion. The counsel held that the ef-
feet of the decision viii be to nullify
the whole public utility legislative
program as regards public policy. As
the courts have been for years try
ing to define public rights in these
utilities, 1t was held by Mr.. Record
that such mop1entous decision
should not be made by such a divided
court.
He argued that the court ought to
be willing to consider every phase of
tn cease, just so long as anybody
wanted them considered.
Mr.. Record pointed out that the de-
cision of the court was handed down
at a time when the body was not ac-
tually in session. The rules provide
that an application for reargument
must be made within ten days of the
fling of the decision. The fact that
the court was not in session deprived
the litigants of this right. so that they
were driven TO the chancellor to get
him to reconvene the court
The lawyer pointed out that the
quick notice; that they represented
a large number of cities, and that.
while they were not a part of the
record directly, they were all vitally
concerned.
Mr.. Sommer explained the position
of the Board of Public Utility Com
nnissioners. which, he said, had been
reached after q conference. Mr.. Som
mer told the court that the board
had given the opinion very careful
study, and he'd reached the conclu
sion that it was its duty to apply
for the holding of the record and to
petition for reargument. He argued
that the board should not be denied
thsi right, because il happened that
the court was not in session. He
told Chancellor Walker that not only
would the case be reargued on the
old ground, but also that there would
be new ones.