Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-06-25
MONTCLAIR
CASE CAUSES
BITTERNESS
Mr.. North Referred to as Busy
body in Water Company
Tax Matter.

Considerable bitterness was shown
among those taking part in the hear
ng before the State Board for the
Equalization of Taxes yesterday on
the petition of Z. A. North, of Mont
clair, for the increase Of the valua-
ton on the Montclair Water Conn
pany's Montelair holdings from $780,
000 to 100000 The board gave no
decision when the hearing had been
ended and both counsel are to SUBJ
nit further arguments at dates TO
bo decided ON.
Hans Trier, of this city, for the
petitioner, is to give figures fixing
The companys holdings at about $9OO,-
000, and William f. Decker. for the
assessors, is to prove the existence of
d contract between the town and the
company whereby the latter is per-
mltted to furnish water In lieu of
cash payment of taxes.
Mr.. Decker and Mr.. Trier had sew
eral wordy alterations, the former
charaeterizing Mr.. North, the petit
toner, as a "meddling busybody'
and Mr.. Trier bringing attention to
the circumstance that his opponent
paid, he said, by the taxpayers of
Montelair was "bitterly fighting" a
taxpayers appeal
Censure of an official of the com
pany by the board for failing to obey
subpoena was another of the un-
usual developments at the hearing
Other circumstances commented on
rx ~,
ignoring of subpoenaes to produce
records of the company, an absence
Of legal representation of the COM
pany and the opposition of the APP
peal by Mr.. Decker, representative
of the town attorney, who sat with
and consulted with the officials of the
company. Mr.. Decker, appearing in
the absence of Town Attorney
Charles II. Hartshorne, demanded
evidence Mr.. North was a taxpayer.
II was e., LeB Gardner, Viee-presi-
dent of the New Jersey General Sc
curity Water Company, treasurer of
the Montclair Water Company and
manager of the East Jersey water
properties, controlled by the former
concern, who failed to answer a sub
poena. Commissioner Lucius Russell
quizzed Allen Cuddaback, engineer
for the affiliated water companies, on
the presidents failure to re-
spond, and was informed Mr. Gard
ner had been away on trip. Mr..
Cuddaback admitted. though, that
Mr.. Gardner had been at his office
since the subpoena had been deliv
cred
Explanations Are Numerous.
Soon Mr. Cuddabck was doing
some explaining ON his own account,
for 1t developed that although sub
poenaed to do so, he had not brought
lists of the company's customers. lie
said the only list was the indeXed
cards kept by the company, which
are constantly in use. and would re-
quire some weeks to copy.
Archie II. Snow, superintendent OF
the company, gave a similar reply
when asked for the lists. Can you
state about how many customers you
have?' asked Mr.. Trier Mr.. Snow
could not. 1t irritated President
Frank b. Jess. who demanded, You
don't know, even although you were
subpoenaed to produce such infoma-
tion?" to which the witness replied
he did not know.
Dismissal Is Denied.
Mr.. Decker moved Tor dismissal
of the appeal on the grounds that the
board did not "sit for the purpose
OF hearing the complaints of medd-
lers and busybodies," and declared
no figures ON the plants value had
been offered.
Mr.. Decker attempted to have Mr.
Trier admit the existence of the con-
tract between the water company and
the town by which the former is to
furnish water instead of taxes, but
Mr.. Trier demanded proof Mr. Trier
is to submit reports to the Public
Utility Commission, appraisals by the
water company itself and other sta
tistics on the cognpany's holdings to
the board He declares that from
these statistics he will be able to
present to the board a compilation
of the value of the property of the
company in the town limits that will
approximate 100000
Mr.. Decker challenged Mr. North's
right to appear as taxpayer, where
upon Mr.. Trier was given permission
TO reopen his case, and put Mr.. North
on the stand and had the petitioner
testify to having paid $3SS.16 taxes