Norwich bulletin., 1919-10-02
RECEIVER FOR SHORE LINE TROLLEY

bert w Rathbun, acting for the execu- tors of the estate of Morton F. Plant,
 presented a petition for the appoint ment in Rhode Island of ancillary
 receiver to take over the properties of
 the Shore Line Electric Railway Co.
 He stated that Robert W. Perkins had
 just been appointed receiver by judge
 of the superior court for New London county for the Connecticut properties under a bond of $50 O00 The proper
 ties in Rhode Island include the lines between Westerly. Watch Hill. Pleas ant View, Weekapaug, Ashaway and l part of the Norwich and Westerly system and appurtenances.
 Judge Dunn entered decree appoint ing Robert W. Perkins temporary an cillary receiver with power to operate road and mako contracts for a period of three months Bond s15 DOC John Electric Railway Co.
 Receiver Perkins Statement. Wednesday night MT Perkins issued i the following statement:
 The owners of the Shore Line Elec- i tric Railway Co. have secured the ap- pointment of receiver for the pro- tection of it's creditors. This action seemed necessary be- cause of the fact that the property, as d whole. for the first six months of the year 1919 operated at a material loss, the gross revenue not being sufh cient to meet actual operating expenses, ex- elusive of taxes. rentals and interest. and the expectation for the coming three months based upon the earn ings of 1918. indicate a still further | loss in actual operating expense.
 It will be remembered that in the testimony before the special commits sion at Hartford last winter the state ment was made that the trend of ex- pense. a $ compared with earnings. was
 such that it would not be possible to operate the properties after Labor day without material loss, and that the community was facing the failure of at least some of it's transportation ser vice This condition has been empha- sized 5by the strike, and would also have been empha sized had an increase of wage been granted Just what is to be the future of the properties in east
 ern Connecticut is a problem. the solu- ton of which will call for the co -oper-
 ation of all who are in any way inter- ested in the continuance of electric railway transportatio
 The Shore Line has never been profitable investment and it is now
 numbe among the many properties in New England. and outside of it, that have been compelled to surrender to the inevita ble where gross revenue
 does not equal operating cost.
 This situation calls to mind the act
 that up to May 31st of this year 62 companies with 5-e12 miles of single
 track were ina the hands of receivers, and that 50 companies with 163 miles
 of track had been dismantled and
 junked. and 256 miles of track. owned by 38 companies, had been abandoned,
 the total for the three classes repre-
 senting over 1000 miles of trackage,
 and since that time several of the largest properties in the country have
 been added to this list. The entire Berkshire system has been shut down since Aug. 5th. with little prospect of
 it's being started up again this winter,
 and one of the properties in Massa- chusetts purchased by the citizens in
 order to save it has been in turn. by
 them. abandoned and it is now being scra pped, so that eastern Conn necticut
 is not alone in it's struggle with the
 transportation problem.
 Bay State Trolley Troubles.
 In the Boston Transcript last week the trolley situation in Massa chusetts was reviewed. showing that the lines there in much the same financial plight. or worse. than the Shone Line
 In the course of the last two years the following street railway lines in Massa chusetts have abandoned their lines and in several instances the tracks have been torn up for scrap iron:
 The Blue Hill Street Railway CO. the Bristol and Norfolk. the Oak Bluffs the Martha's Vineyard. the Norfolk and Bristol. the Plymouth and Sand wich. the Swansea and Seekonk, the Ware and Brookfe1d. the Worcester and Warren. the Norton and Taunton the NorWood. Canton and Sharon. parts of the Bay State and part of the Berkshire Street Railway Co
 The following show deficits in op- eratine; expenses in 1918 for some of the largest street railway systems in that state:
 Bay State Street Railway, s2,1o141s: Boston Elevated. s2.a86 7O6: Berkshire Street Railway, s561 234: Blue Hill Co., s26.591: Boston and Worcester, s13- S91; Brockton and Plymouth, s31721 Concord, Maynard and Hudson s21- 743; Connecticut Valley, s29.052: Mass achusetts Northeastern, s24 703: Mid dlesex and Boston. s10396: Milford | Attleboro and Woonsocket s1S17S: l Nahant and Lynn s759: Norfolk and l Bristol. s23. 3.S24; the Northampton s1-