the city, and to fix and determine the charge for telephones and telephone service and connections, and to prohibit or regulate the erection of telegraph, telephone, or electric wire poles in the public grounds, streets or alleys, and the placing of wires thereon, and to require the removal from the public grounds, streets or alleys of any or all such poles, and require the removal and placing under ground of any or all telegraph, telephone or electric wires."1

A statute of New Hampshire contains the following provisions:

"Whenever any such proprietors shall desire to erect their poles or structures, or to stretch their wires, they may apply by petition to the Mayor and aldermen of any city, or the selectmen of any town in which such poles or structures are to be erected or wires stretched, to locate the route of the lines for such telegraph, telephone, or electric lighting, on, over, and along the public highways in such town or city, and to grant license therefore, upon such conditions as the public good may require.2

"The Mayor and alderman, or the selectmen, shall have the power to grant such license, and may fix and limit the size and location of such poles and structures, their distances from each other, the height from the ground that such wires may be stretched, and the number of wires that may be so used, and the time for which the license shall continue in force, and may revoke the same whenever the public good shall so require, and from time to time, upon like application of such proprietors, or by any person whose rights or interests are affected, may alter and change the location of such poles or structures, and the height and size of the same, as well as the height and number of wires, or may revoke the said license, if proper cause is shown; and all proceedings of the Mayor and aldermen, or selectmen, under this act, shall be subject to the supervision of the Supreme Court, on application of any person interested or aggrieved.3

"No such poles or structures shall be erected, or wires stretched in any way so as to interfere with any other similar structure.1

"If any person shall be aggrieved or damaged by the erection of such poles or structures, or by the stretching of such wires, or by the use made of the same, he may apply to the Mayor and alder

men, or the selectmen, to assess the damages which he claims are occasioned thereby, who shall give notice to such proprietors and all others interested, and after hearing all parties may award such damages as may be legally and justly due.""

"If said Mayor and alderman, or selectmen, shall neglect or refuse to make such award, or either party shall be dissatisfied therewith, or said proprietors shall neglect or refuse to pay the same within thirty days after such award is made, either party may apply to the Supreme Court for relief, and like proceedings shall be had as in case of appeals from the laying out of highways and the assessment of damages therefor.2

"Proceedings, as provided by this act, may be taken on petition to the Mayor and aldermen, or selectmen, in case any proprietors aforesaid shall desire to lay their wires under the surface of any highway, or in case any person interested or affected by such poles, structures or wires, or the use made thereof, shall petition therefor.3

66

"Similar proceedings may be had by any such proprietors for locating and licensing any such telegraph, telephone, or electric lighting lines, already constructed or for changing or altering the location of such lines as may have been heretofore erected.* 'Nothing herein contained shall exempt any such proprietors from liability for any unlawful entry, trespass, or damage already made or committed, nor from any liability or damage that may occur from want of care or from negligence in erecting or maintaining such poles, structures or wires."

"Such proprietors of any telephone or telegraph lines shall open and maintain at some convenient point or points, offices or places where any person desiring so to do may use such telephone or telegraph line for communication to all points reached by such line or its connections, on payment of a reasonable fee for such use; and if any such proprietors shall neglect or fail so to open and maintain such offices or places, any person aggrieved may apply to the Supreme Court, by petition for redress, and the court shall make such orders and issue such decrees as justice may require.

1 N. H. Laws 1881, p. 472, § 6.

2 Ibid. § 7.

3 Ibid. § 8.

4 Ibid. § 9.

5 Ibid. § 10. 6 Ibid. § 11.

"Such proprietors of any electric lighting apparatus or lines shall furnish the means of lighting by such electric light to all persons within the reach thereof and applying therefor, upon similar terms and conditions, without discrimination and at reasonable rates; and any person aggrieved by the neglect or failure to furnish such means, at such rates, may apply to the Supreme Court by petition, for redress, and the court shall make such orders and decrees as justice may require."1

A statute of New Jersey is as follows:

1. "That whenever any telegraph or telephone company, organized by virtue of the act to which this is a further supplement, or by virtue of any special act, shall apply to the Common Council, township committee, or other legislative body of any city, town, township, village or borough in this State (the Common Council, township committee, or other legislative body of which is authorized by law to take and appropriate lands or real estate for the opening, laying out or constructing streets therein, and to make awards for lands or real estate taken therefor, and to levy assessments for benefits or expenses of such improvements, by a board of assessment or otherwise), through which it is intended to construct or extend any telegraph or telephone line, for a designation of the street, streets or highways, in or upon which the posts or poles of said company may be erected, it shall be the duty of such Common Council, township committee or other legislative body to give to such company a writing, designating the street, streets, or highways in which the posts or poles of said company shall be placed, and the manner of placing the same, subject in other respects to the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement ; the street, streets or highways to be designated as aforesaid shall be such as form a practicable and suitable continuous route for the line of said company through such municipality, commencing and ending upon a public highway, and shall be designated with due regard to the improvement of facilities for telegraphic or telephonic communications; in case such Common Council, township committee, or other legislative body shall not, within fifty days from the time of the making of such application, give to such company a writing, designating the street, streets or highways in which the posts or poles of such company may be erected, and the manner of placing the same, as hereinbefore provided, it shall be lawful for such company to apply to the Circuit Court of 1N. H. Laws 18>1, p. 472, § 12.

the county in which such city, town, township, village or borough is situate, or to the judge thereof in vacation, and such court or the judge thereof, after a hearing upon twenty days' notice to such Common Council, township committee or other legislative body, which notice shall be published at least once a week, for two weeks, in a newspaper in which the ordinances of such city, town, township, village or borough are published according to law, or in case there is no such official newspaper, then in a newspaper published in the county, to be designated by said court or judge, shall, as speedily as possible, hear the matter in question, and may, in the discretion of said court or judge, designate the street, streets or highways in which the posts or poles of such company may be erected and the manner of placing the same, which designation shall have the same force and effect as if made by the legislative body of said city, township, village or borough.

2. "And be it enacted, That it shall be unlawful for any telegraph or telephone company to construct or extend any telegraph or telephone line, or to erect any posts or poles therefor, in any city, town, township, village or borough, having the powers enumerated in the first section of this act, without first obtaining such designation of their route, and then only upon the street, streets or highways so to be designated."

The Revised Laws of Vermont contain these provisions:

"Persons associated together to erect a line of telegraph wires in this State, may set, erect and maintain the posts and other necessary fixtures therefor, in and along any highway; but the same shall be done so as not to interfere with the public convenience in travelling on such highway, or repairing the same.2

"If it is found inconvenient or inexpedient, to erect such telegraph wires agreeably to the preceding section, the selectmen in the town where such difficulty arises shall determine, upon application, where, and in what manner, such wires shall be erected, giving notice to the parties in interest, or their agents, and shall certify their decision, and cause the same to be recorded in the town clerk's office.

1 N. J. Laws, 1888, ch. 337, amending Act of April 1, 1887 (Laws 1887, ch. 87). This last act also amended the general act "to incorporate and regulate telegraph companies." N. J. Rev. 1877, p. 1174. See also N. J. Supp. p. 1022.

2 Rev. Laws Vt. 1880, § 3633.

3 Ibid. § 3634.

"If it is found desirable to erect such line of telegraph, in and along the streets of a village, or in front of and near residences of any persons, and such persons object thereto, they may apply to the selectmen of such town, or officers of such village, who shall determine through what streets the same shall pass, or in what manner, if at all, such objections may be obviated; and such decision shall be final, notice being given as required in the preceding section.1

"When such selectmen, or other officers, are called upon to act, they shall be paid one dollar each a day; and the decision of a majority of them shall be final; and the expenses incurred thereby shall be paid by the persons erecting such telegraph line.2

"When, in the erection of a telegraph line, the owner or occupant, of lands or tenements sustains, or is likely to sustain, damage thereby, the selectmen of the town shall appraise such damage, and the same shall be paid before the line is erected; and the decision of such selectmen shall be final, notice being given as before required in this chapter."

"Towns may construct, for their own use, telegraph lines upon and along the highways and public roads, within their limits, subject to the provisions of this chapter, so far as the same are applicable.4

"Selectmen may authorize persons, upon such terms as they prescribe, and subject to the provisions of this chapter, as far as applicable, to construct for private use, a telegraph line along the highways of the town."5

§ 57.

Statutes and Municipal Regulations Authorizing the Stringing of Wires on Existing Poles. -In order to prevent the needless multiplicity of poles on the streets of cities, towns and villages, which obstruct public travel and also obstruct and tangle firemen in the putting out of fires, statutes have been enacted and municipal regulations established providing for the suspension of the wires of new companies on the poles of companies already

1 Rev. Laws Vt. 1880, § 3635.

Ibid. § 3636.

$ Ibid. § 3637.

1 Ibid. § 3642.

5 Ibid. § 3643.