OF THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1897 RALEIGH GUY V. BARNES, PRINTER to GoverNOR'S COUNCIL 1898 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS. RALEIGH, December 31, 1897. To the Honorable D. L. RUSSELL, Governor of North Carolina: SIR: -In obedience to an Act of the General Assembly, Chapter 320, Section 15, the undersigned Board of Railroad Commissioners have the honor to submit to your Excellency the Seventh Annual Report, containing a full, and as we are reliably informed, correct statement of the reports of the various railroad, steamboat, telegraph and telephone companies operating in this State, as well as the proceedings and decisions rendered. It is only just to the majority of the Board of Commissioners to state that none of the reports contained in this Annual Report came under the inspection or were received by the present Board. The Chairman of the Board and Mr. Pearson, having been appointed by your Excellency to fill the vacancies caused by the suspension of Messrs, J. W. Wilson and S. Otho Wilson, on September 23, 1897, and their right and title to the offices being questioned, it became necessary to resort to legal proceedings to have an adjudication of the same, and it was not until December 23, 1897, determined who were entitled thereto; the duties of the office in the meantime being performed by the deposed Commissioners and Commissioner Abbott; so that the correctness of this report is based upon the efficient labors of the Clerk to said Board. H. C. BROWN, Clerk. L. C. CALDWELL, Chairman, D. H. ABBOTT. |