In the Matter of the Application of the Genesee County Electric Light, Power and Gas Company for consent to increase its capital stock from $100,000 to $250,000 and for consent to issue $100,000 preferred and $100,000 common stock and $100,000 bonds.

The Genesee County Electric Light, Power and Gas Company was organized for the purpose, among others, of supplying and distributing electric current for light, heat and power in the towns and villages of Genesce county. The amount of the authorized capital stock was $100,000. The company filed a petition with the Commission December 9, 1905, for consent to increase this amount to $250,000, and for further consent to issue $100,000 first mortgage 5 per cent. twenty-year bonds. Hearings were held pursuant to public notices, at which no opposition to the granting of the petition developed. Richard Carhart appeared for the applicant. From the papers in the case and at the hearings it appeared that the petitioner was not a generating company; that the electric current which they proposed to furnish was to be ob tained from the Niagara, Lockport and Ontario Power Company under a contract entered into between the Niagara company on the one part and Frederick M. Harris and others on the other part and assigned to the petitioner by Harris and associates. Under this contract the petitioner is to receive current for a period of twenty-five years from the 1st of January, 1906, in the minimum quantities as follows: 500 horsepower the first year, 750 horsepower the second year, and 1,000 horsepower the third year and each year thereafter. Through this contract the petitioner became, in general, the distributing agent of the power company in Genesee county, the power company reserving however, the right to sell to railway companies and to companies or individuals that demanded 200 horsepower or more.

In consideration for this contract and $80,000 cash to be paid to it, the Genesee company proposed to issue $200,000 par value of its stock and $100,000 of bonds. The company owned substantially no tangible property. The engineering estimate of the requirements of building the plant and substations, distributing system, etc., was about $330,000.

The Commission January 18, 1906, adopted the following: Ordered, That the said petition be and the same is hereby denied,

In the Matter of the Application of Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company for permission to increase its capital stock from $100,000 to $5,000,000 and to purchase certain stock, bonds and obligations of other companies.

The Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company, with an authorized and outstanding capital stock of $100,000 and an authorized bond issue of $70,000, of which $59,790 had been issued, applied to the Commission December 30, 1905, for consent to increase its capital stock to $5,000,000. The company had formulated extensive plans to build transmission lines from the city of Niagara Falls to a distribution point in the city of Buffalo, a distance of twenty miles, at an estimated cost of $200,000, and from the city of Niagara Falls to a distribution point in the city of Rochester, a distance of eighty miles, at an estimated cost of $800,000. The plans further provided for the securing of necessary rights of way 100 feet wide, the equipment of necessary power transforming stations, the construction and equipment of power, light and distribution plants and systems in the towns, villages and cities in the counties of Niagara, Erie, Monroe, Orleans and Genesee, and for retiring the bonded indebtedness above mentioned. Included in the plan, and for which the consent of the Commission was also asked, was the purchase of certain bond and mortgage of the Albion Power Company, amounting to $105,364, the purchase of certain of the capital stock and certain of the bond and mortgage and other obligations of the Niagara Falls Gas and Electric Light Company, amounting to $306,564.63, and the reconstruction of and making additions to the plants of each of these companies, for which the further amount of $450,000 was proposed to be expended. The Albion Power Company was at this time owned and operated by the petitioner, more than two-thirds of its stock having been acquired, and the proposed purchase, if executed, of the securities of the Niagara. Falls Gas and Electric Light Company would also give control of that company to the transmission company.

The Niagara Falls Gas and Electric Light Company was incorporated in 1900, and owned a gas plant in the city of Niagara Falls with holders having a capacity of 70,000 cubic feet and mains and service pipes, and an electric light distributing system in the village of La Salle and a small distributing system in Niagara Falls not in use, and was the owner of various franchises for gas and electricty from the city of Niagara Falls and other

towns. The authorized capital stock was $200,000 and the amount issued and outstanding $150,000, and the outstanding indebtedness consisting of first mortgage, first consolidated mortgage and third mortgage bonds amounting to $306,504.63.

The Albion Power Company was incorporated in 1898, and owned developed water-power plants at Middleport, Waterport and Carlton and an electric light and power distribution plant at Middleport, a power transmission line from Waterport to Carlton station and one from Waterport to Albion, with an electric light and power distribution plant, and a gas manufacturing and distribution plant at Albion, also a transmission line from Albion to Brockport and an electric light and power distribution plant at Brockport. The authorized capital stock of the Albion Power Company was $200,000, of which $194,900 was issued and outstanding; $171,100 of this amount was owned by the petitioner. The property of the Albion company was encumbered by various mortgages aggregating $285,200, and the claimed value of the assets of the company was $493,169.47 at cost.

Aside from the purchase of the securities of these two companies, the total estimated cost of carrying out these plans of the petitioner amounted to a sum greatly in excess of the amount of securities applied for. Consents from the proper municipal authorities of the towns to be traversed by the proposed transmission lines were presented. The Commission took into consideration. the immediate needs of the company in its construction and extension work and the purchase of securities, and after public hearings held in the city of Albany, January 18 and February 16, 1906, pursuant to notices duly published in newspapers in the counties in which the company proposes to operate, and at which hearings Alfred W. Gray, of Niagara Falls, appeared in behalf of the petitioner, C. E. Thomson, K. C., of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, of counsel, no one appearing in opposition, the following was adopted:

Ordered, That the Commission of Gas and Electricity hereby consents that the capital stock of the Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company be increased, in conformity with all the requirements of law relating thereto, from one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to three million five hundred thousand dollars. ($3,500,000), to consist of thirty-five thousand (35,000) shares of the par value of one hundred dollars ($100) each; $1,750,000 thereof shall be common stock and $1,750,000 thereof shall be

preferred stock, entitled to preference and priority over the common stock in the manner following: To receive noncumulative dividends in each year at the rate of seven per cent. (7%), payable semi-annually out of the net earnings of the company, before any dividend shall be declared or paid on the common stock, and upon dissolution, after all the debts of the corporation shall have been paid, the assets, property and effects shall first be applied to the payment of the said preferred stock at par, before any payment is made to the holders of the common stock; and it is further

Ordered, That the Commission of Gas and Electricity approves of and does hereby consent to the purchase, as is hereinafter set forth by the Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company, at a price not to exceed par and interest, of certain bonds and mortgage and other obligations of the Albion Power Company, and to the further purchase at a price not to exceed par, of certain of the capital stock and at a price not to exceed par and interest of certain of the bonds and mortgage and other obligations of the Niagara Falls Gas and Electric Light Company; and it is further

Ordered, That said issue of stock, or the proceeds thereof, be applied to the following purposes, and to no other, to wit: The purchase of certain outstanding bonds and mortgage and other obligations of the Albion Power Company at not exceeding par and interest, the purchase of certain of the outstanding capital stock at not exceeding par, and certain of the outstanding bonds and mortgage and other obligations of the Niagara Falls Gas and Electric Light Company at not exceeding par and interest, to pay off and retire all of the bonds of the Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company now outstanding at not exceeding par and interest, to the reconstruction of and making additions to the plant and distributing system of the Niagara Falls Gas and Electric Light Company, to the reconstruction of and making additions to the plant and distributing system of the Albion Power Company, to the securing of necessary rights of way for transmission lines, and to the construction and equipment of conduits, transmission lines, power transforming stations, distributing plants and systems in the municipalities wherein said Niagara Falls Electrical Transmission Company is, by its charter and by the consent of the municipal authorities, authorized to conduct its operations; and it is further

Ordered, That said application for consent to further increase of capital stock than is hereinbefore consented to be and is hereby denied without prejudice to further application.

In the Matter of the Application of the Wetmore Electric Company for consent to increase its capital stock from $40,000 to $80,000.

The Wetmore Electric Company, which furnishes electric current for light and power in the villages of Lowville, Croghan and Belfort, Lewis county, commenced business in 1898, the year of its incorporation, with a capital stock of $40,000. Since that time and to date three dividends have been paid of 10 per cent. each. It appeared by the papers and from the testimony taken at the public hearing, held on the application February 16, 1906, that during these years from $19,000 to $21,000 was taken from the net earnings of the company and put into improvements of the plant and property. The company applied to the Commission January 17, 1906, for consent to increase its capital stock from $40,000 to $80,000, and proposed to devote about $6,000 of the amount to the discharge of a floating debt, about $12,000 to improvements and $20,000 representing the earnings to be issued to the stockholders of the company. Sworn statements from the officers of the company placed the value of the assets of the company at about $125,000; the property is mortgaged for $30,000. At the hearing further detailed statements were asked for, which being filed March 10, the Commission adopted the following order:

Ordered, That the Commission of Gas and Electricity hereby consents that the capital stock of the Wetmore Electric Company be increased from forty thousand dollars ($40,000), consisting of 400 shares of the par value of one hundred dollars ($100) each, to sixty thousand dollars ($60,000), consisting of 600 shares of the par value of one hundred dollars ($100) each; and it is further

Ordered, That said increase of stock of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or the proceeds thereof be applied to the following purposes, and to no other, to wit: To the liquidation of debts incurred in the purchase of a new dynamo and other machinery already installed and to improve or rebuild the dam and further dévelop the water power of said company; and it is further

Ordered, That said application for consent to further increase of capital stock than is hereinbefore consented to be and is hereby denied.