The following applications are pending before the Commission January 1, 1906:

TICONDEROGA ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY.

Application for consent to issue bonds to the amount of $50,000.

VILLAGE OF UNION.

Application for authority to build, maintain and operate an electric lighting plant.

CITIZENS LIGHTING COMPANY OF OSWEGO.

Application for certificate of authority to transact business.

BROADALBIN ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY.

Application for approval of incorporation and for consent to issue bonds $40,000 and stock $50,000.

GENESEE COUNTY ELECTRIC LIGHT, POWER AND GAS Co. Application 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.

PAUL SMITH'S ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY. Application for certificate to transact business and for consent to issue $100,000 of stock.

NIAGARA FALLS ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION COMPANY.

Application for consent to increase its capital stock from $100,000 to $5,000,000 and to purchase stock and bonds of other companies.

From the statement as given above of the orders granted by the Commission for consent to issue stock and bonds, it will be seen that the efforts of the Commission have been directed largely toward preventing excessive issues of either stock or bonds. In each case where an application has been received, the

Commission has compelled the applicant to furnish testimony, both oral and written, as to the exact needs of the companies making the application, and in many instances has caused examinations of the plants to be made. The result has been that in many cases the amounts applied for have been materially reduced. The total issue of stock applied for, upon which the Commission has acted, amounts to $5,668,000, while the total amount granted is $3,548,000, a reduction of $2,120,000. In the matter of bond issues, the Commission has received applications ́amounting to $2,815,000; of this amount it has granted consent to the issue of $1,426,000, a reduction of $1,389,000, or a total curtailment of $3,509,000 of proposed issue of stock and bonds. By thus cutting down excessive issues of stock and bonds—or, in other words, confining them to the amounts actually required for legitimate purposes by the companies applying the effect will be, in the opinion of the Commission, far-reaching upon the price charged in the future for gas and electricity by such companies. As a result of such scrutiny and restrictions, the companies will not be in the position of having to pay, or striving to pay, dividends or interest on stock or bonds not needed for purposes of the legitimate development of the properties in question.

REPORTS OF COMPANIES.

No data could be found in the State service as to municipal or individual plants. It was necessary to institute a thorough canvass among the 1,500 village, city and town clerks of the State for authoritative information of the names of corporations, municipalities and persons subject to the supervision of the Commission. A blank was prepared requesting information as to the incorporation, territory supplied, capital stock, bonded indebt

edness, capacity and price charged for product of all gas and electric companies. In the case of persons and municipal corporations, particulars relating to the cost of plant were obtained, and from municipal plants only, the cost of lighting supplied by them. The response of the companies was prompt, 460 reports having been received, of which 408 are from operative companies. (These reports are compiled and appear in Appendix "C.") The results may be classified as follows:

Brief compilations relating to capitalization and capacity of the various companies reporting, and to prices charged for gas, follow:

Natural gas, individual..