CHAPTER IX.-PROCEDURE FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES AND OFFENSES AGAINST THE SAFETY AND PRESERVATION OF RAILROADS.

ART. 160. The Governor shall have power

1. To see that, fully exercising all his powers and with constant supervision, the Alcaldes, in so far as they relate to them, shall in all respects carry out the provisions of the Railroad Police Law and of these Regulations.

2. To impose fines for the offenses stated in Article 12 of the Law, on complaint of the inspectors.

ART. 161. The ordinary tribunals shall have jurisdiction of the crimes committed on Railroads, according to the procedure and provisions of the Railroad Police Law, and other provisions explanatory of the same.

ART. 162. The supervision of the Railroads shall be mainly exercised by the officers of inspection and the Companies' employees, both having for this purpose the character of sworn guards.

ART. 163. According to Titles 2, 3, and 4 of the Railroad Police Law and the provisions of these Regulations, any violation of these articles shall be complained of to the Municipal Judges of the jurisdiction where they may be committed, whether by the employees of the inspection or those of the Company.

ART. 164. The complaint authorized by the title and signature of the complainant shall be made in duplicate, declaring therein. the place where the act complained of occurred, its date, the date of the complaint, the name and description of the offender, his residence and domicile, if they be known. On one of the two copies of the complaint, the Judge shall acknowledge receipt thereof and return it to the complainant, keeping the other as the origin and basis of his future proceedings.

ART. 165. Immediately after hearing the interested party, the Judge shall demand that this Law and these Regulations be complied with, imposing the fines in a proper case, collecting them as soon as possible. The trial being ended and the sentence executed, the Judge shall inform the inspectors of the line of the result of the proceedings.

ART. 166. The offenses committed by the owners of concessions or lessors, in the cases mentioned in Article 12 of this Law, shall be punished by the Governor General, on official complaint of the inspectors, who shall specify them as clearly as possible, and classify them according to their importance and consequences.

ART. 167. The Governor, after hearing the owners of the concessions, or the lessors of the Railroads, and the Administrative Council which hears disputes, shall impose on them the penalty which he may deem proper, according to the Railroad Police Law. If the owners of the concessions or the lessors seek the remittance of the fines, they shall petition the Colonial Department through the Governor, who shall send the same, with his own report, for the proper decision. The decision shall always state the reasons, after hearing the authorities or corporations deemed proper, that of the full Council of State being indispensable. From the decision of the Secretary there shall be no appeal.

ART. 168. The authors of the crimes or offenses mentioned in the Railroad Police Law shall be turned over to the competent tribunal,

whether by the employees of the Inspectors, or of the Company, or by any other authority, sending mutual assistance in order to fulfill their duty.

CHAPTER X.-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

ART. 169. The owners of concessions, or lessors, may freely appoint and discharge their employees; but the Governor General, by the authority of Article 15 of the Police Law and in the cases mentioned therein, may order the Company to discharge any of its employees, communicating the order through the Chief Inspectors, who shall see that the employees are immediately discharged without any appeal.

Discharge from the service may be directed—

1. When the reports of the Chief Engineer of Public Works as to the technical employees show that these are incompetent or that they have placed the safety of the trains in jeopardy.

2. When the reports of the Inspecting Chiefs of Administration as to any employee of the company show that his remaining in the employ is dangerous either to the security of the trains or the maintenance of public order.

Nevertheless, in the latter case the discharge can not be directed nor complaints admitted at the time of elections or thirty days thereafter.

ART. 170. Railroad employees shall wear a uniform, differing according to their class and the road to which they belong.

ART. 171. Road guards and gate keepers can bear the same arms and enjoy the same privileges as Government guards.

ART. 172. No engineer shall be employed in the Railroad service without previously showing, in accordance with the instructions ordered by the Colonial Department, the necessary qualifications for the faithful discharge of his duties.

ART. 173. Notice shall be given immediately by the Station Masters to the Inspectors and to the Governor General, of any accident which may place in jeopardy the safety of the trains or endanger the passengers or employees of the Company or any other

persons.

ART. 174. If practice shows that besides the water and fuel deposits existing for the use of the engines, other intermediate deposits at distinct points of the road are necessary, they shall be constructed at the places designated by the Governor after hearing the Companies and the Chief of Public Works.

ART. 175. The special Regulations for the service and operation of each line shall be submitted by the owners of the concession to the approval of the Government.

ART. 176. The written, printed, or lithographed instructions, orders, circulars, and provisions regarding the Railroad service, shall be immediately communicated to the Inspectors.

The manuscript orders shall be copied the day they are issued in a special registry, which shall be presented to the Inspectors whenever demanded.

ART. 177. The Chief Inspectors shall have the right to examine the accounts of the Companies' receipts and expenditures, the Royal Decrees received by the Companies, and any other documents referring to the operation of the road and by which its real condition may be known.

ART. 178. All the notifications to the railroad Companies shall be made at their domicile, and when citations are served on the Station Masters the citations shall be of legal value only when the Station Masters are duly authorized to represent the Companies.

ART. 179. The Companies shall not resist the attachment of their warehouses and depots when made by judicial order. When attachment is made, in no case shall the articles attached be dispatched and returned to the shipper or consignee, but they shall always be at the disposal of the Court.

ART. 180. It is the duty of the Company to keep in good condition the articles which for any reason may have been deposited in its stations.

When they need more care than the Company can exercise, the procedure shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Commercial Codes for similar cases.

ART. 181. The articles forgotten by passengers and left in trains or waiting rooms, those falling on the way when the train passes, and all those the owners, shippers, or consignees of which are unknown, shall be kept in a depository; a special record shall be made of them, stating the date and place of finding the same, and their ⚫ description.

ART. 182. If after the third publication of the advertisement in the Gaceta Oficial de Porto Rico, and after a year has elapsed, nobody shall claim the articles forgotten or lost, referred to in the previous article, they shall be sold at auction and the proceeds applied to charity organizations, after deducting the expenses for care and storage.

ART. 183. The telegraph lines in charge of the Companies shall only send news, notices, and dispatches regarding the Railroad service.

ART. 184. The care as well as the attendance and maintenance of the telegraph material, including the wire devoted to the Government service, shall be at the expense of the Companies.

The offenses committed against the telegraph service, and those causing destruction or damage of its material, shall be considered offenses committed against the road, and as such punished according to the provisions of Title 5 of the Railroad Police Law.

ART. 185. In the most public places of the stations, and especially in the waiting rooms, there shall always be posted, for public information, copies of these Regulations.

Its provisions and those of the document of conditions referring to merchandise shall also be posted in the placed where the latter is received.

ART. 186. The chief conductor of every train shall always carry on the trip a copy of these Regulations.

The engineers, firemen, brakemen, road guards, and other employees in the service of Railroads, shall be given an extract of the provisions of the Regulations which they may have to observe.

ART. 187. The Secretary of the Colonies or the Governor General, as the case may be, has the power to fix the times when the Companies must submit for approval their Regulations, schedules, and other provisions, which they are compelled to do.

If the time fixed elapses without the Companies doing so, the Government shall decide as it may deem best.

75270-H. Doc. 1484, 60-2, pt 3—20

ART. 188. The offenses against these Regulations, the decisions of the Government, and those adopted by the Governor General with the approval of the Government or by virtue of his authority, . referring to Railroads and their best service and police, shall be punished according to Title 5 of the Railroad Police Law.

ART. 189. In matters not provided for in these Regulations, as to service and police of the Railroads, the Regulations in force in Spain shall be temporarily followed, if they do not conflict with the Porto Rican Regulations, without prejudice to the right to consult the Colonial Department for the final decision for the future. Approved by Royal Decree of this date.

MADRID, January 16, 1888.

BALAGUER,

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, CIVIL CONSTRUCTION, FORESTS,

AND MINES.

RAILROADS.

His Excellency, the Secretary of the Colonies, communicates to the Governor General, under date of the 6th ultimo and under No 101, the following Royal Decree:

COLONIAL DEPARTMENT.

Royal decree.

MOST EXCELLENT SIR: In view of the consultation by Your Excellency in communication No. 2111, of the 15th of last September, considering the work of extending the lines of the Matanzas Railroad, as to whether in cases such as this there shall be applied the provisions of the Law and Regulations of Railroads, for the construction and service of those roads declared of general utility, or the provision of the same Law and Regulations of Railroads for private

use:

Whereas, in Article 2 of the Law of Railroads, Railroads are divided into those of general and private service, and Chapter X refers to the latter under the heading "Railroads devoted to private use," to which, according to Article 63, there shall not be granted the right of eminent domain, nor the occupation of lands belonging to the State, but only those of public property; and whereas, Article 64 declares that there may be Railroads for private use which at the same time may render public service, and for such cases it says that there may be granted the occupation of lands belonging to the State, by virtue of a law, and the right of eminent domain, and that therefore Articles 63 and 64 well define the legal existence of Railroads devoted exclusively to private use, and of the Railroads which, besides having that use, may perform public service, which can not be any other than the transportation of passengers and merchandise; and whereas, the said articles also state what the administration may grant, and how and in what cases, making no distinction for this between one class of Railroads and the other, and referring to the legislative power, the occupation of State lands and condemnation, when either is asked, because, when it is not asked, said power is not exercised, as the administration has authority to finally resolve as to the occupation of public property; that if there could be

any doubt whatever, and it should be contended that the Railroads should comply with different rules and Regulations, the doubt would be dispelled by reading Article 65, which tacitly grants the same rights to both classes of Railroads, and that giving the law a different interpretation from the above would be equivalent to declaring that, when a Railroad is exclusively devoted to private use it has more facilities, advantages, and rights than when the same Railroad does public service, even if in both cases the Compaines only ask the occupation of public property.

Considering that the same findings may be deduced not only from the examination of the Railroad Law, but also from the examination of the Regulations for its application, Articles 72, 73, and 74 are developments of Article 63 of the Law, and Articles 75, 76, and 77 of Article 64; but only when condemnation or occupation of State lands is asked, or both at the same time, which is the case provided for in Article 64; that the text of Article 75 leaves no doubt as to this point, because the words, in this case, with which the second paragraph commences, only refer to petitions asking the occupation of land of the State, and forcible condemnation, as the Council of Administration of that Island judiciously says in its report, and that if there be a desire to give the words any other interpretation it could not be done after reading paragraph third of the same Article 75, and Articles 76 and 77, which provide for its fulfillment; and, considering that in all these Articles it may be seen that they only refer to condemnation and occupation of State property, and also that there is only one object stated in the second paragraph of Article 77, which is to give the Government all the necessary facts to present to the Cortes the proper form of law.

In conformity with the opinion of the full Consulting Board of Roads, Canals, and Ports, the King (may God preserve him), and in his name the Queen Regent of the Kingdom, has deemed proper to order, as a decision in the said consultation, that the formalities which must be complied with for the construction and operation of the roads of that Island, devoted to public use, which may not have been declared of general utility, and for which neither the right of eminent domain nor the occupation of State lands is asked, although possibly those which are public property shall be the formalities stated in Articles 62, 63, and 65 of the Railroad Law, and in Articles 73 and 74 of the Regulations, and that said decision shall be extended to the Railroads of the same class in Porto Rico.

By Royal Order I inform Your Excellency, accompanying this with a copy of the Gaceta de Madrid, in which the said Royal Decree is published, which must also be published in the Official Gazette of that Island.

May God preserve Your Excellency many years.
MADRID, February 7, 1888.

BALAGUER.

And His Excellency, the Governor General, having decreed its execution under date of the 5th instant, has ordered that it shall be published in this official paper for general information.

PORTO RICO, March 10, 1888.

MIGUEL VASCONI,

Secretary pro tempore of the General Government.