Page:1887 Compiled Laws of Dakota Territory.pdf/88

Public Boards. the sixteenth day of December, that such returns shall be wil- fully delayed or refused.

§ 142. The said commissioners shall hold their office at such place as they shall determine; they shall each receive a salary of two thousand dollars, to be paid as the salaries of the territorial officers are paid; and shall be provided at the expense of the territory with necessary office furniture and stationery; and they shall have authority to appoint a secretary, who shall receive a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum.

§ 143. The said commissioners and secretary shall be sworn to the due and faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices before entering upon the discharge of the same; and no person in the employ of any railroad corporation, or holding stock in any railroad corporation, shall be employed as secretary. Each of said commissioners shall enter into bonds, with security to be approved by the governor, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties.

§ 144. The said commissioners shall have power, in the discharge of the duties of their office, to examine any of the books, papers or documents of any such corporation, or to examine under oath or otherwise, any officer, director, agent or employe of any such corporation. They are empowered to issue subponas and administer oaths in the same manner, and with the same power to force obedience thereto in the performance of their said duties, as belong and pertain to courts of law in this territory; and any person who may willfully obstruct said commissioners in the performance of their duties, or who may refuse to give any information within his possession that may be required by said commissioners, within the line of their duty, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable, on conviction thereof, to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, in the discretion of the court, and the cost of such subpoenas and investigation, to be first paid by the territory, on the certificate of said commissioners. No railroad company shall charge or receive from any person a higher rate per ton per mile for one car load of freight than for a greater number of car loads per car.

§ 145. It shall be the duty of all railroad corporations doing business in this territory, upon reasonable notice, to furnish suitable cars to any and all persons who may apply therefor for the transportation of any and all kinds of freight, and to secure and transport such freight with all reasonable dispatch, and provide and keep suitable facilities for the securing and handling of the same at any depot on the line of its road, and also to receive and transport in like manner the empty and loaded cars furnished by any connecting line of road, to be delivered at any station or stations on the line of its road, to be loaded or discharged, or reloaded and returned to the road so connecting, and for compensation it shall not demand or receive any greater sum than is accepted by it from any other connecting railroad for similar service.

§ 146. Any railroad company doing business in this territory, when desired by any person wishing to ship grain over its road, shall receive and transport such grain in bulk within a reasonable time, and permit the same to be loaded either on its track adjacent to its depot, or at any warehouse or side track, without distinction, discrimination, or favor between one shipper and another, and without discrimination or distinction as to