1900. ] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 1019

to be exercised by him in connection with the location,
plan, character and mode of construction of the conduits
and manholes which, by said Ordinance No. 41, the said
telephone companies are authorized to construct.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the rate per
yard required by said Ordinance No. 41, of the Mayor
and City Council of Baltimore, approved May 9, 1899, to
be paid by the said Telephone Company to the Mayor and
City Council of the city of Baltimore annually, is a less
rate, in the judgment of the Mayor and City Council of
Baltimore, than is a fair compensation for the rights and
privileges by said ordinance granted to said Telephone
Companies, and if the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore
and the said companies cannot agree upon a rate to be
substituted therefor, then and in that event and upon
notification thereof by the Mayor and City Council of Bal-
timore to the Governor of the State, the latter shall there-
upon appoint a commission of three disinterested and
competent persons, who shall have power and whose duty
it shall be to ascertain and fix a fair and just rate to be paid
by the said companies in substitution for the rate fixed
by said ordinance to be paid annually by the said com-
panies to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, if
any greater rate than that fixed by said ordinance is, in
their judgment, a fair and proper rate to be paid by the
said companies, and the rate so fixed shall be in all re-
spects as binding and obligatory upon the said com-
panies as if it had been fixed in the said ordinance, and
the Governor shall fix the compensation to be paid to
said persons, one-half of which shall be paid by the said
companies and the other half by the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this
Act shall be so construed as to give to the Telephone
Companies therein mentioned any greater rights than
those described in the Ordinance of the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore, No. 41, approved May 9, 1889; and
all further exercise of such rights by said companies is
hereby made dependent upon the acceptance by the said
companies of this Act within thirty days from its ap-
proval, and the filing of a certificate of said acceptance
in the office of the Secretary of State.