1900. ] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 867

by the charter of the city of Baltimore, so a, s to prevent
the exercise of said rights and privileges from interfer-
ring with the proper construction of the city conduits
and other city works; and in executing the power hereby
granted the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore may
make all needful and proper regulations for determining
the character, size, plan and mode of construction of the
conduits and manholes authorized to be constructed by
said ordinance, the location of said conduits and manholes
in the several streets and alleys in which they may be
constructed and the depth and width of the excavations
in the streets and alleys to be made for said conduits and
manholes; and in the power hereby granted to regulate
the location of said conduits and manholes is
included the power to ascertain and determine in
what streets and alleys said conduits and man-
holes may, and in what streets and alleys they may
not be constructed; provided reasonable provision is
made for the fair and reasonable exercise of the rights
and privileges granted by said Ordinance No. 41; and in
executing the power of regulation by this Act granted to
the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, it may clothe
the city engineer with all such powers, in addition to
those conferred upon the city commissioner by said Ordi-
nance No. 41, if any are deemed necessary, as are proper
and appropriate to be exercised by him in connection
with the location, plan, character and mode of construc-
tion of the conduits and manholes which, by said Ordi-
nance No. 41, the said telephone companies are author-
ized 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 Balti-
more 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 Baltimore to the Governor of the State the