ART. 23] PROCEEDINGS AND RECORDS PUBLIC. 723

or any free carriage for freight or property, or any present, gift or
gratuity of any kind. If any commissioner, general counsel to the com-
mission, the secretary thereof, or any person employed or appointed to
office or in the service of the commission shall violate any provision of
this sub-title, the governor shall remove him from the office held by him.
No commissioner and no employee or official engaged in the service of
or in any manner connected with the said commission shall hold any
office or position, or be engaged in any business or avocation, the duties
of which are incompatible with the duties of his office or employment as
commissioner, or in the service of or in connection with the work of the
said commission.

1910, ch. 180, sec. 8 (p. 350).

420. All proceedings of the commission, and all documents and
records in its possession, shall be public records, and the commission
shall make an annual report to the governor and to the general assembly,
on or before the second Monday of January of each year, which shall
contain copies of all orders passed and issued by it, and any information
in the possession of the commission which it shall deem of value to the
legislature and the people of the State.

All facts and information in the possession of the commission shall
be public, and all reports, records, files, books, accounts, papers and
memoranda of every nature whatsoever in their possession, shall be
open to inspection by the public at all reasonable times; provided, how-
ever, that whenever the commission shall determine it shall be necessary
in the interests of the public to withhold from the public any facts or
information in its possession, such facts may be withheld for, such
period after the acquisition thereof not exceeding ninety days, as the
commission may determine. No facts or information shall be withheld
by the commission from the public for a longer period than ninety days,
nor be so withheld for any reason whatsoever other than in the
interest of the public.

Copies of all official documents and orders filed or deposited accord-
ing to law in the office of the commission, certified by the commission
or by the secretary of the commission to be true copies of the originals,
under the official seal of the commission, shall be evidence in like man-
ner as the originals.

The commission shall charge and collect the following fees: For
copies of papers and records not required to be certified or otherwise
authenticated by the commission, ten cents for each folio; for certified
copies of official documents and orders filed in its office, fifteen cents
for each folio, and one dollar for every certificate under seal affixed
thereto; for certifying a copy of any report made by any corporation to
the commission, two dollars; for each certified copy of the annual
report of the commission, one dollar and fifty cents; for certified copies
of all evidence and proceedings taken before the commission, twenty
cents for each folio. No fee shall be charged or collected for copies of
papers, records or official documents furnished to public officers for use