812 ARTICLE 23.

for freight or property, or any present, gift or gratuity of any kind. If any
commissioner, People's Counsel, the secretary thereof, or any person em-
ployed 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.

An. Code, sec. 420. 1910, ch. 180, sec. 8 (p. 350). 1916, ch. 638.

355. 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 memo-
randa of every nature whatsoever in their possession, shall be open to in-
spection by the public at all reasonable times; provided, however, that
whenever the commission shall determine it shall be necessary in the inter-
ests 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 acqui-
sition 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 according
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 manner 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 in their official capacity, or for the annual reports
of the commission in the ordinary course of distribution. All fees charged
and collected by the commission shall belong to the State of Maryland and