CORPORATIONS 953

An. Code, 1924, sec. 364A. 1927, ch. 335, sec. 364A.

371. Whenever there shall be filed with the Commission, by any
public service corporation, company or individual, subject to the jurisdic-
tion of the Commission, any schedule stating a new individual or joint
rate, fare or charge, or any new individual or joint classification, or any
new individual or joint regulation or practice affecting any rate, fare or
charge, the Commission shall have, and it is hereby given, authority, either
upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, at once, and
if it so orders, without answer or other formal pleading by the proponent
or proponents of said new schedule, but upon reasonable notice, to enter
upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness or reasonableness of such rate,
fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice; and pending such hear-
ing and the decision thereon the Commission upon filing with such schedule
and delivering to said proponent or proponents of said new schedule af-
fected thereby a statement in writing of its reason for such suspension
may suspend the operation of such schedule and defer the use of such rate,
fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice but not for a longer
period than one hundred and twenty days beyond the time when such rate,
fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice would otherwise go into
effect; and after full hearing, whether completed before or after the rate,
fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice goes into effect, the Com-
mission may make such order in reference to such rate, fare, charge,
classification, regulation or practice as would be proper in a proceeding
initiated after the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice
had become effective. If any such hearing cannot be concluded within the
period of suspension, as above stated, the Commission may, in its discre-
tion, extend the time of suspension for a further period not exceeding
thirty days. And if the proceeding has not been concluded and an order
made at the expiration of such thirty days, the proposed change of rate,
fare, charge, classification, regulation or practice shall go into effect at the
end of such period, but in case of a proposed increased rate or charge, the
Commission may by order require the said proponent or proponents to keep
accurate account in detail of all amounts received, by reason of such in-
creases, specifying by whom and in whose behalf such amounts are paid,
and upon completion of the hearing and decision, may, by further order,
require the said proponent or proponents to refund with interest, to the
persons in whose behalf such amounts were paid, such portion of such
increased rates or charges as by its decision shall be found not justified. At
any hearing involving any new schedule as hereinbefore in this section
provided after the passage of this Act, the burden of proof to show that
each proposed new schedule or any part thereof is just and reasonable shall
be upon the said proponent or proponents by whom or on whose behalf such
new schedule has been filed, and the Commission shall give to the hearing
and decision of such questions preference over all other questions pending
before it and decide the same as speedily as possible.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 364B. 1927, ch. 335, sec. 364B.

372. If upon the hearing of any petition filed with the Public Service
Commission at any time by a public service corporation, company or indi-
vidual, it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Commission
that the public interest requires a change in a rate, fare, charge, classifica-
tion, regulation or practice, or that such change is necessary for the pur-