1904.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 1805

The Secretary of State appeared and delivered the
following message :

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

April 1, 1904.
To the House of Delegates of Maryland:

I return, without my approval, House bill, chapter
201. 1 am constrained not to approve this bill for the
following reasons:

The bill grants certain powers in relation to the
granting and regulation of public franchises, to the
County Commissioners of Baltimore county. While
the powers are granted with more particularity and pre-
cision in this bill, substantially the same powers as
those embraced in this bill are embraced in the grant to
the County Commissioners by chapter 368 of the Acts
of 1902, with the exception that this bill restricts the
price which the County Commissioners may charge for
the privilege to lay electric railway tracks on the pub-
lic roads in portions of the county.

The main other difference between the legal effect of
the Act of 1902, chapter 368, and the bill herewith re-
turned to your Honorable Body, is that section 2 of
this later bill provides "that all grants of franchises:
heretofore made under the terms and provisions of
said chapter 368 of the Acts of 1902, entitled 'An Act
to legalize and regulate the granting of franchises for
public purposes in Baltimore county' are hereby sanc-
tioned, ratified and confirmed as fully as if set out
herein in full, and as fully as if the same had been
specifically and directly granted by the General As-
sembly of Maryland by Acts duly enacted."

There is now pending in the Court of Appeals the
case of the Consolidated Gas Company vs. The County
Commissioners of Baltimore county, in which the
Consolidated Gas Company is seeking to set aside a
grant of the franchise to lay gas mains in certain of
the public highways of Baltimore county, made by
the County Commissioners in July, 1908, to Joseph
Schreiber.