Ch. 470                             MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                                1041

under age, or non compos mentis, or under any other legal disability, or [be] IS
absent from the county or city in which the [said ] THE property may lie when the
[said] land or water rights [may be] ARE needed, the corporation may proceed
to condemn and acquire [the samel THEM in the manner provided for in [Article
33A of the Annotated] TITLE 12 OF ARTICLE 21 OF THIS Code [of
Maryland, title "Eminent Domain."].

334.

If any corporation incorporated under the laws of this State which [shall be] IS
authorized to acquire by condemnation any land, earth or stone, or any interest
therein, cannot agree with the owner or owners thereof, or if any of [such] THE
owners be [a feme sole, and without power to contract in that regard,] under age,
non compos mentis, or under any other legal disability to contract, or be out of the
county in which the property wanted may lie at the time [the same] IT is wanted,
[then in all such cases] the corporation may proceed to condemn under the
provisions of [Article 33A of the Annotated] TITLE 12 OF ARTICLE 21 OF
THIS Code [of Maryland, title "Eminent Domain."].

340.

Any of the corporations formed under class thirteen, § 28 of this article, as
codified by the Code of 1904, shall have the power which is conferred upon
telegraph companies incorporated under this article by § 318, and may construct
and lay any part of its line or lines underground or any route for which it is
authorized to construct such lines in whole or in part, above ground, and [such]
THE corporation may acquire by condemnation any property or right whatsoever
necessary for its purposes in its discretion, either in fee simple or the use thereof in
fee simple, or for a less estate, in the manner set forth in [Article 33A of the
Annotated] TITLE 12 OF ARTICLE 21 OF THIS Code [of Maryland, title
"Eminent Domain"]; provided, however, that all corporations incorporated, or to
be incorporated by virtue of said § 28, class thirteen, (Code of 1904) and all
corporations heretofore or hereafter incorporated under the provisions of the
Corporation Law of 1908, shall obtain the assent and approval of the mayor and
city council of Baltimore City, before using the streets or highways of Baltimore
City, either the surface or the ground beneath the same. The provisions of this
proviso, however, DO not [to] apply to [such] THOSE corporations [as are] now
in practical operation and WHICH have laid or constructed their lines, pipes,
mains or other structures, or any part thereof in the City of Baltimore, except as
to the use and occupancy by them of new and additional streets and highways in
the City of Baltimore by their lines, pipes, mains or other structures.

341.

Any corporation of this or any other state, which is now or may hereafter be
engaged in the business of transmitting or supplying natural gas, artificial gas, or a
mixture of natural and artificial gases, may acquire by condemnation, in the
manner provided in [Article 33A,] TITLE 12 OF ARTICLE 21 OF THIS CODE
rights-of-way or easements necessary for the purpose of laying, constructing,
changing the size of, repairing, maintaining, operating and removing pipe lines and
appurtenances thereto for the transmission and supplying of natural gas, artificial
gas, or a mixture of natural and artificial gases; provided, however, that nothing
contained in this section [is intended or shall be taken or construed as relieving]
RELIEVES any [such] corporation from the provisions of Chapter 180 of the
Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland of 1910 (Art. 78), known as the Public
Service Commission Law, or any amendment thereto; and provided further that
nothing contained in this section [is intended, or shall be taken or construed, to
confer] CONFERS the right of condemnation upon any corporation, domestic or