FOURTH HEARING.

MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1871.

The Chairman called the meeting to order at twenty-one minutes to 8 o'clock, and stated that the following petitions had been referred to the committee, namely: Of Geo. W. Parmenter, John L. Hunnewell and 42 others; Samuel Mills, J. S. Pote and 41 others; John P. Squire & Co., Seth E. Pecker & Co. and 32 others; Michael Ambrose, James Sweeney and 21 others; William Somers and 7 others; J. H. Flitner and 14 others; M. McCann, L. A. Hall and 39 others; Andrew Sawtelle, Bennett, Rand & Co. and 46 others; John Cummings, Simmons, Amsden & Co. and 65 others; A. J. Chase, O. W. Bailey and 14 others, in favor of the abolition of tolls on the East Boston Ferries.

The following remonstrances were submitted as having been referred to the committee, namely: Of E. R. Mudge, Sawyer & Co., Amos A. Lawrence and 40 others; James M. Beebe and 39 others; John B. Alley & Co. and 58 others; J. P. Barnard and 50 others; Jacob Sleeper and 41 others; Dexter Brother and 44 others; O. C. Taylor and 46 others; Wm. B. Spooner & Co., Henry Poor & Son and 34 others; Wm. Fosdick and 40 others; Alexander Wadsworth and 43 others; Gardner Brewer and 40 others; Charles Francis Adams and 52 others; J. H. Chadwick, Geo. M. Barnard and 26 others; Fred'k Jones & Co., S. R. Spalding, J. B. Kimball & Co. and 84 others, against free ferries.

19

TESTIMONY OF TIMOTHY C. WHITTEMORE.

Q. (By Mr. PUTNAM.) What is your occupation, Mr. Whittemore?

A. I am clerk of the Board of Directors of Ferries.

Q. Previous to the purchase of the ferries by the city, what was your occupation?

A. I was formerly clerk of the East Boston Ferry Company, and held that position at the time the city purchased the ferries.

Q. How long had you been in that occupation?

A. I had been with them about eight years, seven or eight years. I think I went there in 1862.

Q. Had you ever served in any other capacity in connection with ferries?

A. I was formerly the treasurer and clerk of the Ferry Company.

Q. Your services with them began in 1862?

A. Yes, sir; December, 1862.

Q. Where did the duties of your office require you to be? A. Well, my duties were in the office mostly.

Q. And that is where?

A. My office first was on State street. It was then removed to No. 42 Long wharf, and from there to the office in East Boston.

Q. Do you know anything of the age and condition of the boats now used by the city on the ferries?

A. Well, they are the same boats that have been seen on the ferries since I have been connected with them,

them.

the most of

Q. State their names, and state how old they are, so far as you know.

A. The "Daniel Webster," I think, is the oldest boat. It

was built in 1852 or 1853,- somewhere about that time, I don't know the exact date; and has been run by the East Boston Ferry Company and the city ever since. The "John Adams" and "Jefferson" were boats that were run on the People's Ferry, which were sold by the company and went through the war, came back, and were repaired up and put on to the ferry again. The "Lincoln" is a boat that was bought by the East Boston Ferry Company, in New York, I think, or Washington, in 1866. It might have been in the autumn of 1865. The "General Grant" was bought, I think, in 1866.

Q. Were the "Gen. Grant" and the "Lincoln," at the time they were bought, old boats or new?

A. They were old boats.

Q. Have you any means, Mr. Whittemore, of knowing what the amount of business of different kinds is that is done by the ferries?

A. Yes, sir; I have the means of knowing.

Q. Will you please to state what the amount of business for the past year has been, and how it has been divided?

A. The receipts for the year ending March 31st, 1871, were $163,903.85. That does not include $500 worth of tickets redeemed, according to contract made with the East Boston Ferry Company, when the city purchased of them. That naturally should be added, to show the net amount of receipts.

Q. One moment, Mr. Whittemore. Do I understand you that $163,903.85 is the gross amount, including the outstanding tickets, from which the outstanding tickets are to be deducted, or to which they are to be added?

A. Those are to be deducted from the $163,903.85.

That

is the net amount of cash which I have received. From that should be deducted $1,444.71 for tickets that are sold, and not yet redeemed.

Q

much?

Leaving the net receipts of the ferry for the year how

A. That would leave $162,000, and some odd. Then I stated to that should be added some $500 of tickets, which were redeemed on account of the East Boston Ferry Co., which were turned in to them, and not made any account of, but added in. Q. The figures you give, Mr. Whittemore, are for the year during which the ferries have been run by the city, are they not?

A. Yes, sir.

Do they comprise an exact year?

A. An exact year.

Q. From what date?

A. April 1st, 1870, to March 31st, 1871.

Q. How were those receipts divided as to the sources from which they came?

A. Do you mean in regard to team travel?

Q. The character of the travel; team travel, foot travel and car travel, or any other travel.

A. For team travel the receipts were $71,130.32, and for foot travel, including railroad passengers, and the amount of outstanding tickets, $92,773.53.

Q. Will you please give the figures, in detail, of those various classes which you have included in this aggregate of $92,773.53 ?

A. The first item is 491,293 passengers at one cent each, from the Metropolitan Railroad, making $4,912.93; 145,473 passengers by the Metropolitan Railroad, at one and a half cents a piece, $2,182.09; 2,177,300 foot passengers, at a cent and a half each, $32,659.50; 2,578,715 passengers at two cents each, $51,574.30; 86,314 foot passes, now outstanding, or, at least, outstanding on the first of April, $1,294.71; team tickets outstanding, estimated of various grades, $150.

Q. Why should not that be added to the team travel instead of foot travel?

A. I didn't do that, because they are not redeemed.

Q. That should be deducted from the $92,773.53 in order ૨. to get the amount of the foot and horse-car travel?

A. The two items should be deducted from the $92,773.53, in order to get at the amount received for passengers transported during the year.

Q. Have you made any comparison of the amounts received, with the amounts which would have been received, if the tolls had been kept by the city at the same figures at which the ferry company exacted toll?

A. I have an account made up at the prices collected by the East Boston Ferry Company at the time the city took possession of the ferries.

Q. Will you state what the figures would be if the city had collected the same rates of tolls as the ferry company the year before?

A. The amount for team travel would have been $95,692.89. The amount for railroad passengers and foot travel would have been $149,048.11, making $244,741, to which I have added a cent and a half which is in litigation, but which I don't know any reason why the East Boston Ferry Company should not have collected, which makes a difference of about $12,000, which would make $256,748.95.

A. This last amount would have been collected of the railroad company if they had got what they claimed, three cents on each passenger.

Q. How much, then, has the saving been to the ferry passengers during the past year, in comparison with the rates collected by the ferry company before the city took possession?

A. Well, I make the difference $94,289.81, including that $12,000. That is a question which has not yet been decided.

Q. The figures which you have got will enable the computation to be made, excluding that $12,000, will they not?

A. Yes; that can very easily be made. I added two cents