accordance with the request of the attorneys and counsel for the parties who had appeared before me in said proceedings, and because I was informed by them, or some of them, that the Attorney-General for the plaintiff had consented or stipulated in writing, at or about the time the said last mentioned order was entered, for the discontinuance of this action, and I was further informed that the formal order for the discontinuance of this action and the discharge of the Receiver therein would be entered upon the filing and approval of my report under said last mentioned order, and I was requested to prepare the form of said order so that it would appear therefrom that the same was moved for entry by the said Attorney-General for the plaintiff. And thereupon I made said report, and the form of the order reported by me therein covered the final accounting and discharge of said Receiver and the release of his bondsmen and the discontinuance of this action, and the same purported to be moved for entry by the said Attorney-General, and the said report and form of order was delivered to the said Attorney-General for the plaintiff, for his action in the premises.

And whereas, afterwards and on the 24th day of December, 1877, the said Attorney-General addressed the following letter to me in regard to said report and his proposed action in regard to the same:

STATE OF NEW YORK.

Hon. Jas. C. Spencer.

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL,

ALBANY, December 24, 1877.

DEAR SIR-I am requested by the attorneys for The Erie Railway Company, and for H. J. Jewett, Receiver, to discontinue the action of People v. Erie Railway Co, and others. I am also requested by counsel representing stock and bond-holders of said company not to discontinue said action without examination on behalf of plaintiffs into the accounts of said Receiver. I have now your proposed report in this matter, and find therefrom that the plaintiffs do not appear to have had any notice of the proceedings before you as Referee, or to have been represented upon any hearing. I therefore deem it my duty to make what examination I can into the proceedings of the Receiver before giving my consent to the discontinuance of this action and his discharge. I have therefore requested Messrs. Barlow & Olney to represent me in this matter, and to arrange with the various parties for an examination before yourself into this matter I therefore request that you will give a hearing hereon on 26th inst. at 11 A.M., if possible. Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

CHARLES S. FAIRCHILD,
Attorney-General.

And whereas, in accordance with the request in said letter of the said Attorney-General, I notified the attorneys and counsel of the several parties to said three actions to appear before me on the said 26th day of December, 1877, and upon that day the parties did so appear, and the hearing was adjourned by consent until the 27th day of December, 1877, when all the parties to said three actions appeared before me, the Attorney-General for the plaintiff appearing by Messrs. Barlow & Olney as counsel, and the following proceedings were had in said reference:

Messrs. Barlow & Olney, as the counsel for the said Attorney-General for the plaintiff, delivered to me the said report I had made under said order entered in this Court in said three actions December 31, 1875, and moved that the reference under said last-named order be opened, and that I, as Referee, should then proceed to examine into the accounts, vouchers and doings of the said Hugh J. Jewett, as Receiver in this action, under and in pursuance of said order, and in accordance with the request of said Attorney-General in said letter, and in the same manner and to the same effect as if I had not heretofore examined and reported upon the same; alleging that in regard to the said former proceedings and hearings on the reference and accountings under said order, which had resulted in the report made by me and delivered to him, that the plaintiff had not received notice thereof and had not been represented in any manner therein, and that the Attorney-General was not willing to consent to the discontinuance of the action and the discharge of said Receiver without an examination on behalf of plaintiff into the accounts and proceedings of said Receiver.

The attorneys and counsel for the "Farmers' Loan and Trust Company," Trustee, and J. C. Bancroft Davis, Trustee and defendants in this action, and plaintiffs respectively in the other actions, opposed the opening of said reference, and objected to any further proceedings therein, except the transmission to, and the filing of said report in this Court.

As it clearly appeared to me that the plaintiff in this action had not notice of the former proceedings in said reference and had not been re

presented therein, I decided, as Referee, to consider those proceedings invalid, so far as the interest and rights of the plaintiff were affected thereby, and that the reference under said order entered in said actions on the 31st day of December, 1875, should be opened, and that said report so made by me under said order, and returned to me by the said Attorney-General, should be considered as vacated or cancelled, and that plaintiff should have an opportunity of being heard in regard to the accounts, vouchers, acts and doings of Hugh J. Jewett, Receiver in this action, and in the examination of the same under said order, before any report should be made by me. in the premises. Thereupon the reference under said last-mentioned order was then and afterwards continued before me as if no report had been made therein, until on or about the 20th day of May, 1878, when another order of reference was entered in this action on the petition of the said Attorney-General, a copy of which order and petition appears in said Appendix, marked "Exhibit D," commencing on the 5th page thereof, and to which reference is hereby made.

That after the entry of the last-named order (which embraced among its provisions substantially the matters of accounting by said Receiver contained in said order entered in said three actions on the said 31st day of December, 1875), I continued to perform my duties as Referee from time to time in regard to the accountings of the said Receiver under each and every of said respective orders, and at the same times and places; all of the parties to said three actions appearing before me, and participating in the proceedings therein, to and until the 26th day of November, 1878. That in the meantime, and on the 8th day of July, 1878, another order was entered in said three actions, on the petition of said Receiver, in regard to said accountings of said Receiver (a copy of which last-named order appears in said Appendix, being No. 33 of "Exhibit L," on page 228 thereof), to which reference is hereby made.

That on the said 26th day of November, 1878, all of the parties to said three actions appeared before me and stipulated and agreed as follows:

"1st. That the matters of reference under said order of December 31, 1875, and under the order of May 20, 1878, so far as the same embraced or related to the accounts, vouchers, acts and doings of the said Receiver from the 26th day of May, 1875, to and including the 31st day of May, 1878, and the proofs relating thereto, should now be submitted to me for consideration and report; and the parties to all of said actions having been notified, or having appeared on this general accounting for the period aforesaid, that the report of the Referee shall be held to embrace a full and final accounting by said Receiver in all of said actions, for said period.

"2d. That the Referee should report the sum of five thousand dollars as suitable compensation for all the services of Luke F. Cozans, Esq., who has been employed as counsel in said first above entitled action by and in behalf of the said Attorney-General, in the matter of said accounting under the two last above described orders, and has appeared therein since the first day of April, 1878; and the sum of two hundred dollars for his necessary expenses and disbursements in said action, to the date of this hearing, the same to be paid to Luke F. Cozans, Esq., by the said Receiver.

"3d. That whatever sums shall be paid by the said Receiver for the services or disbursements of counsel or the Referee under the said orders of December 31, 1875, or May 20, 1878, shall be paid by him as Receiver in the above entitled actions, but eventually charged to and deducted from any fund or estate that he may be directed by any future order or decree of this Court to set apart, hold and account for as Receiver in the first of the above entitled actions.

"4th. That the Referee be now requested to report to this Court on the matters herein submitted, at as early a day as practicable, and to adjourn the remaining matters of said reference under the order of May 20, 1875, to be continued at the office of said Receiver, number 187 West Street, on the 11th day of December, 1878, at 11 o'clock A. M."

And in accordance with said stipulation I reported to this Court, in the said three actions, as of the 2d day of December, 1878; which report was duly filed in and approved and confirmed by this Court as of the 16th day of December, 1878; to which report and order of comfirmation reference is hereby made.

And whereas, the accountings of said Receiver, under all of said orders, have been continued before me as separate and distinct matters from the other matters of reference contained in said order entered in this action on the 20th day of May, 1878, and agreeably to the request of all parties, I have reported from time to time upon the accounts, vouchers, acts and doings of the said Hugh J. Jewett, Receiver, in said three actions, and I certify that my reports since the time covered by my said last named report, namely, May 31, 1878, have been made to and filed in and confirmed by this Court, as follows:

For the month of June, 1878. Reported as of the 2d day of December, 1878, and approved and confirmed as of the 16th day of December, 1878.

For the month of July, 1878. Reported as of the 31st day of December, 1878, and approved and confirmed as of the 17th day of January, 1879.

For the month of August, 1878. Reported as of the 25th day of January, 1879, and approved and confirmed as of the 3d day of February, 1879.

For the months of September and October, 1878. Reported as of the 8th day of March, 1879, and approved and confirmed as of the 15th day of March, 1879.

For the months of November and December, 1878. Reported as of the 12th day of April, 1879, and approved and confirmed as of the 21st day of April, 1879.

For the months of January, February and March, 1879. Reported as of the 17th day of June, 1879, and approved and confirmed as of the 23d day of June, 1879.