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Delivery of Water at East San Pedro 9 Mr. H, C, Nutt, General Manager. Dear S ir: I have your le tte r su bject. As I understand i t , the cars of water in question were moved from Los Angeles to East San Pedro for our own use, and on account of a break in the water mains, and as a mere accommodation, wo turned over certain of these ears to the P a c ific Wharf & Storage Company, and to some of the lumber yards at East San Pedro. I do not thinkfethe ordinances of the City of Los Angeles prescribing water ra te s, have any bearing upon the situ atio n , The Public U t ilit ie s Act of C aliforn ia does not con­tain the commodity clause found in the Act to Regulate Commerce but subdivision b, of paragraph 4, of section 17 of the Act provides: "Except and as otherwise in this section provided, no public u t ilit y shall charge, demand, collect or re­ceive a greater, or less or differen t compensation for any product or commodity furnished,, or to be furnished * * * * than as specified in its schedules on f i l e and in effect at the time." While, undoubtedly, the above provision of the Act was not intended to cover the precise situation under consider­ation, at the same time i t is so broad in its terms that it might be construed to apply to this cas<§P, So fa r as the cars of water heretofore delivered are concerned, under the circumstances stated above, i f we charge a reasonable sum fo r the water delivered, without segregating items |s to freigh t, while it might be held to be a technical violation of the section of the Public U t ilit ie s Act above quoted, in that we have no t a r iffs covering such sales, I do not suppose fo r a moment that we would be prosecuted. However, i f i t is the desire to place ourselves in a position so that we can make further sales of water under the same circumstances it might be wise to take up the matter with the Commission and work out an arrangement satisfactory to a l l concerned. I return your f i l e herewith. Very truly yours, H-G A. S. HALSTED