From time to time, any company or corporation, or its assigns, on March 3, 1905, or thereafter maintaining and operating a telegraph plant or system in said District, shall prepare and submit to the said Mayor a plan or plans or application or applications, in writing, showing the streets, avenues, alleys, lanes, and other public highways in or under which it is proposed to construct conduits, subsidiaries, or manholes, and giving the general dimensions, length, and course thereof; and before any such conduit, subsidiary, or manhole is constructed it shall be necessary to obtain the approval and permission of said Mayor. Said Mayor is empowered to require that all proposed conduits, subsidiaries, and manholes shall be constructed in accordance with the approved plan or permit; and upon the approval by said Mayor of any such plan, or the issuing of any such permit, providing for the construction of underground conduits, subsidiaries, or manholes within the said limits described in § 34-1921.01, or in such part thereof as said Mayor shall require and direct, the construction therein provided for shall be proceeded with diligently, and upon the completion thereof, or as soon thereafter as may be without impairing the efficiency of the telegraph service in said District, the company or corporation constructing such conduits, subsidiaries, or manholes shall place its cables and wires therein and take down and remove from the streets and avenues in which such conduits are constructed all poles and the wires thereon, except such as said Mayor may, in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter, permit to remain for the purpose of distributing wires for house or other connections.

(Mar. 3, 1905, 33 Stat. 985, ch. 1415, § 2.)

1981 Ed., § 43-1410.

1973 Ed., § 43-1410.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.