Volpe Signs Legislation To Obtain Old Colony

Despite a political force of arms which finally enabled Governor Volpe to sign the Old Colony bill in time for a noon deadline, members of the Legislature discovered yesterday that they were by no means quit of the problem.

Although the new legislation met a deadline by which the state had to exercise its option to purchase the line from the New Haven Railroad, Judge Robert E. Anderson of the New Haven Federal District Court remained unsatisfied. Anderson said yesterday that he may refuse to legalize the sale, unless Massachusetts acts quickly with three other states to save the road from bankruptcy.

Accordingly, a bill to grant the New Haven an annual exemption from $1.2 million in property taxes is now before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Last night the Committee was still in the midst of public hearings on the matter.

New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have already passed legislation to help the Railroad continue service by exempting it from about $6.2 million in taxes.

The law which Volpe signed yesterday authorizes the Commonwealth to exercise its option to purchase the Old Colony for salvage rates, $1.5 million. It also creates a new Metropolitan transit district, which will finance and operate the line.

According to a reliable source, if the Commonwealth is successful in taking over the Old Colony, the University will have an excellent chance of obtaining the Bennett St. MTA yards across from Kirkland and Eliot Houses. Harvard has long wanted the site for construction of the tenth House called for in the Program for Harvard College.

Passage of the Old Colony Bill has not affected the status of a bill now in the House which originally proposed creation of a commission to study the best possible use of the yards. John J. Campbell, cosponsor of the bill, told the CRIMSON last night that the legislation had actually run into trouble in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Campbell said the Committee reported out a bill which had no relation to the original. The changed bill proposed that state land could not be sold to any corporation or institution exempt from property taxes.

Because of the obvious dissimiliarity, Rep. John F. Thompson (D) of Ludlow, Speaker of the House, sent the bill back to the Committee and chairman, Rep. John J. Toomey (D) of Cambridge. Although passage of the "study" bill might precipitate sale of the yards, it is actually not necessary for the transaction.