NEW JERSEY. 



595 



will have 18 Senators and 169 Representatives, 

 and the Democrats 6 Senators and 144 Repre- 

 sentatives. Republican Congressmen were 

 elected by narro%v majorities in both of the 

 congressional districts, a gain of one seat for 

 that party. At the same election, delegates 

 were chosen by the people to a constitutional 

 convention appointed by the Legislature to 

 meet on Jan. 2, 1889. This, the sixth consti- 

 tutional convention in the history of the State, 

 will consist of 321 members, of which the Re- 

 publicans elected 180 members and the Demo- 

 crats 140, one member being ranked as Inde- 

 pendent. 



YEW JERSEY. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Robert S. Green (Democrat) ; Sec- 

 retary of State and Insurance Commissioner, 

 Henry C. Kelsey ; Treasurer, John J. Toffey ; 

 Comptroller, Edward L. Anderson ; Attorney- 

 General, John P. Stockton ; Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, Edwin O. Chapman, suc- 

 ceeded by Charles W. Fuller; Chief-Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, Mercer Beasley; Associate 

 Justices, Manning M. Knapp, Alfred Reed, Ed- 

 ward W. Scudder, Bennet Van Syckel, David 

 A. Depue, Jonathan Dixon, 'William J. Magie, 

 and Charles G. Garrison. Judge Garrison suc- 

 ceeded Joel Parker, deceased, being nominated 

 by the Governor and confirmed by the Legis- 

 lature in January. Chancellor, Alexander T. 

 McGill, Jr. ; Vice-Chancellors, Abraham V. 

 Van Fleet and John T. Bird. 



Legislative Session. The one hundred and 

 twelfth Legislature was in session from Janu- 

 ary 10 to March 30. Its action on the liquor 

 question was noteworthy. A local-option law 

 was passed, providing for special elections as 

 often as once in three years, if desired, in any 

 county, on petition of one-tenth of the legal 

 voters, and by the same act the license fees of 

 inn-holders were increased to $100 in places 

 of fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, $150 in places 

 of from 3,000 to 10,000, and $250 in places 

 of over 10,000. This act was vetoed by Gov. 

 Green, and passed again over the veto by a 

 vote in the House of 34 to 24, and in the Sen- 

 ate of 13 to 8. The governing boards of incor- 

 porated towns were also given power to license, 

 regulate, or prohibit liquor-selling within their 

 jurisdiction. Another act provides that no hon- 

 orably discharged soldier or sailor holding a 

 salaried place under any city or county, whose 

 term of office is not fixed by law, shall be re- 

 moved from office for political reasons, but 

 only for good cause shown after a hearing. 



A new election law was passed, requiring, 

 among other things, the closing of the polls at 

 sunset and personal registration in Newark 

 and Jersey City. The welfare of convicts is 

 provided for by an act requiring persons under 

 sixteen years of age, confined in county insti- 

 tutions, to be kept separate from older prison- 

 ers. The sum of $15,000 was appropriated 

 for the erection of a monument at the Prince- 

 ton battle-ground, provided an equal sum be 



raised by private subscription, and a commis- 

 sion was created to erect such monument. A 

 home for the care and training of feeble- 

 minded women was established, and the sum 

 of $10,000 appropriated for the purchase of 

 buildings. An appropriation of $50,000 was 

 made for the construction and equipment of 

 buildings for the Soldiers' Home, as provided 

 by an act of 1886, and $30,000 was devoted to 

 additions and improvements at the asylum for 

 the insane at Morristown. Other acts of the 

 session, which exceeded the work of its prede- 

 cessors by passing 336 general measures, were 

 as follow : 



Providing a penalty for mutilating books, maga- 

 zines, etc. , in an incorporated library. 



Providing for the appointment of a vice-ordinary 

 or vice-surrogate general of the prerogative court. 



Authorizing incorporated towns ana township com- 

 mittees to borrow money and issue bonds to provide 

 for the construction of sewers or drains. 



Authorizing towns to widen private streets in cer- 

 tain cases. 



Regulating the construction, care, and improvement 

 of the public ways, parks, and sewers in all cities ex- 

 cept those of the first class, and providing for a street 

 commissioner therein. 



Enabling cities to purchase lands for public parks or 

 squares, and to improve the same, and to issue bonds 

 for the cost of such purchase and improvement. 



Empowering corporations to diminish the number 

 of their directors. 



Providing for the further relief of the poor in cities. 



Providing a penalty for selling liquors in a boarding- 

 house without license. 



Providing for the condemnation of lands held by 

 any school district the title to which is defective. 



To provide for the erection of armories for the Na- 

 tional Guard in incorporated towns, boroughs, etc. 



To promote manual training by contributing to 

 every school district that maintains a manual-training 

 school a sum equal to the amount raised by such dis- 

 trict for such purpose. 



To secure the certification of births, marriages, and 

 deaths, and of the vital facts relating thereto, and to 

 provide for the record thereof. 



To take for public use a tract of land at Sea Girt, 

 in the county of Monmouth, to vacate the streets and 

 ways thereon and certain easements therein. 



f'or the better protection of homing pigeons. 



Authorizing the abolishment of the office of sur- 

 veyor of highways in cities. 



Ratifying and confirming the agreement made be- 

 tween the 'commissioners of the State of New York 

 and those of New Jersev locating and marking the 

 boundary -line between the two States in lands under 

 the waters of Raritan Bay. 



Providing that taxes and assessments levied by 

 boards of trustees shall be a first lien on real estate" 

 and that the same may be sold to pay such taxes and 

 K-nts. 



Authorizing cities and township committees to bor- 

 row money in anticipation of taxes. 



Requiring savings-banks not having a capital stock 

 to pay an annual tax of one half of one per cent, on 

 the amount of their deposits not otherwise taxed or 

 exempt. 



Increasing the salaries of the State Treasurer and 

 the Comptroller to $6,000 each. 



Declaring that if any person in possession of a build- 

 ing or buildings, and not the owner thereof, shall 

 bum or cause to be burned, or aid, counsel, or procure 

 the burning of such buildings, whereby a dwelling- 

 house is burned, such person shall be guilty of arson. 



Providing that tangible personal property used in 

 any business shall be taxed at the place where such 

 business ]R carried on, shipping excepted. 



