518 



NEW JERSEY. 



court shall have all the jurisdiction and powers now 

 possessed by the Court of Errors and Appeals, the 

 present Supreme Court, the Chancellor, the Court of 

 Chancery, and the Prerogative Court, which jurisdic- 

 tion and powers shall be exercised in three divisions 

 viz., a law division, an equity division, and an ap- 

 pellate division. Circuit court shall be held in every 

 county by one or more judges of the law division. 

 Other constitutional amendments, providing for 

 biennial sessions of the Legislature and granting 

 suffrage at school elections outside of the cities to 

 women, were passed, and also the anti-race-track 

 resolution, prohibiting pool selling, bookmaking, 

 and all kinds of gambling, which was passed at the 

 last session, but must be passed again before it is 

 voted upon by the people as a constitutional amend- 

 ment. A measure abolishing the office of lay judge 

 in the Court of Common Pleas in the various conn- 

 ties was enacted ; changes in the election law were 

 made, stringent provisions requiring registration by 

 streets and houses in the larger cities ; another pro- 

 vision makes it a misdemeanor to solicit from a 

 candidate money or other property, or to urge him 

 to purchase any ticket to a ball or other entertain- 

 ment, with a proviso that this shall not apply to a 

 request for a contribution from an authorized rep- 

 resentative of the party that nominates him. Cor- 

 porations engaged in manufacturing, mining, quar- 

 rying, and lumbering are required to pay their 

 employees at least once in two weeks, each payment 

 to be of all wages due up to a date within twelve 

 days. Provision was made, on terms liberal to the 

 railroad corporations, for the abolition in certain 

 cities of crossings of a highway and a railroad at 

 grade. Many laws in the interest of traction com- 

 panies were passed, and also a law prohibiting trol- 

 ley cars from carrying freight, except when specific- 

 ally authorized to do so. By a strict party vote the 

 boundary line between the townships of West Am well 

 and Delaware in Hunterdon County was changed. 

 Provision was made for a teachers' retirement 

 fund ; the borough laws of 1888, 1890, and 1891 

 were repealed, as was also the charter of the West 

 Jersey Game Association. 



The report of the commission created by the last 

 Legislature to investigate the usefulness of the epi- 

 leptic institutions of several States suggested the 

 establishment of a colony of the 2,000 epileptics in 

 the State. The commission appointed in 1895 to 

 consider the advisability of accepting a gift of over 

 130 acres with buildings at Englishtown as the site 

 of a blind asylum reported in favor of its accept- 

 ance. The Senate investigating committee was 

 authorized to continue its inquiry, the commission 

 to investigate the penal laws was continued, and the 

 Governor was authorized to reappoint a commission 

 to determine whether it is advisable to erect a home 

 for disabled soldiers and their wives. He also was 

 directed to appoint a commission of five to investi- 

 gate the subject of assessment and taxation of the 

 property of the State and report to the next Leg- 

 islature, and a commission of three to consider the 

 subject of the pollution of the Passaic river and of 

 a general system of sewerage disposal for the relief 

 of the valley of the Passaic. 



Among other important measures adopted were 

 the following : 



Requiring all nonresidents of the State to obtain a 

 license before hunting for rabbit, quail, pheasant, 

 deer, dove, squirrel, plover, or fishing for brook 

 trout in any county of the State. 



Allowing fishing and gunning upon any of the 

 lands or meadows over which the tide ebbs and 

 flows. 



Declaring that the meaning of "a majority of 

 legal voters " shall be those voters who actually 

 vote upon the question. 



Prohibiting any person who has not been for 

 six months an actual resident of the State from 

 raking or gathering clams, oysters, or shellfish. 



Giving property of an illegitimate child dying 

 intestate to his wife. 



Authorizing cities by ordinance to raise money 

 for free public libraries. 



Giving municipalities power to pass ordinances 

 regulating the use of bicycles. 



Imposing fines on any one throwing in streets 

 broken glass, bottles, metal, loose stones, earthen- 

 ware, or other substance likely to cause injury to 

 travelers, carriages, or bicycles. 



Authorizing township committees to build bicycle 

 and foot paths at the expense of the township. 



Authorizing voters of towns to direct a tax for 

 the construction of hard roads. 



Securing creditors an equal division of estates 

 of debtors who convey for the benefit of creditors. 



Allowing women to be appointed masters in 

 chancery. 



Permitting a man who has been separated seven 

 years from his wife, or who has received a final 

 decree, to transfer property. 



Fixing 7 per cent, as the rate of interest on ar- 

 rears of taxes and assessments in cities. 



Providing that no person shall give or sell 

 cigarettes to any person under the age of sixteen 

 years ; penalty, $20 for each offense. 



Education. The school tax distributed in 1896 

 amounted to $2,196,240; the State appropriation 

 was $200,000 ; the number of school children, ac- 

 cording to the school census of 1895, was 424,959. 

 The total amount disbursed for free schools by 

 the State was $5,337,597.30, made up in part as 

 follows: For the Xormal School, $31,988.07: for 

 manual training, $49.800.63 ; for the Farnum Pre- 

 paratory School, $1,200; for the Deaf-mute School, 

 $38,076 ; for school libraries, $9,060 ; for teachers' 

 libraries, $200 ; for text-books and apparatus, $280,- 

 918.58; for teachers' salaries, $3,029,777.91. The 

 average cost per pupil for the year, calculated on 

 the enrolled attendance, was $14.40. The school tax 

 levied in 1896 amounted to $2,124,795, a decreaee 

 of $71,445. During the year 1,257 teachers' certifi- 

 cates were granted. 



The enrollment of the Normal School was 594 ; of 

 the Model School, 591 ; and of the Farnum, 132. The 

 number of graduates from the Normal School was 

 149, and from the Model School 39. 



The disbursements for the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station were $15,998.72, of which $1.000 was 

 for expenses incurred for an investigation of the 

 San Jose scale and its natural enemies. 



This census, completed in December, shows the 

 number of children in the State between the ages of 

 five and eighteen years to be 438,969, an increase 

 of 14,010. Of this number, 45,021 attend private 

 schools, 89,210 do not attend any school, and there 

 are 1,581 children over ten years old who can not 

 read, and 5,650 children under fifteen years of age 

 at work in mines, stores, and factories. There are 

 12,689 colored children in the State and 195 chil- 

 dren who are deaf-mutes. 



The certificate of the Colored Industrial School 

 of New Jersey was filed in July. In 1894 the Legis- 

 lature passed an enabling act designating this school 

 as the school provided for by the act of Congress of 

 Aug. 30, 1890, and appropriating to it the portion 

 of money that it would be entitled to receive under 

 the provisions of said act ; also giving it the benefit 

 of all the industrial school laws of the State. 



The disbursements at the two institutions at Vine- 

 land for the feeble-minded were : For 94 women, 33 

 of whom are epileptics, $19,490.82 : for 202 children. 

 $51,328.02. New Jersey paid to other States for the 

 maintenance of 44 feeble-minded pupils, $10,315.78, 



