544 



NEW JERSEY. 



NEW YORK. 



count, at the end of the same period, was 

 $93,270.71. The war debt still outstanding 

 amounts to $3,196,100. The apportionment 

 of the appropriation for the support of public 

 schools during the year is exhibited in the 

 following schedule : 



Amount of School Fund $35,000 00 



Amount from State Kevenue 65,000 00 



"Whole number of children in the State be- 

 tween the ages of 5 and 18, according to 

 the census of 1867 230,518 



COUNTIES. | Children. | Appropriation. 



Atlantic 4,683 $2,03154 



Bergen 7,404 3,211 90 



Burlington 15,699 6,81032 



Camden 11,965 5,19048 



Cape May 2,323 1,007 73 



Cumberland 9,108 3,95110 



Essex 30,270 13,13130 



Gloucester 6,436 2,79197 



Hudson : . , . . 26,104 11,324 06 



Hunterdon 10,849 5,706 36 



Mercer 12,043 5,22432 



Middlesex-. 11,626 5,043 42 



Monmbuth 14,519 6,298 42 



Morris 12,019 5,213 91 



Ocean 4,364 1,893 13 



Passaic 10,743 4,66037 



Salem 6,991 3,03274 



Somerset 6,737 2,92255 



Sussex 7,764 3,36807 



Union 8,985 3,897 74 



Warren 9,886 4,28860 



Total 230,518 $100,00000 



This is paid over to the county superinten- 

 dents in three equal instalments, on the 15th 

 of May, August, and November. 



Just before the close of the last Legislature, 

 a bill was introduced to incorporate a company 

 to act with another, under a charter from the 

 State of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of con- 

 structing a bridge across the Delaware River, 

 between the cities of Camden and Philadelphia. 

 The subject has occupied considerable atten- 

 tion since that time, and committees from the 

 two cities chiefly interested have investigated 

 the subject and published reports favorable to 

 the feasibility of the proposed work. The 

 river at this point is upward of 3,000 feet 

 wide. 



A decision was given in the Supreme Court 

 of New Jersey, in which the rights of the 

 Episcopal clergy were defined on the following 

 points: 1. A minister of the Protestant Epis- 

 copal Church has either the possession of the 

 church, or a right in the nature of an easement 

 to enter therein, on all occasions set apart in 

 the parish for divine services, and a substantial 

 interference with such right will lay the ground 

 for an action at law. 2. The English ecclesias- 

 tical law forms the basis of the law regulating 

 the affairs of this denomination of Christians. 

 3. In order to vest the pastor with the ordi- 

 nary rights in the temporalities pertaining to 

 his office, it is not necessary for the congrega- 

 tion to be incorporated, nor that the title to 

 the church school should be lodged in such 

 congregation. 



A subject occupying a large share of the 

 attention of the present Legislature (1869) is 

 that of reform in the government and discipline 

 of the State Prisons. The last Legislature au- 

 thorized a commission to visit various penal 

 and reformatory institutions throughout the 

 country, for the purpose of gathering such in- 

 formation as might form the basis of a more 

 efficient system of government for the New 

 Jersey State Prison. This commission has 

 submitted a report at the present session, and 

 several bills have been introduced providing for 

 various improvements in this important matter. 



NEW YORK. The Constitutional Conven- 

 tion of New York, which met on the 4th of 

 June, 1867, and reassembled after an adjourn- 

 ment of two months, on the 12th of Novem- 

 ber, continued its sessions for several weeks in 

 the year 1868. The work during that time 

 was chiefly in the hands of the Committee on 

 Revision, and some important changes were 

 made. The suffrage clause, as finally adopted, 

 removes the property qualification required of 

 negroes, by the old constitution, and admits 

 them to the exercise of the rights of citizen- 

 ship on a footing of equality with the whites. 

 A registration of all qualified electors is re- 

 quired to be completed four days before the 

 election, and no one is allowed to register who 

 has not lived thirty days in the town or ward 

 and ten days in the election district where he 

 proposes to vote. The provisions relating to 

 the administration of the State canals abolish 

 the Canal Board and the offices of State En- 

 gineer, Canal Commissioner, and Canal Ap- 

 praiser, and give to the Governor authority to 

 appoint a Superintendent of Canals, with four 

 assistants, to hold office five years. The Court 

 of Claims is to be composed of five judges, ap- 

 pointed by the Governor. The judiciary ar- 

 ticle, as modified, leaves the election of judges 

 to the people, but provides that the question 

 of the appointment by executive authority 

 shall be submitted to the vote of the electors 

 in 1873. The judicial term of office is fixed at 

 fourteen years. There- are to be four General 

 Terms of the Supreme Court instead of eight, 

 and the clerk of the Court of Appeals is to be 

 chosen by the judges. An unpaid board of 

 five persons holding office for ten years, and a 

 clerk who is to have a salary, are to take 

 charge of the prisons of the State, with such 

 right of inspection into jails and other penal 

 and reformatory institutions as future Legis- 

 latures shall define. The subject of allowing 

 the Legislature to exercise authority in the 

 government of cities was discussed, and vig-^ 

 orous efforts were made to introduce a provi- 

 sion prohibiting and restricting such interfer- 

 ence, but the matter was finally left as it was 

 found. When the work of revising the con- 

 stitution was finished, a law was introduced in 

 the Legislature, which was then in session, 

 providing for its submission to a vote of the 

 people. This passed the Assembly, but was 

 defeated in the Senate. 



