482 



NEW JERSEY. 



minal property of the value of $6,000,000, and 

 a vast amount of rolling and floating stock. 

 The cost of the companies' investment, not 

 including cash and materials on hand, was, on 

 the 1st of January $30,500,000, of which 

 $16,750,000 was in stock, a little over $13,- 

 000,000 in loans, and the rest furnished out 

 of earnings. The receipts of the companies 

 in 1868 were $7,830,552. The number of pas- 

 sengers carried exceeded 6,000,000, 600,000 of 

 whom were through from city to city, the re- 

 ceipts from which were $3,629,338. 



The average increase of passengers, taking 

 a long series of years, is five per cent, per an- 

 num, which, if continued, will give an annual 

 increase of passenger receipts of $180,000, with 

 little additional expenses. The whole num- 

 ber of passenger trains now operated daily is 

 more than a hundred, of which twelve, each 

 way, run from city to city. Upward of a 

 million of tons was moved on the railroads, 

 the freights on which amounted to $2,392,079. 

 The tonnage annually increases at an average 

 of 15 per cent., or a little more than double 

 every five years. By reason of the greater 

 increase of low-classed tonnage, the increase 

 of freight does not keep pace with the ton- 

 nage, and doubles in about six years ; at that 

 rate, the increase should be $300,000. 



Within the coming three years, the annual 

 receipts are estimated at over $10,000,000. To 

 accommodate eventually this rapidly-growing 

 trade, the companies have bargained for what 

 is known as Harsimus Cove at Jersey City, 

 opposite New York ; a tract of seventy acres, 

 with 1,300 feet of river-front, and nearly half a 

 mile inland. The report warmly commends 

 this purchase, as not only cheap, but as indis- 

 pensable to the companies' future business, 

 though it is not proposed to go immediately on 

 with its improvement. 



The Legislature at its late session authorized 

 the companies to increase their stock sixty 

 per cent. This privilege it is not proposed 

 now to use to an extent of more than ten or 

 twenty per cent, on the present stock of the 

 companies, to be offered pro rata to the stock- 

 holders semiannually in seven per cent, scrip 

 convertible into stock. 



The vessel known as the " Stevens Battery " 

 was bequeathed to the State by the late Edwin 

 A. Stevens, and the sum of $1,000,000 was also 

 left by him to finish the vessel in the most 

 complete manner. 



Under the authority of the law empowering 

 the Governor to accept the vessel and appoint 

 commissioners to take charge of the interest 

 of the State during its construction and pend- 

 ing its disposal, he appointed as commissioners 

 General Fitz-John Porter, of Morris, and 

 Messrs. Benjamin G. Clarke and W. W. Ship- 

 pen, of Hudson. 



There is no longer any doubt but that the 

 vessel, when finished, will be the most formi- 

 dable war-vessel afloat; and, though con- 

 structed at a cost little short of $2,000,000, will 



be much better worth the money than any 

 vessel of similar cost in our own or other 

 navies. 



The vessel is being completed under the per- 

 sonal superintendence of General George B. 

 McClellan and Captain Newton, and will be 

 finished within 1871. 



The following report of the births, mar- 

 riages, and deaths, occurring in the several 

 counties of the State, during the year 1868, 

 was presented to the Legislature by the Secre- 

 tary of State. Although the returns are not 

 entirely complete in several of the counties, 

 the record is believed to be fuller than usual : 



MAEEIAGES. Atlantic 84, Bergen 144, Bur- 

 lington 362, Camden 364, Cape May 56, Cum- 

 berland 244, Essex 1134, Gloucester 105, Hud- 

 son 1,053, Hunterton 268, Mercer 388, Mid- 

 dlesex 165, Monmouth 263, Morris 237, Ocean 

 54, Passaic 174, Salem 179, Somerset 155, Sus- 

 sex 105, Union 284, Warren 142. Total 5,960. 

 Seventy-nine townships are omitted in this 

 record. 



The New Jersey and Sandy Hook pilots, 

 numbering forty pilots and nine apprentices, 



