CONNECTICUT. 



237 



erty of either road ; and to make or take the 

 lease of its property or franchise ; and such 

 leases and contracts were by this law ratified 

 and confirmed; " providing, by way of excep- 

 tion, that, by this act, " city railroad compa- 

 nies were not authorized to merge or consoli- 

 date stocks." 



Under the authority of this law, the New 

 York & New Haven and the Hartford & New 

 Haven Railroad Companies engaged to unite. 



The introduction of a bill at the present ses- 

 sion, permitting these two companies to con- 

 solidate, created no little excitement, and met 

 with strong opposition within the halls of the 

 General Assembly. Prominent grounds of op- 

 position were the dangers of concentrating too 

 much power in the hands of one moneyed 

 public body having immediate, as it were, 

 necessary relations with the people at large. 

 They said that, to allow these already power- 

 ful companies to consolidate in a single corpo- 

 ration must prove highly injurious to the State 

 and citizens in a pecuniary point of view and 

 otherwise, and more especially to the other 

 railway companies in the State, who were 

 likely, in such an event, to be gradually ab- 

 sorbed by the consolidated one, or obliged in 

 their operations to be wholly dependent on it. 



The Legislature adjourned sine die. on July 

 28th, having continued sitting little less than 

 three months. The first two weeks of its 

 meeting were spent almost entirely in clearing 

 the election of April from the difficulties which 

 rendered its result uncertain, and contributed 

 to make the session one of the longest on 

 record in Connecticut. During that period, a 

 vast amount of business was transacted, a very 

 large number of subjects having been deliber- 

 ated and acted upon in matters of local and 

 private as well as public interest; of which a 

 brief general summary is stated as follows : 



Eight savings-bankSj five trust companies, seven 

 manufacturing companies, four railroad companies, 

 three horse-railroad companies, and three insurance 

 companies, have been chartered; two new towns 

 have been incorporated Bacon Falls and Newing- 

 ton ; new charters to two cities Norwich and Water- 

 bury ; new charter to one borough Ansonia. A 

 new military law, and a new insurance law have 

 passed. Nine convicts have been released from State- 

 prison. About 550 bills, resolutions, and petitions, 

 have been acted upon, 150 chapters of public acts 

 passed and 210 resolutions and private acts. 



Two laws concerning negroes were passed 

 by the General Assembly, affecting them finan- 

 cially and politically. The one repealed the 

 previously-existing law which exempted ne- 

 groes from taxation; the other authorized ne- 

 groes to vote in town meetings. 



The material condition of Connecticut, finan- 

 cially and in other respects, appears to be in a 

 remarkable degree prosperous. The state- 

 ments made by the State Treasurer show that 

 the public debt, which was $6,560,304.95 on 

 April 1, 1870, is now reduced to $5,804,610.93 ; 

 the sum of $755,694.02 having been paid on it. 



The taxable property in the State assessed 



for October, 1870, amounted to $328,436,601 ; 

 little less than six millions above the assess- 

 ment for the previous year. A State tax of 

 two mills on the dollar was collected on the 

 grand list for that year, and the same rate 

 has been laid for 1871. 



The number of savings-banks in the State 

 in 1870 was 66, and the aggregate sum of 

 their deposits, $55,297,705.40, which is nearly 

 seven millions and a half in excess of their de- 

 posits in the preceding year. 



The fire and life insurance companies are 

 very numerous in Connecticut, and carry on 

 business to an exceedingly large amount. No 

 diminution, but rather an increase of custom 

 in their respective branches, seems likely to 

 take place for the future. 



Sixty-five fire-insurance companies, char- 

 tered in other States, with five American 

 branches of similar companies established in 

 England, do business in Connecticut. The con- 

 dition of the former, taken together, is stated 

 in the commissioner's report for the past 

 year as follows: Total capital, $25,780,000; 

 gross assets, $54,191,993; gross receipts, $30,- 

 171,559 ; gross payments, $28,227,830 ; amount 

 insured, $2,284,148,912; losses paid, $16,272,- 

 036 ; required to reinsure, $12,409,751. Twen- 

 ty-one of these companies are marked " short " 

 in the item of receipts over payment. 



Of life-insurance companies incorporated 

 by other States and doing business in Con- 

 necticut, there are 31, of which 8 are purely 

 mutual. The general statement relating to 

 them in the said report is : Total cash capital, 

 $3,878,000; gross assets, $154,574,197; gross 

 cash liabilities, $133,838,104; amount insured, 

 $1,084,945,630; required to reinsure, $122,- 

 258,816; total income, $49,047,441 ; total paid 

 out, $28,385,308. 



The number of miles of railroads completed 

 and in actual operation, with ample supply 

 of rolling-stock, is 667; 250 more miles are 

 under construction, mostly far advanced tow- 

 ard completion. The length of 'railway com- 

 munication within the State, as compared 

 with the extent of her territory and the num- 

 ber of her inhabitants, is reckoned to be in 

 the ratio of one mile of railroad for every 5.3 

 square miles of the former, and one mile of 

 railroad to every 614.1 of the latter. The 

 amount of gross earnings was reported in 

 1869-70 at $8,874,117.59; in 1870-71 the 

 amount is $9,672,946.77, showing an increase 

 of $798,829.18. The net earnings, in 1869-70, 

 were $2,390,664.64 ; in 1870-71, $2,525,702.69 ; 

 increase, $135,038.05. 



During the past eighteen years the roads in 

 this State have carried 78,158,086 passengers; 

 and there have been 943 accidents, of which 

 515 were fatal and 423 not fatal. In 1860, 

 2,967,440 passengers were carried; in 1870 

 over 8,000,000 an increase in ten years of five 

 millions. During the past year there were 75 

 accidents. Of these accidents, 2 only were to 

 passengers ; 22 were employes ; 28 were walk- 



