NEW JERSEY. 



NEW YORK. 



581 



Legislation. The case was contested with 

 tfreiit force in court, and resulted in the grant- 

 fug of a perpetual injunction restraining the 

 National Railway Company from constructing 

 their through-line as proposed. This decision, 

 rendered early in February, 1873, was based 

 on the ground that the original intention of 

 the Stanhope charter* was, the construction of 

 a road from Walkill Mountain to Stanhope, 

 and could not be construed, even by implica- 

 tion, to give the right of a through-road. 



Many important railroad enterprises are 

 projected in New Jersey, and are to be com- 

 pleted at a future day. The New Jersey West 

 Line Railway will run to Newark by the way 

 of the New Jersey Railroad ; thence it will 

 pass through Essex and Union Counties by the 

 way of Lyons Farms, Millburn, and Summit, 

 crossing the Morris & Essex Railroad at 

 each of the two last-named places ; thence 

 proceeding through New Providence, Ber- 

 nardsville, and Lebanon, where it will cross 

 the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and 

 thence to Sydney, in Hunterdon County, 

 where it will join the Bound Brook and Eas- 

 ton Railroad. The length of this line is fifty 

 miles, and most of the country it penetrates 

 has now no railway facilities. 



The National Railway begins at Jersey City, 

 and passes between Newark and Elizabeth, 

 crossing the Newark & New York and New 

 Jersey Railroads. It runs in a straight line by 

 the base of First Mountain north of Westfield 

 and Scotch Plains, until it reaches a point 

 north of Bound Brook, where it takes a south- 

 erly direction, and, crossing the Central Rail- 

 road of New Jersey, runs in a direct line to 

 the Delaware River. 



The Watchung Railroad begins on the line 

 of the Montclair Railway, near Woodside, and 

 runs in a straight westerly line to Llewellyn 

 Park, Orange, a distance of about five miles. 



The Perth Amboy & Elizabeth Railroad 

 starts from the Elizabethport Station, in the 

 latter city, and runs southward to the Raritan 

 River at Perth Amboy, a distance of twelve 

 miles. Thence it will be continued through 

 Monmouth County to Long Branch to connect 

 with the New Jersey Southern road. 



The Mendham & Chester Railroad starts at 

 Montclair, on the line of the Montclair Rail- 

 road ; thence it crosses First and Second 

 Mountains, and passes through Caldwell and 

 Morristown to Mendham, a distance of twenty- 

 five miles. 



^The Bound Brook & Easton Railroad be- 

 gins at Perth Amboy, and, running northwest- 

 erly, crosses the New Jersey Railroad at Me- 

 tuchin, and, reaching the line of the New Jer- 

 sey Central at West Dunnellen, rims parallel 

 with it to Bound Brook ; thence to Phillips- 

 bnrg on the Delaware River, a distance of 

 about ninety miles. 



The Somerset and Mercer Railroad begins 

 at Millstone, on the New Jersey Railroad, and 

 runs southerly through the fine farming coun- 



ties of Somerset and Mercer to the Delaware 

 River. 



In his message to the Legislature, January, 

 1873, Governor Parker recommended that 

 steps be taken for amending the constitution 

 of the State. After referring to other needed 

 amendments, he added : 



If general laws be not required, and special laws 

 be allowed, the constitution should be so amended 

 as to prohibit and declare void all acts that shall pass 

 which are included in the following classes of legis- 

 lation, viz. : 



Acts which purport to make irrevocable grants of 

 special privileges or immunities to individuals or 

 corporations. 



Acts that violate the principle of equal and uni- 

 form taxation, by exempting property of individuals 

 or corporations (except that always exempted by the 

 general tax law) from State or local taxes of any de- 

 scription which the people at large are required to 

 pay ; or by prescribing a rule of assessment different 

 from the general rule, and making discrimination as 

 to the subjects of taxation. 



Acts chartering railroad, turnpike, or transporta- 

 tion companies, that do not require the rates of trav- 

 el or transportation to be uniform, and which allow 

 differential rates that tend_ to build up one city or 

 section of the State, to the injury of another. 



Acts authorizing a municipality to tax the people 

 for subscriptions to the capital stock of railroad or 

 turnpike corporations, or for donations or loans of 

 its credit thereto. 



Acts which appoint and authorize persons named 

 therein and not chosen by the people, to project and 

 construct public improvements, or exercise govern- 

 mental power in a city or other municipality. 



NEW YORK. The Legislature of New 

 York, which met on the 3d of January, came 

 to a final adjournment on the 14th of May. 

 The chief portion of the work done in this long 

 session was made up of private, local, and 

 special acts, and the measures of general im- 

 portance were very few. A very large share 

 of attention was given to a new charter for 

 the city of New York. It was prepared by a 

 " Committee of Seventy," and was intended to 

 secure and complete the reform in the admin- 

 istration of the government of the city which 

 was begun in 1871. One of its peculiar feat- 

 ures was the method proposed for the election 

 of the Board of Aldermen. This Board was to 

 consist of 45 members, 9 of whom were to be 

 chosen in each senatorial district, and were to 

 be elected by the " cumulative " method, that 

 is, each voter would be entitled to cast all his 

 nine votes for one candidate, or to distribute 

 them in any desired proportion among the nine 

 candidates. The Board thus constituted was 

 to have the power of appointing most of the 

 heads of departments in the executive govern- 

 ment of the city. There were prolonged con- 

 sultations on this instrument in the committees 

 of the two Houses, and hearings were allowed 

 to various delegations from the city. In was 

 then for some time under discussion in the two 

 branches of the Legislature, and was finally 

 passed by a considerable majority. It was, 

 however, vetoed by the Governor, who set 

 forth his objections at length, and concluded 

 with the following suggestions : 



