NEW JERSEY. 



NEW YORK. 



539 



the statement made by the Governor, the dis- 

 bursements from the various State funds during 

 the year ending October 31, 1873, amounted 

 to $2,862,740.80; while the receipts, exceed- 

 ing the disbursements- by $71,594.29, amounted 

 to $2,934,335.09. The balance in bank to the 

 credit of all the funds at the end of the year, 

 was $173,043. The disbursements were largely 

 increased by payments out of the State fund 

 on special appropriations. The payments of 

 this character amounted to about $470,000, of 

 which $383,000 were devoted to the erection 

 of the new Lunatic Asylum and $57,000 to re- 

 imburse the commissioners having charge of 

 the State House extension, which had been 

 advanced by them in former years. 



The State-debt, all of which was contracted 

 during the late war, chiefly for the support of 

 families of volunteers, is now about $2,600,000. 

 This debt is represented by war bonds, of which 

 about $100,000 will fall due annually. These 

 bonds, as they mature, together with interest 

 on the whole amount unpaid, will be extin- 

 guished by a part of the money derived from 

 the yearly taxes, together with the income of 

 tiie sinking fund. No additional tax need be 

 raised for this purpose. The present rate of 

 assessment will serve to diminish the debt 

 each year, causing thereby a gradual diminu- 

 tion of the interest. There are now in the 

 sinking fund securities worth over $1,300,000. 

 If to these the securities in the State fund be 

 added, it will be seen that the debt might at 

 once be reduced to a small amount should the 

 holders of the bonds that have not matured 

 consent to accept payment and surrender them. 



The rate of the tax levy for State purposes 

 has heretofore been only one mill, and is now 

 but a mill and a half on the dollar. 



Nearly $2,600,000 were expended for free 

 schools during the year. The number of chil- 

 dren of school age was 286,444, of whom 179,- 

 443 were enrolled in the public schools ; 3,131 

 teachers were employed, and the schools were 

 open during the year, an average of nine months 

 and thirteen days. Eight hundred and forty- 

 five students received instrnction during the 

 year in the Normal School at Trenton, and the 

 Farmers' Preparatory School at Beverly ; 45 

 students graduated from the former, all of 

 whom are occupied in teaching. By virtue of 

 thf supplement to the act "to establish Normal 

 School boarding-houses," passed at the last 

 session of the Legislature, the trustees have 

 purchased land for the purposes specified. 



The commission appointed in accordance 

 with the act of the Legislature, passed in 

 March, to examine into the condition of the 

 di'Nt". and dumb, blind and feeble-minded in- 

 habitants of the State, report that there are 

 over 2,000 of these unfortunates, of whom 

 about 700 are between the ages of eight and 

 twenty-one, and that only about one-sixth 

 of these children are enjoying educational 

 advantages. One hundred and twenty- five 

 of these unfortunates are maintained and 



educated by New Jersey, at institutions out of 

 the State, at an annual cost of nearly $40,000. 

 In urging the Legislature to provide ample ac- 

 commodations for this class of the community, 

 Governor Parker says : " It is not proposed to 

 increase the taxes for the purpose of building 

 the asylums we so much need, and with which 

 almost every State is supplied. The indications 

 are that large sums will soon be received for 

 grants of lands undertidal waters. Why not ap- 

 propriate the moneys hereafter received from 

 that source to this important branch of edu- 

 cation ? " 



On the 1st of November there were 653 in- 

 mates of the Lunatic Asylum at Trenton, being 

 153 more than the building was designed to ac- 

 commodate. Besides these, it is estimated 

 that there are at least 400 patients in the vari- 

 ous counties of the State. Work on the new 

 Lunatic Asylum, near Morristown, was recom- 

 menced with the opening of spring, and has 

 since progressed rapidly. It is expected that 

 the two wings will be completed during 1874. 

 For carrying on the work on this structure an 

 appropriation of $300,000 was recommended 

 by the Governor in January, 1874. 



The militia of the State comprises 131,678 

 persons of the legal age, of whom about 3,500 

 are enrolled in the uniform militia, including a 

 large number of veterans of the late war. The 

 expense during the year was $66,171, of which 

 nearly $35,000 was for rent of armories, $8,COO 

 for encampments, and $7,000 fcr camp and 

 garrison equipage. Ten companies and two 

 troops of cavalry were armed and equipped 

 during 1873. 



The managers of the State-prison report 

 376 new prisoners and the same number of 

 releases by expiration of term, pardons, death, 

 or escapes, leaving 558 inmates. Of these six 

 are confined for life. Eighty-four of them 

 come from New York. The earnings for the 

 year were $90,386.56, and expenses $62,353.28, 

 showing a net gain of $28,033.28. The total 

 assets are $83,701.69, and the gain to the State 

 since 1868 has been $310,000. The prisoners 

 are now employed at shoe-making, and making 

 cotton and woolen cloth, at seventy-five cents 

 per day. The health of the convicts lias been 

 good, no epidemic or contagious disease having 

 prevailed. Five died from consumption, and 

 five were sent to the State Lunatic Asylum. 



NEW YORK. The receipts into the State 

 Treasury of New York for the fiscal year end- 

 inflSeptember 80th, aside from the canal and 

 school funds, amounted to $16,803,188.24, and 

 the expenditures of the government with the 

 same reservations footed up to $14,371,757.63, 

 leaving a balance on hand of $2,431,450.61. 

 Taking into consideration the full accounts of 

 the Treasury, there appeared to be a deficiency 

 of $9,897,212.53, but the balances of appropri- 

 ations and unpaid taxes reduced the actual de- 

 ficiency to $1,800,380.49. Counting the ap- 

 parent deficiency as real, the debit of the 

 Treasury at the end of the fiscal year amounted 



