524 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



village of Leeds was almost entirely destroyed, 

 including the Honobuck silk-factory, and con- 

 siderable damage was done in Florence and 

 Northampton, though the flood lost most of 

 its force on the broad meadows above Flor- 

 ence. The valley was strewed with the debris 

 of the destroyed villages and covered with 

 desolation. The pecuniary loss amounted to 

 about $1,500,000, and nearly 200 lives were 

 lost in the four villages. The destitution and 

 suffering which might have followed were 

 averted by timely relief from different parts 

 of the State and from other sections of the 

 country. A coroner's inquest was held at 

 Northampton to ascertain the cause of the 

 disaster, and a verdict was rendered on the 3d 

 of July. In this the breaking away of the dam 

 is said to have been the natural and inevitable 

 result of the great and manifest delinquency 

 of the several parties who were concerned in 

 originating, planning, constructing, and ap- 

 proving for use the said dam and reservoir, not 

 excepting the Legislature itself under whose 

 authority the reservoir company acquired its 

 chartered privileges. The proprietors of the 

 dam are charged with having consulted far 

 less for the safety and security of the lives and 

 property of the inhabitants below the dam 

 than for reducing the cost of construction to 

 the minimum figure. The jurors expressed 

 the opinion that there was no engineering con-- 

 nected with the work which does not reflect 

 equal discredit on the party employing and the 

 party employed. The contractors are declared 

 to have been guilty of great and manifest de- 

 linquency in executing the work required of 

 them even under the specifications as drafted. 

 The county commissioners who examined and 

 accepted the reservoir dam come in for their 

 share of blame for a superficial discharge of a 

 most important duty. 



The State debt has been increased $987,400 

 during the year, loans to the amount of $1,- 

 519,400 having been negotiated on account of 

 the Troy & Greenfield Railroad, the harbor im- 

 provement, and the Danvers Lunatic Asylum, 

 and $532,000 having been paid on maturing 

 obligations. The following statement shows 

 the amount and character of the funded debt, 

 January 1, 1875 : 



Aggregate funded debt, January 1, 1874. ...... $28.477,804 



Scrip issued daring the year : 

 Troy & Greenfield Railroad loan ..... $469.400 



Harbor Improvement loan ........... 400,000 



Danvers Lunatic Hospital loan ...... 650,000 



- 1,519,400 



Paid during tbe year : 

 State-House Enlargement loan 

 Almshouse loan .................. ; . 



Union Fund loan 



Taunton Lunatic Hospital loan 



$29,997,204 



$100,000 



. . 49,000 



290,000 



93,000 



-- 532,000 



Present funded debt ..................... $29,465,204 



Classification of the debt: 

 Railroad loans ..................... $14,971,016 



War loans ....... , ......... , ....... 12,936,188 



Ordinary loans .......... . ......... 1,568,006 



- $29,465,204 



Twenty-one thousand dollars of debt, al- 

 ready matured, has not yet been called for. 

 There will mature during the year 1875: of 

 the harbor improvement loan, $230,000, and 

 of the Union fund loan, $420,000 ; in all, $650,- 

 000, the payment of which is amply provided 

 for. The sinking-funds amount to $10,989,- 

 595.16, nearly all of which sum is productive. 

 These funds, together with unsold Back Bay 

 lands in Boston, estimated at $1,300,000, the 

 South Boston flats, believed to be of large 

 value, and some other property (all of which 

 are, by existing laws, pledged to the sinking- 

 funds), will, with perhaps the exception of the 

 Troy & Greenfield Railroad loan and the 

 Danvers Lunatic Hospital loan, be sufficient, 

 with their accruing accumulations, for the re- 

 demption of the entire outstanding debt at its 

 maturity. 



The receipts of the Treasury for the year 

 amounted to $14,251,320 ; expenditures, $11,- 

 777,464. The taxable property of the State 

 is valued at $2,164,398,548, an increase of 

 $77,048,533 over the valuation of 1873. The 

 increase of taxable property in the last ten 

 years is $1,098,966,429. The estimated ordi- 

 nary expenses for 1875 are $5,214,550, receipts 

 $3,568,983, leaving a deficit of $1,645,566. 



The work of the contractors for the comple- 

 tion of the Hoosac Tunnel has been finished, 

 and the tunnel surrendered to the State. The 

 entire amount of the contract was for $4,594,- 

 268, but a deduction of $36,547.54 was made on 

 account of certain deficiencies. The amount 

 paid previous to the completion of the work 

 was $4,101,705.60, and the balance of $456,- 

 014.82 was paid on the 22d of December. The 

 contractors presented a claim of $70,404.53 for 

 extra work, $27,115.47 of which was allowed 

 and paid. The total cost of the tunnel, to 

 January 1, 1875, is $12,973,822.31. The cor- 

 porations appointed under the act of the last 

 Legislature, in making their report, propose a 

 plan for utilizing the tunnel. It provides for 

 the appointment of four directors of the Bos- 

 ton, Hoosac Tunnel & Western Railroad Com- 

 pany, to whom shall be transferred the rights 

 and property of the State in the Southern 

 Vermont Railroad, the Troy & Greenfield Rail- 

 road, and the Hoosac Tunnel. It further pro- 

 vides that the directors shall, as soon as possi- 

 ble, " proceed to negotiate with the corpora- 

 tions owning or operating railroads forming 

 parts of a through railroad line between a 

 point or points in Eastern Massachusetts and 

 points in the eastern part of the State of New 

 York by way of the Hoosac Tunnel, with a 

 view to the early consolidation of such roads 

 under one management. 1 ' The directors are 

 authorized to consolidate the properties and 

 franchises under their charge with those of 

 the other corporations, subject to the ratifica- 

 tion of the Governor and Council and of the 

 stockholders of the private corporations, the 

 consolidated corporation to he known as the 

 Boston, Hoosac Tunnel & Western Railroad 



