NEW YORK CITY 



NEW ZEALAND 



485 



In Central Park the retaining reservoir liolils 

 1,030,000,000 gallons, the receiving reservoir 

 150,000,000 gallons, the distributing reservoir on 

 5th Avenue 20,000,000 gallons; at High Bridge 

 there is also a high-service reservoir, with a 

 capacity of 11,000,000 gallons. The iron main- 

 pipes are little short of 500 miles in length. 

 Electric telegraphs and telephones are largely in 

 use. The New York General Post-office building, 

 erected of granite, at a cost of $6,500,000, was first 

 occupied in 1875. It is situated in what was 

 formerly known as the City Hall Park, in the 

 lower part of the city. More than 2500 ]>ersons 

 are here employed. There are 18 stations and 20 

 Bali-stations in various parts of the city, and 1600 

 lamp-post boxes. A federal copimissioner now 

 receives and attends to the wants of immigrants. 

 In some years the immigration by way of New 

 York has risen to nearly half a million. 



The Battery Green encloses twenty-one acres, 

 planted with trees, shrubbery, and grass, and 

 occupies the most southern point of Manhattan 

 Island ; it marks the original site of Nieii Amster- 

 dam. After the American revolution it was used 

 for military and civic displays, and from that time 

 until near 'the middle of the 19th century was the 

 fashionable promenade. On its west side is Castle 

 Garden (q.v. ). The grading of Central Park was 

 begun in 1857. It is laid out in the highest style 

 of art, containing walks, drives, and bridle-paths, 

 and is decorated with artificial lakelets, fountains, 

 bridges, monuments, statues, recreative and garden 

 structures. It also holds the Egyptian obelisk, 

 brought from Alexandria in 1880. Within the 

 park confines, besides the reservoirs, are the Museum 

 of Art and buildings for a zoological collection, 

 while ' annex ' grounds contain the Museum of 

 Natural History. Central Park comprises 843 

 acres, extends from 59th to 110th Street, and is 

 bounded by 5th and 8th Avenues ; its dimensions 

 are thus 2J miles by | mile. Riverside Park is a 

 narrow, irregular strip of land, running alongside 

 the Hudson from 72u to 130th Street, much used 

 for riiling and driving purposes. On the newly- 

 acquired mainland two extensive parks have been 

 laid out-yJerome and Van Cortlandt the first 

 named being used as a racecourse. 



New York has 97 local fire-insurance companies, 

 10 local marine-insurance companies, 39 local life- 

 insurance companies, 83 commercial banks (of 

 which several have a capital of $5,000,000), 23 

 savings-banks, and 15 trust-companies. About 288 

 newspapers (daily, weekly, and monthly) are pub- 

 lished some of them are in foreign languages ; 

 the prominent journals occupy immense buildings. 

 Dispensaries, hospitals, and charitable institutions 

 are numerous. Homes for the aged and crippled, 

 the insane, idiots, blind, deaf and dumb, magdalcns, 

 and foundlings are provided. Of church buildings 

 there are about 40091 Episcopal, 88 Methodist, 

 H4 Presbyterian, 59 Roman Catholic, 54 Baptist, and 

 29 Jewish. There are congregations of Christian- 

 Israelites, Swedenborgians, Salvation-Armyista, 

 Spiritualists, and Chinese. Of the public schools 47 

 are primary and 85 grammar-schools, each jointly 

 under a male and female principal. Many children 

 of Roman Catholic parents are being withheld from 

 these institutions, in favour of parish schools of their 

 own denomination. The day attendance at public 

 schools averages 307,000 ; at evening schools about 

 20,000. There are four general colleges Columbia, 

 the University of the City of New York, the Col- 

 lege of the City of New York, and the Normal 

 College, the last two belonging to the public-school 

 system. Besides these there are many special col- 

 leges and academies, Union Theological Seminary 

 (Presbyterian), the Protestant Episcopal General 

 Theological Seminary, &c. Among libraries may be 



named the Astor, with 300,000 volumes ; Mercantile, 

 250,000 ; Columbia College, 120,000 ; Apprentices', 

 100,000 ; Historical Society, 100,000 ; and Society, 

 70,000. The Museum of Art, Museum of Natural 

 History, and Lenox Gallery are famous to the 

 public. Annual exhibitions of paintings and statu- 

 ary are held at the Academy of Design and other 

 places, and of mechanical inventions at the hall of 

 the American Institute. The theatres are numerous 

 and well appointed. Noted clubs are the Man- 

 hattan, Union, New York, St Nicholas, Knicker- 

 bocker, Union League, University, Lotus, Har- 

 monic, and Century. The principal orchestral 

 society is the Philharmonic. 



John Verrazani, a Florentine navigator, was the 

 first European who entered New York bay, in 1525. 

 His exploration was interrupted by a storm that 

 compelled him to put to sea without making a 

 settlement. In 1609 Henry Hudson entered Hudson 

 River, and, trading with the aborigines, ascended 

 the stream for about a hundred miles. In 1614 the 

 Dutch built a fort on Manhattan Island, and in 

 1623 a permanent settlement was made, named 

 Nieuw Amsterdam. In 1664 the English drove out 

 the Dutch, in 1673 the Dutch the English. In 1674 

 Manhattan Island came permanently by treaty 

 into the possession of Great Britain, the name 

 New York being given in honour of James, Duke 

 of York. New York privateering was a great 

 business during the climax of the slave importa- 

 tion, about 1730-35. At the time of the American 

 Revolution the city's population was less than that 

 of Philadelphia and Boston. It was evacuated by 

 the forces of Great Britain in 1783, and from 1785 

 to 1789 was the seat of government of the United 

 States. In 1774 the city census, taken by govern- 

 ment, showed a population of 22,861; (1800) 

 60,489; (1825) 166,136; (1850) 550,394; (1860) 

 813,669; (1870) 942,292; (1880) 1,206,599; (1890) 

 1,515,301, a recounting by the city police giving 

 1,710,715. In 1898 Brooklyn, Richmond County, 

 Flushing, Port Hempstead, Jamaica, Long Island 

 City, Newton, Jamaica Bay, East and West 

 Chester, and Pel ham were incorporated with the 

 municipality ; and ' Greater New York,' with an 

 area of 359 sq_. m. , according to the census of 1900, 

 has a population of 3,437,202. 



See Histories by Lousing ( 1885 ) and Roosevelt ( 1891 ) ; 

 the article TAMMANY ; the Memorial Hittory, edited 

 by Grant Wilson ( 4 vols. 1891-94 ) ; and Historic New 

 York, by Misses Goodwin, Royce, and Putnam (1898). 



New Zealand, a British colony in the South 

 Pacific Ocean, comprises three main islands named 

 the North Island, the South or Middle Island, and 

 Stewart Island, the last being much the smallest 

 l>esides a number of islets near the coast. The 

 North and South Islands are long and narrow, so 

 that no place is more than 75 miles from the coast. 

 Their position relative to Australia is much the 

 same as that of Turkey to England, as they lie 1200 

 miles more to the east and stretch 600 miles farther 

 south. The main islands have a length of 1100 

 miles, and lie between 34 22' and 47 18' S. lat. and 

 166 27' and 178 34' E. long. Projected on the map 

 of Europe, these latitudes would begin in central 

 France and end in the north of Africa. The total 

 area of the colony is 106,240 sq. in., or about one- 

 eighth less than that of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Cook Strait, a deep and somewhat stormy passage 

 of 13 miles at the narrowest part, separates the 

 North and South Islands. Foveaux Strait, about 

 15 miles in width, divides the South Island from 

 Stewart Island. 



Coast Features. In its northern half the North 

 Island is deeply indented by the sea, and contains 

 manv excellent harbours ; the southern half has but 

 one harbour, that of Wellington or Port Nicholson 

 in the south-west corner. The coast of the South 



