NEW YORK (STATE). 



581 



he would. Further, in fixing the terms of the ap- 

 pointees of the next mayor, the bill provides in the 

 same sentence for two limitations to such terms, that 

 is four years from the 1st day of May, 1885, as pro- 

 vided for by the present law,and one year and eleven 

 months from Feb. 1, 1885. From the last limitation 

 the word "officers" has been omitted, though em- 

 braced in the others. 



A bill providing for three park commission- 

 ers for New York instead of four was vetoed 

 by the Governor at the same time on account 

 of "defective and careless drafting," which, 

 he said, made it u a jumble of contradictions." 

 Bills making the comptroller of the city elective 

 for a term of three years, and providing for the 

 election of a President of the Board of Alder- 

 men by the people, were passed with little op- 

 position, and received the approval of the Gov- 

 ernor. The bills reported by the special com- 

 mittee of the Assembly received the support of 

 the Citizens' Committee of Fifty-three, and a 

 public meeting was held in New York to pro- 

 mote their passage. Those affecting the offices 

 of county clerk, register, surrogate, and sheriff 

 became laws before the end of the session. An 

 effort was made to transfer the Bureau of Elec- 

 tions of the city from the charge of the Police 

 Commissioners to that of a commission made 

 up of the chief judges of the four city courts. 

 This excited considerable political opposition on 

 the Republican side, and was defeated -in the 

 Assembly two days before adjournment by a 

 vote of 58 to 63 39 of the negative votes being 

 cast by Republicans and 24 by Democrats. 



A number of other measures affecting the city 

 of New York occupied a large share of time dur- 

 ing the session. One, increasing the salaries of 

 policemen of the three grades from $800, $900, 

 and $1,000 a year to $1,000, $1,100, and $1,200, 

 respectively, became a law. The same act pro- 

 vided that 25 per cent, of the excise money of 

 the city should be devoted to the police pen- 

 sion fund. The fees of Sandy Hook pilots were 

 reduced about 25 per cent. An effort to place 

 the Health Officer of the Port on a salary, and to 

 provide for the support of the office and of the 

 Quarantine Commission from the fees, was de- 

 feated. A bill was passed and approved re- 

 quiring all wires of telegraph, telephone, and 

 electric light companies to be placed under- 

 ground after Nov. 1, 1885, and forbidding the 

 erection of any more lines on poles in the streets, 

 in cities of 500,000 inhabitants and more. An 

 important act amending the building laws and 

 limiting the height of buildings in New York 

 city was defeated. A bill authorizing the ac- 

 quisition of lands for new parks in New York 

 city above the Harlem river, in accordance 

 with the recommendations of the commission 

 of 1883, was passed. A bill providing that 

 municipal elections be held in the spring, that 

 the mayor's term be three years, that all de- 

 partments be single-headed, and thattheir heads 

 hold office only during the term of the mayor 

 appointing them, failed. The constitutional 

 amendment providing for general legislation 

 only for the government of cities which was 



proposed in 1882 was defeated at this session, 

 while that limiting the power of cities of 100,- 

 000 inhabitants to incur indebtedness was ap- 

 proved and submitted to the people. 



A bill amending the civil-service act of 1883 

 to make its application obligatory in all cit- 

 ies of 50,000 inhabitants and over was intro- 

 duced in the Assembly by Mr. Clinton, of Erie 

 county, and passed after various efforts to 

 modify or defeat it. Attempts to exclude po- 

 lice officers and firemen from its operation 

 were defeated ; but an amendment was adopt- 

 ed giving a preference in appointments to 

 honorably discharged soldiers and sailors. The 

 bill as finally passed applied the methods of 

 the law to all cities in the State without regard 

 to population. 



Street Railroad Actt There was a long conten- 

 tion over a general street surface railroad bill, 

 owing to the efforts of rival interests to secure 

 or defeat its passage. The constitutional 

 amendment of 1875 prohibited the passage of 

 special acts authorizing the construction of 

 street railways, and no general act had been 

 passed, owing to the attempts of special inter- 

 ests to secure advantages. This year the draft 

 of an act had been submitted by the Railroad 

 Commissioners, but a company in New York 

 city had proceeded under the rapid transit act 

 to lay out lines of surface road to be oper- 

 ated by cable traction, and had secured the^ 

 favorable action of a commission. It came to 

 the Legislature to secure an extension of time 

 for the commission act ing inits behalf, an amend- 

 ment of the law favorable to its project, and the 

 defeat of the general surface railroad bill. Rep- 

 resentatives of actual and projected lines of 

 street railroads became interested in defeating 

 the cable scheme, and securing the passage of 

 the general act, and out of this rivalry a sharp 

 contest arose in the lobbies and chambers of 

 the Legislature. The result was the defeat of 

 the cable scheme, and the passage of the gen- 

 eral surface railroad bill, with an amendment 

 prohibiting the construction of surface roads 

 under authority of the rapid transit act. The 

 principal feature of the act was the require- 

 ment of the consent of the local authori- 

 ties and of a majority in interest of the prop- 

 erty-owners along the line of any proposed 

 road, or, failing the latter, the favorable decision 

 of a commission appointed by the Supreme 

 Court to determine whether the projected road 

 ought to be constructed, before any company 

 could build or operate a surface railroad in any 

 city. The use of the tracks of one company 

 by another for the distance of 1,000 feet with- 

 out the consent of the former was provided for, 

 and the way was left open for the adoption of 

 other motive power than horses, with the con- 

 sent of property-owners and local authorities. 

 All companies acting under the law were re- 

 quired to pay into the treasury of the city in 

 which their roads were operated 3 per cent, of 

 their gross receipts for the first five years, and 

 5 per cent, thereafter, and to keep the pave- 



