588 



NEW YORK (CITY). 



ber of persons cared for at Ward's Island was 

 3,856, of whom 3,234 were received during 

 the year; 1,144 immigrants unable to take 

 care of themselves were sent back to the coun- 

 tries from which they came, including 63 in- 

 sane, 4 blind, 5 deaf and dumb, 21 crippled, 

 73 aged, 876 bick and destitute, and 103 others. 



Miscellaneous Statistics. Payments on account 

 of construction and furnishing of the new Capi- 

 tol during the fiscal year amounted to $1,305,- 

 825.30, making the total cost to Sept. 30, $16,- 

 443,996.96. The commission appointed to se- 

 lect lands for a State Park at Niagara Falls 

 completed that duty during the year, and ob- 

 tained an appraisal of the property taken. 

 The value set upon it by the Board of Ap- 

 praisal was $1,400,000. The Legislature of 

 1885 was asked to appropriate the money to 

 pay for the lands and complete the project of 

 establishing the park, to be free to public en- 

 joyment. The operations of the State Survey 

 for the year were confined chiefly to mathe- 

 matical computations upon the results of field- 

 work previously obtained, the cost for the fiscal 

 year being $13,431.15, making the entire ex- 

 penditure since 1877, $115,422.37. The work 

 has been chiefly confined to triangulation, and 

 for the completion of that $22,000 a year for 

 five years is asked for by the commissioners. 

 They also recommend the beginning of a close 

 topographical survey and the construction of 

 county maps, estimating the expense at about 

 $40,000 a year for a period of thirteen years. 



The New Year. On the 6th of January, 1885, 

 after the meeting of the Legislature, Governor 

 Cleveland submitted to that body his resigna- 

 tion of the office of Governor, which thereupon 

 devolved upon the Lieutenant-Governor, David 

 B. Hill. Even before the meeting of the Legisla- 

 ture, an active canvass began for the election 

 of a United States Senator to succeed Elbridge 

 G. Lapham, whose term was to expire March 

 4, 1885, or rather for the Republican nomina- 

 tion for that office. The result was the formal 

 presentation of the name of William M. Evarts 

 by the Republican caucus, and his election to 

 the Senate. 



NEW YORK (CITY). The Finances. The as- 

 sessed value of real estate in the city for 1884 

 was $1,119,761,597, against $1,079,130,669 in 

 1883, an increase of $40,630,928. The valuation 

 of personal property, as returned by the asses- 

 sors, was $218,536,746, an increase over the pre- 

 vious year of $21,045,212, making the total as- 

 sessment $1,338,298,343, against $1,276,677,- 

 164 in 1883. The rate of taxation was 2'29 per 

 cent. The total appropriations allowed by the 

 Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the 

 expenses of the year 1885 were $33,881,905, 

 the estimates submitted to it from the various 

 departments having been $34,888,217, and the 

 appropriations for 1884, $34,046,165. The 

 practice of the Board of Estimate and Appor- 

 tionment, of transferring unexpended balances 

 in one department or bureau of the city gov- 

 ernment to another, was declared illegal by the 



Supreme Court in September 1 , in a suit brought 

 to restrain the board from making such trans- 

 fers. The controversy over the unpaid taxes 

 of the elevated railroad companies was decided 

 by Judge Pratt, in October, in a suit brought 

 for a review of the assessments. It was held 

 that, in assessing the structures as real estate, 

 their cost must be ascertained and a proper 

 allowance made for deterioration, and they 

 must then be assessed at no higher rate, com- 

 pared with actual value, than other real estate. 

 To ascertain the amount of personal property, 

 it was held that the actual value of the capital 

 must be fixed and the assessment on real estate 

 deducted therefrom. It was decided, however, 

 that the stock of the Manhattan Company, 

 which represented no actual investment of 

 capital, could not be assessed, though it had a 

 market value. The amount of unpaid taxes, 

 extending over a period of four years, was 

 $1,868,767.48, on the basis of the original 

 assessment. It was reduced by Judge Pratt's 

 decision to $991,099.91, and on this basis a 

 settlement was made, the taxes for 1884 being 

 included, and raising the amount to $1.285,- 

 533.51. The gross debt of the city on the 1st 

 of January, 1885, was $126,871,138.58, and 

 the amount in the sinking fund was $34,823,- 

 735.48, making the net debt $92,047,403.10. 

 The question arose, after the adoption of the 

 constitutional amendment restricting the 

 amount of debt to be incurred by cities of 

 100,000 inhabitants and more to 10 per cent, 

 of the assessed value of real estate, whether 

 the sinking fund could be deducted in com- 

 puting the amount of outstanding indebtedness. 

 It was the opinion of the Corporation Counsel 

 that it could not be deducted, inasmuch as the 

 Sinking Fund Commissioners were trustees for 

 creditors holding securities for specified classes 

 of bonds not yet due, and that no new bonds 

 could be issued until the gross debt was brought 

 within th constitutional limit. 



Charges of Malfeasance. After the investiga- 

 tion into the affairs of the city and county of 

 New York by a committee of the Assembly, 

 indictments were found against the sheriff, 

 Alexander V. Davidson, for grand larceny in 

 the second degree, in obtaining payment for 

 services in excess of that authorized by law ; 

 an indictment was also found against the 

 warden of Ludlow Street Jail, for perjury, in 

 making oath that prisoners had declared that 

 they were unable to support themselves, when 

 such was not the case ; the deputy - war- 

 den was indicted for forgery in the second 

 degree, in signing receipts for payment of 

 wages to employes of the jail; and a clerk in 

 the sheriff's office was indicted for receiving 

 illegal fees, and another for obtaining a sig- 

 nature by false pretenses. The sheriff was 

 brought to trial on the 17th of April, but was 

 acquitted for insufficiency of evidence, and the 

 other cases were abandoned. Application had 

 previously been made to the Governor of the 

 State for the removal of the sheriff on specific 





