NEW YORK (STATE). 



635 



Service Commission and on competitive exam- 

 inations. A warm controversy between the 

 Governor and his supporters in the Legislature 

 on the one side, and the Secretary of State and 

 the Republican majority in the Legislature on 

 the other, sprang up on the subject of the cen- 

 sus to be provided for and the manner of ap- 

 pointing enumerators. A bill appropriating 

 $40,000, and providing for taking the census in 

 the customary way, was passed, after consider- 

 able delay, and vetoed by the Governor. His 

 avowed objections were that such a census was 

 not authorized by the Constitution, was not 

 necessary or desirable, and would be too costly. 

 When the Legislature adjourned no agreement 

 had been reached on the census question, and 

 no new bill had been passed. The Governor 

 immediately called an extra session exclusively 

 for the consideration of this subject. The bill 

 formerly vetoed, with only slight modifica- 

 tions, was again passed and submitted to the 

 Governor, who again vetoed it. 



Niagara Falls Reservation. Early in the session 

 the report of the Commissioners of the Niag- 

 ara Reservation was submitted. The lands 

 secured comprised Goat, Bath, Bird, Luna, 

 Chapin, and Three Sisters Islands, and the 

 small islands adjacent; the bed of the river 

 between the islands and the shore on the Amer- 

 ican side, and between Goat Island and the 

 Canadian boundary ; a strip of land along the 

 brink of the river from Port Day to Prospect 

 Park, the cliff and debris slope, and the laud 

 at the foot of the fall. The general limit of 

 the reservation is the natural ridge following 

 the bend of the river, from 100 to 200 feet 

 from the shore, and it includes all the points 

 from which the falls are visible on the Ameri- 

 can side. The appraisals of the property taken 

 amounted in the aggregate to $1,433,429.50, 

 and all the awards had been made to former 

 owners, and confirmed by the Supreme Court. 

 A bill for the appropriation of this amount to 

 complete the acquisition was introduced in both 

 houses. This was modified so as to authorize 

 the raising of $1,000,000 of the amount by the 

 issue of 4 per cent, bonds, to be paid in ten 

 equal annual installments, and in that form was 

 passed after much discussion. A supplement- 

 ary bill gives the commissioners who had se- 

 lected the lands, and their successors, the au- 

 thority to complete and manage the park, and 

 provides for the appointment of a superin- 

 , tendent. The formal transfer of the reserva- 

 tion to the State was made on the 16th of July, 

 with appropriate ceremonies. Ordinances for 

 its regulation were subsequently adopted by 

 the commissioners, and Thomas V. Welch was 

 \ appointed superintendent. The commission- 

 ers of the reservation are William Dorsheimer, 

 Andrew H. Green, and J. Hampden Robb, of 

 \ New York ; Sherman S. Rogers, of Buffalo ; 

 and Martin B. Anderson, of Rochester. 



Gas Companies. The consolidation of six gas- 

 lighting companies in the city of New York 

 ' into one, in the latter part of 1884, with an in- 



crease of the aggregate share capital from be- 

 tween $15,000,000 and $16,000,000 to $39,- 

 000,000, without any new investment, led to 

 the formation of a protective organization un- 

 der the name of the Gas-Consumers' Associa- 

 tion, and a demand for legislation regulating 

 the business and limiting the prices and profits 

 of the Consolidated Company. In response to 

 this, a special committee of the Senate was ap- 

 pointed to investigate the matter. After con- 

 ducting its inquiry , in the city of New York, 

 the committee made a report, March 30, in 

 which it recommended the following reme- 

 diss: 



The esf ablisbment of a Board of Lighting Commis- 

 sioners for the City of New York. 



Authority to such board to ascertain and certify the 

 cash capital actually paid in by the bondholders and 

 stockholders, and a limitation of dividend to 10 per 

 cent, on that amount, and the credit of further net 

 earnings to stockholders and consumers. 



Autnority to such board to supervise the conduct of 

 such companies, and receive and investigate com- 

 plaints made by consumers. 



A reduction of the price of gas to $1.50 per thousand 

 feet, with power in such board to further reduce the 

 price as their circumstances may warrant. 



Annual reports of the earnings, disbursements, gas 

 manufactured, sold, and such other facts as will give 

 publicity to the transactions of such companies. 



Prohibition against a further increase of capital 

 stock, and limitation upon the power to issue bonds or 

 mortgages. 



A fixed standard of the purity and illuminating 

 power of gas, and a careful record of the same, and 

 the pressure employed. 



Prohibition against the laying of mains in the streets 

 by companies other than those entitled to do S0j with- 

 out the consent of the Board of Lighting Commission- 

 ers and the Legislature. 



A bill embodying these recommendations 

 was submitted. It promptly passed the Sen- 

 ate by a vote of 29 to 1, and on the 28th 

 of April was ordered to a third reading in the 

 Assembly by a vote of 105 to 1. On the fol- 

 lowing day a sudden opposition developed, 

 which was very generally credited to the activ- 

 ity of the agents of the Consolidated Gas Com- 

 pany in the lobby, and charges of a corrupt use 

 of money were freely made. After a warm par- 

 liamentary contest the bill was defeated on the 

 30th of April, the vote on final passage being 

 yeas 52 and nays 64. Another bill, more mod- 

 erate in its provisions, was passed by the Sen- 

 ate, but failed in the Assembly. A third, still 

 more moderate, was carried through the As- 

 sembly on the 12th of May by a sudden and 

 energetic effort of the advocates of legislation 

 on the subject, but was on the same day recalled 

 from the Senate, reconsidered, and killed. The 

 Consumers' Association, at a public meeting 

 in New York, declared that the circumstances 

 under which legislation was defeated were " a 

 disgrace to the Legislature of this State and 

 to managers of gas companies, who pretend 

 to be respectable men and good citizens," and 

 resolved to continue its efforts. 



Adirondack Forests. The Forestry Commission, 

 appointed in 1884 to consider and report on 

 the subject of the preservation of the forests 



