NEW YORK (STATE). 



"West Shore Railroad Company, with capital 

 stock of $10,000,000 and bonded debt of $50,- 

 000,000 at 4 per cent. The stock of the new 



i company was issued to the New York Central, 

 and its property was leased for a period of 475 



i years to the latter corporation, which guaran- 

 teed the payment of principal and interest of 

 its $50,000,000 bonds, or so much thereof as 

 may be issued. Of these, $25,000,000 were to 

 be given in exchange for the $50,000,000 of the 

 old company under an agreement with the 



i bondholders of the latter prior to the sale. The 

 remainder were to be issued as circumstances 



i might require for the benefit of the road. 



Banks. There are 92 banks of deposit and 

 discount organized under State laws. Their 



aggregate resources on the 12th of September 

 were $167,667,499, an increase during the pre- 

 ceding year of $10,221,224. There was an in- 



! crease of $7,213,684 in deposits and $9,412,- 

 8D3 in loans and discounts. The surplus and 

 undivided profits showed a decrease of $287,- 

 127. Two banks were closed and six organ- 

 ized during the year ending Oct. 1. There 

 were 20 trust, loan, mortgage, and guarantee or 

 indemnity associations, with resources amount- 



ing to $165,023,132.57. The system of exami- 

 nations of State banks under authority of the 

 Superintendent of Banking was adopted for 



, the first time this year. 



There were 126 savings-banks in operation 

 at the beginning of the year, with an aggregate 

 of resources amounting to $505,927,496, of 

 which $68,669,001 was surplus. Interest on 

 deposits for the year preceding amounted to 



' $15,023,236, the average rate being -0344. An 

 application to permit investment of the de- 

 posits of savings-banks in the bonds of the 

 State of Georgia was refused in the month of 

 September, on the opinion of the Attorney- 

 General that it would be a violation of the law 

 that prohibits such investment in the bonds of 

 any State that has within ten years defaulted 

 in the payment of interest or principal of any 

 of its legal obligations. 



Charitable Institutions, The value of property 

 held for charitable purposes in the State is over 

 $49,000,000. The receipts of the institutions 

 under the supervision of the State Board of 

 Charities for the year ending Sept. 30 amount- 

 ed to $12,453,000, and their expenditures to 

 $11,500,000. The number of insane persons 

 in these institutions was 12,707, an increase 



i for the year of nearly 600. The average num- 

 ber of blind persons in State institutions for 

 the year was 373. The deaf and dumb pupils 

 numbered 1,289, an increase of 38. The in- 



, mates of reformatories numbered 4,426 ; of 



i orphan asylums and homes for the friendless, 

 nearly 30,000 ; public hospitals, 3,397 ; poor- 



j houses, 70,501. 



The Civil Service. The number of persons in 

 the State subject to the civil-service regula- 



; tions is 15,179, including 7,355 in the city of 

 New York and 1,931 in Brooklyn. During the 



r year 4,822 persons were examined and 2,725 



NEW YORK CITY. 



639 



appointed under the rules of the Civil-Service 

 Commission. In their third annual report the 

 commissioners say that, although three years 

 have not yet elapsed since the passage of the 

 Civil-Service Act, statistics of its working, both 

 in the State and in the cities, corresponding 

 with the results of the national system, and 

 going beyond them in their variety of applica- 

 tion, have already overthrown the ingenious 

 arguments used by the opponents of the act to 

 arrest the confidence of the people in the sound- 

 ness of its principles. They also quoted from 

 a letter of the Mayor of New York a statement 

 of his belief that the effect of the application 

 of the law to appointees had been in all re- 

 spects good, and that the selection by competi- 

 tive examination furnished an entirely satis- 

 factory mode of filling vacancies, especially in 

 the police and fire departments. 



Just before the close of the year, the Super- 

 intendent of Insurance, John A. McCall, Jr., 

 resigned his office, and Robert S. Maxwell, 

 then State Treasurer, was appointed. 



NEW YORK CITY. Debt and Sinking Fund. 

 When the amendment of the Constitution of 

 the State of New York prohibiting cities of 

 100,000 inhabitants or more from incurring 

 indebtedness in excess of 10 per cent, of the 

 assessed value of real estate went into effect at 

 the beginning of the year, the gross debt of the 

 city of New York was $128,871,138.50, while 

 the assessed value of real estate was $1,168,- 

 443,137, but of the outstanding bonds $34,173,- 

 338 were contained in the sinking fund. The 

 question immediately arose whether the amount 

 of the sinking fund was to be deducted in as- 

 certaining the limit of indebtedness permitted 

 under the constitutional restriction. If not, it 

 was claimed that bonds could not be issued to 

 pay for the lands for new parks, the acquisition 

 of which was authorized by the Legislature of 

 1884, nor for the expenses of the Dock Depart- 

 ment, which were provided for in no other 

 way, nor for any other purposes, however ne- 

 cessary or desirable. The Mayor and Com- 

 missioners of the Sinking Fund, on advice of 

 the Corporation Counsel, took the ground that 

 the sinking-fund bonds could not be deduct- 

 ed, but, in order to test the question judicially, 

 an order was made on application of the Dock 

 Department for the issue of $2,000,000 of new 

 bonds. Suit was immediately brought by cer- 

 tain holders of city bonds, interested in the 

 security of the sinking fund, for an injunction 

 restraining the issue. This was granted, and 

 continued in force after a thorough considera- 

 tion of the questions involved. The ground 

 taken by Judge Joseph F. Daly, of the Court 

 of Common Pleas, in deciding the case in De- 

 cember, was that the bonds in the sinking 

 fund were valid outstanding obligations of tho 

 city, held in trust not only for the city but for 

 the creditors. They were not extinguished 

 when acquired for the sinking fund, nor could 

 hey be canceled. Being valid outstanding ob- 

 ligations, they could not be excluded in calcu- 



