546 



NEW YORK (STATE). 



therefore clothed with all the rights and privi- 

 leges, and subject to all the obligations incident 

 thereto. Their lands have been assessed this 

 year for taxation, and the right of the Terri- 

 tory to tax them will doubtless go to the 

 courts for final adjudication. These people 

 number about 8,000. 



The Mescaleros, numbering between 400 

 and 500, occupy a reservation in the south- 

 east, embracing an area of over 500,000 acres. 



Land-Titles. On this subject the Governor 

 says in his annual report : 



I desire to renew the recommendation of my 

 former reports for the passage of some effective meas- 

 ure for the settlement of titles to lands embraced in 

 Spanish and Mexican grants. The investigations of 

 the Surveyor-General nave shown that a considerable 

 proportion of these grants are meritorious and ought 

 to be confirmed in accordance with treaty obligations. 

 Those investigations also show that practically the 

 remainder of those grants are either fictitious or great- 

 ly expanded, and that the lands they thus embrace 

 should revert to the public domain and become at 

 once subject to disposal under the public-land laws. 

 Both classes of these lands are now practically sealed 

 against settlement and development, simply because 

 no muniments of title thereto can legally pass for 

 want of action by Congress. The owners of bona-fide 

 grants can not sell, because an act of Congress is re- 

 quired to enable them to give a legal title, and set- 

 tlers can not safely go upon the public lands included 

 in the fictitious and expanded grants under the exist- 

 ing condition of conflict of title, which can be finally 

 settled only by Congress, or by some tribunal estab- 

 lished for that purpose, and it can not be settled by 

 an act of Congress except by affirmative action. The 

 claimant still nas his recourse in the courts, and the 

 fact that former surveyors-general have approved a 

 large number of this class of grants, which approval 

 has had the effect of putting the claimants in posses- 

 sion, with power to eject trespassers, must operate 

 to keep those claimants in possession, and the lands 

 consequently excluded from settlement and develop- 

 ment for indefinite years, in the absence of some more 

 effective method of ascertaining and defining titles. 



NEW YORK (STATE). State Government. The 



following were the State officers during the 

 year: Governor, David B. Hill, Democrat; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Edward F. Jones ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Frederick Cook ; Comptroller, 

 Alfred C. Chapin; Treasurer, Lawrence J. Fitz- 

 gerald ; State Engineer and Surveyor, Elnathan 

 Sweet; Attorney-General, Denis O'Brien; 

 Court of Appeals, Chief-Justice, William C. 

 Reyer ; Associate Judges, Charles Andrews, 

 Theodore Miller, Robert Earl, George F. Dan- 

 forth, Charles A. Rapallo, and Francis M. Finch. 

 Judge Rapallo died about the close of the year. 

 Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 the 4th of January and adjourned on the 26th 

 of May. Among the important acts of the ses- 

 sion were the following: 



To provide for the amicable adjustment of griev- 

 ances and disputes that may arise between employers 

 and employe's, and to authorize the creation of a State 

 board of mediation and arbitration. 



For the settlement of territorial disputes in regard 

 to the lands under water in Karitan Bay. 



An act to facilitate State commerce by increasing 

 the lockage capacity of the Erie and Oswego canals, 

 and to improve the Oswego, Black river, Champlaiu, 

 and Cayuga and Seneca canals. 



To provide for the appointment of a deputy in the 

 office of the superintendent of public works. 



To provide for the purchase and care of the Senate 

 House property at Kingston. 



To ci -operate with the United States in the suppres- 

 sion and extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia. 



To provide for the subpoenaing of witnesses and the 

 production of books and papers in any matter arising 

 before the Governor upon an application for executive 

 clemency. 



In relation to health and casualty insurance com- 

 panies of other States. 



In relation to the collection and preservation of the 

 battle-flags, records, and relics of New York volun- 

 teers who served in the war of the rebellion. 



To provide for the erection of suitable monuments 

 to the memory of the soldiers of the State of New 

 York who were engaged in the battle of Gettysburg. 



To establish a fish-hatchery in the Adirondack 

 wilderness. 



_ To encourage the growth of free libraries and free 

 circulating libraries in the villages and smaller cities 

 of the State. 



Authorizing the incorporation of fire departments 

 and ot fire, hose, and hook and ladder companies in 

 unincorporated villages of this State. 



To authorize the incorporation of bar associations in 

 the several counties of this State. 



In relation to the labeling and marking of convict- 

 made goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured in 

 States requiring the labeling and marking of such 

 goods, wares, and merchandise. 



Regulating the appointment of receivers of life-in- 

 surance companies. 



To protect the owners of bottles, boxes, syphons, 

 and kegs, used in the sale of soda-waters, mineral or 

 aerated waters, porter, ale, cider, ginger-ale, milk, 

 cream, small beer, lagerbeer, weiss beer, beer, white 

 beer, or other beverages. 



In relation to milk-cans. 



To prevent the spread of the disease in peach-trees 

 known as the yellows. 



Extending to corporations organized under the laws 

 of other States and doing business within this State, 

 the right to hold, purchase, and convey real estate. 



To prevent deception and fraud by owner or own- 

 ers or ag^ent who may have control of any stallion kept 

 for service by proclaiming or publishing fraudulent 

 or false pedigrees, and to protect such owner or own- 

 ers or agent in the collection of fees for the services of 

 such stallions. 



To facilitate State commerce by increasing the lock- 

 age of the Erie canal. 



Prescribing the period in each year during which 

 and the terms under which racing may take place upon 

 the grounds of the associations incorporated for the 

 purpose of improving the breed of horses, and sus- 

 pending the operations of certain sections of the penal 

 code. 



To enable marine insurance companies to acquire 

 and hold real estate for certain purposes. 



For the incorporation of Young Men's Christian 

 Associations. 



To authorize the change of location of banks, bank- 

 ing associations, or individual bankers. 



To authorize banks, banking associations, and trust 

 companies to change their names. 



To regulate the hours of labor in the street surface 

 and elevated railroads chartered by the State in cities 

 of 100,000 inhabitants and over. 



For the moral protection of messenger boys. 



Defining and securing the rights of riparian owners 

 to ice in the streams of this State. 



To authorize and empower a husband to convey di- 

 rectly to his wife and a wife directly to her husband. 



To provide for the establishment of evening-schools 

 for free instruction in industrial drawing. 



To provide for the organization of trust companies, 

 for their supervision, and for the administration of 

 their affairs. 



