554 



NEW YOKE (CITY). 



$132,823,066.15, against $131,601,103.57 due 

 on the 31st of December, 1886. The net in- 

 crease of public debt of all kinds during the 

 year, therefore, amounts to $1,221,962.58. Of 

 the total amount there was held by the sink- 

 ing fund the sum of $38,604,066.15. 



The total net bonded debt, including reve- 

 nue bonds, an Dec. 31, 1887, after deducting 

 the amount on the sinking fund, is $93,300,- 

 581.54, being an increase over the amount due 

 at the close of the year 1886 of $2,904,94^.19. 



The year 1887 is the first since 1876 which 

 has failed to show a reduction in the net amount 

 of the city indebtedness, after deducting the 

 amount in the sinking fund and the cash in 

 the treasury. The increase, however, is very 

 moderate in view of the large disbursements 

 for new public improvements, which, during 

 the year, were carried on at a cost amounting 

 to $13,612,154.53. But for the expenditures 

 upon the new aqueduct the indebtedness of 

 the city would have been reduced by a larger 

 sum than in any previous year in its financial 

 history. 



The credit of the city stands deservedly high. 

 During the year no bonds were issued bearing a 

 higher rate of interest than 3 per cent., and in 

 almost every case the bonds commanded a pre- 

 mium in some instances as high as 4 per cent. 

 The bonds paid off during the year bore inter- 

 est at the rate of 5, 6, and 7 per cent., so that 

 the debt of the city is thus being converted 

 into bonds bearing 3 per cent, interest. The 

 bonds bearing high rates of interest generally 

 mature within the next ten years, so that the 

 burden of interest will be greatly reduced as 

 these bonds are paid off. The debt at this date 

 is in the following condition : 



3 per cents $25.235.150 00 



8J per cents 4,440,000 00 



4 per cents 9,78(5,244 25 



5 per cents 17,889,846 42 



(i per cents 89,068.778 28 



7 per cents 82,404,20000 



Of which the sinking fund holds $34,057,- 

 319.45, distributed as follows: 



8 per cents $6,210,150 00 



8 J por cents 



4 per cents 6,986,244 25 



5 pur cents 7,005,546 42 



6 per cents 18,759,378 78 



7 per cents 155,000 00 



As the result of the work of the Board of 

 Estimate and Apportionment, it is estimated 

 that the taxation ror 1888 will be 2'18 as against 

 2- 16 per cent. Cor 1887. 



Insane. The number of insane in the city 

 asylums of New York, Oct. 1, 1887, was 4,418, 

 as ag;iinst 4,261 Oct. 1, 1886, of whom 1,903 

 were men, and 2,515 women. The increase 

 since Oct. 1, 1880, when the insane numbered 

 only 3,018, has been 1,400, or nearly 47 per 

 cent., while the increase of the population of 

 the city, in the mean time, upon the basis of a 

 present population of 1,500,000, as is generally 

 accepted, has been a little less than 25 per cent. 

 The accommodations for the insane by the city 

 have not been extended during the time so as 



properly to meet the requirements of this great 

 increase, and, as it sends few, if any, of this class 

 to the State institutions, its asylum buildings 

 are, consequently, all greatly crowded. In 1885 

 the city purchased a tract of about 1,000 acres 

 of land on Long Island near Central Islip, some 

 forty miles distant, with the intention of erect- 

 ing buildings thereon and removing its chronic 

 insane, or a part of them at least, to that local- 

 ity, but until quite recently no positive action 

 in that direction has been taken. In June an 

 investigation was made by the State Board of 

 Charities of the Asylum for Insane Men on 

 Ward's Island. The report of the committee 

 on this investigation says : 



The accommodations in the men's asylum are great- 

 ly crowded, it then having 1,326 patients in the main 

 building, with proper room lor only about 1,000, while 

 there were 590 patients in detached structures, two of 

 which, containing 470 patients, the committee state, 

 " should be condemned^ as uninhabitable." The food 

 for the insane was found to be generally poor in qual- 

 ity and badly cooked, the attendants were mostly of a 

 low grade of character, and the committee was satis- 

 fied that grave abuses and neglect existed in the treat- 

 ment and care of the patients by them. To remedy 

 these evils, the committee recommend, first, the im- 

 mediate erection of buildings upon the asylum farm on 

 Long Island, and the removal of patients to that local- 

 ity, so as to relieve the crowded condition of the pres- 

 ent buildings : second, the employment of a more in- 

 telligent and better class of attendants, and in greater 

 numoers than at present, the institution and mainte- 

 nance of a training school for attendants and nurses, 

 the furnishing of a more generous and varied diet for 

 the patients, and the introduction of proper facilities 

 for their amusement, and for healthful and productive 

 labor, and lor their better classification on the wards ; 

 and third, the placing of the insane under a depart- 

 ment separate from the governing board of the other 

 charitable, penal, and correctional institutions of the 

 city, subject to the appointment, direction, and con- 

 trol of the Mayor. 



An appropriation of $00,000 has been set apart by 

 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the 

 erection of plain, inexpensive cottage-buildings for 

 100 male patients on the Long Island farm, and the 

 work of construction has been entered upon. 



Health-Office Fees. From a return made to 

 the Senate it appears that the receipts of the 

 health officers of the port for the past two 

 years have been as follow : 



RECEIPTS FOR 1886. 



Inspection of vessels from foreign ports $36,909 71 



Disinfection of vessels 6,537 00 



Inspection of vessels from domestic ports 4,827 00 



Night boarding 1,968 00 



Vaccination 699 77 



Transporting sick to hospitals 860 00 



RECEIPTS FOR 1887. 



Inspection of vessels from foreign ports $36.487 04 



Disinfection of vessels 6,764 00 



Inspection of vessels from domestic ports 4,689 00 



Night boarding 1,81000 



Vaccination 1,649 15 



Transportation of sick to hospitals 455 00 



Sanitary inspection 4000 



The present fee or specific charge which the 

 health officer collects for each of the services 

 mentioned, is the same as reported to the Sen- 

 ate, March 4, 1886, to wit: Inspection of ves- 

 sels from foreign ports, $6.50 ; inspection of 

 vessels from domestic ports, vessels under 100 

 tons $1, vessels over 100 tons and less than 



