NEW YORK. 



579 



: 'ii of I'.rooklyn, allowing any twenty r 

 limn- women who are citi/ens i>f the State to 

 form theiiiM'he, into an a.v-ociation f>r tin- im- 

 provement of women. 



A new law provides that no life-insurance 

 c -ompany iloin^ luiMiiess within tlii> State sliall 

 make any discrimination between white persons 

 and colored persons, wholly or partially of 

 African ilcsccnt, as to the premiums or rates for 

 policies upon the lives of persons. Another law 

 incorporates several Methodist churches in the 

 (ieiicsee Conference, with liochester as a center, 

 owning property to the value of $400,000 in all, 

 and such other religious societies and pastors as 

 shall wish to be associated with them, to carry 

 on en-operative insurance against lessor damage 

 by firo or lightning. Real property owned of 

 any incorporated association of present or former 

 volunteer firemen, actually and exclusively used 

 and occupied by such corporation, and not ex- 

 ceeding $15,000 in assessed value, is exempted 

 from taxation. It is provided that the personal 

 prnperty, franchises, and business of all fire and 

 marine companies incorporated in this State, or 

 any other State or country, shall hereafter be 

 exempt from taxation and assessment for State 

 purposes ; but they shall in all other respects be 

 liable to assessment and taxation. 



The new commission in lunacy having reported 

 good progress in the work of transferring the 

 insane poor from county institutions to the 

 State hospitals, an appropriation of $454,000 

 was passed for additions to present State hospi- 

 tals for the accommodation of the increased 

 number of patients. A special commission was 

 appointed to decide upon the plans, and work is 

 to oegin at once upon the hospital buildings in 

 Utica, Poughkeepsie, Middletown, and Bing- 

 hamton, with additions later in Buffalo and 

 Rochester. The State bought for $100,000 the 

 Monroe County asylum at Rochester. Every 

 county in the State, with the exception of New 

 York and Kings specially exempted, now comes 

 under the State-care act. The Assembly Com- 

 mittee on Public Lands and Forestry was or- 

 dered to investigate the Forestry Commission- 

 ers This was done, and the commissioners were 

 found to have been negligent in their duties, 

 ordered by the last Legislature, in appraising 

 and buying lands for an Adirondack park. The 

 minority report went no further than this, but 

 the majority report found the commission guilty 

 of criminal negligence, and introduced a bill leg- 

 islating it out of office. The Assembly refused 

 to adopt the majority report, but it did adopt 

 the minority report, thus practically killing the 

 bill removing tne commission from office. The 

 excitement attending the investigation made it 

 impossible to pass any of the bills relating to 

 the Adirondacks. 



In the supply bill $2,400 was appropriated as 

 the contribution of the State of New York to the 

 erection of the bronze tablet on the battle field of 

 Gettysburg, at the spot known as the "high- 

 water mark of the rebellion " ; also $10,000 for the 

 bronze statue to be placed on the State monu- 

 ment on the same field, the terms of office of 

 the commissioners being extended until May 30, 

 1802, in order that they may complete this work. 



An important law provides that in the future 

 only such canal bridges shall be built as shall be 



absolutely necessary, that they shall be of the 

 plainest construction, and that any incn-a 

 pense for bettor bridges shall be borne by the 

 respective localities benefited. 



A charter was granted to the Whirlpool 

 Bridge Company to construct a bridge north of 

 the whirlpool in' Niagara river, with a capital of 

 $500,000. 



The law of 1800 relating to the repair and 

 improvement of highways was repealed. The 

 oleomargarine act was amended so as to make 

 it a misdemeanor for persons to furnish their 

 servants with oleomargarine or skim milk forest- 

 ing or cooking. The State will pay 80 cents a 

 day per head for tramps sentenced to county 

 penitentiaries. 



The electoral reform law of 1800 was amended 

 so that the certificates of municipal nominations 

 are to be filed with the city clerks, not the 

 county clerks; that the number of signers for 

 independent nominations is increased from 1,000 

 to 3,000 for State officers, 100 to 250 in the As- 

 sembly districts, and from 250 to 500 in the 

 county or Senate districts; that the blank bal- 

 lot is abolished ; that the party names are printed 

 on the ballot; that the number of ballots for 

 each 50 voters is reduced from 200 to 100 ; that 

 election districts shall contain not over 400 in- 

 stead of 300 voters, and shall be divided before 

 Aug. 1 ; that the ballot clerks shall not write 

 initials on ballots; that voters need not stay 

 three minutes in the booths : that when ballots 

 seem to have been marked for identification they 

 shall bo preserved, so that their validity may be 

 examined; and that no mark shall be put on 

 paster ballots. The registry laws were amended 

 so as to reduce the number of inspectors in the 

 rural districts from five to three, and the num- 

 ber of registry days outside of cities from three 

 to two. A concurrent resolution was passed, 

 which must pass another Legislature, transfer- 

 ring to the courts contested elections for the 

 Legislature. A concurrent resolution was passed 

 providing for additional judges to the Court of 

 Appeals. 



An appropriation of $10,000 was made for 

 university extension under the care of the 

 regents. 



New charters, making radical changes, were 

 granted to Buffalo and Albany. The charters 

 of Syracuse, Kingston, and "Rochester were 

 amended. Utica was allowed to extend its 

 boundaries northerly. Albany was authorized 

 to issue $258,000 in bonds for the erection of 

 public buildings. 



Miscellaneous laws were passed as follow : 

 Exempting household groceries from levy under 

 executions; repealing the law of 1890 requiring 

 statements to be filed at periods of twenty years 

 showing the amounts duo on real estate, bonds, 

 and mortgages; providing that where a trust is 

 or shall be expressed in the instrument creating 

 the estate, every sale or other act of the trust ei > 

 in the contravention of the trust shall be void ; 

 regulating the keeping of intelligence offices, 

 employment bureaus, etc., in Brooklyn; provid- 

 ing that intelligence offices in New York must 

 return fees to applicants for positions where the 

 latter have not obtained positions, and to em- 

 ployers where servants have not remained more 

 than a month. 



