510 



NEW YORK. 



lage sewer act so that villages may have more 

 scientific sewer systems ; making it unlawful for 

 any one to engage in or carry on the business of 

 fat rendering, bone boiling, or the manufacture 

 of fertilizers, or any business as a public nuisance 

 within the corporate limits of 3 miles of any in- 

 corporated city of this State ; providing for the 

 registration of plumbers and the supervision of 

 plumbing and drainage in the cities of the State ; 

 providing that any incorporated city or village 

 which has made such provision for the disposal 

 of its sewage as not to pollute or contaminate 

 therewith any river, stream, lake, or other body 

 of water, may have and maintain an action in 

 the Supreme Court to prevent the discharge of 

 any sewage or substance deleterious to health, or 

 which shall injure the potable qualities of the 

 water in any river, stream, lake, or other body 

 of water from which such incorporated city or 

 village shall take or receive its water supply. 

 Several bills increasing the prohibition of ciga- 

 rettes failed to pass. 



Before any child under the age of sixteen shall 

 be licensed to appear in a theatrical exhibition, 

 the mayor of the city or the president of the 

 board of trustees of the village must give his 

 consent; but such consent shall not be given 

 unless notice has been given forty-eight hours 

 before to some society for the prevention of 

 cruelty to children, if such society exists in that 

 locality. 



It was enacted that no prisoner in any of the 

 State prisons, penitentiaries, or reformatories 

 shall be employed in making or finishing fur or 

 wool hats, or in making or laundering shirts, 

 collars, or cuffs. A State reformatory for women 

 is to be built within the counties of New York 

 or Kings, and $100,000 was appropriated to be- 

 gin the same. The sum of $115,000 was re-ap- 

 propriated to finish the House of Refuge for 

 vVomen in western New York. The Eastern 

 New York Reformatory, to be erected in Ulster 

 County, was established, and $100,000 was ap- 

 propriated for the same. The act of 1881 estab- 

 lishing a house of refuge for women was amended 

 as to commitments, and $150,000 was appropri- 

 ated. A State institution for epileptics was or- 

 dered to be established by commission. A small 

 amount was appropriated for the maintenance of 

 pauper insane who do not reside in this State. 

 New York city is allowed to expend $500,000 for 

 new buildings for the insane. The salaries of 

 officers in the insane hospitals was raised. The 

 Governor vetoed a bill prohibiting the opening 

 of certain letters written or received by the in- 

 mates of the insane hospitals. 



The laws in relation to elections were codified, 

 and the penal code was amended so as to define 

 more clearly the crimes against the elective fran- 

 chise, like false registration, repeating, bribery, 

 and the mutilation of ballots. Town meetings, 

 by a majority vote of the town board, may use 

 automatic ballot cabinets which register the vote 

 by electricity. The inspectors of election in New 

 York city hereafter will be 2 Democrats and 1 

 Republican in each election district, instead of 2 

 from each political party; and in that city all 

 registers of voters and other useless election rec- 

 ords shall be destroyed not less than two years 

 after each election. A law was passed providing 

 that all persons, without regard to sex, who are 



eligible to the office of school commissioner, and 

 have the other qualifications now required by 

 law, shall have the right to vote for school 

 commissioners in the various commissioner dis- 

 tricts. 



Appropriations were made for the normal 

 schools in Cortland and Geneseo. The boards 

 of education in Troy and Albany were legis- 

 lated out of office, and new boards were or- 

 dered. New York city is allowed to make further 

 appropriations to enlarge or maintain the Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art and the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, the latter on condition 

 that it shall be opened on Sunday. Library 

 companies in the city are allowed to consolidate. 

 Brooklyn is authorized to issue $650,000 in bonds 

 for new schoolhouses, and Long Island City about 

 $200,000. Brooklyn may establish and maintain 

 a public reading room at its own expense. The 

 Dudley Observatory in Albany was allowed to 

 sell its real estate and to change its location. 

 The laws relating to the University of the State 

 of New York were codified. Union College is 

 allowed to be a trustee for its allied institutions. 

 A law was passed for the encouragement of com- 

 mon-school libraries ; another, providing for the 

 endowment of public libraries; and a third, 

 amending the law of 1890 relative to gifts and 

 bequests so as to provide for and include public 

 libraries. 



For the World's Pair, or Columbian Exposi- 

 tion, at Chicago. $300,000 was appro printed. 

 The Mayor of New York city was authorized to 

 appoint a committee of 100 citizens to celebrate 

 the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery 

 of America on the 12th of October, 1892, and 

 $50,000 was appropriated for that purpose. The 

 day was made a legal holiday. 



The Legislature passed a" concurrent resolu- 

 tion, passed also by the last Legislature, amend- 

 ing the Constitution so that contested elections 

 will be settled by the courts instead of by the 

 two Houses of the Legislature. This amend- 

 ment was voted on in November, 1892. An 

 amendment increasing the number of judges in 

 the Supreme Court was also voted upon at the 

 same election. A convention to revise and amend 

 the Constitution was ordered to assemble in 

 Albany in June, 1893. One hundred and twenty- 

 eight delegates will be elected by Assembly dis- 

 tricts and 32 will be elected at large. In addi- 

 tion to the 160, the Governor shall appoint 3 

 representatives of the labor interests, 3 of the 

 prohibitionists, and 3 representatives of woman 

 suffrage. 



Charters were granted to two new cities, Ni- 

 agara Falls and Mount Vernon. The first has 

 10,000 and the second 12.000 inhabitants. This 

 makes the whole number of incorporated cities 

 in the State 34. A general code was enacted in 

 relation to municipal corporations, more particu- 

 larly to bonded indebtedness. The area of Roch- 

 ester and Syracuse was enlarged, and the number 

 of wards in each city was increased. 



Other acts of the session were as follow : 



Allowing a married woman to contract with her 

 husband, or with any other person, to the same ex- 

 tent as if unmarried. 



Enabling a divorced woman to convey her inchoate 

 right of dower. 



Making it a misdemeanor to cut, break, tap, or make 



