540 



NEW YORK CITY. 



Hook shoal. A depth of 26 feet has been ob- 

 tained over this and Buttermilk shoal. On the 

 former work has closed. It has cost $879,000. 



East River Tunnel. This important piece 

 of engineering work was begun both in New 

 York city and in Ravenswood, Long Island, in 

 May, 1892, and was opened on July 11. Its com- 

 pletion was celebrated on July 10 by its examina- 

 tion by many invited guests. The tunnel is 

 2.541-4 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches high at the 

 center of the crown, and 10 feet wide, with a dip 

 of 6 inches to 100 feet from the New York side 

 to the Long Island side. It will be used for com- 

 mercial purposes, being the property of a gas 

 company who are making gas in Long Island, 

 with which they propose to supply New York 

 city. 



City Railroads. The annual reports of these 

 different roads for the year ending Sept. 30 

 show that the Metropolitan Street Railway Com- 

 pany, which operates the Broadway cable road 

 and' the Sixth Avenue surface road, carried 107,- 

 036,254 cash passengers and 5,306.645 transfer 

 passengers. The gross earnings of the Metropol- 

 itan Street Company were $5,351,812. Its equip- 

 ment includes 161 cable cars. The most notable 

 decrease in the number of passengers carried is 

 exhibited by the Manhattan Elevated Company's 

 report, which places the number of passengers 

 carried during the year just ended (including the 

 suburban line) at 202,751,532. The previous 

 year the number was 221,407,197. Its gross 

 earnings were $10.153,576. The Second Avenue 

 Railroad Company carried 20,269,215 passengers, 

 against 19,647,764 the previous year. Its gross 

 earnings were $1,013,460. The Third Avenue 

 Surface Railroad Company carried 35,900,000 

 passengers during the past year. Its gross earn- 

 ings amounted to $1,777,971. The Central Cross- 

 town Company carried 10,777,151 passengers. 

 Its gross earnings were $538,857. The Dry 

 Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad 

 Company carried 12,808,811 passengers. Its 



ross earnings were $642.455. The Forty-second 

 treet, Manhattanville and St. Nicholas Avenue 

 Railroad Company carried 12,732,330 passengers 

 during the year. Its gross earnings amounted 

 to $636,616. " The Fourth Avenue Railroad Com- 

 pany carried 21,452,098 passengers in 1894. Its 

 gross earnings were $1,072,604. The Eighth 

 Avenue Railroad Company carried 15,377,164 

 passengers. Its gross earnings were $768,758. 

 The Union Railway Company reports that it 

 carried 9,373,175 passengers. Its gross earnings 

 amounted to $471,926. 



Rapid Transit. A measure popularly known 

 as the " Chamber of Commerce Rapid Transit 

 bill " was introduced in the Legislature, and 

 duly became a law on May 22. This bill was in 

 the nature of an amendment to the rapid-transit 

 act of 1891, and authorized the municipal con- 

 struction and ownership of a method of rapid 

 transit, provided the people should so elect. It 

 also called for the creation of a new board 

 of rapid-transit commissioners. These were 

 Alexander E. Orr, president, Seth Low, John 

 Claflin, John H. Inman, John H. Starin, and 

 William Steinway. This body promptly in- 

 trusted W. Barclay Parsons with the preparation 

 of plans for an underground route. He visited 

 Europe and studied the problem as treated in 



other cities, and finally submitted plans for a 

 road, the cost of which would be $60,000,000. 

 At the election, the vote in favor of a road to be 

 constructed under municipal direction was 132,- 

 647, as against 42,916 votes. 



Exchanges. During 1894, at the Stock Ex- 

 change 32,968.690 shares of listed stocks, 16,- 

 307,046 shares of unlisted stocks, Government 

 bonds valued at $4,293,300, State and railroad 

 bonds valued at $350,260,200, and unlisted 

 bonds valued at $2,481,750, were sold. 



At the Consolidated Stock and Petroleum 

 Exchange the transactions were as follow : 

 Stocks, 48,518,030 shares ; bonds valued at $21,- 

 526,000; mining stocks, 348,070 shares; petro- 

 leum, 1,348,000 barrels ; and wheat, 444,062,000 

 bushels. 



The transactions on the Produce Exchange 

 were as follow: Flour, 4,998,625 barrels; rye 

 flour, 123,525 barrels: wheat, 1,251,651,000 bush- 

 els; corn, 132,436,000 bushels; oats, 69,503,000 

 bushels; barley, 1,590,000 bushels; rye, 9,350 

 bushels; pork/66,950 barrels; and tallow, 12,- 

 434,000 pounds. 



On the Cotton Exchange trade showed a large 

 falling off, sales of futures amounting to 30,308,- 

 600 bales, as against 56,632,000 bales in 1893. 



Transactions on the Coffee Exchange were 

 4,618,750 bags, against 5,880,250 bags in 1893 

 and 6,926,000 bags in 1892. 



The business at the New York Customhouse 

 for 1894 was as follows: Values, $436,021,173; 

 duties, $88,231,102.97. 



The operations of the Sub-Treasury in 1894 

 were : Receipts, $1,209,958,614.42 ; payments, 

 $1,142,764,301.74; total, $2,352,722,916.16. 



Greater New York. This matter is cared 

 for by a commission consisting of 11 commis- 

 sioners, as follows : Andrew H. Green (presi- 

 dent), J. S. T. Stranahan (vice-president), the 

 State engineer and surveyor (ex-officio), John M. 

 Brinckerhoff, Edward F. Linton, Calvert Vaux, 

 Frederick W. Devoe, William D. Veeder, George 

 J. Greenfield, John L. Hamilton, and Charles P. 

 McClelland. Office, 214 Broadway. This com- 

 mission, created by an act of Legislature in 

 1890, had for its object an inquiry as to the ex- 

 pediency of consolidating the city of New York 

 and the various municipalities composing its 

 suburbs. Toward this end it presented a bill 

 to the Legislature of 1893 submitting the ques- 

 tion of municipal consolidation to a vote of the 

 people of the various cities and towns proposed 

 to be consolidated ; a petition of more than 10,- 

 000 Brooklyn citizens was sent to the Legislature, 

 and a delegation of more than 200 citizens from 

 Brooklyn appeared in its favor before the Senate 

 and Assembly Committees on Cities, but the bill 

 failed of securing a vote before the adjournment 

 of the Legislature. It was reintroduced in t he 

 Legislature at the last session, and, after passing 

 both houses by a large majority, was signed l>y 

 the Governor. This bill described the proposed 

 limits of Greater New York as follow : The cii y 

 of New York, Long Island City, the county of 

 Kings, the county of Richmond, the towns of 

 Westchester, Flushing, Newtown, and Jamaica, 

 those portions of the towns of East Chester and 

 Pelham that lie southerly of a straight line 

 drawn from the point where the northerly line 

 of the city of New York meets the center line of 



