NEW YORK (CITY). 



NICARAGUA. 



581 



of the commissioners, the mayor, etc., are 

 authorized to take possession of the property, 

 and keep the same open as public parks. The 

 mayor, etc., within four months after the con- 

 firmation of the report of the commissioners, 

 are required to pay for the property taken for 

 the parks, and to issue city four per cent, bonds 

 to produce the money required. 



City Politics. Franklin Edson was elected 

 Mayor of New York in 1882 through a union 

 of the three Democratic factions known as 

 Tammany, Irving Hall, and the County De- 

 mocracy, against a citizens' movement whose 

 candidate was William Ddwd. The mayor's 

 appointments, at the beginning of his term, 

 were avowedly determined by the necessity of 

 securing for them the approval of the Board 

 of Aldermen, whose members were in a pecul- 

 iar sense the representatives of the various lo- 

 cal political factions. He made an effort to se- 

 cure action from the Legislature which would 

 give the mayor the power of appointment and 

 removal of heads of departments untrammeled, 

 but, not succeeding in this, he professed to act 

 on the principle of making the best of the ex- 

 isting situation, and avoiding contentions with 

 the aldermen. His appointments throughout 

 the year provoked criticism, on the ground 

 that they aimed at satisfying the demands of 

 all factions, so far as they could be reconciled, 

 rather than promoting the highest efficiency 

 of the public service. 



During the political canvass of the autumn 

 an effort to unite the Democratic factions 

 failed, so far as delegates to the State Conven- 

 tion were concerned, but they all supported 

 the general ticket. The city and county nomi- 

 nations they divided so as to agree on a com- 

 mon ticket, but in regard to legislative and 

 aldermanic nominations they were divided. 

 (See NEW YORK STATE, Political Canvass.} A 

 plan for reorganizing the Republicans of the 

 city was formed and carried out during the year. 

 It was devised by a Committee of Eighteen, 

 formed partly from the existing City Central 

 Committee and partly of persons outside the 

 old organization. The plan included a full en- 

 rollment of the Republican voters of the city in 

 the several Assembly districts and the choice 

 of delegates to a County Committee, members 

 of district committees, enrolling officers and 

 inspectors for the next year, and delegates to 

 all conventions by the persons thus enrolled. 

 Under the old organization, in order to vote 

 at primary meetings, the voter was obliged to 

 join an association, sign its constitution, and 

 pledge himself to support all candidates of the 

 party regularly nominated. Under the new 

 plan it was only necessary to be enrolled un- 

 der a declaration of intention to act with the 

 Republican party. The enrollment took place 

 after the election in November, and resulted 

 in placing 23,454 names on the rolls, some- 

 thing more than twice the membership of the 

 old associations, but much less than half the 

 ordinary Republican vote of the city. 



Much dissatisfaction with the municipal ad- 

 ministration was developed during the year in 

 consequence of the frauds that were exposed 

 in some of the departments, and charges of 

 corruption and extravagance. On the meet- 

 ing of the Legislature of 1884, the question of 

 charter reform was again agitated, and two 

 committees, one of the Senate and one of the 

 Assembly, set about investigating the condition 

 of the city government. * 



NEW ZEALAND. See AUSTRALIA and POLY- 

 NESIA, p. 37. 



NICARAGUA, a republic of Central America. 

 The President is Dr. Adan Cardenas His 

 Cabinet, in 1883, was composed of the follow- 

 ing ministers: Finance, War, and Navy, Col. 

 J. Elizondo; Justice and Public Worship, Dr. 

 F. Delgadillo ; Foreign Affairs, Setter F. Cas- 

 tillon ; Interior, Sefior J. Chamorro. 



Finance. The income in 1882 was $1,639,000, 

 while the outlay was $1,510,000. The national 

 indebtedness is altogether internal, and does 

 not exceed $700,000, in the shape of fundable 

 bonds, for which the import duties are mort- 

 gaged, while $222,000 are payable in cash. In 

 1883 the debt amounted to $920,258. The 

 amount of duties collected by the custom-house 

 in the fiscal year 1881-'82 was $1,275,507, 

 against $906,156 in 1880-'81. 



Railroads. There were in operation in 1882 

 about 55 kilometres of railroad, and 18 were 

 then being built. 



Telegraphs. The number of offices in 1882 

 was 26 ; the length of lines, 777 miles, with 

 800 miles of wire. There were dispatched 

 that year 64,544 private' telegrams, and 16,601 

 were sent by the Government. There was col- 

 lected the sum of $18,733 ; and spent, $20,789. 



Postal Service. The number of post-offices in 

 1882 was 13; expresses, 79; and postal agen- 

 cies, 8. There passed through the post-office 

 177,109 private letters, 37,273 Government dis- 

 patches, 21,666 postal-cards, 89,001 registered 

 letters, 424,955 newspapers, and 515 sample 

 packages ; together, 645,919 items of mail mat- 

 ter, producing an income of $9,232, and in- 

 volving an outlay of $15,344. 



Commerce. There entered Nicaraguan ports 

 in 1882 altogether 213 vessels, measuring 

 256,000 tons, and comprising 156 steamers, 8 

 of which navigated under the German flag, 2 

 being men-of-war, and 57 sailing-vessels, of 

 which 11 were German. 



The products chiefly exported were: India- 

 rubber, 14,000 quintals of 101$ pounds Ameri- 

 can, worth $800,000 ; 7,300,000 pounds of cof- 

 fee, worth $530,000; gold and silver bullion, 

 fustic, indigo, skins, hides, and cedar-wood. 



Intel-oceanic Canal. The following is a trans- 

 lation of the law adopted in October, 1883, by 



