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The Corporation Counsel, who is the head of the Law Department, receives $15,000 a year. He has charge of all the law business of the corporation, all legal proceedings in opening, widening and closing streets, in acquiring Law Department. property, for the city by condemnation proceedings, and the preparation of all leases and contracts. He is the legal adviser of the Mayor, the presidents of the boroughs, the Board of Aldermen and every department.

The head of the Police Department is the Police Commissioner, whose term of office is five years. The act then says: "The said commissioner may, whenever, in the judgment of the Mayor of said city or the Governor, Police Department. the public interests shall so require, be removed from office by either, and shall be ineligible for reappointment thereto. The successors in office of the said commissioner shall also be appointed by the Mayor of the city within ten days after any vacancy shall occur, and shall be removed by either the Mayor or Governor whenever the public interests so require. The salary of said Police Commissioner shall be $7,500 a year. The said commissioner shall have the power to appoint, from the citizens of the United States and residents of the said city, and at pleasure remove, three deputies. to be known as first deputy commissinoner, second deputy commissioner and third deputy commissioner. The Police Department consists also of fifteen inspectors, one captain to each fifty of the total number of patrolmen, except in the rural part of the city, sergeants of police, not exceeding four in number to each fifty of the total number of patrolmen; roundsmen not exceeding four in number to each fifty patrolmen; detective sergeants to the number authorized by law; the members of the telegraph force as specified in Section 277 of this act; the superintendent and inspectors of boilers as specified in Section 342 of this act; doormen of police, not exceeding two in number to each fifty of the total number of patrolmen; surgeons of police, not exceeding forty in number, one of whom shall be chief surgeon, and patrolmen to the number of 6,382."

The president of each borough is elected for two years. He has the following powers: "He may appoint and at pleasure remove a Commissioner of Public Works for his borough, who may discharge all the administrative Borough Officers. powers of the president of the borough relating to streets, sewers, public buildings and supplies conferred upon him by this act; and who shall, in the absence or illness of such president, discharge all the duties of such president. He shall, within the borough for which he shall have been elected, have cognizance and control: (1) Of regulating, grading, curbing, flagging and guttering of streets and laying of crosswalks; (2) of constructing and repairing public roads; (3) of paving, repaving, resurfacing and repairing of all streets, and of the relaying of all pavements removed for any cause; (4) of the laying or relaying of surface railroad tracks in any public street or road, of the form of rail used, or character of foundation, and the method of construction, and of the restoration of the pavement or surface after such work; (5) of the filling of sunken lots, fencing of vacant lots, digging down lots, and of licensing vaults under sidewalks; (6) of the removal of incumbrances; (7) of the issue of permits to builders and others to use or open the streets; (8) of the construction and maintenance of all bridges and tunnels which are within his borough and form a portion of the highways thereof, except such bridges as cross navigable streams; (9) of all subjects relating to the public sewers and drainage of his borough, and shall initiate the making of all plans for the drainage of his borough, except as otherwise specifically provided in this act. He shall have charge of the construction of all sewers in accordance with said plans. He shall have in charge the management, care and maintenance of the sewer and drainage system of the borough of which he shall be president and the licensing of all cisterns and cesspools." The presidents of the boroughs of Queens and Richmond also have supervision of the street cleaning of their boroughs.

The act says in regard to the Bureau of Buildings: "There shall be in the office of each borough president a bureau to be known as 'the Bureau of Buildings for the Borough of The presidents of the boroughs of Bureau of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn shall, each within the Buildings. borough for which he is elected, appoint a superintendent of buildings for the borough. The presidents of the boroughs of Queens and Richmond may, whenever appropriation is made therefor by the Board of Aldermen upon the recommendation of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, each within the borough for which he is elected, in like manner appoint a superintendent of buildings for the borough. Each superintendent of buildings shall, within the borough or boroughs in which he has jurisdiction, have charge of the administration of, and it shall be his duty, subject to and in accordance with the general rules and regulations established by the president of the borough, to enforce such rules and regulations and the provisions of this chapter and of such ordinances as may be established by the Board of Aldermen and of the laws relating to the construction, alteration or removal of buildings or other structures erected or to be erected within such borough."

The act creates twenty-five districts of local improvements, divided as follows: 1. Richmond Borough. 2. Wards 1 and 2, Borough of Queens. 3. Wards 3, 4 and 5,

Local Boards.

Borough of Queens. 4. Third Senate District. 5. Fourth Senate District. 6. Wards 8, 30 and 31, Borough of Brooklyn. 7, Wards 10 and 12, Borough of Brooklyn. 8. Sixth Senate District. 9. Seventh Senate District. 10. Eighth Senate District. 11. Ninth Senate Dis12. Ten'n Senate District. 13. Eleventh Senate District. rict. 14. Twelfth Senate District. 15. Thirteenth Senate District. 16. Fourteenth Senate District. 17. Fifteenth Senate District. 18. Sixteenth Senate District. 19. Fifteenth and Seventeenth Assembly

districts of the county of New-York. 20. Eighteenth Senate District. 21. Nineteenth and Twenty-first Assembly districts of the county of New-York. 22. Thirty-first and Twenty-third Assembly districts of the county of New-York. 23. Twentieth Senate District and that part of the Twenty-first Senate District in the Borough of Manhattan. 24. That part of the Twenty-first Senate District in the Borough of The Bronx west of the Bronx River. 25. That part of the Twenty-second Senate District east of the Bronx River. Each local board of improvement has as its members the president of the borough wherein the district is situated, and each member of the Board of Aldermen "who represents an aldermanic district within such local improvement district." The members of the local board serve as such members without compensation. The act then says: "A local board, subject to the restrictions provided by this act, shall have power in all cases where the cost of the improvement is to be met in whole or in part by assessments upon the property benefited to initiate proceedings for the following purposes: To construct tunnels and bridges lying wholly within the borough; to acquire title to land for parks and squares, streets, sewers, tunnels and bridges, and approaches to bridges and tunnels; to open, close, extend, widen, grade, pave, regrade, repave and repair the streets, avenues and public places, and to construct sewers within the district; to flag or reflag, curb or recurb the sidewalks, and to relay crosswalks on such streets and avenues; to set or to reset street lamps; and to provide signs designating the names of streets. All resolutions affecting more than one local improvement district or the borough generally shall be adopted only at a joint meeting of all the local boards of the borough, and by a majority of the members of said boards."

Department_of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity.

The Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity has charge of the supply and distribution of water, and also has he following duties: "Of the making and performance of contracts when duly authorized in accord with the provisions of this act, and for the execution of the same in the matter of furnishing the city, or any part thereof, with gas, electricity, or any other illuminant, or of steam; of the selecting, focating and removing and changing of lights for the use of the city; of the inspecting and testing of gas and electricity used for light, heating and power purposes, electric meters, electric wires and of all lights furnished to said city; and of the use and transmission of gas, electricity, pneumatic power and steam for all purposes in, upon, across, over and under all streets, roads, avenues, parks, public places and public buildings; of the construction of electric mains, conduits, conductors, and subways in any such streets, roads, avenues, parks and public places, and the granting of the permission to open streets, when approved by the borough president, and to open the same for the purpose of carrying on therein the business of transmitting, conducting, using and selling electricity, steam, or for the service of pneumatic tubes.'

Street Cleaning,
Bridges, Parks.

The Commissioner of Street Cleaning has charge of the sweeping and cleaning of the streets in the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn, and of the removal of ashes and garbage in these boroughs. The Commissioner of Bridges has charge of all the bridges and of the operation of the railroad on the New-York and Brooklyn Bridge, and of the construction and management of tunnels beneath navigable streams. The three Commissioners of Parks have charge of the parks in every borough; one has administrative jurisdiction in the boroughs of Manhattan and Richmond, one in the borough of The Bronx, and one in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Each Commissioner receives $5,000 salary.

An Art Commission has as its members the Mayor, the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the president of the New-York Public Library, the president of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, one painter, Art Commission. one sculptor, one architect, and three other residents of the city of New-York. The act then says: "Hereafter no work of art shall become the property of the city of New-York, by purchase, gift or otherwise, unless such work of art or a design of the same, together with a statement of the proposed location of such work of art, shall first have been submitted to and approved by the commission."

The Department of Public Charities has as its head one Commissioner of Public Charities, whose salary is $7.500 yearly. The commisPublic Charities. sioner has charge of all hospitals, asylums, almshouses and other institutions for the care of the feeble minded, the

sick and the destitute, except certain specified institutions. Bellevue Hospital and

Bellevue Hospital-
Department of
Correction.

allied hospitals are in charge of a board of trustees of seven persons, consisting of the Commissioner of Public Charities and six persons appointed by the Mayor.

The Department of Correction has as its head one commissioner at a salary of $7,500. He has charge of all institutions for the care and custody of criminals and mis

demeanants, except certain specified institutions.

The Fire Department has one commissioner as its head, who receives $7,500 a year. He has charge of the government, management, maintenance and direction of

Fire, Docks

and Ferries.

the Fire Department of the city. The Department of Docks and Ferries has as its head one commissioner, who receives $6,000 a year salary. He has exclusive charge of the wharf property belonging to the city of New-York, and of the repairing, rebuilding, altering and leasing of this property. He cannot, however, make any contract or execute any deed for the wharf property unless it has

Taxes and
Assessments.

first been approved by resolution in writing passed by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund. The Dock Commissioner also is authorized to lease the franchise of ferries. The Department of Taxes and Assessments has at its head five commissioners, one of whom is designated as the president. The salary of the president is $8,000 a year, while that of the other commissioners is $7,000 a year. The commissioners appoint forty députy tax commissioners, whose duty it is to assess all the taxable property in the several districts to which they are assigned. The act then says: ""There shall be kept in the several offices established by the Department of Taxes and Assessments books to be called 'the annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate of the borough of ,' in which shall be entered in detail the assessed valuations of such property within the limits of the several boroughs of the city of New-York as established by this act, which said books shall be open for public inspection, examination and correction from the second Monday in January until the first day of April in each year; but on said last mentioned day the same shall be elosed to enable the Board of Taxes and Assessments to prepare assess ment rolls of the several boroughs for delivery to the Board of Aldermen."

The Mayor is authorized to appoint three persons to make assessments for local improvements. The Controller, the Corporation Counsel Board of Assessors. and the president of the Department of Taxes and Assessments by the terms of the act are the Board for the Revision of Assessments.

The Department of Education has at its head a Board of Education of forty-six members, appointed by the Mayor. The forty-six members of the Board of Education are divided as follows: Borough of Manhattan, 22; Department of Borough of The Bronx, 4; Borough of Brooklyn, 14; Education. Borough of Queens, 4; Borough of Richmond, 2. The Board of Education has the management and control of the public schools of the city.. The act further says: "The Board of Education shall administer all moneys appropriated or available for educational purposes in the city of New-York, subject to the general provisions of this act relating to the audit and payment of salaries and other claims by the Department of Finance. Prior to February 15, 1902, the Board of Education shall divide the boroughs under its charge into forty-six school board districts, of which twenty-two shall be wholly in the Borough of Manhattan, fourteen wholly in the Borough of Brooklyn, four wholly in the Borough of The Bronx, four wholly in the Borough of Queens and two wholly in the Borough of Richmond. There shall be in each of said districts a local school board consisting of seven members, as follows: Five persons to be appointed by the president of the borough, a member of the Board of Education designated by the president of that board, and the district superintendent assigned to duty in such district by the city superintendent. Subject to regulation by the bylaws of the Board of Education, the duties and powers of the local school boards shall be as follows: In their respective districts, they shall visit, at least once in every quarter, all the schools in the district, and inspect the same, in respect to punctual and regular attendance of the pupils and teachers, the number and fidelity of the teachers, the studies, progress, order and discipline of the pupils, the cleanliness, safety, warming, ventilation and comfort of school premises, and the observance of the provisions of the school laws in respect to the teaching of sectarian doctrines or the use of sectarian books; and shall call the attention of the Board of Education, without delay, to every matter requiring official action. They shall also, on or before the first day of January and June of each year, make a written report to the Board of Education in respect to the condition of the schools, the efficiency of teachers, and wants of the district, especially in regard to schools and school premises. They shall report immediately to the Board of Education whenever additional accommodation is necessary for kindergarten or elementary school purposes, with a recommendation of the sites within their respective districts which they consider it necessary to acquire for such purposes. They shall also recommend the erection of such buildings on said sites or on any other property owned by the city of New-York, and such repairs or alterations of school buildings as they deem necessary or desirable. They shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to try charges made by a principal, a district superintendent, or by any parent or guardian of a pupil, residing in the district, against a teacher employed within their respective districts, for gross misconduct, insubordination, neglect of duty or inefficiency. On receiving notice of said charges they shall immediately proceed to try and determine the case and shall fix the penalty or punishment to be imposed for the offence committed, which shall consist of a fine, suspension for a fixed time without pay, or dismissal. Their determination upon such charges and the penalty or punishment imposed therefor shall be reported immediately to the Board of Education, which may reject, confirm or modify the determinations of the local board, and the penalty of punishment imposed and the decision of the board shall be final except as to matters in relation to which, under the general school laws of the State, an appeal may be taken to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction."

The Department of Health has at its head a Commissioner of Health, the Police Commissioner and the Health Officer of the Port. It is the duty of the Department of

Department of Health.

Health to enforce all the laws of the State in regard to the preservation of human life. This includes all laws. relative to cleanliness, the sale of unwholesome food and the purity of the water supply. The Board of Health is authorized to establish and maintain hospitals for the care of persons sick with contagious diseases. Births, deaths and marriages are reported to the Board of Health, whose members keep a record of them.

The Tenement House Department has at its head a Tenement House Commissioner, whose salary is $7,500 a year. The department is divided into a new building

Tenement House
Department.

bureau, an inspection bureau and a bureau of records. The building bureau examines plans for the light and ventilation of tenement houses, the inspection bureau inspects all completed tenement houses and records all violations of the tenement house laws and ordinances, and the bureau of records contains a record of every tenement house in the city.

Inferior

Local Courts.

For the purpose of two divisions, the first Inferior Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction.

The City Court of New-York and the Municipal Court are continued. The several boroughs are divided into districts, in each of which 'sessions of the Municipal Court are held. In The Bronx, two districts; Manhattan, thirteen districts; Brooklyn, five districts; Queens, three districts; Richmond, two districts. the administration of criminal justice the city is divided into division embracing the boroughs of The Bronx and of Manhattan and the second division embracing the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond. The Board of City Magistrates in the first division consists of twelve magistrates, while in the second division there are fifteen magistrates, ten of whom are residents of Brooklyn, three of Queens, and two of the Borough of Richmond. In the first division the magistrates are appointed by the Mayor. At the general city election of November, 1901, one City Magistrate was elected in each Congress District of Kings County, and two City Magistrates at Large, and this principle of electing the City Magistrates is hereafter to be continued in the Borough of Brooklyn. City Magistrates in the Borough of Brooklyn who were appointed after January 31, 1899, are to hold office until their successors are elected at a general election to be held in 1907. Magistrates are to be elected in the boroughs of Queens and Richmond in 1905 and 1907.

Marshals.

Board of

City Record.

In 1898 the Mayor appointed ten marshals, who are to hold their office for six years.

The city publishes a City Record, in which are printed corporation notices relating to the various boroughs. When they relate to the Borough of Brooklyn they are also published in newspapers of that borough.

The charter provides for the election of four coroners in the Borough of Manhattan,

Coroners.

two in the Borough of The Bronx, two in the Borough of Brooklyn, two in the Borough of Queens, and one in the Borough of Richmond, all for a term of four years.

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The laws passed by the legislature of 1903 specifically relating to the city of New-York are summarized below:

Chapter 539 of the Laws of 1903 authorized the appointment by the Governor of a commission to investigate a certain threatened pollution of the waters of New-York Bay.

Chapter 60 authorized the appointment of a third Deputy Police Commissioner.

Chapter 103 authorized the issue of additional bonds of the city of New-York, to be called general fund bonds, for the purpose of preventing an unnecessary amount of taxation for the sinking fund of the city.

Chapter 159 provided that the justices of the Special Sessions of the Second Division should occupy a separate part of a court building for the hearing of cases involving the trial of children.

at the expense of the property owners owning property on the street where the trees are planted.

Chapter 406 authorizes the Mayor of New-York, with the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, to enter into а contract with the proper representatives of the United States, so that the city of New-York may be able to avail itself of the aid of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in making an exact triangulation of the territory embraced within the boundaries of the city.

Chapter 423 provides for the abolition of certain grade crossings of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad.

Chapter 424 provides for the abolition of certain grade crossings on the line of the New-York and Harlem Railroad.

Chapter 425 provides for the enlargement

Railroad in New-York City in the vicinity of Forty-second-st., and the depression of all existing tracks of the New-York and Harlem Railroad Company between Fortysecond and Fifty-seventh sts. and Madison and Lexington aves.

Chapter 210 says that where, by pre-of the terminals of the New-York Central existing laws, stocks and bonds of any of the municipalities consolidated to form the existing city of New-York were heretofore exempt within such municipalities from local taxation, the said stocks or bonds shall be exempt from all taxation by the present city of New-York, except for State purposes.

Chapter 253 authorizes the Park Board of New-York, with the consent of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, to determine what trees shall be planted in any street, and cause the work to be done

Chapter 454 amends the Greater NewYork charter by providing for a statement by the Deputy Tax Commissioners of the sum for which, in their judgment, each separately assessed parcel of real estate under ordinary circumstances would sell if it were wholly unimproved, and, sepa

rately stated, the sum for which, under ordinary circumstances, the same parcel of real estate would sell with the improvements, if any, thereon.

Chapter 86 provides that the Supreme Court may fix the amount of compensation to be paid by the city of New-York to the Commissioners of Estimate and Appraisal appointed by that court to esti mate the damage by reason of the taking of lands for the new East River Bridge.

Chapter 18 grants authority to the Commissioners of the Land Office to grant and convey to the United States certain lands under water in New-York Harbor at Governor's Island,

Chapter 43 says that the Board of Estlmate and Apportionment shall appropriate for the general school fund annually an amount equivalent to not less than three mills on every dollar of assessed valuation of the real and personal estate in the city of New-York liable to taxation.

Chapter 107 authorizes the United States to acquire lands in the city of New-York as a site for a marine hospital.

Chapter 177 amends the charter of NewYork's provisions for pensions to school teachers by adding members of the supervising force of the Normal College to the list of those to receive annuities.

Chapter 179 amends sections of the Tenement House act.

Chapter 156 amends an act in relation to the Municipal Court by making certain provisions respecting the issuing of orders of arrest.

Chapter 438 sets apart one per cent, or as much as shall be necessary, of excise moneys annually received by the city of New-York, as a retirement fund for the college officials and professors of the College of the City of New-York,

Chapter 439 gives the Commissioner of the Tenement House Department of the city of New-York authority to issue an order for the vacation of a house which is considered unfit for human habitation.

Chapter 644 amends the Election law relative to the boundaries of election districts by permitting a change of such boundaries in New-York City districts when such a change is rendered necessary by changes in the boundaries of Municipal Court districts.

Chapter 277 authorizes game protectors to examine the contents of any building in New-York, other than a dwelling house, to ascertain whether any law for the protection of fish or game has been violated.

THE NEW-YORK

Chapter 336 authorized the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of New-York to determine whether the county courthouse afforded adequate accommodation for the courts, and authorized the Mayor, unless the question should be determined in the affirmative, to appoint five persons as a courthouse, board to select a site for a new courthouse, make arrangements for the purchase of lands upon which it might be erected, and after the purchase of lands proceed, with the consent of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, with the work of erecting the new building.

Chapter 111 amended the Primary Reform law by providing that nothing in subdivision 4 should give the right to a man to enroll specially as a member of a political party in New-York City, or permit him to enroll as a member of a party except at one of the four regular meetings for registration.

Chapter 436 provides that a woman over sixteen years of age convicted of petit larceny, who has not been an inmate of a penitentiary, may be committed to a reformatory for a period of three years.

Chapter 634 extends to January 15, 1904, the life of a commission appointed in 1902 to inquire into the delays and expenses in the administration of justice in the counties of New-York and Kings, and to suggest legislation thereon.

Chapter 304 makes eligible for appointment to another city office members of the Board of Aldermen of New-York when they resign their positions as members of that board.

Chapter 229 authorizes the reinstatement of former members of the police force of the city of New-York who resigned with the purpose and did enlist in the service of the United States while that country was at war with Spain.

Chapter 374 authorizes the Board of Taxes and Assessment of the city of NewYork to revise and correct any assessment for the year 1901 of the shares of stock of banks in liquidation.

Chapter 490 provides that no mortgage shall be discharged of record in NewYork unless there shall be presented to the recording officer for cancellation the original mortgage, or a certified copy of an order made and entered of a nature described in the law.

Chapter 506 authorized the Mayor of New-York to appoint forty marshals, to hold office for a term of six years from May, 1903.

ASTOR,

PUBLIC LIBRARY,
FOUNDATIONS.

LENOX AND TILDEN

Established by consolidation of the trustees of the Astor Library, the trustees of the Lenox Library, and the Tilden Trust, on May 23, 1895, and by consolidation, with the New-York Free Circulating Library on February 25, 1901. Since February, 1901, the library has absorbed the Library for the Blind, the Washington Heights Library, the Aguilar Library and the Harlem Library. The trustees of the library are Samuel P. Avery, John Bigelow, John L. Cadwalader, H. Van Rensselaer Kennedy, John S. Kennedy, Edward King, Lewis Cass Ledyard, Alexander Maitland, Stephen H. Olin, Alexander E. Orr, Henry C. Potter, George L. Rives, Phup Schuyler, George W. Smith, Frederick Sturges, Charles Howland Russell, William W. Appleton, Andrew Carnegie, J. Pierpont Morgan, and the Mayor, Controller and President of the Board of Aldermen of the City of New-York as ex-officio members.

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