274:





The Real Estate Recoiii)





•Marcli 26, 1881





some of these West Side gentlemen still
think that the World's Fair may be located
at Bloomingdale or even further down town.





CITY MATTERS AT ALBANY.

But little progress has been made lately on
measures affectmg real estate interests in New
Yorli City. There are a few minor biUs intro¬
duced and others advanced towards their passage,
but no general measure.

A bill introduced in the Senate by Senator
Astor bas been ordei-ed to tliird reading in that
body, directing the Corporation Counsel and the
proper authoiities to take all necessary legal
measm-es to open, regulate and grade One Hun¬
dred and Twenty-sixth and One Hundred and
Twenty-seventh streets oast of Second avenue.
It provides for the appointment of commissioners
under the law of 1839 for street openings, to pro¬
ceed to take property for opening of the streets.

A bill has been formally reported in both
Houses which amends the provision of the present
charter relative to the disposition of piei-s and
docks by the Dock Department, by addmg at the
end of section 6 of chapter 574 of the laws of 1870
the following:

"Said (Dock Department) board is hereby re¬
quired, in appropriating any of such wharves,
piers, bulldieads, basins and slips as lie in the dis¬
trict embraced between Morton and West Thir¬
tieth streets to reserve, set aside and designate for
the use and acconunodatiou of local and inland
commerce so many of such wharves, piers, bulk¬
heads, basins or slips as are required to fully and
freely accommodate such commerce. Provided
that not le.ss than tln-ee piers shall be constructed
witliout delay between West Thirteenth and
West Thirtieth streets, and set aside for the use
and accommodation of such inland commerce,
and that the usual rates shall be charged thereon
for wharfage aud dockage."

That bill is known in Albany as McClave's act,
having been introduced on a petition from that
gentleman.

A bill has been introduced and favorably re¬
ported m the Senate this week authorizing the
Park Department to complete the entrances on
Eighth avenue at Seventy-seventh and Eighty-
sixth streets to the westerly di'ive, and on the
avenue between these streets to transverse roads,
to the American Museum of Natm-al History.
The bill provides for an appropriation of §50,-
000 this year, and the same amount next year,
by the Board of Estunates and Appoi-tiomnents
to do this work.

No progress has been made this week on the
bill repaving Fifth avenue.

Several of the harbor-mastera are in Albany
urging the passage of a bUl makuig the assent of
the Captain of the Port necessary to the leasing
of dock privileges by the Dock Department. The
argument used by these officials is that there are
not sufficient docks, piei-s and bulkheads reserved
in the lower part of the city for local commerce,
for supplies of coal, vegetables and other articles
requu-ed in that section of the city. Further,
that under some of the present leases steamboat
companies engaged in inland commerce use the
docks to store then' vessels m the winter, where¬
as, rights might be reseiwed to use portions of
these piers in the winter to land cargoes of pota¬
toes, fruit, coal, and other ai-ticles of supphes.
They desire the Captain of the Port made one of
the parties m making these leases, so as to reserve
tbis right, whenever possible, to local commerce.

The Act, which passed the Senate several weeks
since, regulating the plumbing of houses hereaf¬
ter constructed in NewYork, meets with determ¬
ined opposition in the Assembly by some of the
representatives from New York. This is the
measure started at a pubhc meeting in the Cooper
Institute last fall, requires all iDlumbers to be
ragistered to do business, and the plans for plumb¬
ing for all builduigs hereafter erected to be sub¬
mitted to the Board of Health, and approved by
that board before the work is done, and gives
that board power to enforce the plvunbtng work
and the dramage to all buildings hereafter
erected to be done in accordance with the plans
so approved. It is a sanitary measure, and the
opposition of some of the members suggests that
they are in the interests of the undertakers.  Th





hst has been aniended so as to apply to Brook¬
lyn also. Its supporters have succeeded tn amend¬
ing it as they desired, to make it efficient and
practical, advanced it to thud reading with in¬
structions to have it read the last time ou Friday.

The Harbor Masters of New York, in order to
obtain facts, as they clahn, to aid in passing the
bill giving to the captains of the port some voice
ill leasing the piere and docks, secured the adop¬
tion of a resolution by the Assembly on Thursday
directing the Committee on Commerce to go to
New York and investigate the building and leas¬
ing of piers by the Dock Department. Their
charge is that the steamboat companies obtain
favors from the Dock Department in leases at
the expense of general commerce. While this
may be good in the point of revenue to the city
from that propei'ty, yet there is such a thing as
discommoding and injuring general commerce by
making revenue from piers and docks the first
and foremost consideration. There is evidently
to be a sharp contest between the Harbor Masters
and the Dock Department on this point.

An important bill, aflfecting the interests of
builders, those who furnish materials for build¬
ings and the mechanics employed in their struc¬
ture, was reported by the Assembly Judiciary
Committee on Thursday, in the form of an amend¬
ment to the Mechanics Lien Law. Its purpose and
object is to prevent builders placing on the buUd¬
ing and lots on which the former is being erected,
what is termed a blanket mortgage, or a mort¬
gage in excess of the money paid and used, and
up to its fuU value, thus malung the hens of the
mechanics and those furnishing materials value¬
less. It places upon the buUders who mortgage
the property the responsibihty of the proof that
the mortgage represents money actuaUy received
and not intended to cut off claims for work ac¬
tuaUy done. It does not affect the honest build¬
er who does not plan to defraud, but those who
deliberately plan to cheat the parties who supply
material and the mechanic who does the work.

An act^^to compel companies and associations
organized to erect apartment houses, whether
known as tenement or French flats, to come un¬
der the restriction of the tenement house act, in
reference to providing ample means of escape
from their buildings or apartment houses, in case
of fii-e, has passed the Senate and is ordered to
third reading in the Assembly.

The street cleaning biU, the outcome of the Coop¬
er Institute meeting, has been presented to the
Senate and placed at once on the general order
calendar, without reference to a standing com¬
mittee. It gives all the power required to the
Mayor to do the work, and in one or two instance
reaches too far. Take for instance the twelfth
section in regard to snow, which is intended to
apply to street raUroads, but iu its phraseology it
would, in case of successive heavy fall of snow,
make every householder who shovels the snow off
fromthe side walk, guilty of a misdemeanor.
Under the general law, the householder is fined
if he does not clean the snow oif his sidewalk
after each stonn, and the section referred to, just
as soon as there has been sufiicient faU of snow to
impede in the least travel in the streets, the
householder commits a misdemeanor if he shovels
any more off his walk into the street. He is thus
fined if he don't clear his walk of snow and com¬
mits a misdemeanor if he does.





NOTES ON MINING.

A subscriber, in a complimentary letter to the
proprietor of The Real Estate Recced, asks
us some questions as follows:

"While in communication with you let me
thank you for your valuable mining news. It
has seemed to me (and I have watched it for axes)
to be the most dismterested, and therefore most
reliable, of all the mining news columns in the
New York papers. Your expose of the ' CaUfor-
nians' in this matter has been thorough and time¬
ly, but your praises of the Haggan's seem to me
strange, in view of the collapse of the Excelsior
Water and Mining Company, which they floated
on this market last year at $23.50 per share after
it had ceased earning dividends, under assurances
that the subscribers were 'as sure of regular div¬
idends as holders of Govei-nment bonds were of
their interest.'   Can you explain this?   I have





so far seen no notice in your columns of the Globe
City, Arizona, mines, into which a good deal of
New York money has gone ? I refer especially to
Silver Nugget, Maco, Morris SUver Era, Golden
Eagle, &c."

What our correspondent says about the Excel¬
sior Water and Munng Company is true enough.
The stock was sold at $22.50, the dividends paid
for a while, when they ceased, and the shares are
now scarcely quotable. But all mining ventures
are treacherous. Mr. Haggan relied upon the
best expert testimony in Cahf oi-nia, Louis Janan,
among others, approving of this Excelsior prop¬
erty. The mistake made was in marketing the
stock at such high figures, and this is a grievance
which applies to aU of Haggan's stocks. The
Excelsior property wUl in all probability come
out aU right in time, for the gold-bearing gravel
is in sight and there is an abundance of water.
But to Haggan & Tevis belongs the credit of put¬
ting some of the best hiuies on this market. They
placed Ontario at $.20. The original subscribers
have aU their investment money back and, we
believe, some $8 per share besides, whUe the mine
seems to be good for ten years ahead. The Home-
stake has proved an excellent investment sp far,
as also has the Deadwood Terra. Still, we have
thought that these two properties were started at
extravagant figures. We have spoken well of
these stocks, without any interested motive, and
have had no business relations with the firm of
Haggan & Lounsberry.

The SUver Nugget has not proved a profitable
stock to deal in. Its management has been sus¬
picious. We have no special information touch¬
ing the other mines spoken of by our correspond-
dent. As a matter of fact, however, with the ex¬
ception of Silver King and two Tombstone mines,
regular dividends have not been paid by any of
the Arizona mines.

An important movement has been developed in
Sutro Tunnel stock. There were heavy pur¬
chases upon reports that John W. Mackey had
secured 900,000 shares from the McCalmonts.
Sutro wUl probably be a good stock to 'deal in, as
it wiU be subject to wide fluctuations. It has aU
the possibiUties of the best mines on the Com¬
stock, and can penetrate a great deal of virgin
ground of its own. It has ent through eleven
ledges, which give promising assays, and aU the
active mines in the Comstock are forced to use it
for drauiage purposes, aud it may eventuaUy
become valuable as an outlet for low grade rock.

Its possession by Mackey does not add much to
its value intrinsically, for the bonanza people do
not work properties for the benefit of any one but
themselves. The mUls owned by Fan-, Flood and
Mackey are now standing idle and the Tunnel
may be worked to supply ore to keep the miUs at
work. From then' location, however, perhaps it
would pay to erect new miUs at the mouth of the
Tunnel, to be run by water, which pours from it
in a never faiUng stream. Some Sutro Tunnel
stock would probably be handy to have in the
house, though it may never declare a dividend.

We hear very good reports of the SUver Eling
Mining Company, of Montezuma, Summit
County, Col. The ore is said to give an average
assay of 437 ounces of sUver and 47 of lead.
There seems to be an abundance of ore and ground;
a mill is in operation, extensive improvements
have been made, and it is beheved that dividends
will shortly be paid. As yet this is a private
company, but when it comes upon the market its
merits are such as ought to give it the attention
of investors.

Bull Domingo is lower in price. The work of
sinking the shaft has been resumed, so as to open
two more levels. The roads are in such condi¬
tion that the company have decided to stop con¬
centrating and wait untU the raih-oad reaches the
neighborhood of the mine, which will be some
time before the 1st of May. So far, the history
of this mine has been a case of great expectations
unreaUzed. The gentlemen connected with the
Central road, who paid $10@$12 for what they
cannot now sell for $2.50, probably do not feel
that they have made much in their first mining
venture. Yet the mine may be a very good prop¬
erty, and, ia view of the opinions of good judge