922





The Real Estate Record





October 1. ISSl





The following comparative table shows
the official business in real e.state for the past
three weeks. It should be borne in mind
that there was one business day short during
the past week, and the week ending Septem¬
ber 14th also shows only five days. But this
table shows better than anything else can
the weekly growth of the real estate busi¬
ness of the city of New York, as shown by
the Conveyances and Mortgages.

Week   N.Y,    Am't,   No,     No, aSd    Am't,     No,

end    Cifcy       in-    Nom-    & 34fch         ia-      nom-

ing.  Cons,   volved   inal    Wards,     volved.     inal.

Sept,                    $                                     S

14        75       809.071     25          12          24,150

21      111     1,,381,993     36          16          45.928          6

28        89     1,355,333    21          19          90,593          4

Week Morfc-   Am't,      No,      Am'fc,     No. to    Am"t

end-   gag-         in-     Five         in-        T.&        in-

mg,     es,     Tolved, perct.   volved.  Ins Cos. volved.

Sepfc.                   S                        S                        8

14       103 .      79^,1.53     13         224,700       17        227,900

21       149     1,159,231     29         235,681       28        464.4.50

28       117     1,076,874     29         469,100       27        562,500





The blue feeling which is showing itself
in Wall street may be due to the exhibitions
of violent temper by two of our city jour-
aals. It was hoped that the death of Presi¬
dent Garfield would bring about an era of
good feeling, and that the city press at
least would feel disposed to treat President
Arthur with tlie most distinguished con¬
sideration. But the Tribune and Times
have opened a savage attack upon Roscoe
Conkling, knowing him to be the intimate
friend and adviser of the President. It
seems that party and personal acrimony
survives the direst of national calamities.
The fear now is that the administration
party will fall to pieces on account of a
faction fight, and that necessary financial
legislation wiil consequently come to naught.
---------» ■»■ .----------

Mayor Grace is winning golden opinions
for the intelligence and faithfulness which
he shows in the discharge of his duties as a
Mayor. He has been visiting the tenement
houses, accompanied by his secretary and
certain officers of the Board of Health. If
the charter had given him any authority,
what an admirable Mayor he would have
been.





A NEW AND CHEAP MOTOR.
"It really seems as if a French inventor has
solved the problem of a motive power so cheap
that it will supercede steam and render unneces¬
sary the use of electricity. It has been tested in
France with excellent results and the theory of
this discovery is so simple, that it is surprising
it has not been thought of before. This new
power is obtained by freeing the gas contained in
the carbonate of lime. This gas can be recon-
densed and store i to be used over again. This
new invention is thus described by a French
paper:

A great part of the crust of the earth is consti¬
tuted of carbonate of chalk, which contains
under a very condensed form, a gas susceptible,
of freeing itself easily and of compressing itself
to 40 atmospheres by proper pressure, and conse¬
quently of producing a like great force on free¬
ing itself.

To move a train of cars by carrying a sufficient
amount of this chalk and an acid such as would
decompose it, would be impossible, even if the
material cost nothing, because the mass would
be so heavy that the weight would neutralize the
force. It was ouly, then, near to great reservoirs
of chalk and acid that this force could be used,
but thanks to the progress recently made by
science that to-day it is possible to construct ves¬
sels which will safely transport without loss this
gas to any point required.

It is this gas which to-day is used by the air
tramways of the system Mekarski, which are in
use in several cities in Prance, Every wagon
carries with it gas compressed to 30 atmospheres;





•at each station the empty cylinders are changed
and replaced by full ones, containing a new
provision of gas sufficient to last to the next
stopping place, where they are again changed.
The great merit of this new force is that, unlike
electricity, which can only be generated by steam
power, and the con jequent use of coal, this gas
compresses itself easily to 30 to 40 atmospheres
as soon as, by chemical action, one frees it from
the carbonate of chalk, the sole expense being the
cost of chalk, which is produced for nothing as it
is the chief constituent of the surface of the
globe, and chloric acid, which pi-oduces carbonic
acid, can be made without cost if one only seeks
it in manufactories, where it forms a residuum
which they are often embarrassed to rid them¬
selves of.

In this form, compressed at from 30 to 40 at¬
mospheres, this gas is easily transportable, a
cubic yard of it weighing not more than 120
pounds, while a mass of water of the same
volume would weigh at least a ton.

The cylinders used in the cars of the tramways
of Mekarski, containing a quantity of air com¬
pressed to 30 atmospheres, and sufficient to draw
a car containing thirty people about two miles,
at the rate of twenty-five miles per hour, have a
capacity of six hundred gallons.

The value of this discovery cannot be over¬
estimated. Coal has at length a competitor in
common chalk, a far more abundant product of
the earth surface. This new motive power is in
actual use, and seems destined to work mighty
changes in the industries of the world.





WHAT WILLIAM M, LENT SAYS,
Mr, Lent is just  back from California, this
time to stay.   The writer had some conversation
with him, the substance of which is as follows:

There may, he thinks, be something in the new
Comstock df>al. If a bonanza is not unearthed,
there is a promise of one which should be
thoroughly tested, Mr, Lent paid a visit to
Bodie, just before coming on East, He has a dia¬
gram in his possession, showing the workings at
the bottom of the shafts in the Bodie and Standard
mines. The Lent shaft is down 733 feet and is
about on a line with the Standard 1,000 foot
shaft. All the way down in the Lent shaft was
found mineralized rock; from assays taken every
few feet it is found that the rock runs from $1
up to $200 a ton. The Standard people are now
drifting from the Lent shaft to their boundary
lin?, the inteni ion being to connect with the east
cross-cut on the 1,000 foot level. There is also a
cross-cut from the Lent shaft to the Mono, The
Jupiter ground now belongs to the Bodie consoli¬
dated, and it is said that the claims cost them
$30,000, but there will be no asse.ssment in Mr.
Lent's judgment, because of the continued pro¬
ductiveness of the old Bodie workings. Mr, Lent
thinks it is not impossible that a great bonanza
may yet be found between the Bodie and Stand¬
ard grounds. He says everything looks that
way. He alleges that Superintendent Irwin of
the Standard declares there are three years divi¬
dends in sight for the Standard mine. The
richest workings are not touched, Mr, Lent
says Oro and the Noondays may yet become
mines, but he does not feel disposed to indorse
any olher Bodie property, A railroad is now
under way between Bodie and Benton, partly
laid along the borders of Mono lake. It will
largely reduce the price of lumber in Bodie,
Bodie is now within 40 miles of a railroad which
connects directly with San Francisco, and freight
as well as lumber will be cheaper, Mr, Lent
further says, that the Bodie region is apparently
a continuation of the Comstock mineral belt.
He thinks the countiy between Virginia City
and Bodie will be found to be mineral bearing,
and perhaps thick with bonanzas. He is a large
holder of Standard and has more Bodie than ever
before, Mr, Lent speaks hopefully of Big Pitts¬
burgh, but says it may take time to develop it.





There is nothing of special note in the mining
field this week. The deal in the Comstocks is
still under way, but no bonanza has as yet been





discovered. There is a big Mexican property to
be brought upon the market when the proper
time comes. It is to be a magnificent swindle.
Mr, George Roberts will probably be one of the
victims. His friends should advise him not to
purchase, in view of his unfortunate experience
in Hukill, Freeland, Chrysolite and the State
Line mines. There may be a boom in mining
stocks this fall, but the outlook is not just at
present promising.





The tax rate for the present year wiU be about
2,67, and increase over last year sufficiently great
to cause surprise among those tax-payers who
have thought that with the addition of taxable
new houses and a promised decrease in city ex¬
penditures that they were justified in believing
there would be a decrease in their tax bills in¬
stead of an increase. The fact, however, that
$80,000,000 of bank capital wliich hgretofore has
always appeared in the tax list was this year
stricken out, owing to the decision of the courts
that the banks were not compelled to pay it, is
the principal reason for the addition to the tax
rate. If the city had a few more officers of the
stamp of those who are in charge of the collec¬
tion of taxes due from ferries and railroads, there
would be a prospect of some relief in the near
future, as it is certain that if personal property
paid anything like one-quarter of the amount it
should be, the rate of taxation for the whole city
would not be more than 1 per cent.
<«►--------------------

At length action has been taken to build proper
sewer.=? where population is thickest in the 23d
and 24th wards. Up to this time the legal
authorities -.^ould not take action, because of
what they deemed the insufficient money patron¬
age involved in the work; but now until 9^
o'clock on the lith day of October, bids are to be
received at the Department of Public Parks, for
constructing sewers in 146th street between Third
and Brook avenues, with branches in Willis
avenue; in 145th and 144th streets between Third
and Brook avenues; in 143d street between Alex¬
ander and Brook avenues, and others. Bids will
also be received for macadamizing Broadway in
the 24th ward.





The contract for filling in the low and sunken
land, between One Hundred and Forty-third and
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth streets, and Eighth
and Ninth avenues, has been given out and the
work is to be completed in 360 days fj-om Septem¬
ber 5th, 1881. This is a verj i nportant maiter for
West Side property owners, as the filling in of
this meadow will do away with the last draw¬
back to realty in this section of the city.





The Tax Arrears Commission of Brooklyn, has
largely reduced the burdens upon realty which
the owners were about surrendering. In many
cases on non-productive lots the arrears have been
reduced 50 per cent. The property, if not re¬
deemed by the owner within ninety days after
the decision has been filed, will be sold at the end
of the year and an absolute title given.





It has been proposed to add twenty acres to
Hart's Island, by filling in ground now under
water with city dirt and ashes. Mayor Grace
and Inspector Coleman think this is a better way
of disposing of city refuge than sending it out to





Delinquent taxpayers should remember the
great tax sale takes place at the City Hall at
noon of Monday, October 10th, AU property on
which the owners have neglected to pay taxes
until the legal limit, wiU be sold at auction on
that day.





It is proposed to build a bridge over the Har¬
lem river at 207th street, so as to make the North¬
ern railway depot at Fordham accessible to the
Inwood people. They are willing to bear th©
expense and have asked the Park Commissioners
for authority to do the work.