EAL  Estate







AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXX.





NEW TOEK, SATUEDAT, JULT 15. 1882.





No. 748





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

TERMS:

ONE TEAR, in advance.....$6.00

Communications should be addressed to

€. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Busfaieas Manager.





There are not nearly as many first-class
private residences in the market as there
were one year ago, nor are there more than
one-half as many in the course of construc¬
tion, for the purpose of sale, as there were
at that time. If there should be a buying
movement set in among the large num¬
ber of persons who are now looking for
handsome residences, it would be but a short
time before there would be an actual scar¬
city in this description of realty. A very
large number of builders, who have hereto¬
fore confined themselves to the erection of
private houses, have, within the last few
months, announced their intention of erect¬
ing apartment houses. By the way, is there
no danger of the building of apartment
houses being overdone ?





WATER RENTS.

Commissioner of Public Works, Hubert O.
Thompson, has recently issued, under the
laws of 1871, Chap. 574, Sec. 5, a set of regu¬
lations establishing a new scale of water
rents for this city, which will go into gen¬
eral effect on May Isc, 1883. By way of pre¬
face, we may say that what New York City
wants is good water and plenty of it, and if
we cannot have it as free as the air we
breathe, then let us have it at as small a cost
as possible.

It is claimed by the Commissioner of Pub¬
lic Works that the large increase in the
water tax to be paid upon certain kinds of
property, and upon all water closets except
those approved by the Department, is not
for the purpose of increasing the receipts,
but to prevent the wanton waste of water.
To our minds it is diSicult ta 'determine
what is waste of water, for if it is
allowed to run without being applied to any
specific use, it will flush the sewers, or help
to flush them, and thus assist in carrying off
disease-breeding refuse.

It is upon the owners of what are termed
flat houses that this new scale of water rents
will fall heaviest, "Each flat or suit of
rooms for one family shall be charged ten
dollars per year where they have hot and
cold water, stationary wash tubs, bath
and water closet, with the privilege of
using meter." Under the present regula¬
tions an average flat house, say 20 feet wide
and five stories high, is charged a water
rent of $10, while under the new regulations
the charge will be $50. The effect of such
an extortionate charge can have but one re¬
sult, the raising of the rents for apartments,
and so will, after all, fall on those who
can least afford to bear it.   We almost for¬





got to mention that if the owner of the
premises does not desire to be mulcted in
this way, the Department grants him the
privUege of putting in a water meter, which
he can do at a cost of anywhere from $15 to
$300, and paying for ihe water actually used
at the rate of ten cents per hundred cubic
feet.

The other most notable change in the
charges for water rents is in the matter of
water closets, which are now uniformly
charged $2.00 each. The new regulations
say:

Water Closets and Urinals.—To each
building on a lot one water closet having sewer
connection is allowed without charge, each
additional water closet or urinal will be charged
as hereinafter stated. All closets or urinals in
which the Croton water from any service pipe
or hydrant connecting with a privy vault or
man-hole shall be charged two dollars for each
seat per annum, whether in a building or on any
oiher portion of the premises.

Water Closet Rates.—For hoppers, of any
form, when water is supplied dii'ect from the
Croton supply, through any form of the so-called
single or double valves, hopper cocks, stop cocks,
self-closing cocks, or any valve or cock of any de¬
scription attached to the closet, each per year,
twenty dollars.

For any pan closet, or any of the forms of valve
plunger, or other water closet not before men¬
tioned, suppUed with water as above de¬
scribed, per year, ten dollars.

For any form of hopper, or water closet, sup¬
plied from the ordinary style of cistern filled with
ball cock, and overflow pipe that communicates
with the pipe to the waterjcloset, so that ovei"flow
will run into the hopper or water closet, when
ball cock is defective, or from which an unlimited
amount of water can be drawn by holding up the
handle, per year, each, five dollars.

For any form of hopper or water closet,
supplied from any of the forms of waste-prevent¬
ing cisterns, that are approved by the Engineer
of the Croton Aqueduct, which are so constructed
that not more than three gallons of water can be
drawn at each lift of the handle, or depression
of the seat, if such cisterns are provided with an
overflow pipe, such overflow pipe must not
connect with the water-closet, but be carried
like a safe waste, as provided by the Board of
Health Regulations, per year, two dollars.

This will probably be very unsatisfactory
to such persons as have hopper closets in
their houses supplied direct from the Croton
supply, and the increase in water rent from
$2 to $20 per annum for each hopper closet,
and from $2|to $10 for each pan closet, certain¬
ly does seem steep. If this enormous in¬
crease is enforced, theDepartment of Public
Works should be able to save enough money
from water rents alone, in a very brief peri¬
od, to erect a new reservoir with ample ca¬
pacity to supply all the Croton that may
be needed at a reasonable cost. The Depart¬
ment have also a cistern, which is approved
by the Engineer of the Croton Aqueduct,
which naay be introduced for the use of wa¬
ter closets, when the charge wiU be only $3
per year.

The new regulations also strike a blow
at our manufacturing interests, which are
already overburdened with excessive taxa¬
tion, by raising the charge for water used
through a meter, from 1}4 to 10 cents per
100 cubic feet. The power is claimed by the
De^ artment to place a meter in any house
where they may think water is being wasted
but there are grave doubts of the legality of
any such proceeding and this matter will
probably be tested in the courts.





THE WAR IN THE EAST.
Alexandria has fallen, and bj this time i^
nothing more than a smouldering ruin. So
the much-talked-of and unequal struggle
between England and Egypt has commenced.
Whoever may be right, and upon this point
there is but little difference of opinion, the
result of the war will be disastrous in the
extreme to Arabi Pasha and his followers.
If England is, as alleged, fighting for the
preservation of international compacts and
in defence of the Suez Canal, she should
never cease the struggle until these are
definitely assured. That Arabi, with nis
whole army, are in full but orderly retreat,
with Cairo, a point a little more than one
hundred miles distant from Alexandria, as
their destination, we are informed by dis¬
patches from the seat of war. That he will
be enabled to prolong tho struggle for some
time to come seems probable, as that city is
strongly fortified, and he will be able to
make a stand there long enough to greatly
strengthen his fighting forces, after which
he will, in all likelihood, retreat up the Nile
and continue the war.

As we have already intimated, there can
be no doubt of the ultimate result of the
contest between England and Egypt—the
defeat and occupation of the latter by the
former is a foregone conclusion. But that the
existing jealousies between the Continental
Powers may make the final settlement of
the trouble a very serious question cannot
be doubted, still that there is great imme¬
diate danger of a general European war as
intimated in some quarters we do not appre¬
hend. If such a struggle should be the out¬
come of this comparatively insignificant
affair, we may congratulate ourselves that
no harm can come to us as a nation, and
that an almost unlimited market would be
opened up to us for the sale of our enor¬
mous crop of cereals as well as cotton, beef,
and other commodities.

There ia one feature about the bombard¬
ment and consequent evacuation of Alex
andria, for which there can be no ex¬
cuse, we allude to the horrible massa¬
cre of hundreds of Christians by the Bedo¬
uins and escaped convicts. Admiral Sey¬
mour must of weU known the character of
the people against whom he was fighting,
and that he should of commenced the bom¬
bardment of the city in the face of all the
facts before he had any available land force
to take possession of it, and protect the
large number of Christians whom he must
have known were there, seems inexplicable.
There had been weeks of preparation, and if
there had not been time to gather a portion
of the English army, which we do not be¬
lieve, then the destruction of the city should
have been postponed a little longer xmtil a
proper land force were at hand to prevent
the recurrence of the many horrrible scenes,
similar to those that took place at Cawpore
in India, at Klhyber Pass in Afghanistan,
and at Isandula, Cape of Good Hope.
Admiral Seymour should be held to a strict
k {u:countability for the disaster.