October 30, 1897.





Record and Gu'ĸle





633







;Hm^i868,

DeAfltb TO Rp^LEsTWt.BuiLDIlJb A;_^ITEeTlIĨ^>{cUSElIOlDDEGCHM10li-ĩ
BLfSn/ESS AÎÍD TheHES OF ŨEJÍER^i lĩftEIÍ.ES7^

PRICE     PER   YEAR     IN   ADVANCE.   SJX   OOLLARS.

J'nhliylieil ccvnj ,'^iiliirday      ' '.       ;'
Tiiiiiíl'udSiĩi             .    . .      ,      .             CORTr,AKUT 1370.

Oommunicatlons should hi> addruased to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.

■T. 1. LINDSEY. 7îí(Síii(w,s- Mcnĸujer.                      ^^___

"Entcred fil 'he l'isl Office ut .Wĸ; yoil:. X. 1',, as seeond-rtiiss ■iiiallcr."





\'ol. LX.





OCTOBER 30, 1S97.





No. 1,546





WITH ono excoptiou to lic noted liereaftei', nll tbe uiaL'-
kets are.dull, as ís usual at tbis time of the year. Tlie
reasons for this have boen given ouly too receutly iu this col-
umu to make it requisite to niention them npw. , The Stock
Market Is not the exccption to the general rule, haviug got into
:í. rut from 'îvhich thore seems to be no chaDce of rescuing ĩt
for somc time. So long as tbo market is limited there wiU be
•A danger of lower priees, because wheuever a block of a par-
líeular isstie has to be sold ĩt not onlj', by forcĩng tlie market,
lowers the price for tbat issue, but also Bympathetically affects
all others, aud compels liouidatiou. That thero is no desiro to
onter on a uew bull movement îs evident from tbe fact tbat the
pxcellént opôratiug statements comîng to hand from day to day
from the railroad eompanies faii to raise tbe prices of the se-
curities direcíly afíected, or at best raises tbem only momeu-
tarily. ■ TJuder tbe surfaee, of course, theso statemeuts are not
witboUt îufluence. They serve to sustain tbe coũfldence of
holdei's of securitics and thus keep off tbe market much stoek
that would otherwise be ofCered. Good railroad earnings so
generálĩy distributed miíst also be taken as an indicatiou of
imprOved industrial and commercĩal cooditions, so that wben
we say the times are dull we use thc term relatively to an al-
tered couditiou of affairs. For example, at tbis time last year
tliere was a conditioii of business compared with wbĩch tbe
present is one of activity. The esception previously alluded
to ís the wheat market, whicb bas showu uew strengtb this
week; but before tbis can be considered altogetber satisfactory
its causes must be made known. It is said to be caused by a
revival of the foreigu domand, but back of that is au anticipa-
tion tbat the govorument report to be issued in the eoming
week will show tliat the receut drougbt curtailed wintcr wbeat

.■íOWÍUg.





REPORTS of the BritiHb bauks for tbe year euded Juue
30th last, íabulated, sbow a síationary coudition as to in-
vestments, a decline iu reserve and in discounts, but a large
iucrease in loaus. High prices keep tbese institutĩons out of
the security market, and the low rates for mouey compelled
them to pusb that market as mucb as possible in order to míiiu-
taiu proflts ou their operatious. The receut movement iu "Kau-
garoos," or West Australiau gold mining sbares, is based upou
.1 large iucrease of the gold output iu the new fields. Tbe pro-
duction for West Australia for the flrst nine months of this
year amounts to 451,037 ozs., as eompared with tbe following-
for the whole years uamed: 180G, 281,265 ozs.; 1895, 231,513 ozs.;
1894, 287,132 ozs.; 1893, 110,890 ozs. Trouble in tbe Laneasbire
cotton industry is likely to bo averted by an agreement betweeu
employers and employod, based ou a reductiou of 5 per eent iu
wages and a spell of short time. The couíinued narrowing of
Frencb commercial thougbt is displayed by the argumeuts in
the Paris newspapers against tbe émployment of tbe resources
of the great banks to float foreign loans, which, it is claimed,
injures the bome state issues. Tbe governmeQt is also said to
have iDtervened to preveut an Algerian order for rails aud
sleepers going to Belgium, iu order that it might bc secured by
a French flrm. Iii course of time, presumably, drumming ĩu
France will be a state monopoly, like tbe sale of tobacco or tho
making of matcbes. At Beriin the money rates are 5 per ceut
for discounts and 6 per cent for loans, rates that, notwith-
standing tbat tbey are high euougb to be oppressîve to busi-
ness, are expected to prevail uutil the end of the year, or uutil
tbe large outflow of money iuto the hands of tbe public makes
It more plentiful. The iron trade, wbile good iu Germany, ia
but poor in Austria, as the failure of the sheet iron union bas
proved. Moreover, the losses in crops are being keenly felt and
have not a Ilttle to do with the present bad home political sit-
iiatlon.





■HE New York Court of Appeals this moulh (October 5.
1897,) afilrmed tbe docision of the Supreme COurt îu the
caso of Blauck against Sadlier, that íf a purebaser at auetiou.
wbere property is sold subject lo a mortgage discovers that tbe
niortgage is payable in gold that.ísnot a grouud- 'fûr setting'
aside tbo sale. . The Court bolds, by Cbief Justice Audrews.
tliat iu view of the lcgislatiou aud govcrnmotital action
ou tbe subjecl, the coutiugeucy that tho tíuited States will
r-easo to maintain the parity of tbe currency aud refusc to pay
iis obligations iu gold is too remote to raise an assumption or
implication tbat au exeeutory eoutract for tbe sale of laud, sub-
jeet to a mortgage, of which tbe amount, rate of intcrest and
time to ruu were staled in tbe-terius of sale, withoutauy rep-
rcsentation made as to fhe mediuTĩi oî payment, was mado lipou
íbe basîs of the mortgage boing payabio generally in any lawful
currency and uot in a particular kiud of lawful mouey, as
gold. It is not a valid objectiou, ou tbe purcbaser, to tbe com-
pletion of any executory coutract fcr tbe sale of land subject
to a speciíĩc mortgage, tbat a speeial clause in the mortgago
making it payablo in gold was uot disclosed aí íhe timethe
contract was made, provided tliere was not deeelt or misrepre-
sontatiou, aud it appears that íhc silence of the eontract did
uot affect the vahie of the property or influence 4hé púrchaser
iu making bis bid, and that it will Dot impose auy additional
burden on Iilm iu case the contract is eompleted.
■ —.-------------------»------------------—

The  New Lien Law."'

By Bdward L. Heydecker of tbe New York Bar.





CHAPTER VII.

THE NEWLIEN  LAW:   CHANGES AND AMENDMENTS.

■^■I-IERE is now in progress, and has been for some years, a
■^ revisiou of the general laws of the State of New Xork. By
tbis work it is intended to rocodify and arrange symmetrieally
tbe whole mass of statute law which has bceu accumulating.
year by year, since the last revision. At. the last session, the
Legislature rectived tb-ĩ roport of the Statutory Revisiou Com-
niissiou on ilio siil'jcct of lieus and ODaeted it as chnptcr XLIX.
of the Gcneral Laws, to take eftect on September 1, 1897.
I'rlor to 1885, the lien law was în great confusion, there being
a large number of statotes iu force and some applying to one
c-ouuty, some to anotber. Tiie act of 1885 repealed most of
these and substituted one generaĩ law for Ibe wliole State.
This was a great gain, for not only was the statute an advance
upou auy that bad preceded it but by makiug the law uniform
througbout tbe State it gave an element of stability to the
syMteiu of lU'otcctidu to meehanics by means of a lien, and, on
the other hand, enabled owuers to kuow fully the uature of'tbe-
claims to be made ou thom. But useful as was the act of 1885,
it was bampered by cumbersome pbraseology, and it coDtained
many weaknesses, botb for lieuors and owners.

Thc new licn law has followed the act of 1885 iu tbe main,
and has incorporated also the act of 1878, relating to liens ou
public buildiũgs, and the other minor acts which related to sep--.
arate subjects, such as gas aud oil wells. The uew act has- a
careful liue of defluitions wbich does away with the cumber-
some wording of tbe former act and makes the meaning clearer,
and tbe sections relatiug only to practiee are transferred to-the
Code of Civil rrocedure, where tbey belong.

But a number of împortant cbangos have been inserted iĩi the
new law, some of which have beeu pointed out in the forego-
ing papers. Some of these are in favor of the lienor, some lu
favor the cwuer, aud others are simply in the way of greater
certainty aud uniformity of practice.

Those in favor of the lienor are the foUowing: Tlie extension
of tlie lien to work done heneath the. surface of real estate; de-
claring that tbe romoval of any part of the real property sub-
joc tto tiic licu sha.'I not free such part from tbe lieu or affiect
the lien on the remaining part; declaring voidauy mortgage
lien or incuiubrance made by an owuer of real property for the
purpose of avoiding tbe lieu, etc; providing that the death of
the owuer before liou flled sbaĩl not aflfect tbe right to file a
lieu; giving the lieu priority over advancos made upou a con-
tract by an owner for an improvemeut of real property, which
coutains an optiou to the contractor, his successor or assigns
to purchase the property, if such advances were made after the
time when the labor began or the first item of material was
furnished, as stated iu the uotice of lien; providing that in the
event of confiicting claims under an operation involving 'aev-
eral parcela of property, each lienor shall have prioriíy upon the
particular buildiug or premisea where bis labor is performed or
his materials nre.used; providiug that a contraet for the sale of
ĩand:With a bullding loan and any modlfication thereof, must





•Coprrlght, 1897, hj "Eecord and Gulde."