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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 12, no. 280: July 26, 1873

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. YoL. XII. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1873. No. 280 ilSPECIAL NOTICE. Now that Mansard Roofs have been declared extra¬ hazardous, by the Board of Fire Underwriters, on account of damage from fire, we would advise builders to try CoL. A. Derkom's processes to make Mansard Roofs fire-proof. He claims to make any constrnction fire-proof efl'ectively and economically. EXEMPT MORTGAGES FROM TAXATION. Last ■winter, during the session of the Legis¬ lature, an attempt was made to exempt mort¬ gages from taxation. The countiy members, however, though they did not actually oppose it, did not favor the idea, simply because they did not understand the movement. For this purpose time has been needed, aud the rural press has since set to work to explain the advantages to be derived from such an enact¬ ment. Still, the press cannot do everything. Constituencies, especially in our State, are not easily moved by their respective organs, and often they instruct their representatives at Albany to act in diametrical [opposition to what has been urged by their "papers." They therefore must be appealed to directly, and it is for that purpose that the West Side Asso¬ ciation of this city has set to work to coUec': funds and educate the masses as to tlie neces¬ sity of an enactment which will do more toward settling the unoccupied portion of Manhattan Island than all the other schemes so often hinted at but never executed. Meet¬ ings will have to be held here and there favor¬ ing the movement, circulars have to be printed and distributed all over the State; and in some localities measures will have to be taken to secure the election to the next Legitelature of only such men as will favor this all-import¬ ant enact \ent. Tlie Governor, Imowing the wants of the city, favors it; and so there will be no difficulty in that direction; but the Gov¬ ernor cannot make laws; he can only execute ^ them. A Legislatm-e favoring the enactment of a law exempting mortgages from taxation must be secured, and in order to do this the West Side property owners should support— one and all—the movement set on foot by the West Side Association, and contribute W their share toward the perfection of a plan which for once and always will settle the up¬ per part of the island. Now is the time to do the effective work. Next winter it may be too late, and another year will have elapsed before the work can be actually accomplished. It should be understood that the West Side As- ^ sociation, which initiated this movement, is not a political organization. It is composed ^ of the leading property holders of -the West Side, belonging to both political parties, and is exclusively devoted to West Side improve¬ ments, many of which owe their origin entii'ely to the ideas and active interference of this public-spirited oi'ganizatiou. THE V/ATER SUPPLY. We again approach the subject of water supply upon the suggestions of Commissioner Van Nort's repoi-t. There is ample confirma¬ tion of an unusual drotight, concerning wliich none have disputed. We cannot, for the pres¬ ent, share tlie general appreheusion of the ex¬ haustion of the contents of the storage reser¬ voirs. The present storage capacity of our resei-voirs is 6,070,000,000 gallons, which will be increased by the new reservoir to be built 3,700,000,000 gallons more, amounting to a total of 10,270,000,000 gallons. The increas¬ ing wants of the city will, in not many yeras, deplete even this source of supply; and each recurring year compels, through other sources, a further decrease. The hills of the counties in which the Croton and its tributaries take their rise are gradually being denuded of timber. Each year lays bare a greater ex¬ panse of rough and sterile country which yields no moisture except that conferred upon it from heaven, and under the rays of the sun fail even to retain in coagulation as it should far into summer months, the ice and snows of the preceding -winter. The valuable precept so lately taught by the State Commissioners of Parks m recommending the preservation of our Northern forests for the ultimate uses of the whole Hudson River valley becomes of greater significance when we direct its princi¬ ple to the lands lying within the control of our municipality. Our lakes and reservoirs should be arbored even if their environs be restored to all the characteristic of a jungle, leaving such approaches only as will answer for the purposes of inspection and protection. The danger of deficient water will approach more rapidly through the intervention of nature than the demands of our population, and when the famine does come we are likely to b» sadly unprepared, though letting well enough alone. It is time that tax payers wearied of the continual drain upon their re¬ sources, but not time for them to potter along feebly temporizing with the inevitable. That our reservoirs can be built and mains con¬ structed with due economy and diligence, is as true as that om- people are apathetic, waking under the influence of a powerful shock, only to relapse before they have cleared away the last vestiges of their municipal shame and dishonor. There are valuable suggestions in the report of the Commissioner of Public Works. We are glad to renew our belief that the situation is not as desperate as many have supposed, but we cannot submit to a placid contemplation of the limited expedients pro¬ posed for our ftiture accommodation. To-day the dwellers in Harlem and the up¬ per portions of the city are suffering discom¬ forts from a supply of water which does not pass through our Central Park reservoir, where it can be filtered, but are obliged to drink a fluid which, valuable as it may be in extremity, is unfit for the comforts and desires' of a large portion of our population. THE COMMISSIONERS OF ACCOUNTS. Mayor Havemeyer has, after careful delib¬ eration, selected as Commissioners of Accounts George Bowland and Lindley J. Howe, who, with John Wheeler, President of the Depart¬ ment of Taxes and Assessments, are to per¬ form the duties required of such a commission by the terms of the charter. At a meeting held for organization, Mr. Wheeler was chosen to ijreside over the new board. The duties of these Commissioners—if faitlifully performed —w^ill disclose an inner history in some of the departments which it earnestly concerns our tax payers to know. A careful examina¬ tion of the accounts of the Comptroller and Chamberlain is to be made every three months or of tener at discretion, and a report of tlie re¬ sults of this examination is to be published in the City Recoi'd. The powers of the Commis¬ sioners are made commensurate with then' duties, and nothing but public,indifference win suffer, if it does not sanction, any neglect on the part of the gentlemen named. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC "WORKS. Department of Public Works, ^ Commissioner's Office, Room 19, City Hall, } New York, July 19,1873. J In accordance with sec. 110, chap. 335, laws of 1873, the Department of Public Works makes the following report of its transactions for the week ending this day:— Public moneys received and deposited with the City Chamberlain :— For Croton water rent ......................§108,985.03 For penalties on water rent.................. 147.60 For tapping Croton pipes......■............. 132.00 For vault permits............................ 1,734.75 For sewer permits........................... 330.00 For sewer pipe sold to contractors........... 253.56 Total..............................'........SH1,582.94 Certificates of the cost of the following im¬ provements were transmitted to the Board of Assessors: sewer in Frankfort Street, between Cliff and Jacob streets. Sewer in Tenth Av¬ enue, east side, between Eighteenth and Nine¬ teenth streets. Sewer in Pearl Street, between Old Slip and a point one hundred and eighty feet soutli of Old Slip. Sewer in Tenth Av¬ enue, west side, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets. Receiving' basin at southeast corner Forty-fourth Street and Broadway. ReceiAring basin at northeast cor¬ ner Forty-third Street and Broadway. Re¬ ceiving basin at northeast comer Eleventh Street and Thirteenth Avenue. Croton water has been introdueed,in Seven¬ ty-second Street, between Lexington and Tiiird ayenues.