Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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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