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December 24,1881 The Real Estate Record. •1187. mine, the Georgia Consolidated, is really doing very well. Mr. Francis expresses every confi¬ dence in the future of the mine. The Silver Cliff mine has stopped and shut down, and the probabilities are that it will not be reopened for some time, if ever. One of two things is very certain. Either the average ore is too low grade for working or some new process is needed to save the chloride silver in the Silver Cliff district. The people who claim to repre¬ sent the stock say that they cannot get any coal to the mUl, due to a washout on the railroad. They say they are taldng advantage of the pres¬ ent depression to buy the stock, but the proba- bihties are that they are lying. ------------» ^ ♦ ■i .----------- THE RIGHTS OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS. In the case of Harper vs. Goodall, Judge Daly, in the Common Pleas, makes a decision of vital interest to real estate brokers and their cus¬ tomers. The following is the decision: J. F. Daly, J.—The plaintiff had no personal transaction with defendant, neither had his clerks and agents. The latter acted upon the assump¬ tion that defendant's wife and daughter had authority to employ them. No authority can be assumed in a case like the present. The employ¬ ment of a real estate broker to rent the premises in which the family lives is not within the scope of the ordinary agency of the wife, and special authority or ratification must be shown. There was no ratification, for defendant fs not shown to have accepted the fruits of plaintiff's efforts with full knowledge of the facts. The proper course for the plaintiff would have been to secure a direct employment from defendant, or direct authority from him to treat with the latter's wife or daughter on the subject. It would be too severe to hold the head of a family responsible for such admissions and de¬ clarations as a shrewd broker or his active clerk, who is " working up the case" (return, pages 6 and 7), may be able to extort from a wife and daughter or other members of the family. The judgment should be affir-^ied. Van fljesen, J., concurs. Henry T. Dewey and George W. Brush for appeUant; D. M. Porter and George H. Kracht for respondent. Decided November 5, 1881. The aldermen have decided to lease the Stewart building for the accommodation of the scattered municipal offices, provided the rent is not un¬ reasonable. The property oivners on Thirtieth street, be¬ tween Ninth avenue and the Hudson River, want that thoroughfare paved with the granite or block in place of the present cobble stone pave¬ ment. As it is the Central Road which uses this block so much, it is a pity that corporation could not be made to lay the pavement. And now the Law Telegraph Company wants to lay telegraph wires above and below the pave¬ ment. There is to be a new ferry from the foot of East Twenty-third street to Quay street, in the eastern district of Brooklyn. It is also proposed to have a ferry from the foot of Liberty street, North River, to Communipaw. The city is grow¬ ing, and will have more ferries before we have less. The name of the Eighth avenue, from Fifty- ninth street to One Hundred and Tenth, is to be changed to Central Park West, that is. if the wishes of the West Side Association are consulted. A resolution to that effect has been introduced in the Common Council. The Manhattan Railway Company are improv¬ ing the Second avenue elevated track by erect¬ ing new stairways and establishing passenger depots at Seventieth, Eightieth, Ninety-second, One Hundred and Fifth and One Hundred and Sixteenth streets. The rumors that people who purchased lots at the recent great sale in Brooklyn, had failed to fulfil their contracts, is untrue. The Brooklyn conveyances this week show that a number of parties who bought have taken tittle. A dispatch, dated Milwaukee, Dec. 16th, says: D. W. Maxon yesterday sold 80,856 acres of land, the hist of the Sturgeon Bay grant, located in Wisconsin, to E. Maxiner, of this county, for $88,000 eash. The sale is the largest ever made u this state. SURFACE TRANSIT ON THE WEST SIDE. A representative of The Real Estate Record, a few- days since, called upon Mr. Janies Meehan, in his offi¬ cial capacity as a member of a committee of the West Side Association on Surface Transit for the West Side, to ascertain his views on this subject, as well as the exact position of the matter at the present time. Mr. Meehan said, in substance, on June 24th, 1873, a private act was passed by the Legislature (chapter 825), whereby authority was given for the laying of rails and running of cars thereon for the transfer of passengers in certain streets and avenues in the upper part of the City of New York. In pursuance of such act, a route was laid out, commencing at the foot of One Hundred and Thirtieth street, North Biver, running through Manhattan street and St. Nicholas avenue to the intersection of One Hundred and Tenth street and Sixth avenue; thence to the East River, but from the junction of One Hundred and Tenth street and Tenth avenue another end of the line ran down to Forty-second street, thence to Twelfth avenue and down Twelfth avenue to the foot of Thir¬ ty-fourth street. From this it will be seen that this road had three ends instead of two, as have the other city roads. This road was to be completed under the authority given by chapter 140 of the law passed April 2d. 1850, which was " an act to authorize the formation of railroads and regulate thesame." Before they had taken any action they availed themselves, however, of chapter 77 of an act of the Legislature, passed March 29th, 1876, and of the existence of which a large majority of our citizens are not cognizant. By it the surface railroads were enabled to materially change their route and its termini by complying with certain conditions which obligated them to obtain the consent of a majority of the property owners in interest on the line of any new proposed route, and the consent, also, of the Board of Aldermen. They succeeded in obtaining the consent of both not long ago. The contractor, a Baltimore man, furnished with capital by a Rochester man, commenced the road from one of its North River termini at Forty-second street and Twelfth avenue, and had completed the changed route as far as Forty-second street and Fifth avenue, when he was met at that point by an in j unction procured by Mr. Wil¬ liam H. Webb, the owner of the hotel on the northwest corner of Forty-second street and Fifth avenue, since which time the contractor has not been able to move one step, as the injunction has been made permanent. The new route was from the Fort Lee Ferry, foot of One Hundred and Thirtieth street and the North River, along Manhattan street to Eleventh avenue down Eleventh avenue to One Hundred and Eighth street, through the Broadway Boulevard to Fifty- ninth street and Eighth avenue, then around the cir¬ cle and down Broadway to Forty-second street, along Forty-second street to the East River on one side and to Tenth avenne on the other, and from the junction of Tenth avenue and Forty-second street, via the old route, to the Thirty-fourth Street ferry. Since the passage of the laws to which we have above referred, article 3, section 18 of the amendments to the consti¬ tution of the state have been ado])ted, which prohibits any more special legislation on this subject. It is contemplated by West Side, and, in fact, by owners of realty in all sections of the city, to ask the Legis¬ lature, at the coming session, to pass a general law which will enable the Boulevard Railway Company to continue their route to the East River. This being done, the contractors, Iflnancial men, directors and incorporators of the road, promise that it will be running to Ono Hundred and Tenth street in six months, along One Hundred and Tenth street to the East River within a year, and finally to Fort Lee ferry on the North river end. In this connection, it may be mentioned, that the owners of property along the Boulevard, hesitated to allow any.surface Iroad to be built in front of their premises, thinking that it ■would be an injury to their interests, but time and experience has demonstrated that they were mis¬ taken. The holding of unoccupied land in the best part of our city, for a period of thirty or forty years, shows that, no matter how desirable and choice the lots are, when they are inaccessable, they are practi¬ cally of no benefit to the owner, and not at all desir¬ able to families as a place of residence. It is clear to any one that the means of going to or coming from a place with comfort and safety, and with a reason¬ able speed, does much to determine a man to pur¬ chase any piece of property, no matter where loca¬ ted, be it eity, town or country. Any inhabitant of this city for the last fifty years knows very well-that a per¬ son could not reach the locality covered by this new proposed surface road any quicker to-day than a half a century ago were it not for the elevated railroad, and this last road supplies the wants of the few who have lately located themselve.s in its immediate neighbor¬ hood, leaving the large mass of the population in the surrounding districts to reach their homes as best they may. It is the unprejudiced opinion of gentle¬ men, who have millions of dollars invested in New York realty, that one years operation of such road through the aforesaid Boulevard would be of more benefit to the West Side than five or perhaps ten years of ordinary progress. It is to be hoped that, at the coming session of the Legislature, the privileges asked for may be accorded, to the projectors of this railroad. In speaking of the surface railroads, it may be well to observe that the East Side to-day owes its prosper¬ ity to a variety of causes, among them may be men¬ tioned the fact that the ground was low or somewhat level, with places hare and there to be filled up with garbage, refuse, etc., and in general from its low site and the easy excavation of its soil, presented induce¬ ments to contractors and builders that the rugged West Side could not compete with. Yet the numer¬ ous city railroads on the East Side, constantly moving along Avenues A, B, C and D, Second and Third ave¬ nues to Harlem, and Fourth and Madison avenues to Eighty-sixth street, all lead population to the upper districts and avenues of that side of our city. What our steam railroads have done for our Western States and Territories, the surface railroads have done for ihe East Side. To-day, the railroad leads civilization, ana were there not quick means of access to our Western frontier, not one-half of the Western States would be settled. Mr. John D. Crimmins says that he would be wiliing to build that portion of the new proposed surface railroad from Fifty-ninth to One Hundred and Tenth street, along the Boulevard, and accept the bonds and stocks of the company in payment, without one dollar in cash, provided he is strengthened by proper legis¬ lation on the subject, and which is to be asked for from our Sfenators and Assemblymen during the pres¬ ent winter. OCT AMONG THE BUILDERS. Messrs. Berger & Baylies are engaged upon the plans for four four-story brown;stone flat ^houses, 20x 70 each, to be erected on the east side of Tenth avenue, between Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth streets, at a cost of $72,000. Owners, Nutt & McCann. Messrs. Berger & Baylies.have also just compl<»ted the plans for the alteration of the four-story dwelling, on the northeast corner of Bedford and Barrow streets into aflat house, as well as the erection of a brick and galvanized iron extension, 30x25. It will be so arranged as to accommodate two families on each floor, and the owner, Mr. J. F. Asmussen, expects to expend S8,000 on this alteration. H. J. Schwarzmann & Co. are engaged on the plans for a six-story, basement and sub-celler store building to be erected at 6-^8 and 030 Broadway. It will be 50x 200, extending through to Crosby street. The front on Broadway will be of iron and the estimated cost of this improvement is $100,000. Mr. John E. Baker has completed the plans for four cottages to be erected at Long Branch for Mrs. N. De Peyster, of this city, at a cost of $16,000. The same architect is also at work on plans for two private houses to be erected on Clinton street, East Orange, by Mr. H. B. Thistle, as well as a large house to be erected at Bath, L. I. Mr. Grange Sard. Jr., will erect a handsome resi¬ dence on the two lots recently purchased by him on State street, below Knox, Albany. An extension is to be built to each of the flve flat heuses Nos. 502 to 510 West Eighty-third street. They will be 7.8x10, built of brick, one story high, and cost $1,500. Owner, Selig Steinhardt; architect, F. S. Barus. Messrs. Babcock & McEvoy are preparing the de¬ signs foran extensive .two-story frame concert hall, 75x100, to be erected on the south side of One Hun¬ dred and Fifty-fifth street. 100 west of Eighth avenue, at a cost of $10,000 Owner, John Gerken. Mr. A J. Smith will erect a hotel on Water Island, opposite Patchogue. There will also be several cot¬ tages erected here next summer. Messrs. Thom & Wilson have prepared the plans for a flat house to be erected on the south side of Fifty- fifth street, 225 east of Tenth avenue. Itwillbe25x 85, and flve stories high. Owner, John M. Ruck. On the property known as 314 and 316 East Forty- fourth street, the Smith Brothers propose to erect two flat houses, from designs drawn by Architect Camp. It is said that James R. Sparrow is about to erect twelve three-story brick flats, on the block of ground just purchased by him on Nassau avenue, between Leonard and Eckford streets, Brooklyn. Since December 1st there has been considerable ac¬ tivity among the Staten Island builders, and a large number of new buildings, have been started. William Bowe is erecting six frame houses, 22.x34, on Sherman and Madison avenues, corner of Fourth avenue. New Brighton. They will be completed about May 1st, at