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itake is, lS95 Keeord and uuide* m H 71^^ I flea. ESTABUSHED^ aARpHSl^"^ 1868. DEVi>TEDpRpi,LEsTAJt.BuiLDlffc ^R,cifrrEeTuiv>(ousEiloii>DEO
5,800 lbs. to 88,134,000 lbs. The area north of the Yangtze Eiver and in Mongolia suited to this industry is said to be as vast as that in the Australasian colonies of Great Britaiu. Sweden will probably at no distaut day contribute to the com¬ plexities of the beet-sugar situatiou by becoming au exporter, Uuder rising import duties aud .special facilities to groweis, her demand for foreign sugar, whieb was almost geuenilly used two or three years ago, has fallen ott' to little or nothing. The importauce given tu tbe questions of finance aud commerce iu Kiug Humbert's speech at the opening of the newly-elected Italian Parliament will have a good ettect on Itali.in securities. Chili aud Argentine seem disposed to let the honudary question rest for a while, to be taken up vplifiu both jiedples ai'e in a calmer frame ot mind. ■ ---------» AT a meeting of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, held ou Weduesday last, a communication was read from Super¬ intendent Constable, stating that the records in tbe Building Department were not safely protected from loss in case of fire- and that he would not be answerable for plans and other bleu paiiers unless safes or fire proof boxes are provided for the same, or iu other words, asking that mouey be appropriated for this purpo.se. This request iramediacelv led to a discussion amongst the members as to why the Building Department was removed fi'om the Fire Departmeut buildiug to the building on the southwest corner of 18th street aud 4th avenue, where a large annual rental has to be paid, the Fire Department huild¬ ing having been erected witb a view to accommodate tho Fire Departmeut and the Building Bureau. The Comptroller theu made a motion, which was adopted, calling upon the Fire Com¬ missioners aud tbe Superintendent of Buildiugs to appear before the Siuking Fuud Commissioners at their meeting next week for a coufereuce as to tbe advisability of locating the Building Department in the Fire Department Headquarters building, ou East G7th street. At the time when the Building Bureau was created into a separate department, the then Fire Commissioners claimed that tbere waa not room for the accom¬ modation of the uew departmeut iu the Headquarters building, aud a uew location was therefore selected for tbe Building Departmeut. Tbe East 67tli street location was an exceedingly incouvenieut one for architects aud builders. The 18th street location has proven very popular to the building iuterests, being easily reached from all directions and in the uear neighborhood of the offices of a large number of the leadiug architects. A saving to the citv iu rental would result iu sending the Building Department to its old locatiou, but the loss of valuable time to men who are engaged iu industries tbat increase the tax income of the city each year something like one million dollars iu reach¬ ing an out-of-the-way location to transact public business would amouut to a vastly greater sum than the city would save in removing the Department from where it is now loeated, aud the city can hotter staud this loss than impose it ou individuals. VISITORS to New York who diive up what might be as hand¬ some a public thoroughfare as any in tbe couutry—the Boulevard—must return to their homes marvelling at tbe pecu¬ liarity of New Yorkers which induces them to spend millions of dollars on a work of improvement and then leave it to go to ruin as they are now doing with this fine road. Compared with similar places in other cities our Boulevard is a thiug to make New Yorkers blush. Take Commonwealth avenue in Boston, Delaware avenue in Buft'alo and Drexel Boulevard in Cbicago for comparison. There the grass plots are kept fresh aud green, the trees trimmed of dead branches, dead trees are cut out aud replaced, and the roadways are kept free ot litter and defile¬ ment. New York's Boulevard to-day is notbiug more or less than a disgrace to the city. For the want of a little sprinkling tbe grass has died out of the ceutre beds, aud wbere the spaces are not left altogether bare, pig-weed, burdock and other nox¬ ious growing things suggestive of tbe margiu of tbe ashpile have taken its place. The small parks at the intersections with other roads are, when uot altogether abandoned, inadequately tended ; trees are dying out iu cousiderable numbers, parts of tbe roadway are quagmires in wet weather; some of the alleged grass plots iu tbe upper part are used as stone piles hy the city; jiuikmen are allowed to use tbe sidewalk for hideous masses of old iron, and the Metropolitau Traction Company has been pemiitted to make the crossing at SOtb street a transfer-station and watcriug-place fortheir horses, under con¬ ditions most untidy ; the waiting-room and watering-trough, the latter half of a large whisky cask apparently, aggravate tbe whole situatiou heing the most commonplace and inappropriate conceivable. The care of the roadway itself is not of the best. Eveu at the lower end there is uo moie regard tor the decencies of street lite thau at the upper. Take the prospect from the entrance of the Hotel Empire. The eye sees a fountain as inno¬ cent of water as the paved aud neglected parkway around it or the children wbo use it as a skating rink, aud araoug the shade trees at least half a dozen that have died out in tbe past few years. The Boulevard may not have fulfilled Ibe destiuy desired for it by its original projectors. It has not become the site of the iialatial homes of the richest and most aristocratic of New York's citizens, but it is partly built up with a higb class of apartnient hotels aud .similar building.s whoso value to the city as contributors to its iucome is greater thau auy private dwell¬ ings could be aud it is necessary that the Boulevard should be better cared for if this standard of improvement is to he kept up to say uothiug of the maintenance of the self respect of the citi¬ zen. The growth oi the city has made this thoroughfare a veiy busy one; besides its Irattic of carriages containiug the residents of the immediate viciuity it has become the great bicycle track
