for another term of twenty-one years, from May 1, 1893, to Frances Jane Storms, wife of Alfred Storms, at a yearly rental of two thousand one hundred dollars, and upon the same terms and conditions as are contained therein. Respectfully, THEO. W. MYERS, Comptroller. The report was accepted and the resolution unanimously adopted. The Comptroller offered the following: Resolved, That the Comptroller be and hereby is authorized to pay the rent of the offices now occupied by the Counsel to the Corporation in the Staats Zeitung Building from November 1, 1892, until November 1, 1893, at the rate of ten thousand five hundred dollars ($10,500) per annum. Which was unanimously adopted. The Comptroller presented the following report and resolutions for leasing offices in the Stewart Building for the Finance Department, Commissioners of Accounts, Commissioner of Jurors, and the Department of Taxes and Assessments: Finance Department—COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: GENTLEMEN-The leases of the offices now occupied by the Finance Department, the Commissioner of Jurors and the Commissioners of Accounts, in the Stewart Building, will expire May 1, 1893. The application of the Department of Taxes and Assessments for new offices upon the expiration of the present lease of quarters in the Staats Zeitung Building, was presented to this Board on January 20, 1893, and referred to the Comptroller. I have had several interviews with Mr. Barker in regard to renting the new offices for his Department. It is deemed necessary to locate the Department in the vicinity of the City Hall Park. The yearly increase of the business renders the present offices totally inadequate, and the Department is embarrassed in its work from the lack of sufficient accommodations. Part of the records have been stored in the Brown-stone Building in the park, and should they be lost or destroyed, they cannot be replaced. These records are most valuable to substantiate titles to real estate, and are often called for to verify searches for arrears of taxes due the City. It is greatly to the interest of the City to provide for their preservation in rooms suitable for the purpose and convenient of access. A suite of rooms on the street floor on Reade street, in the Stewart Building, with a vault-chamber and vault in the basement, to be connected by a stairway with the street floor, has been approved by the Commissioners of Taxes and Assessments. Negotiations have been had with the owner of the Stewart Building for the leasing to the City of the rooms required for the several departments and offices named, and an offer for rental has been submitted by him for a lease of the rooms agreed upon, for a term of three years, as follows: Finance Department, including, also, offices for the Paymaster and the Receiver of Taxes, and for the Commissioners of Accounts and the Commissioner of Jurors, a total yearly rental of $63,500; and for the Department of Taxes and Assessments, yearly rent, $18,000. The rent includes the heating, lighting and cleaning of the offices, together with the elevator service of the building. Permission is given by the owner for the City to enter the apartments rented for the Tax Commissioners at once for the purpose of fitting up the rooms and making such alterations as may be required for the transaction of the business of the Department, the rent to commence on the first of May. The Tax Commissioners now have 3,600 square feet of room area. In the new offices there will be 8,500 square feet. I consider the terms fair and reasonable, and accordingly offer for adoption the following resolutions. Respectfully, THEO. W. MYERS, Comptroller. Resolved, That the Counsel to the Corporation be and hereby is requested to prepare a lease to the City for the term of three years from May 1, 1893, at the yearly rental of sixty-three thousand five hundred dollars ($63,500), upon the same terms and conditions as the existing lease, for certain rooms, offices or apartments now occupied by the Finance Department in the Stewart Building, situated on Broadway, Chambers and Reade streets, in the City of New York, designated on the map or plan of said building in the office of the lessor, by the numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41, being offices or apartments on the first floor; also, the office or apartment in the basement or ground floor of the said building designated as "JJ," now occupied by the Paymaster of said Department; also, the rooms designated as rooms "O" and "P," fronting on Chambers street, and rooms "II," "OO" and "PP," in the basement of said building, now occupied by the Receiver of Taxes; also, the rooms designated by the numbers 114 and 115 on the third floor of said building now occupied by the Commissioners of Accounts, and also the rooms designated by the numbers 127 and 128 on the third floor of said building, now occupied by the Commissioner of Jurors. Resolved, That the Counsel to the Corporation be and hereby is requested to prepare a lease to the City for the term of three years from May 1, 1893, at the yearly rental of eighteen thousand dollars ($18,000), upon the usual terms and conditions, for certain offices and rooms in the Stewart Building, described on the plan of said building as the rooms or apartments on the street floor, designated by the letters D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K, and the apartment in the basement designated as "DD," together with the vault-chamber connected therewith, and the vault to be occupied by the Department of Taxes and Assessments. The lessor to connect at his own expense the suite of apartments on the street floor with the apartment "DD" by a proper stairway, and also to provide proper openings to connect the rooms above mentioned. The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund deem the above rentals fair and reasonable, and that it would be for the interest of the City that such leases should be made, and the Comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to execute such leases when prepared and approved by the Counsel to the Corporation, as provided by sections 123 and 181 of the New York City Consolidation Act of 1882. The report was accepted and the resolutions unanimously adopted. The Comptroller presented the following report and resolution to lease lots on One Hundred and Fifty-second street, near Courtlandt avenue, with stable, for the Department of Street Cleaning: FINANCE DEPARtment-Comptroller's OffiCE, To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: I offer the following resolution to authorize the lease to the City of the premises as described for the period of ten years for such action as this Board may deem advisable. Respectfully, THEO. W. MYERS, Comptroller. Resolved, That the Counsel to the Corporation be and is hereby requested to prepare a lease to the City from Siebrand Niewenhous of the three lots of land on the north side of One Hundred and Fifty-second street, beginning about one hundred and twenty-five feet easterly from Courtlandt avenue, upon which the owner and lessor agrees to erect a brick stable for the use of the Department of Street Cleaning, to be fifty feet by ninety-five feet, three stories high; the first story to be at least thirteen feet in height in the clear; the cellar under the whole building to be at least ten feet high in the clear, with an areaway in front and rear; with stalls and suitable plumbing for ninety horses; with a shed twelve and one-half feet wide to run from front to rear; with ample space for storage of carts and machinery; with store-room for hay and other feed, and space for blacksmith shop; all to be furnished to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Street Cleaning; the building to be completed within ninety days after the delivery to the owner of the lease of the said premises; the rent to begin from the date of occupation by the Commissioner of Street Cleaning; the lease to be for the term of ten years from the date of such occupation at the yearly rental of three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars ($3,750) for the first five years and four thousand dollars ($4,000) per annum for the second five years, payable quarterly; the City to pay the water rent, and to make all inside repairs to said stable and shed, but the lessor to make good any defect in point of construction; the owner to pay all taxes and assessments and to make all necessary repairs to the roofs; and in case of injury or destruction by fire, the same shall be repaired or rebuilt by the owner, and the rent to cease during the period for which said premises may be untenantable; the lease to contain the usual covenants and conditions; the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund deeming the rent fair and reasonable, and that it would be for the interest of the City that such lease should be made; and the Comptroller is authorized and directed to execute such lease when prepared and approved by the Counsel to the Corporation, as provided by sections 123 and 181 of the New York City Consolidation Act of 1882, and also under the authority of the provisions of section 8 of chapter 269 of the Laws of 1892. The report was accepted, and the resolution unanimously adopted. The Comptroller presented the following report of sale of the ferry from East Tenth street to Greenpoint, Long Island: FINANCE DEPARTMENT-COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: GENTLEMEN-In pursuance of a resolution of this Board, adopted January 31, 1893, the franchise of the ferry from the foot of East Tenth street, to Greenpoint, Long Island, was sold at public auction on February 16, 1893, according to advertisement THEO. W. MYERS, Comptroller. Which was ordered on file. The Comptroller presented the following report of the Committee on the petition of the New York and Long Island Bridge Company for a grant of lands for the bridge piers, etc.: To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund: GENTLEMEN-On October 14, 1892, application was made to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, by Thomas Rainey, in behalf of the New York and Long Island Bridge Company, for the grant of certain lands belonging to the City of New York, on which it is proposed to erect piers for a bridge to be built across the East river, at or about Sixty-fourth street, in pursuance of the provisions of chapter 411 of the Laws of 1892. The request was made that these lands should be granted to the said bridge company without charge. On January 16, 1893, this application was renewed by Mr. Rainey. On February 7, 1893, the application of the New York and Long Island Bridge Company was modified, so as to withdraw the request for ground on Blackwell's Island for anchorages, and to call for spaces of 85 by 50 feet for each of the piers in New York and on Blackwell's Island, amounting in all to 5.1 city lots. There is no authority of law to authorize the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to deed land as a gift to this bridge company, even if its objects and its plans of construction were such as to make it worthy of favorable consideration at the hands of the municipal authorities as a public enterprise. The sole duty of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, as presented in the above-named act of 1892, is to fix "a price or sum to be paid by said company for the use and occupancy of said land," and in case the said company and the Sinking Fund Commissioners cannot agree upon a price to be paid, then provision is made for its acquisition by condemnation proceedings. Regretting our inability as conservators of the vested rights of the corporation to protect adequately the interests of the public in the premises, by reason of the total absence of provision for municipal control in the charter of this bridge company, we, nevertheless, believe that the Board should perform the duty imposed upon them by chapter 411, Laws of 1892, to fix a price to be paid for the City's land by said company, and we accordingly recommend that said price be fixed at $15,300 (fifteen thousand three hundred dollars), without prejudice to the right of the City to recover in damages from the New York and Long Island Bridge Company on account of any |