When, in 1894, the hospital obtained from The City of New York two leases covering the plot of ground on the north side of Sixty-seventh street, one hundred and fifteen feet in width and one hundred feet five inches in depth, it erected upon the said ground described in the one lease, and part of the ground described in the other lease, a six-story building to be used in conjunction with its hospital, in the lower two floors of which it conducted its dispensary and the upper four floors of which building were used for the education and training of nurses, and the balance of the land described in such lease was used as a recreation ground for its convalescent patients.

Said hospital has given free medical and surgical aid to sick and disabled persons without regard to creed or nationality at all times since its hospital was opened on Lexington avenue at Sixty-sixth street.

The extent of such free medical treatment has steadily increased, and up to and including the year 1902, it has given free dispensary treatment to upwards of 500,000 patients, and has given free dispensary consultations to upward of 1,300,000 patients. It has also given free treatment in its hospital to upwards of 67,000 free hospital patients, said patients receiving in the aggregate free hospital treatment equivalent to 1,750,000 days to one person.

The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of The City of New York, on the 31st day of May, 1871, leased to your petitioner a plot of ground on the east side of Lexington avenue, extending from Sixty-sixth to Sixty-seventh street, and extending to a depth of one hundred and seventy feet on each of said streets, which lease is recorded in the office of the Register of the County of New York on the 16th day of June, 1871, in liber 1179 of Conveyances, page 152, by which the said premises were leased to the Mount Sinai Hospital to be used and occupied only as a hospital by your petitioner, and for the charitable and benevolent purposes for which your petitioner was incorporated, and which lease provided for a term of ninety-nine years from the 31st day of May, 1871, at an annual rental of one dollar.

Your petitioner, shortly after the delivery of such lease, erected upon the said premises a hospital building which, from the time of the completion thereof until the present time, has been used in accordance with the provisions of such lease.

The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of The City of New York, on or about the first day of January, 1894, leased to your petitioner the following premises, to wit:

All that certain lot, piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being in The City of New York and bounded and described as follows, namely:

Beginning at the point formed by the intersection of the northerly line of Sixtyseventh street with the easterly side of Lexington avenue, running thence northerly along the said easterly side of Lexington avenue one hundred feet five inches; thence easterly and parallel to Sixty-seventh street, fifty-eight feet; thence southerly and parallel to Lexington avenue one hundred feet five inches to the northerly side of Sixty-seventh street; thence westerly along the northerly side of Sixty-seventh street fifty-eight feet to the point or place of beginning, which said lease is dated on that day, and is recorded in the office of the Register of the City and County of New York, on the 23d day of October, 1894, in Block Series of Conveyances, section 5, liber 31, page 234.

wit:

And at the same time duly leased to your petitioner the following premises, to

All that certain lot, piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being in The City of New York and bounded and described as follows, namely:

Beginning at a point on the northerly side of Sixty-seventh street distant 115 feet easterly from the corner formed by the intersection of the said northerly side of Sixty-seventh street with the easterly side of Lexington avenue, and running thence northerly parallel with Lexington avenue 100 feet 5 inches to the centre line of the block; thence westerly along said centre line of the block 57 feet; thence southerly, parallel with Lexington avenue, 100 feet and 5 inches to the said northerly side of Sixty-seventh street; and thence easterly along the said northerly side of Sixtyseventh street 57 feet to the point or place of beginning, which said lease is dated on the first day of January, 1894, and is recorded in said Register's office on the twentythird day of October, 1894, in Block Series of Conveyances, section 5, liber 31,

page 237.

Both of said leases granted a term of ninety-nine years from the first day of January, 1894, at an annual rental of one dollar.

Your petitioner thereupon entered into the possession of said premises, which, taken together, are bounded and described as follows:

All that certain plot of ground in the City and County of New York bounded and described as follows, to wit:

Beginning at the northeast corner of Lexington avenue and Sixty-seventh street, in said county; running thence eastwardly along the northerly side of Sixty-seventh street one hundred and fifteen feet; thence northwardly parallel with Lexington avenue one hundred feet and five inches to the centre line of the block; thence westwardly parallel with said street one hundred an 1 fifteen feet to the easterly side of Lexington avenue; and thence southwardly along the easterly side of Lexington avenue one hundred feet and five inches to the point or place of beginning, and erected upon a portion of said premises a substantial and valuable building used as a dispensary and training school for nurses in conjunction with the hospital of your said petitioner, which is erected upon the block of land on the east side of Lexington avenue, extending from Sixty-sixth to Sixty-seventh street, in said county, and the said premises thus leased to your petitioner have since been used and occupied for the charitable and benevolent purposes for which your petitioner was incorporated.

The said hospital grounds and buildings have, ever since the year 1897, proved insufficient, both as to space and as to accommodations to supply the demand made upon the said hospital, and your petitioner, for the purpose of procuring hospital buildings of much larger proportions and with better accommodations, purchased the block of ground in the Borough of Manhattan and City of New York, extending from One Hundredth street to One Hundred and First street and from Madison to Fifth avenue, and has erected thereon hospital buildings at a cost of upwards of two million dollars, which said buildings have now been opened and which accommodate about double the number of patients who could be accommodated in the hospital buildings on Lexington avenue, at and near Sixty-seventh street.

The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York were authorized by chapter 519 of the Laws of 1893 to so modify the lease hereinbefore set forth as to authorize the said hospital to lease the said premises and to devote the rents, issues and profits arising from such leases to the maintenance of another hospital in The City of New York.

By chapter 257 of the Laws of 1898 and chapter 166 of the Laws of 1900 the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York have been authorized to change both leases above mentioned from the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of The City of New York to the Mount Sinai Hospital to grants, so as to permit the said hospital to sell and convey in fee simple absolute the whole or any part of sand property, the said hospital devoting the proceeds of sale to the maintenance and support of its new hospital in The City of New York.

The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York passed two separate resolutions, dated respectively, June 9, 1898, and October 26, 1900, changing said leases to grants, and formal deeds of such property from the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of The City of New York to the Mount Sinai Hospital were thereafter made.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has recently, in an action pending before it, held that the said deeds, which were not based upon any pecuniary consideration, were invalid. Your petitioner thereupon, without in any manner conceding the invalidity of its title, applied to the Legislature of the State of New York, and such Legislature duly passed, and the Governor of the State of New York duly approved a law, which is known as chapter 365 of the Laws of 1904, a copy of which is hereto annexed.

The said law authorized the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York to sell to the Mount Sinai Hospital, at private sale, all the interest of the City in said lands heretofore leased to the said Mount Sinai Hospital, for such consideration as the said Commissioners deem proper, as in and by said law hereto annexed will more fully appear.

The fair market value of the City's interest in said land at the present time is less than the sum of five thousand dollars, as your petitioner is informed and verily believes, and your petitioner now offers for the interest of the City in said lands the sum of five thousand dollars.

Your petitioner agrees to apply the proceeds of the sale of said land towards the payment of outstanding obligations that it has incurred in the purchase and erection of its new hospital, and to use the same for the objects and purposes of its incorporation.

Your petitioner therefore asks that said lands be sold to your petitioner for the above-mentioned price, and that the property be conveyed by The City of New York to your petitioner, and that your petitioner have such other and further relief in the premises as may be just and proper.

Dated New York, April 28, 1904. [SEAL.]

County of New York, ss.:

MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL.

By ISAAC WALLACH, President, Petitioner.

Isaac Wallach, being duly sworn, says he is the President of the Mount Sinai Hospital, the petitioner named herein; that he has read the foregoing petition, and that the same is true of his own knowledge.

ISAAC WALLACH.

GUSTAVE ABRAMS, Notary Public (4), New York County.

Sworn to before me this 28th day of April, 1904. [SEAL.]

CHAPTER 365.

AN ACT for the relief of the Mount Sinai hospital of the city of New York, to extend its purposes and objects and to authorize a sale of certain property from the city of New York to said Mount Sinai hospital.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The purposes and objects of the Mount Sinai hospital of the city of New York are hereby declared to be "the support and maintenance of an institution to be known as the Mount Sinai hospital, for the purposes of affording dispensary service and medical and surgical aid and nursing sick and disabled poor of the city of New York and others of any race, creed or nationality," and its certificate of incorporation is hereby amended accordingly.

Sec. 2. The board of commissioners of the sinking fund of the city of New York are hereby authorized and empowered to sell to the Mount Sinai hospital at private sale, for such consideration as the said board may deem proper, the property lying within the blocks bounded by Lexington and Third avenues and Sixty-sixth and Sixtyeighth streets, in the borough of Manhattan and city of New York, heretofore leased by the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, to the Mount Sinai hospital, and all the right, title and interest of the city of New York in said land or property.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Local-New York, Kings, Queens and Richmond Counties.

Laws of New York.-By Authority.

[Every law, unless a different time shall be prescribed therein, shall not take effect until the twentieth day after it shall have become a law, section 43, article 2, chapter 8, General Laws.]

CHAPTER 94.

AN ACT to authorize the commissioners of the sinking fund of the city of New York to cancel and annul certain assessments and sales to the city of New York for assessments affecting property in the city of New York, and directing the comptroller to mark such assessments accordingly.

Accepted by the City.

Became a law March 18, 1904, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, threefifths being present.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The commissioners of the sinking fund of the city of New York are hereby authorized and empowered, in their discretion, and on such terms as they deem proper, to cancel and annul any and all assessments and sales to the city of New York for assessments or any of them affecting property in the city of New York now belonging to the Mount Sinai hospital, and the comptroller of the city of New York is hereby directed to mark such assessments and sales for assessments upon the assessment books of the city of New York in accordance with the determination of the said commissioners.

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

State of New York, Office of the Secretary of State, ss..

I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office, and do hereby certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original law.

JOHN F. O'BRIEN, Secretary of State.

In connection therewith the Comptroller presented the following report, with opinion of the Corporation Counsel, and offered the following resolution:

NEW YORK, May 9, 1904.

In the Matter of the Application of the Mount Sinai Hospital.

To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund:

GENTLEMEN-I return herewith the petition in this matter, which was submitted to me informally, with a brief statement of the situation, as I understand it. The object of the petition is to obtain from The City of New York a conveyance of its interest in certain land on the east side of Lexington avenue, near Sixty-seventh street, now occupied by the Mount Sinai Hospital for its dispensary and hospital.

It is unnecessary to state at length the well-known relations between the City and the hospital in regard to this property and the history thereof. It is principally a matter of public record already. The land originally belonged to The City of New York, but was leased for long periods of years to this hospital, the last leases being in 1871 and 1894, and for the periods of nine-nine years each.

The validity of these leases has never been questioned, so that under them the hospital would be entitled to the possession and enjoyment of the property for an average period of eighty years at an annual rental of one dollar.

After the execution of the leases, however, arrangements were made for the sale of the property by the City to the hospital, and two deeds in fee simple were executed by The City of New York of this property to the hospital, one in 1898 and the other in 1900, whereby as it was supposed the title in fee simple was vested in the hospital, and the hospital, furthermore, entered into a contract for the sale of the property. The purchaser declined to take the title, and the hospital brought suit. This suit is entitled "Mount Sinai Hospital vs. Hyman," and a decision of the Appellate Division, First Department, was recently handed down, holding the title invalid under the provisions of section 14 of Article VIII. of the Constitution. This decision is reported in 92 Appellate Division, 270.

The Legislature, however, enacted chapter 365 of the Laws of 1904, which authorized and empowered the Board of Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of The City of New York to sell to the Mount Sinai Hospital at private sale for such consideration as the said Board might deem proper, the property in question. It is under this authority that the Commissioners are now requested to act. It should also be noted that a question was raised as to certain assessments which were claimed to be liens upon the property.

An act of the Legislature was also passed (chapter 94 of the Laws of 1904) authorizing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, in their discretion and on such terms as they deemed proper, to cancel and annul any and all assessments and sales to The City of New York for assessments affecting this property.