quently, in making comparisons with former years, this fact should be borne in mind.

The City Debt, on the 15th May, amounted in gross to the sum of $15,192,017 70; of this amount there is $14,724,736 permanent debt, and $467,281 70 temporary debt. With the exception of $12,351, the whole amount for which the City has authority to negotiate permanent loans was exhausted, and in future the actual debt must decrease; for, in 1845 and 1846 there is $50,000 due each year; in 1847, $170,305; in 1848, $50,000; in 1850, $500,000; in 1851, $500,000; in 1852, $890,207; in 1856, $515,000; in 1857, $989,488; in 1858, $3,000,000; and in 1860, $2,500,000; making an aggregate in sixteen years next to come, of $9,215,000 to be paid off, and reducing taxation for interest $501,000 per year.

To accomplish this end it is desirable that the Corporation abstain from all new projects involving expense, and scrupulously avoid lending their credit to any enterprise, and that they maintain inviolable the Sinking Fund, for the redemption of the debt, as at present constituted; otherwise the period for the redemption of the debt will arrive, and the means to meet it be insufficient, and the City of New-York be placed in the humiliating position of having to extend a debt she had pledged herself to pay at maturity.

In making suggestions for the reduction of expenditures, I would first remark on the large cost of the charitable and criminal establishments, under the care of the Commissioners of the Alms House, and suggest, that all supplies should be procured by contract, given to the lowest bidder, who should be bound to furnish them whenever required, and of a quality to be approved by the Superintendent; that all salaried offices that can be dispensed with in the establishment should be abolished, and the duties devolved on the remaining ones; that all able-bodied paupers should be made to work, at least as hard as they would have to if they supported themselves out of the establishment; that the individuals sent to the Penitentiary for punishment, should be

required to perform hard labor, according to the tenor of their sentence. The system of contracting for supplies, would induce competition, and, it is believed, materially lessen the expense, and, at the same time, prevent any favoritism prejudicial to the public interests. Reducing the number of the salaried officers (for they appear to be very numerous) would also lighten the expense; and it is confidently believed, that if many, who use the charity of the city to support them in comparative indolence, were compelled to contribute to their own support, their numbers would be lessened, as they would prefer making greater efforts than they do at present to support themselves out of the place. With regard to the convicts sent to Blackwell's Island, it may be remarked, that, through the leniency of the Courts, many of them are sent there for such short periods that, after passing the necessary examination and medicinal course at the hospital, their term is almost expired, and comparatively little benefit is derived from their labor, and comparatively but little punishment inflicted to cause them to remember where they have been, and make them dread a second incarceration.

This establishment forms one of the largest items of public expenditure, and needs a strict scrutiny, which it is hoped will be given it, by the Commissioners of the Alms House and the appropriate Committee of the Common Council.

The "Lamp and Gas" expenditure is one which has been the subject of many reports from the Common Council, and it is hoped will yet claim their serious attention. That a large saving can and ought to be effected is unquestioned. My opinion is, that if the whole city, below Grand-street, were lighted with gas, the expense would be lessened; for one gas-lamp will give as much or more light than two of oil, and the New-York Gas Company only charge at present as much as the cost of oil is for each lamp; but it is said, and perhaps with reason, that if the Gas Company were compelled to light the whole southern part of the city, on the terms they at present contract for, it would ruin them, as the present prices do not remunerate them; some compromise, how

ever, could be effected, by which the citizens would obtain more light, and a large saving be made in the expense.

The present pay to the lamp-lighters appears very high: each man who cleans, trims, and lights, eighty-four lamps, receives 1 1-2 cents per night each, and those who perform the same service on seventy-two lamps, receive 1 3-4 cents per night each, or an average of $8 82 per week, each, for their service, whether the lamps are lighted or not, and there are from six to eight nights in each lunar month that the lamps are not lighted. This pay for a service which cannot average more than two or three hours per day, is higher than it ought to be, as I am confident it can be done by contract for much less.

The system of contracting for oil is good, but I would suggest that when contracts can be made below the average of former years, it should be done for large quantities, instead of making them periodically for about ten thousand gallons at a time.

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The present number of men employed in the Watch Department is 1096, at a pay of $1 25 per night for each night they are on duty; one-half of the force is on duty each night. If the salary were reduced to $1 per night, a saving of $50,005 per year would be effected. The appropriation made for the year $266,000, and will be exactly enough to meet the present rates. The question of reducing the pay I leave to your better judgment; but it strikes me forcibly, that the large tax staring us in the face should induce us all to curtail wherever it can be done with propriety.

The "Public Yard" has been and will be a source of profigate expenditure, and the sooner it is abolished the better, and all the public work, which is necessary, be done by contract. The Committee on Public Offices and Repairs, and the Fire and Water Committee, to be the judges of the expediency of having the work done, to open proposals, and give contracts to the lowest bidder. The Superintendent of Buildings, for his department, and the Chief Engineer for his, to be the judges to determine if the work is done according to contract.

The law, in relation to the duties of the Superintendent of Buildings, was altered in 1839 to suit certain purposes, and I am of opinion that it was altered for the worse, as each officer should be accountable for the expenses of his own department, and not place the whole under the charge of the Superintendent of Repairs.

The whole of the Printing and Stationery, Books and Documents, for the Common Council and the Departments, should be supplied by contract, and I would recommend that the Clerk of the Common Council be authorized to advertise for a supply of such articles, equal to six months' consumption; that each department shall furnish him with an estimate of what will be required for that time; that he shall only furnish such articles on the requisition of the head of each department, and that a specific account be kept of the manner in which it is disposed of; that the estimates shall be opened by the Finance Committee, and the contract consummated by their direction.

In consequence of the decrease of assessments, and the small amount of duties required of the "Collector of Assessments," I would recommend that that office be abolished, and the duties of it transferred to one of the Clerks in the Street Commissioner's Office. This will save $1200 per year.

The subject of cleaning the streets has already received the attention of the Common Council; and I have no doubt, if the plan proposed is adopted, that the streets will be swept and cleaned at a much lower rate than even the late contract, and entirely to the satisfaction of our citizens. When this is done, the office of Health Wardens can be performed by the Street Inspectors, and some of the time of the latter be employed as a conservative police in their several wards, by a warrant from his Honour the Mayor.

The extension of the plan commenced by you in giving the duties of Dock Master of more than one Ward to one person, is very beneficial, as it saves the number of officers, and gives them full employment.

By the Charter of 1831, sec. 21, it is provided, "The executive business of the Corporation of the City of New-York shall hereafter be performed by distinct Departments, which it shall be the duty of the Common Council to organize and appoint for that purpose." As a matter of course, the duties of the Common Council and their Committees are confined to legislative business. Encroachments, however, have been made on this section of the Charter from 1831 to the present time; and we now find by the City Ordinances, that the Committees on "Fire and Water," "Public Offices and Repairs," "Markets," "Joint Committee on Croton Aqueduct," and Joint Committee on Blackwell's Island, are all clothed with executive powers.

It is no wish of mine to prevent the several Committees of the Common Council scrutinizing, and that severely, the acts of the several heads of Departments or of any officer of the Corporation; but I do wish to prevent their auditing bills incurred by their direction. Let them judge of the expediency of having work done, but not approve the expenditure. The Comptroller and First Auditor can control the heads of Departments; they can fight off or refuse to pay, if they are sure the expenditure is too high or unreasonable; but when matters of expenditure, as well as expediency, are approved by various Committees of the Common Council, it leaves the Finance Department powerless. It may be thought that the Finance Department is seeking power. This is not so. It is much easier to do the business in the present mode; but I am confident it has cost the City much money, and see no reason to believe that it will not, if continued. I do there fore earnestly recommend, that all ordinances giving executive powers to Committees of the Common Council be repealed.

The rentable property of the City is now under lease for the year, and therefore no increase of rent from that quarter can be expected; but a strict accountability will be exacted by this Department over all the receivers of public moneys, and may increase some of the receipts. An alteration in the plan or mode of raising the interest on the City debt, is under con