plied to Judge Edmonds, at a Special Term in September, for a mandamus to compel the Comptroller to draw a warrant on the treasury, which the judge decided in favor of the contractor. The matter was then brought before three of the judges, and two of them-Edmonds and Morris-gave the judgment of the Court in favor of Reynolds.

The Comptroller proposed to Mr. Reynolds to arrange the matter in the same manner as was done in the case of Russ & Reid-to surrender the contract, subject to the future action of the Common Council, and receive his pay for the work done to the present time. But the objection made to this course, by Mr. Reynolds and those interested with him in the contract, is, that they have a large investment which would be of no value to them, severed from this contracf; and they, therefore, decline to surrender the contract. Before refusing payment on the contract, the Comptroller was furnished with the opinion of the District Attorney, who had examined the subject with care, and who was in possession of such facts, acquired in the discharge of his official duties, as to induce him to give his opinion that the city ought not to pay on the contract. The Counsel to the Corporation made a thorough examination of the case, and has full confidence that the positions taken by him on the trial, are right, and could hardly fail of being sustained by the Court of Appeals. My own opinion is decidedly in favor of carrying the case to the Court of Appeals, although a decision on some of the points involved is not as necessary, since the adoption of the new charter, as before.

Mr. Reynolds, during the last summer, presented a

claim of over three thousand dollars, for damages done to his boat by a mob, which the Common Council resolved to pay, and he received the money.

In the original arrangement, for accommodating the offal boats near Thirty-fourth street, East river, a bulkhead belonging to the city was set apart for this service. Mr. Reynolds preferred using the pier which was the property of the Farmer's Loan and Trust Company, and/ an exchange was made. When the complaints were made against the boats, last season, as a nuisance, the Farmer's Loan and Trust Company presented a bill against the city for two years' rent, at one thousand two hundred dollars per annum-equal to two thousand four hundred dollarswhich the Comptroller paid, knowing that Mr. Reynolds had used their pier. Subsequently to this, Dr. White, the former City Inspector, called on the Comptroller, and informed him that the city was under no obligation to pay this rent, the pier having been used in exchange for the bulkhead owned by the city.

There is another transaction which has, or was intend ed to have, a connection with this subject. When the boats of Mr. Reynolds were driven away from the pier at the foot of Thirty-fourth street, the Committee on Public Health examined into the matter, and made a report in favor of paying Mr. Reynolds; and the Committee, or the Board of Health, deemed it expedient to get another depot for Mr. Reynolds on the East river, and fixed on the pier and store-house at the foot of Forty-fifth street; and on the 8th of July, the Common Council passed a resolution directing the Comptroller to purchase a lease of said pier and twenty-one lots connected therewith, and to as

sign said lease to William B. Reynolds, on his agreǝing to pay the annual rent. The Comptroller visited visited the premises, examined into the whole matter, and declined to pay the bonus of seven thousand dollars for the lease. The reasons of this determination are given in a report made to the Board of Assistants, August 1, 1853. The lessees made out an assignment, tendered it to the Comptroller, and demanded a warrant on the Treasury for seven thousand dollars, in addition to the obligation to pay the annual rent of one thousand dollars reserved, with taxes, &c. The Comptroller refused to give a warrant, but offered to pay all charges incurred by them, including six hundred and fifty dollars paid for the lease. This was declined; and subsequently the lessees obtained a writ of mandamus, and served it on the Comptroller, and on the same day served him with a copy of a resolution passed by the Common Counsel, directing him to pay the seven thousand dollars; and, in case he did. not comply, the resolution directed the Counsel to the Corporation to take legal measures to compel the Comptroller to comply with the resolution of the 8th of July, relative to the purchase of the lease. The Counsel reported to the Board of Assistants, on the 15th of September, that he found "the provisions of the resolution such that the courts would not compel the Comptroller to execute it; and that, therefore, the prosecution would fail."

The matter rested until the present month, during which time the lessees had paid rent to the amount of five hundred dollars, when they proposed to discontinue proceedings, and assign the lease on receiving the amount of rent paid, five hundred dollars; the bonus paid for

the lease, six hundred and fifty dollars; repairs of dock, grading and other expenses, amounting, with the foregoing sums, to two thousand three hundred and twenty-three dollars and twenty-four cents. This exceeds the proposition of the Comptroller by five hundred dollars, which sum is alleged to have been advanced by one of the les sees, and sacrificed in breaking up the business in which they were engaged. The sum paid, however, is six thousand three hundred and fifty dollars less than the sum originally demanded, and which the Common Council insisted should be paid, and the Comptroller prosecuted if he did not pay.

The city constructed a pier at the foot of Fortieth street, North river, at an expense of two thousand and eightyeight dollars, and set it apart for the exclusive use of Mr. Reynolds. By the terms of his contract, he is to receive nineteen dollars per day for carrying dead animals, &c., from this pier to Barren Island. He charges in his bill at this rate, but the service was not performed during the last season. The delay of the boats at Thirty-fourth street, until all the dead animals could be collected from the other side of the city, greatly aggravated the nuisance complained of at the foot of Thirty-fourth street. If only one place of shipment was to be used, Mr. Reynolds could have used the pier at Fortieth street, instead of that at Thirty-fourth street, East river.

The preliminary measures for appealing this case have been taken. The Comptroller preferred to pay at once the balance claimed by Mr. Reynolds, leaving the matter of continuing the contract to the present Common Council. The decisions of the courts show that contracts made

by one Common Council are not binding on their successors. It is your province, therefore, to test the question, whether a service, for which Mr. Reynolds charges annually sixty-five thousand dollars, can be done for five thousand, as was offered to be done at the time this contract was made.

Indexing the Records in the County Offices.

In November, 1852, a Committee of the Board of Supervisors made a contract with Arthur & Burnet, and Collins, Bowne & Co., for indexing the Records in the offices of the County Clerk, Register and Surrogate. It was estimated that the expenditures under this contract would amount to two or three hundred thousand dollars. For this work, or a portion of it, an estimate was made by a competent person, on such data as could be obtained, which amounted to two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. Mr. Banks, a well known and responsible publisher and bookseller, had an estimate made, and offered to do the same work, in a substantial manner, for fiftynine thousand dollars. On looking at this matter, as I believe, in all its bearings, and examining the laws in regard to indexing and keeping records in the counties, I came to the conclusion that the authority to make such a contract did not exist, and gave the contractors notice that no further advances would be made until the courts had decided this question.

On the 1st of August, the Board of Supervisors passed resolutions sanctioning the surrender of the contracts, to be canceled on settlement of the accounts by the Comptroller. These contracts are now in this department, and an appropriation has been made for the settlement, and