regular rents of Croton water, and the redemption of property sold therefor, shall hereafter be performed by the Clerk of Arrears, under the direction of the Comptroller." An important object of this law, is to concentrate in one office all the lens on real estate, arising from arrears of assessments for improvements made in the office of the Street Commissioner; arrears of Croton water rents, and arrears of taxes.

The sixth section of the act provides that no, assessment for any improvement shall hereafter be deemed to be fully confirmed, so as to be due, and be a lien upon the property included in it, until the title thereof, with the date of confirmation, shall have been entered, with the date of such entry, in a record of the titles of assessments, to be kept in the Street Commissioner's office; and also in a record of the title of assessments confirmed, to be kept in the office of the Clerk of Arrears.

The ninth section of the act provides that on the 1st of April, in each year, the President of the Croton Aqueduct Board shall cause to be added, on all the water rents then unpaid, a charge of ten per cent., in addition to the charge of ten per cent. added on all sums unpaid on the 1st day of November of the preceding year, under the 20th section of chapter 383, of the Laws of 1849: and the said Presi dent shall, on the last day of April, furnish the Clerk of Arrears a separate account, for each ward, of all the lots on which the "regular rents" for that water year are un paid, with the sums due on each lot, and shall thereafter receive no payments on account of the same.

A column has been added to the assessment rolls of the wards for 1854, headed "regular rents," under which head

the Clerk of Arrears is required to enter, immediately after the confirmation of the assessment rolls, the amounts due for such rents, as furnished by the Croton Aqueduct Board; and, from the time of such entry, the arrears of Croton water rents become a lien upon the property on which they may be due, and are to be collected with the taxes on the same roll.

There is also to be added to the yearly assessment rolls, a 'column headed "arrears," in which the Clerk of Arrears is to add annually, and before any taxes for the year are collected, all arrears arising from taxes, "regular rents," or assessments remaining unpaid, which were due or confirmed thirteen months prior to the first of June then last past, or which may have been sold for assessments, taxes, or regular rents of Croton water, and yet redeemable.

The fourteenth section provides that "no real estate shall hereafter be sold, for any arrears of taxes on real estate or assessments thereon, until after three years from the time when the same shall have become due; nor for any arrears of "regular rents" for Croton water, until four years from the time the same shall have become due."

It is provided in the sixteenth section, that the receipt of the Clerk of Arrears, for taxes, assessments, and Croton water rents, countersigned by the Comptroller, or the certificate of the Clerk of Arrears, countersigned by the Comptroller, that there are no such liens on the lots, shall forever free them from all liens for taxes, assessments and Croton water rents, in consequence of sales for arrears. Under this section, it will be necessary to keep a diary in the Finance Department, in which an exact copy,

at full length, shall be entered, of each certificate contemplated to be given, and either signed as an original paper by the Searcher, the Clerk of Arrears and the Comptroller, or else to be verified by the certificate of the Clerk of Arrears, that he has compared the same with the original certificate, and found it to agree. And before any lot is sold, it should be ascertained, by a careful examination of the diary, whether any certificate has been given in relation to it, or to the person in whose name it is assessed. The ordinance respecting this bureau should prescribe and enforce these and other necessary obligations to faithfulness, as the only means of protecting the city from litigation and losses, in carrying out the provisions of the sixteenth section. But I respectfully recommend an application to the Legislature for the repeal of this section. Fraudulent certificates might be obtained from heedless or unprincipled officers, which would involve the city in immense losses. The necessity of personal watchfulness, on the part of the individual interested, should not be removed by a provision exposing the city to such hazard.

The closing paragraph of the seventh section, in relation to the fees of collectors, ought also to be repealedleaving their compensation to be fixed by the Common Council.

Fees for searches are to be regulated by ordinance of the Common Council, and paid into the city treasury. The fees, which, by the seventeenth section, are to be fixed by ordinance, should be moderate and clearly defined. The increase of taxes, assessments and Croton water rents, from one step to another, in the progress of turning

the legal screws to extract the money from those who are indisposed, or more frequently, unable to pay, are very severe already, and the ninth section of the act requires, on Croton Water rents, in April, "another additional charge of ten per cent." The interest is twelve per cent., the same as is charged on arrears of taxes.

Whatever the rate of fees may be, it is indispensable that the public agent who receives any fees should be able to show clearly that he is authorized by an act of the Legislature, or an ordinance of the Common Council, to receive the sum which he demands. It is a protection to the public agent to be enabled to answer the complaints of those who are doing business in his department, by showing him the law for every item demanded; and no public agent should make an exaction, unless he can show authority for it. The complaining party should not be put off with the too common answer, that the exaction is an established usage of the office. These usages, in many cases within my observation, are gross abuses.

The eighteeenth section authorizes the Corporation to borrow such amounts as may be required to meet the deficiencies caused by delay in collecting arrears of assessments. The sums required to be borrowed to meet deficiencies, on account of assessments, will be essentially increased, in consequence of deferring the sales for three years, instead of having them annually, as heretofore. At the såle for assessments, in April last, the Street Commissioner bid in for the city, no person offering to pay the assessment for a lease of the land for a thousand years. The amount advanced from the treasury, to pay for "lands purchased for assessments," at the last sale,

was seventy-seven thousand nine hundred and eleven dollar and seventy-two cents.

The extension of time on sales for arrears, will also materially increase the sums to be borrowed on assess ment bonds.

The postponement of the collection of arrears from one year to three or four years, is of very questionable advantage, even to the negligent owner, when interest is running against the premises at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum. The requirement to pay annually is a better protection to the careless owner than the seeming privilege of three years. The owner does not knowingly hazard the loss of his land for the small sum assessed on it, unless from forgetfulness or inability to pay. The person who forgets to pay within the year, is still more likely to forget the day if his memory is tasked for three years; and if inability is the cause, it is better for the owner that he should be forced to pay before the twelve per cent. for three years can be added.

The system for the collection of taxes adopted in 1843, is, in most respects, an admirable system, and I do not think the extension of the time for the sales of arrears is an improvement. The fees chargeable on delinquents, however, ought to be clearly defined, and set forth in the tax law itself. There are complaints of exactions on the part of the collector of arrears, which would be removed by such a provision..

Claims of the Corporation of the City of New York for Unpaid Assessments and Taxes.

The act in relation to the collection of arrears of assessments, passed July 20, 1853, and which takes effect on