COMMISSIONERS OF THE SINKING THE CITY OF NEW YORK. FUND OF Proceedings of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund at a Meeting held at the Comptroller's Office at 3.30 o'clock P. M., on Wednesday, April 21, 1897. Present-John W. Goff, Recorder; Ashbel P. Fitch, Comptroller, and Anson G. McCook, Chamberlain. The Board met pursuant to adjournment. The following communication was received from the Counsel to the Corporation : Law Department, Office of the Counsel to THE CORPORATION, NEW YORK, April 21, 1897. Hon. ASHBEL P. FITCH, Comptroller : SIR-I am in receipt of your communication of the 15th instant, inclosing for my consideration and advice the bid submitted by the Mapes-Reeve Construction Company for furnishing material and performing work in the erection and completion of a hospital building in Gouverneur Slip, between Front and Water streets, pursuant to chapter 703 of the Laws of 1894, as amended by chapter 399 of the Laws of 1895. You state that the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund at the time of opening the bids decided to make no award of the contract until my opinion could be obtained as to whether the estimate of the Mapes-Reeve Construction Company was valid and legal in the following respects: I. The bid being signed by D. H. Mapes, General Manager, with no proof of his authority to submit a bid for his company. II. As to the form of the affidavit of Mr. Mapes. Since the receipt of your communication, there has been signed and sworn to a statement to the effect that the By-laws of the said company provide that among the officers of the corporation to be elected there shall be a general manager, and that the general manager shall have full charge and control of the business affairs of the corporation subject to the direction and control of the Board of Directors. That Demorest H. Mapes, a director of the company, was duly elected General Manager on December 1, 1896, for the term of one year. There is also contained in said statement or certificate, copy of a resolution authorizing Mr. Mapes to execute and deliver to the Sinking Fund Commission a bid of this company for the erection and completion of the hospital at Gouverneur Slip, which resolution is dated April 15, 1897. Without commenting in any way upon the effect of the last-named resolution, I would say that I consider the bid in question in proper form and that the contract before the Sinking Fund Commission may be awarded to the said Mapes-Reeve Construction Company. I herewith inclose the certificate referred to and submitted by the said company. Very respectfully, Which was ordered on file. FRANCIS M. SCOTT, Counsel to the Corporation. Whereupon the Comptroller offered the following ; Resolved, That the contract for erecting a hospital building in Gouverneur Slip, pursuant to chapter 703 of the Laws of 1894, as amended by chapter 399 of the Laws of 1895, be and the same is hereby awarded to the Mapes-Reeve Construction Company of No. 150 Nassau street, New York City, at their bid of one hundred and sixteen thousand (116,000) dollars, and the Comptroller be and is hereby authorized to return the security deposits to the unsuccessful bidders therefor; and Resolved, That for the purpose of providing funds for said work and for architect's fees and inspection in connection therewith, as well as for the equipment of said building, the Comptroller be and is hereby authorized to issue from time to time, as may be required, "Consolidated Stock of the City of New York," as provided by said acts and by section 132 of the New York City Consolidation Act of 1882, to an amount not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), redeemable in not less than ten nor more than twenty years, and bearing interest at a rate not exceeding three and one-half per cent. per annum. Which were unanimously adopted. Adjourned. EDGAR J. LEVEY, Secretary. Proceedings of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund at a Meeting held at the Mayor's Office at 12.30 o'clock P. M., on Thursday, May 6, 1897. Present-William L. Strong, Mayor; Ashbel P. Fitch, Comptroller; Anson G. McCook, Chamberlain, and John T. Oakley, Chairman Committee on Finance, Board of Aldermen. The minutes of the meetings held on March 19, March 24, April 5, and April 21, 1897, were read and approved. The Comptroller presented the following report on sale of $929,333.97 City Stock : Fund: To the Commissioners of the Sinking GENTLEMEN-Sealed proposals were received by the Comptroller at his office on March 23, 1897, after due advertisement, in pursuance of law, for $929,333.97 three per cent. Registered Consolidated Stock of the City of New York, as hereinafter more particularly described. --which proposals were opened by the Comptroller, in the presence of the Chamberlain, as fam The entire amount was awarded to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund at par. ASHPEL P. FITCH, Comptroller. Respectfully submitted, Which was ordered on file. The following communication was received from the Armory Board: BOARD OF ARMORY COMMISSIONERS, April 7, 1897. To the Honorable the Commissione of the Sinking Fund: GENTLEMEN-At a meeting of the Armory Board held this day, the following was adopted Resolved, That the proposal of J. F. Buchanan & Co., No. 321 Bourse Building, Philadelp♪ Pennsylvania, for turnishing fixtures, connections, etc., for lighting by electricity the Seventh Reg ment Armory Building on the easterly side of Park avenue, extending from Sixty-sixth to Sixtyseventh streets, New York City, amounting to twenty-three thousand tour hundred and forty dollars, be accepted as being the lowest bid for said work, and that the same be submitted to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund for their concurrence and to the Comptroller for his approva of the sureties thereon, and when so approved, the Chairman of this Board be authorized to execute the contract on behalf of this Board. Respectfully, E. P. BARKER, Secretary. Whereupon the Comptroller offered the following: Resolved, That the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund hereby approve of and concur in the action of the Armory Board in accepting the bid of J. F. Buchanan & Co. of twenty-three thousand four hundred and forty dollars ($23,440) for furnishing fixtures, connections, etc., for lighting by electricity the Seventh Regiment Armory Building. Which was unanimously adopted. The following communication was received from the Commissioner of Street Improvements, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, submitting form of contract for furnishing the public building in Crotona Park : COMMISSIONER OF STREET IMPROVEMENTS, TWENTY-THIRD AND TWENTY-FOURTH WARDS, April 13, 1897. Hon. Wм. L. STRONG, Chairman, Sinking Fund Commission : GENTLEMEN-In accordance with the resolution of your Board of February 8, 1897, relative to the furnishing and equipment of the new public building in Crotona Park for the use of the Commissioner of Street Improvements of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, I prepared plans and specifications relative to the same, and I also prepared a form of contract which I submitted to the Counsel to the Corporation for his approval. This form of contract has been approved by the Counsel to the Corporation and is now submitted to your Board for such action as you deem proper, under authority of chapter 720 of the Laws of 1896. Whereupon the Comptroller read a favorable report of Engineer McLean thereon, and offered the following: Resolved, That, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 720 of the Laws of 1896, the plans and specifications and form of contract for furnishing and equipping the new public building in Crotona Park for the use of the Commissioner of Street Improvements of the Twenty-third and Twentyourth Wards be and the same are hereby approved, and the Comptroller is hereby authorized to advertise for proposals therefor in the CITY RECORD for a period of not less than ten days. Which was unanimously adopted. The following communication was received from the Counsel to the Corporation, relative to ale of the buildings now on the site selected for the new Court-house for the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court : LAW DEPARTMENT-OFFICE OF THE COUNSEL TO THE CORPORATION, NEW YORK, April 24, 1897. Hon. ASHBEL P. FITCH, Comptroller : SIR-I find that the opinion which I sent you yesterday with reference to the question as to whether the buildings now on the site on which it is proposed to erect a new Court-house for the Appellate Division may be sold after advertisement for bids for tearing down the same rather han by selling them at public auction, was based upon my omission to note that chapter 196 of e Laws of 1897 has recently gone into effect and by its terms has modified the statutes which ere referred to and considered in such opinion. I therefore desire to recall said opinion, and in its place to submit to you the following, based pon the statute in question; said statute is entitled "An Act in relation to a court-house for the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Department and as a supplement to an act in relation to the Supreme Court in the First Judicial District, and the Appellate Division thereof in the First Department, passed May eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five.” The first section is as follows: "Section 1. The court-house for the appellate division of the supreme court in the first department shall be erected by the commissioners of the sinking fund of the city of New York upon the plot of land acquired by the city and county of New York, under the provisions of chapter five hundred and fifty-three of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninetyfive, and according to the plans and specifications prepared by the architect who has been designated by the said commissioners of the sinking fund for that purpose, when completed by him and approved by the said commissioners of the sinking fund and the justices of the appellate division of the supreme court in the first department or a majority of such justices." It will be noted that the effect of this act is to amend the section quoted in my opinion yesterday from the act of 1895, so as to vest in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund e duty of erecting the building in question. Such being the case the same reason which I ggested for thinking that the Commissioner of Public Works had full power under the act to r down the buildings upon the site upon which the building is to be erected, applies to the wer as vested in the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and for that reason they may take atever steps are necessary to prepare the ground for the erection of the Court-house. I therefore advise you that it is the duty of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, der the section above quoted, to sell at public auction the buildings now upon said site, I as the purpose of such sale is to clear the site and make way for the erection of a new lding they may, I think, properly include, as one of the terms of sale, a requirement that |