visitation and examination, and is required to report the condition of the institutions visited, which include all the charitable and correctional institutions in the State.

The State Commissioner in Lunacy is authorized and directed to examine into and report annually to the Legislature the condition of the insane and idiotic in the State, and the management and conduct of the asylums and institutions for their care and treatment. The boards of trustees or managers of all the charitable and correctional institutions have generally the control of their business and internal management.

The superintendents hold their positions under the boards of trustees, and are supposed to devote their attention to the care of the inmates of the institutions.

The Board of Charities is composed of most estimable men and women who receive no compensation for their services, but devote all the time to the performance of their duties that can reasonably be expected, and their labors are undeniably valuable. Their powers are advisory in their nature, and their recommendations are often unheeded.

The powers and duties of the State Commissioner in Lunacy, so far as the institutions for the insane and idiotic are concerned, are nearly identical with those of the Board of Charities; and unfortunate questions have arisen from this condition.

The visitations of the Board of Charities, as well as the Commissioner in Lunacy, are necessarily infrequent, and the information they gain of the actual management of the institutions quite general and impe fect.

The local boards of trustees gratuitously perform the duties they have assumed, and while not unfaithful, can hardly be expected to devote time very constantly to the details of management. They very naturally gain much of their information from the statements of the superintendent in charge.

A recent investigation by a committee of the managers of the Western House of Refuge, where delinquent boys and girls are sent for reform and instruction, satisfied the committee that for months the by-laws and regulations of the institution, relating to the punishment of inmates, had been violated; that the boys there confined had been beaten, abused and assaulted in the most outrageous manner, by the attendants and subordinates in charge, and the funds of the institution had not been sufficiently protected.

It is assumed that neither the Board of Charities nor the local board of trustees had any knowledge of these things until they were exposed by the investigation; and the superintendent testified that he was entirely ignorant of the instances of cruelty established by the testimony.

A system which permits this condition of things is evidently defective.

The time will never come when the humane sentiment of the people will approve the cruel treatment or the neglect of the unfortunate or even criminal inmates of these institutions; and their

nsefulness depends upon giving no occasion for the growth of a suspicious and unreasoning belief that their benevolent purposes are lost or perverted. That system of management is, therefore, manifestly best which most nearly satisfies the public that it is conducted with due regard to justice and forbearance.

Another and a more practical consideration is involved in this question.

The State annually appropriates from half to three-quarters of a million of dollars to the maintenance of these institutions; and those connected with the making or administration of the laws owe, as a duty to the tax payers of the State, their best efforts to guard the expenditure of the money thus appropriated against extravagance, and insure its advantageous application to the purposes for which it is intended.

An examination of some of the expenditures of these institutions. and the cost of the maintenance of their inmates establishes the fact that their business management is seriously at fault.

A report made to the Comptroller by the agent appointed in 1878 to examine their financial affairs and business administration contains much valuable and startling information. By this report it appears that our State institutions compare very unfavorably in the cost of their maintenance with those of other States and countries. Confined to our own State, the result of the inquiry in this respect is no less striking. There is reported quite an important variation in the prices paid for the same kind of supplies, and a great difference in the expense of supporting their inmates. The cost of provisions and supplies is given for the support of each inmate in the year 1877, in twenty different lunatic asylums, three of which are located in this State and seventeen in other States and provinces. Of the seventeen the annual cost per capita in six institutions was between $50 and $60; in two between $60 and $70; in seven between $70 and $80; in one $81.87, and in one $101.74. In the three New York institutions this cost is reported at $105.88, $140.78 and $157.22. It thus appears that the New York asylums are not only much more expensive than the others, but that among themselves there is a difference between the highest and lowest rate of more than fifty per cent.

The last report of the State Board of Charities contains a statement of the weekly per capita cost of maintaining the inmates in several of our State institutions, which shows a variation scarcely less marked.

I cannot but believe that much that is defective and expensive in the present management of these institutions is attributable to divided responsibility and consequent loose and unbusiness-like methods. I fear that too much of the time of superintendents, which should be devoted to the actual care and watch of those put in their charge, is spent in other occupations, which, though not necessarily foreign to the interests of the institutions, should not be included among their duties.

At every session of the Legislature, not only the superintendent, but delegations from the local boards of managers, appear before the committees having the subject of appropriations in charge, asking for money to maintain their institutions, which, if needed, they should receive without importunity. Appropriations are made for all manner of enlargements, repairs, alterations and improvements, many of which are disapproved after executive examination, which is unavoidably imperfect and may lead to injustice.

A suspicion may well be entertained that in the localities where these institutions are situate the privilege of furnishing the supplies and materials is granted from motives of friendliness or a desire to patronize home trade, resulting in bargains disadvantageous to the institutions and the State.

In seeking to better the condition of affairs, we cannot fail to be reminded of the experience of the State in relation to prison management. During the year ending the 30th day of September, 1876, there was paid from the treasury for the maintenance of these institutions, above their earnings, the sum of $704,379.85. By an amendment to the Constitution adopted in November of that year, the superintendence, management and control of the State prisons were vested in a superintendent, who entered upon the discharge of his duties in February, 1877. On the 30th day of September following, or in less than nine months under the new management, the deficiency of expenditure was reduced to $369,688.08. This deficiency steadily decreased until the 30th of September, 1881, when a surplus of $564.35 was reported, which has annually increased until at the close of the last year it reached $9,106.23.

There seems to be no good reason why similarly favorable results cannot be obtained by the application of a like system to the control and management of the business affairs of our charitable institutionse It accords with the plan adopted where large private interests are involved; it has the advantage of concentrated responsibility; the Legislature and the Executive should, under such a system, be satisfactorily informed of the actual needs of the different institutions and the necessary appropriations should be cheerfully made; the time of the superintendents could be devoted to their legitimate and proper duties; the detection and prevention of abuses and neglect could be reasonably exacted; a very large saving should be effected in the wholesale purchase of supplies of uniform grade for all the institutions, and the advantages consequent upon a correct application of business methods would be secured to the people of the State. The change suggested contemplates the employment of a fit person vested with the supervision and control of these institutions, to whom a fair salary should be paid, and who should have no other business. He should absolutely be required to devote all his time to the performance of his duties.

The attention of the Legislature is earnestly called to this subject, in the hope that a better system may be adopted, with such careful consideration of detail and the necessary change in present laws as will secure the inauguration of a plan which shall be simple, efficient and well perfected.

EMIGRATION.

The Commissioners of Emigration report that the number of immigrants landed at Castle Garden from January 1st, to the 1st day of December, 1883, was 372,183, being 63,464 less than were received during the corresponding time in the previous year. They estimate the total number for the entire year at 390,000, as against 455,450 for the year 1882.

During eleven months of the present year, 4,818 immigrants were admitted to the State Emigrant Hospital and Refuge, at Ward's Island, and the number remaining on the 10th day of December was 575, of which 116 were insane.

During the time covered by the report, 27,480 immigrants have been furnished employment, and 1,273 have been returned to the places from which they came.

Of the expenditures of the Board, $168,054.04 is reported as received from the funds collected by the Treasury Department under the act of Congress directing the payment of a certain sum for each immigrant landed, and $38,202.51 was received from the State. In addition, there was expended the sum of $31,049.29 for repairs to the State property on Ward's Island, this sum being the balance of the amount appropriated for that purpose by the Legislature in 1882.

At the last session of the Legislature a law was passed for the purpose of entirely reconstructing this department. Such action was in my judgment entirely justified. It was based upon grounds of economy, honesty and humanity. The new law recognizes the doctrine of concentrated responsibility by providing for the appointment by the Governor and confirmation by the Senate, of a commissioner who with the respective presidents of the German Society and Irish Emigrant Society as ex-officio commissioners, should constitute a Board of Immigration in place of the present unwieldy, inharmonious and badly constituted board. The law also contained other safeguards in favor of the immigrants against extortion and imposition.

The new system thus provided failed to become operative by reason of the refusal of the last Senate to act upon the nomination of a commissioner. The speedy execution of this law is earnestly recommended.

QUARANTINE AND HEALTH OFFICER.

The reports from the Quarantine Department and the Health Officer of the port of New York show that during the past year infectious or contagious diseases have gained no foothold in this State.

The last Legislature failed to make the ordinary appropriation for the care and maintenance of the Quarantine Department. In consequence of this there exists a deficiency in that department of $8,427.50, for which an appropriation will be necessary.

In July, 1881, the Senate appointed a committee "to investigate and ascertain the emoluments and to examine into the administra

tion of the Health Officer of the port of New York, with a view of making the Quarantine Department self sustaining, and framing such laws as may be in the public interest."

The committee, after making quite a thorough examination and taking a great deal of testimony, submitted a report in which they express the opinion that the gross net income of the Health Officer could not average less than $40,000 per annum, and might, in favorable years, reach as high as $60,000 or more, and that they were sufficient to pay all the cost of maintaining the quarantine establishment after paying the Health Officer a liberal salary.

The following statement is also contained in the report:

"At present the boarding fee is the only one authorized and fixed by the statute; of the other fees, some are authorized by the quarantine commissioners, like the fee for fumigation, while others are collected without any authority whatever except custom, and their amount is altogether in the discretion of the Health Officer. This is the case with what is called the inspection fee,' and also the 'night boarding fee.' Your committee has no hesitation in saying that such a state of things ought not to exist with any officer of the State authorized to collect fees. They, therefore, recommend that all fees hereafter collected by the Health Officer shall be fixed by law, and that he shall be prohibited from exacting any fees not thus provided by statute. In conclusion, your committee cannot refrain from expressing the opinion that the revenues of the Health Officer of the port of New York are out of all proportion to the professional skill and labor required to properly fill the office. Exceeding as they do the salary of any of the State officers, the Governor included, they constitute an anomaly in the administration of the Commonwealth which is uncalled for, inexcusable and ought not to be permitted to continue."

Another fact appears in the evidence taken by the committee, which is not referred to in their report. The present incumbent of the health office testified that, in the year 1880, he paid between $9,000 and $10,000 as a voluntary contribution to the party of which he was a member, for political purposes.

When, in addition to the facts above presented, the Legislature is reminded that notwithstanding the amount so collected, appropriations are annually made from the State treasury for the support of the Quarantine Department, the need of legislation on this subject will, I hope, be recognized.

It may be that, upon consideration, the fees which are now legitimately charged for services performed in this department will not be found unduly burdensome, though some vessels now subjected to their payment might be relieved; but all fees and charges resting in the discretion of the officer, or exacted without authority, should be definitely fixed by law or prohibited.

In my judgment the Health Officer should be attached to the quarantine establishment and be paid a fair salary, which, as well as the salaries of the other parties in charge of the department, and the cost of maintaining the buildings and property of the State