ing enterprises, the direct profits of which will inure to the benefit of private capitalists. I do not believe it. But even if it were So, I am confident that hereafter, when the feverish period of speculation shall have passed away, and a sounder public sentiment shall prevail, they would, if I sanctioned the legislation to which I now object, hold me accountable and responsible for failing to protect them against great expenditures, in regard to which the probability of waste and extravagance is much greater than the possibility of prudence and discrimination.

It must be remembered that, under the Constitution, it is in the power of the Legislature to submit to the people of the State the question whether they are willing to aid these enterprises by the creation of a State debt. Such a mode of coming to their relief would admit of a larger grant of money and a more systematic and equitable application of it to the different sections of the State. The taxation required to meet the outlay could be extended over a period of eighteen years, instead of being forced upon one or two. The fact that no such measure has been brought forward during the time the State aid policy has been pressed, is strong evidence that the advocates of that policy believe that the people at large would not approve of it. If this be so, the people would certainly resent a proposition to collect at once, and without asking their approval, the large sum now proposed to be levied upon them.

For the reasons, therefore, that it is not easy to discriminate so clearly between this measure and those of a similar character, now pending and perhaps awaiting the decision of this one, as to make this an exception; that it presents a question of general policy in granting money from the State Treasury to aid in the construction of local railroads, when the burdens of taxation are too great to admit of the heavy addition which the adoption of the policy would entail; that the Constitution provides a wise

and just method by which the people of the State can take upon themselves the decision of the question, under which the tax can be graduated according to the magnitude of the improvement to which aid is given; that the measure may be deferred without prejudice to its future consideration at a period when the affairs of the State and country will be in a more permanent condition, when taxation will only be required for current necessities, and when it is hoped a settled prosperity shall be established; I am constrained, without expressing any opinion upon the merits of the Whitehall and Plattsburgh railroad, except to admit most freely that the region through which the road will run has very strong claims upon the consideration and sympathy of the whole State, and that the construction of a railroad through it would contribute very greatly to the general wealth and prosperity, to return the bill without my signature.

JOIIN T. HOFFMAN.

ALBANY, April 20, 1869.

To the Senate:

I return, without my signature, Senate bill No. 205, entitled "An act to authorize the Avenue C Railroad Company of the city of New York to extend their railroad tracks through certain streets and avenues in said city."

The company was chartered by act of the Legislature on the 6th of May, 1868. Up to this time it has built no portion of its railroad. The bill now before me, amending the charter, gives the company the privilege of laying its tracks in streets and avenues not covered by the original grant; and it does not provide

for compensation to be paid therefor into the treasury of the city or that of the State.

It comes within the objections stated by me in a message sent to the Senate on the 14th inst., in relation to the bill authorizing the construction of a railroad in One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and other streets of the city of New York. I therefore return the bill, and respectfully ask its reconsideration.

JOHN T. HOFFMAN.

ALBANY, April 26, 1869.

To the Senate:

I return, without my signature, Senate bill No. 70, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to supply vacancies in the offices of justices of the peace in the several towns of this State,' passed April 18, 1859."

The bill consists of two sections.

The first section provides that whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of justice of the peace in any town of this State after the annual town meeting in any year, and before the next annual town meeting in such town, certain town officers, or a majority of them, may appoint a person to fill the vacancy, "and the person so appointed shall hold said office until five days after the then next annual town meeting in said town."

By reference to article 6, section 17 of the Constitution, it will be seen that justices of the peace are elective officers.

The 5th section of article 10 of the Constitution reads thus: “The Legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and, în case of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy

shall hold his office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy."

It is obvious that in case of a vacancy occurring after an annual town meeting, and before the annual election of the same year, this section would provide that the person appointed to fill the vacancy should continue to hold office after the next suc ceeding first of January, which would be "the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy." Such provision of law is forbidden by the Constitution.

The second section of the bill provides that when a vacancy shall exist and a justice of the peace shall have been elected in the town, whose term of office does not commence until the first of January following, "the person so elected shall be appointed to fill such vacancy."

Article 10, section 2 of the Constitution prescribes that "all city, town, and village officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns, and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose.”

It is plain that the person pointed out by this act as the one who shall fill the vacancy in the case described in this second section would hold office, while filling the vacancy, neither by election of the electors of the town, or of any portion of them, nor by appointment of the local authorities. The power of appointment, that is, the selection of the person who shall fill the vacancy, is, according to the Constitution, to be conferred absolutely, if conferred at all, upon the local authorities. The Legis

lature cannot designate in advance what person they shall ap point.

Both sections of the bill are in conflict with the Constitution.

JOHN T. HOFFMAN.

To the Assembly :

ALBANY, April 27, 1869.

I return, without my signature, a bill entitled "An act to incorporate the village of Chateaugay, in the county of Franklin,” which passed the Assembly on the 17th of April, and the Senate on the 26th of April.

or

The bill provides that no person shall be entitled to vote "for the elective officers of the village" unless he be a frecholder, shall, within a year preceding, have paid a tax upon property taxable in the village.

It thus seeks to establish a property qualification for those who are to vote for officers elective by the people, and is, therefore, in conflict with the Constitution, which declares, in article 2, section 1, that "every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a citizen for ten days, and an inhabitant of the State for one year next preceding an election, and for the last four months a resident of the county where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in the election district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all officers that now are, or hereafter may be, elected by the people." And in article 10, section 2, that "all city, town, and village officers, whose election or appointment are not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of