OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, FIFTY-FOURTH SESSION, 1831. VOLUME III. FROM No. 195 TO 279, INCLUSIVE. ALBANY : PRINTED BY E. CROSWELL, PRINTER TO THE STATE. 1831. IN ASSEMBLY, February 18, 1831. REPORT Of the select committee on the Petition of Isaiah Townsend and others, for the incorporation of the Albany Water-Works company. The select committee to which was referred the petition of Isaiah Townsend and others, for the incorporation of a company to supply the city of Albany with pure and wholesome water, REPORTED: The subject presented to the consideration of the committee, is intimately connected with the health and comfort of a large portion of the citizens of the city of Albany. The inadequate supply of pure water, to many of its inhabitants, and the great inconvenience and heavy expense in procuring it, are alleged as the reasons for making this application. In 1802, a company was chartered, for the purpose of supplying the city of Albany, and its neighborhood, with wholesome water; since which, twenty-eight years have elapsed, and during the whole of that period, the company has been in operation. The design of the Legislature in making this grant, was obviously that the whole city might be furnished with an unfailing supply. This object has been accomplished in part only. An ample supply of good water has, under the direction of the company, been conducted into the lower part of the city, and a portion of the inhabitants residing east of Eagle-street are furnished, while those living west of that street, and in the upper part of the city, are entirely unprovided for. This deprivation has been, and continues to be, severely felt by your petitioners, who have hereto[A. No. 195.] 1 fore applied to the Legislature for a charter, with powers similar to those possessed by the present company; and at two different sessions, a bill for this purpose has passed the Senate. The bill passed by that body during the last year, reached this House at a very advanced period of the session; was made the special order of the day preceding that on which the Legislature adjourned, and when its attention was so completely absorbed with other matters, that no opportunity was then afforded for further legislation on the subject. The application is now renewed, and with entire confidence in the result. Considerations of public good, and the benefits to flow from an acquiescence by the Legislature in the prayer of the petition, ought, in the judgment of the committee, secure to it a favorable notice. A remonstrance on the part of the Albany water-works company, now in operation, has also been under consideration. And the trustees or agents of this company have appeared before your committee in opposition to the grant of a second charter. It is urged that such a grant would prove detrimental to their interests by causing a diminution of profits; but the opposition rests mainly upon the mistaken supposition that it would be an infringement upon their chartered rights. At first this objection appeared imposing, and in order to determine the question as raised by the remonstrants, the committee have examined with much care the provisions of their act of incorporation, the result of which is a settled opinion that it does not confer such exclusive privileges, that the incorporation of another company for similar purposes would in any degree impair their rights. Entertaining such an opinion, your committee cannot but act in accordance therewith, by presenting for the consideration of the House a bill, which they ask leave to introduce. IN ASSEMBLY, February 15, 1831. ANNUAL REPORT Of the Trustees of the New-York Bank for Savings, for the year 1830. Pursuant to the provisions of an act, entitled "An act to incorporate an association by the name of the Bank for Savings, in the city of New-York," the trustees now beg leave to present their twelfth REPORT, AS FOLLOWS: First. That the trustees have received from fourteen thousand two hundred depositors, from the first of January to the thirty-first of December, 1830, the sum of seven hundred and forty-one thousand, five hundred eighty-three dollars and ninety-five cents, in the following manner. : |