and the rural districts of Queens and Richmond, demands some subdivision and some degree of local autonomy. How far and in what respects the powers of administration in the various departments of the city government should be centralized, and how far they should be vested in the local authorities of each Borough, are questions which have demanded and have received our most careful attention. It appears to be entirely free from doubt that the great departments of public safety should be centralized and in strong control. There can also be no question but that the Departments of Finance, of Law, of Public Charities, of Correction, of Docks and of Taxes should be centralized and uniform in their operation. But when we come to the departments which deal with the public works of the city a very different question is presented. The present Charter centralizes all of these departments and unites them in a Board of Public Improvements. In this respect the Commission is satisfied that the scheme of the present Charter has proved most unsatisfactory in its workings, more especially with regard to the Boroughs other than Manhattan. It therefore recommends a very great enlargement of the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Borough Presidents.

LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS, PUBLIC WORKS, ETC.

The testimony given both before the Commission as a whole and before its sub-committees, and in the communications received by the Commission, shows that the system adopted by the Greater New York Charter for local improvements-both those paid for by local assessment and those paid for by the City as a whole-is extremely unsatisfactory. This is particularly true of local improvements paid for by assessments on the property benefited. The conditions existing at the present time bear a strong resemblance to those which existed immediately prior to 1890, in the district then known as the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards of the old City

of New York. Legislation was enacted in 1890 making provision for a local officer in that district who was known as the Commissioner of Street Improvements for the Twentythird and Twenty-fourth Wards and discharged all administrative duties relative to such matters as sewers and streets, both in regard to their original construction and their subsequent maintenance. All the testimony taken by the Commission proves that this law worked satisfactorily to the people of the district immediately concerned as well as to the City as a whole. The Commission has therefore decided to recommend that the departments of Sewers and Highways, which, under the present charter, have jurisdiction throughout the entire City, be abolished, and that their functions be transferred to the Presidents of the several Boroughs. Under this plan the Borough Presidents will occupy a position closely analogous to that of the former Commissioner of Street Improvements of the Twenty-third and Twentyfourth Wards.

The existing law relative to the making of local improvements is unsatisfactory in other respects. The functions of the various Local Boards under the present Charter are confined merely to recommending that proceedings be initiated, and the hearings before these bodies have, therefore, not assumed the importance which it is believed it was the intention of the framers of the Charter that they should have. The actual determination that local improvements shall be made is dependent on the approval of so many authorities that such determination is removed further than advisable from the people immediately interested. The Commission therefore recommends that the resolution of a Local Improvement Board, if approved by the President of the Borough and by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, shall be all that is necessary in order that proceedings for a local improvement shall be begun. The power of veto given the President of the Borough is

believed to be necessary in order both to protect the rights of the individuals liable to assessment and to safeguard the interests of the Borough as a whole against any reckless action on the part of particular Local Improvement Boards. The power of approval given to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment has been thought necessary in order to protect the interest of the City as a whole. As the contracting party in these cases of local improvements is not the local improvement district, nor even any one of the Boroughs, but is the Corporation of The City of New York, and as the expense of the improvement is in first instance defrayed by The City of New York out of the proceeds of assessment bonds which are obligations of the City as a whole, it would be unwise and improper to vest in any district, or even in any Borough, the absolute right of determination. If such a power were given without the checks recommended, to each of the twenty-five improvement districts or even to each of the five Boroughs, the financial situation of the City might easily be imperiled and the constitutional limitation upon its indebtedness exceeded. Finally it is recommended that where the expense of any improvement is to be borne partially by the City as a whole, the consent of the Board of Aldermen shall also be obtained, if the City's share shall equal the sum of $500,000.

Another defect in the present Charter of which particular complaint has been made in the districts where building operations are most extensive, is the excessive centralization of the present Department of Buildings. The distance of certain sections of the City from the headquarters of the Building Department in Manhattan is so great that much time is lost by the length of the necessary daily journeys of the officers of the department, and the citizens of many sections having business with the department are also compelled under present arrangements to lose much time from the same cause. The system of Deputy Commissioners established by the Charter does not provide a sufficiently decentral

ized system to satisfy the needs either of the department or the people. We have therefore recommended the establishment of a bureau of buildings in the office of each President of a Borough, to exercise the powers now possessed by the various Commissioners of Buildings.

The same reasons which have led us to recommend the transfer of the powers of the departments of Highways, Sewers and Buildings to the President of the Borough, have led us to recommend the transfer to the same officer of the powers of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, Lighting and Supplies, so far as they relate to public buildings. The abolition of this department has also made necessary a redistribution of its other powers. The powers relative to supplies, which even now are exercised within some of the departments, such as Police and Education, have been given to the heads of departments generally and to the Presidents of the Boroughs, so far as their respective departments are concerned. The powers of the department relative to gas and electricity have been conferred upon the Commissioner of Water Supply.

The foregoing changes in the present system have made it necessary to recommend the abolition of the Board of Public Improvements, because its continued existence would be inconsistent with the plan for autonomy in the boroughs in matters of public improvements which the Commission has recommended. The powers now vested in the Board of Public Improvements which have not been transferred to the various departments and to the Presidents of the Boroughs, have been given to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

BOARD OF ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT.

The Commission has recommended a considerable exten. sion of the powers now conferred upon the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. With respect to what may be called the routine expenditures of the City, whether they are provided

for by taxation or by use of the City's credit, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment is given large powers. By reason of the possession of these new powers and of the increase of its freedom in exercising the powers which it has from the beginning of its history possessed, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment under our draft charter will be the most important body in the City government. Whatever dissatisfaction may have been felt with any other municipal body, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment has generally given satisfaction for its capacity, efficiency and integrity. Under the plan of the Commission it will be in reality the centre of all legislative activity in relation to financial affairs, and of much of the administrative activity of the City. It will be in effect an upper house of the City Legislature and also a cabinet of the most important administrative officers.

In dealing with the composition of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the Commission has not been unmindful of the danger of changing an agency of government which has long and successfully stood the test of experience. The present Board consists of the Mayor, the Comptroller, the President of the Council, the President of the Department of Taxes and Assessments and the Corporation Counsel-the two last-named officials being appointees of the Mayor. In giving to the Mayor the absolute power of removal it is evident that his appointees would be to a greater extent than at present under his influence, so that the Mayor in the Board of Estimate and Apportionment might, in effect, have three votes out of the five. It was not considered advisable to make the Corporation Counsel and the President of the Department of Taxes and Assessments elective officers; neither was it considered desirable to elect additional members of the Board at large. A Board consisting of three members would be manifestly too small. On the other hand the facts that the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was given the power to disapprove the decisions of Local Improvement Boards, and to determine the