IN SENATE, March 1, 1832. REPORT Of the select committee, on the petition of the Supervisors and Superintendents of the poor of the county of Richmond. Mr. Allen, from the committee, to which was referred the petition of the supervisors and the superintendents of the poor, of the county of Richmond, REPORTED: That the object of the petitioners appears to be, first, to obtain from the Health Commissioners, the amount of money expended by said county, for the arrest, imprisonment and trial of certain persons charged with crime, and who at the time of committing such crime, were in the service of the United States. Second, to obtain assistance by a grant of money, towards the purchase of a farm for the use of the poor of said county. Third, a request for an amendment of the statute on dogs, so far as it relates to the county of Richmond. To meet the first object of the petitioners, as the committee are informed, an act was passed on the 19th of April, 1825, providing that any person, not being a citizen of the county, charged with crime committed within the quarantine establishment, the expense incurred by the county shall be paid by the Health Commissioners, upon an order in writing from the supervisors; provided such crime shall have been committed by a person who has contributed to the Hospital Fund. The object in passing this act, as the committee believe, was to provide for the case under consideration, as well as for others that might occur, it having been the opinion at the time the act was passed, that the persons concerned came within its provisions; but those on whose account the expenditure was made, having been in the service of the United States, when they were arrested, and therefore not liable to the tax imposed by the State for the support of the Marine Hospital, the proviso to the law, prevented its operation, so far as it related to the expense incurred in the matter alluded to. To remedy this defect, an act was passed on the 7th of April, 1827, amending the act of 1825, and requiring the Health Commissioners to repay to the county of Richmond, all expenses which may be incurred by said county, for the transportation, confinement, &c. of any mariner, not being a citizen of the county, charged with the commission of crime within the limits of the quarantine establishment, whether such mariner shall have contributed to the support of the Marine Hospital or not. This act having been made prospective, did not meet the object intended, and the expenditure of the county amounting, as stated by the county clerk, to seven hundred dollars, has never been received by the supervisors. The persons who were the cause of this expenditure, were at the time the crime was charged upon them, performing quarantine under the laws of this State; and as the location of the establishment was an act of the State, and not of the country, it appears to the committee but reasonable, that the county should be re-imbursed for an expense brought upon them by the location in their vicinity of an institution, public in its nature, and which to them, has rather proved an evil than a good. The assistance requested towards the purchase of a farm for the use of the poor, is urged upon the consideration of the Legislature, upon the ground that the quarantine establishment has caused a considerable addition to the expense of the county by the increase of pauperism among the inhabitants. The great number of laborers employed in unlading and transporting the cargoes of vessels placed under quarantine, and other business connected with the establishment, has brought to the county a population very liable to become chargeable, and as a considera le number of the inhabitants are engaged in the coasting trade, and pay annually three or four hundred dollars, to the funds of the Marine Hospital, to which they rarely, if ever resort in the event of sickness, most of them having families on the island, and if poor become chargeable, the committee are of opinion, that the county have some claim on the funds in the hands of the Health Commissioners, for relief. The reason for requesting an alteration of the law respecting the tax on dogs, are briefly as follows: The increase of that species of animals in the county has been very great. This increase is owing in part to the heavy impositions on dogs in the city of New-York, inducing their owners to send them from the city to the neighboring counties; and partly to an evasion of the law, by every member of a family claiming to own one of the dogs kept by them. The committee are also informed, that previous to the operation of the Revised Statutes, when a tax was levied on every dog kept in the county of Richmond, the supervisors were able to collect from the tax, sufficient to defray the loss occasioned by the destruction of sheep; but since their operation, these collections have been so much reduced in amount, that the object for which the tax was levied is far from being realized. The committee are of opinion, that all these matters require legislative aid, and they have accordingly prepared two bills, one providing for the payment of the amount of money petitioned for, and the other imposing a tax on dogs in the county of Richmond, and they have instructed their chairman to ask leave to introduce the same accordingly. |