The New York herald., 1870-04-13
Tac Rev Department CT Docks ana 'no
Great Work Before II.

| Great Work Before 1t.
Under our new City Chartera Department OF
Docks has been established, and, by appoint
ment Of the Mayor, the Board OF five persons
charged wi its control are Wilson G. Hunt,
William Wood, John T. Agnew, Hugh Smith
and Richard NJ. Henry. These officers hold
for five years and ''shall possess such powers,
perform such duties and receive such compen-
sation as shall be established and defined by
the city and county Commissioners Of the
Sinking Fund.-" and they "may in the perform
ance of such duties expend annually for the
repair or reconstruction of the wharves, piers
and slips of said city not more than three hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars"
Such is the limit under the existing law Of
the powers and duties of this Department. or
course within the small margin Of three hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars year 1t can
do nothing towards any substantial improve
ments Of the city water front on either side.
The Board is mere committee Of supervision
OF the present rickety system of piers and
wharves There is, however, al bill awaiting the
action Of the Assembly, providing for much
broader field of employment for this Depart
ment of Docks. This BILL among other things,
provides, after general hearing of memorials,
plans, &C., from citizens interested, that
''the Board shall advertise for plans for the
best method for improving the water front and
harbor Of the city by a new system of wharves,
piers, docks, basins and slips, which shall
accommodate the present commerce OF said
city and harbor and shall provide for the
future increase and expansion thereof, and
for the facilitation Of the transportation of
freight along said water front, so as to render
the whole water front Of said city available to
the commerce Of said port" And the time for
presenting such plans-from which the Board
will make their choice for the uniform i'm
provement of the water front-may be ex-
tended TO the first day of October, 1870.
This, we understand, is part of the general
programme contemplated by 'the powers that
be" at Albany in the architectural reconstruc-
tion of the city Of New York. In this work of
reconstruction, as we are, we are fifty years
behind Paris on the land, fifty years behind
London and Liverpool in our water improve
ments, and twenty-five years at least behind
the growth Of our own city. There is no sea-
| port city of half the population of this in
Christendom that has such abominable streets
for filth, patchwork and botchwork in pave
ments and sewers such insufficient ways and
means of egress and ingress; such an
inconvenient pressure in its highways
and byways; such miserable, shambling,
dirty and crowded market places; such
an expensive, offensive and Indifferent
quality of gas; such disgraceful sinks and
slums and holes and corners for pestilence and
famine; such clumsy, unsightly, rickety,
rotten, dirty and poverty-stricken piers and
wharves, at low tide fostering in garbage and
inky bige water, or such municipal extortions,
looseness and wastefulness, with so little to
show for it.
more than the labors of Hercules for our new
city government. We have something to be
proud of in our Cr0ton water works and in
our great and beautiful Park, but beyond
these and it's immense trade, it's fine hotels
aud two or three theatres, and the natural
|
boast of as the financial, commercial, intellec
tual and fashionable metropolis of this Con-
tnent Our public buildings are Of the pro-
vincial order, and we have hundred miles Of
streets the houses along which are suggestive
rather of provincial decay than metropolitan
prosperity. The citizen says we are ground
to the dust with corporation corruptions and
taxes, and hence we are slow in our improve
ments. What, then, can we expect of this
new city government? We do not expect as
much from it in the same time in making Q
new city out Of an old one as Napoleon and
Baron Haussmann have done in the reconstruc-
ton of Paris but we expect something. W.
expect beginning, and q good beginning is
half the battle.
We have the right, in behalf of the CONNER
cial interests of this city, and in view of the
splendid future which lies before it, the right,
we say, to demand the beginning of a solid
reconstruction of our water front on both
sides. Let us suppose, for instance, that some
potent magician has passed along our North
river front from the Battery to Fiftieth street
and has left behind him beautiful line o.
wharves built upon stone piers and arches
affording free passageway for the tides, and
that these wharves are surmounted by spacious
dreproof warehouses, equal in themselves II
the storage of great city, and that from tn
water line back to the line of houses fronting
the river there is street one hundred fee
wide, we behold the very improvements tn
city needs along the North river, and alon
the East river, too.
The Legislature, then, should give the autho
rity to this new Board on Docks to make
beginning in this direction. To be sure ther
will be mint of money in the job to the con
tractors and jobbers; but there is mint {
money in it also to the city. 1t can be mad