New-York tribune., 1896-12-25
THE PROPOSED cry CHARTER.

In the report prepared by The Committee on
Draft for submission to the Greater New York
Charter Commission the proposed charter is not
dealt with as tinality. Its closing sentence is as
follows: I'VE submit the result TO the Judgment
"of the Commission and to the people of the
communities involved. in the expectation that
"any serious error or defect may be corrected
"before the charter is passed The spri, of
that utterance is admirable. The committee
does not exaggeratc when it says that ito draft
"a charter for such city has been work vast
"in extent intricate in detail. ana far-reaching
"in lis consequences. The difficulties of the
work were increased by the circumstances in
which the Commission was created and the lin
tied time in which it had to be performed. The
anomaly was presented TO the people Of the COM
muniiies affected of a determination of the fact
of consolidation in advance of the determination
of the terms Of consolidation Then a Commits
sion was constituted with instructions to prepaie
a charter al fixed date and with a definite
limit to It's own existence Scant time was af-
forled FOR fhc study of systems of municipal
government and for the deberaion which
should le prerequisite 10 such an undertaking.
The time has not come for passing coinpre-
hrnsive Judgment on the charter as drawn up
hy The committee. only Il part of il has ye
been completed. although The committees re-
FORT. which present to our readers without
abbrevaii0n lhi, morning. summarizes All lis
i,upoiiant provisions. The members of The Com
mission and in particular Inc six composing the
Committee on Draft. are entitled 10 cordial
lraiSe for ,he diligence and care which they
have Displayed in the discharge Of their Inpor-
,ani duties The report itself II Il model of what
srch a document should br. having obviously
been prepared by one possessing in rare degree
the art Of grasping the salient points of SUB
Joe; and sei,rg ;hem forth lrcdly.
In the Gr,a.er Ncw-lork are TO have II
Municipal Assembly Of two houses containing
,pspcctvely lO4 aud 81 members: Mayor with
unrestricted power Of appointing the heads OF
departments and with the absolute power of re-
moyal during the fret >ix months OF his term:
five borougis and twenty-five local boards
for each Senate district: Board Of Public I'M
provements comprising six important depart
ments: Law Department to look after all the
law business Of the city. and 4 central Board of
Education. with five Borough School Boards
The only head Of department 10 be eleciedi> the
Controller. The committee has conferred eS-
tensive powers on The city. and has wisely pro-
vided thai all franchises involving HE use of
the public streets shall be granted in The form
OF lease for not more than twenty Ave years
With some Of the provisions Of the charter as
drafted faul, will undoubtedly be- found The
committee makes no claim 10 having evolved
perfec, piece Of work. The outcome Of iis de-
llberations will be subjected 10 review first by
the Charter Commission as n body and then by
the Iawmaking powers. Antecedcnt TO both. in
deed. will br the general public criticism sure
10 be provoked. for which preparation has been
made in the arrangements for public hearings
soon after the beginning of the new year. Al
though the time is very short IT is wise. for the
Commissioners to provide for such hearings and
invite comment on their work. Now that con