The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-04-19

Commissioner Fisk Talks Of
Riparian Problems To
Board Of Trade.
FUTURE OF STATE INVOLVED
Discusses Old and New
Methods of Making
Grants and Leases.

Mr.. Willard C. Fisk, of the State Ri
parian Board, in a very instructive talk
on riparian matters, before the members
of the Board of Trade, last night, in
formed them that the shore front on
| New York Bay, from Bedloe's Island to
Robbins Reef, meant the future of Hud-
son county and the State of New Jersey.
Since tie Board of Trade took up the
problem of the meadows reclamation, the
question arose as to the rights to build
docks on the H~ackensack. Ex-President
A. J. Corcoran suggested inviting Sem
ator Allan L. McDermott to the meeting
to explain the scope of the Riparian
bill. Mr.. McDermott could not attend last
| night, and Mr.. Fisk came instead.
"N wish to know the condition of the
lands under water, the water rights for
AUDITING owners and how to acquire State
| rights. We wish to know if an owner
| can build a dock and what must he do
to secure the p~rivilege?' said Mr.. Cor
coran.
Commissioner Fisk, in reply, rapidly
| sketched the origin of riparian ownership
to that period in English history when the
title of lands under water were vested in
the king. 1t was a popular fallacy, said
| Mr.. Fisk, that the adjacent owner TO the
ripa owned the land to low water mark.
| AS a matter Of fact he owned only to high
water mark. So that today the people Of
the State own the lands under high water
mark on tidal waters only.
Does the Riparian Commission have
| jurisdiction over lakes?" asked Assembly
man j. P. Hall
NO." replied Mr.. Fisk. who then went
| on to state that the peoples rights in Inc
lands and water had been settled in the
case of the Heboken Land and Improve
ment Compan5 d the Supreme Court .se-
cislon had never been overruled. Those
rights We're absolutely vested in the en-
tire people in ommon. Grants of ripar-
land lands had been made by the Legis-
lature before special legislation was for
hidden. In 1856 was passed the Wharf
Act which gave the Freeholders the
right to grant licenses to build wharves.
Under that act lands on the Passaic ami
| Hackensack Rivers were taken out Il
were known as Freeholders' licenses. The
act was repealed, and as there was no
compensation the State lost valuable
land.
Vow continued Mr.. Fisk, there is
! no way to get grants Of land under
| Commission. The Commission make two
| kinds of leases. The first was in per-
petuity for a fixed sum and the owner
could convert the lease into a grant by
| paying the principal sum. The second
was an absolute grant outright The
Commissioners have. " to make
| grants or leases on limited terms, with
provisions of renewal. 1t was not obiiga-
tory, but they had the power. To change
this was not wise. Some favor a new
| act for leases and it is only a question
if it is worth while to change. Cover
nor Voorhees, favors making leases On
graduated rentals. The difficulty con-
fronting the Commissioners is that they
| are actin~, for the whole people and must
make a price. They can only get that
| price once.
IF we could only continued Mr.. Fisk.
five years to get your factory going; now
we will lease you the lands for twenty
five years, and for the first five years
We'll charge you a small rental and in
| crease it year by year, and then at the
end of, say, five years we will make a
| revaluatior for the end of time. Had
| that been adopted at first what results
| would nave accrued to the State? Why,
if these lands had been properly leased,
the immense revenues we could nave
turned into the State School Fund would
| have enabled it to build a schoolhouse on
! every corner and not a penny of cost
to tho cityi
Mr.. Fisk then went into the question of
boundary Ines, explaining what exterior
par Hne'i and solid filing" meant, and
| then touching Asser1blyn1an Halls bill for
the Hackensack Improvement, he said
| That lLeIG WAS IOtillii5 u liz Jill
| sioners to do. The city had never ac-
| quired lands under water, and there was
no record, he believed, Of L an act.
| Where the streets are shown, the city
| can carry oJat the streets to the water
| and can build and control docks. 1t could
MT, however, rent these, for they must be
| open to the public. In answers to ques-
| tions Mr.. Fisk said tina the price of RI
parian grants depended on the merits Of
| each case. Fixed prices had been found
| impracticab1e ard were abandoned.
Gould you give us the value Of lots on
the HackeTsack, say south of the p II.
| r. ~ inquired Mr.. Corcoran.
my private opinion is that about % a
foot above and s. below.
asked DR.. L. ]. Gordon.
Mr.. Fisk said by acreage and by foot.
Acreage could not be used for piers ,r
sold flling N conclusion, he said that
Assessors were the only two boards in
the State which turned any money in
| to the States Golfers. The Riparian que:s-
ton was a serious matter, and meant the
future of the State. Applause-)
A hearty vote of thanks was passed to
| Mr.. Fisk for his interesting address.