New-York tribune., 1903-01-12
CONDITION OF CANALS.
Report Of the Superintendent Of
Public Works.

Albany. Jan. 1.-THE annual report OF Charles .
Boyd. State Superintendent of Public Works. made
public tonight. covers the disbursements for or
binary repairs and operating expenses, trade and
tonnage of the canals of the State durins the
season of navigation of 1902 the condition and the
work of Improvement connected Herewith. under
special appropriations. in progress OF completed
during 1892 and the expenditures account there
Of The report says:
The The canals as whole. are only now emerging
II from pm the chaotic condition 10 which they neces,
and srSjI el tS 81 fe,Iit O Ins hasIIy
authorized in 1895. The antiquity of the struct-
the best the department can do Is to postpone dis
integraton The absence of a definitely under
stood canal policy has made difficult the
problem of maintenance
The opening of the canals last year according
to the report earlier than in twenty years.
and navigation maintained until December 4.
largely for coal shipments In spite Of the length
ened season the total tonnage was only 3274 4i6
against S42c613 in 1901. falling off of 1i6167
tons. This loss is than accounted for IN
through freight. for. whereas there was in
crease In way freight east OF 1895 the total
decrease in through freisE; was 2l6.61s tons. the
loss being about equally divided between eastern
and western shipment
The beginning of the shrinkage was coircident
with the shutting down of the mines While May
showed an increase in tonnage. June saw a shrink
age from 29S9 i'm 10 to 392 $50 tons last year
There continued to he a falling off in coal ship
ment5 ny to November. The settlement of the
StTfke ana the resumption of mining were directly
reflected in shipments. the increase in coal ship
rlents for November over the normal shipments of
1871 oeinS 24,025 tons Thus the total decrease in
coal shipments for the year S53.s1s tons, the
falling off in this commodity alone being than
twice the amount of the decrease i'll the total ton
for the season.
MI Boyd finds discoUra cement in the abandon
ment OF and the failure replace old boats He
also recommends tine creation of a special fund
for the cleaning up of the State bitches Ieft in
bad condition the sudden interruption of The So
called s9,GGooeo Improvement He reports an
estimated necessary expense of $72S5s for cleaning
up of the bitches. He says:
If the conditions should be allowed to continue
along with many Just, cla inns will be many unjust
claims which the State will he called upon to de-
Of this litigation alone and exclusive of awards
would exceed very largely the cost to the State of
doing this necessary work.
The expenditures for the maintenance and crdf-
harry repair Of the canals and the collection and
compiling of statistics for the year which ended
September 80 1897. S@2 0J1 80 The amount ap-
propriated for extraordinary repairs last year was
S23G,00h, being 5000 less than the amount asked
Eor by the superintendent and 100000 less than the
amount annually appropriate for many years. In
view of the increased cost for all kinds of work re-
law and from the higher prices charged for all
classes OF structural material, the fund for ex-
traordnaIy repairs should. Mr. Boyd says, be in
creased. her than diminished.
Under the head contingent fund Mr.. BOYD
says he believes il would for the public interest
and in the end saving to the State. if a contin-
gent fund were provided applicable to repairs to
roads bridges and other structures outside of
nal xoriC