New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-05
WHITEWASH OLD BOARD.
IN Mr.. CIRCUITS ABSENCE.
Reports Of Controllers Men and
accounts Commissioners Differ.

Deputy Controller Stevenson yesterday, in the alb
sence of Controller Grout, made public report OF
the Bureau O; Law and Adjustment of the Depart
of Finance which in effect applies thin coat
of whitewash to the old Board OF Docks and to the
New-York Contracting and Trucking Company, IN
connection with whose transactions with the Dock
Department John ]. Murphy and Alderman James
z. Gaffney placed under arrest on July 8, and
Mr.. Gafney has since been indicted.
Mr.. Grouts expert accountants and auditors find
that 81 200 a year is a reasonable rental for the
Seventy -ninth-st. pier and dumping board The
Sinking Fund Commission last spring refused
bona fide offer of $1,000 year for dumping board
the bulkhead between Seventy-eighth and Sew
enty-ninth sts.. and this board would have the
receipts of the Murphy board to about half. What
makes the report of the Controllers almost
ludcrous is a report from the Commissioners of
Accounts last October showing that the receipts
a single day when of their inspectors kept
actual tally of the dumping the Seventy ninth
St pier. amounted to S26s 90 An inspector OF the
Accounts Department in day tailed 447 truck
loads of dirt delivered at the dump.
From partial inspections made since said the
commissioners. we think perfectly fair estimate
of such would be at least s24O daily. and
this estimate makes account of the de-
rived from the use OF the pier for loading scows
with rock the unloading of material brought to
the pier. 1t is entirely safe TO say that weeks
net revenue will pay the yearly payment named in
the lease. leaving the profits from the remaining
-fty-one weeks of the year for the sole benefit of
the lessee"
Friends of the Low administration found it i'm
possible yesterday to escape the conclusion that
tain friends of Charles F Murphy in the Depart
rnent of Finance had gone out of their way TO
him and his friends helping hand in their hour of
danger The whtewashing effort liberated
after being in the Controllers Office the last ten
months. The Controller is on the ocean
The Mayor is his vacation. Commissioners
Russell and Owen of the Department of Accounts
are on their vacations. Briefs are be submitted
tomorrow to Justice Bischoff the application Of
Gaffney's lawyers dismiss him from custody
writ of habeas corpus. It is just the time when the
Murphys and Gafneys need help.
COST $4,000 TO REBUILD.
The Controllers Investigators find that the rental
charges imposed on the New-Yor< Contracting and
Trucking Company for the Seventy -ninth-st pier,
the lease of which cancelled by Commissioner
Hawkes. last September, were reasonable A suit to
eject the company from occupancy of the pier is
pending appeal and will not be reached till next
October. The lawyers for the company doubtless
will find the to prevent itfrom being reached
before election If Tammany comes back to power
the prosecution Of the will be dropped. and,
Furthermore. the new Tammany Dock Commis
sioner will recommend that the company be allowed
TO have possession of the pier the rebuilding and
extension of which by the city has cost the
payers about $4,000.
The examiners who have decided for Controller
Grout that the rental reasonable James
+ Mckinney and James T. Mahoney. James F.
Mckinney lives at No. 2S9 I.ewis-ave, Brooklyn.
He { said be a member OF the regular Demo-
cratic organization, and is also regarded as per-
sonaI friend of Register Hugh Mclaughlin.
James T. Mahoney is Tammany Hall Democrat.
The two officials receive handsome salaries. They
were appointed under the Van Wyck administra-
ton and after recent death of William J. Lyon,
head of the law division each secured a promotion
by Mr.. Grout-
Denut- Controller Stevenson stated that the
report was not submitted until after the Controller
had sailed Europe, it was probable that no
he taken
Finance until he returned.
Cornoration Counsel Rives sent this pier TO
the Controller in October, so that Mr.. Grouts ex-
arniners might determine the interests OF the Off
cere of tbo contracting company in the leases the
ASSUMPTION being that the leases would be can
celled at an early date. The Finance Department
was not asked pass on the reasonableness OF the
rental.
The renort states that the subject Of the leases
1yos referred TO James J. Deegan, an examiner in
the department for report on the reasohaolenss or
the rentals The examiner reported that the pier
a, West Seventy-ninth-st. was in dimensions l42
- :, fot. that the receipts Of the city derived from
all sources from this pier for the nineteen years
preceding August l. 1902. were the sum OF Sl4o'S L.
thus averaging s73s "a a year and that under the
lease OF the New-York Contracting company 'he
city received 81 200 year
THE PIER AT NINETY Y-sIXTH-sT
C,0rcorning the pier at Ninety-sixth-st.. Exam
So. 1,..,ap reported that its dimensions were
400 nv o0 feet and that there were only four other
- ON the North River which were leased at
earl rentals of less than $4,000 He then en-
tersd into a comparison Of the several piers with
respect to their location, use and aVail@pH'y ioF
roacb He asserted that other piers We're
- tho terms of their leases. for the exclusive
,,ae Of their lessees whereas under the terms OF
tbo leases for the seventy-ninth-st. and Ninety
sixtb-st piers the public had the rlsht 10 use IIe
80 Cor certain purposes on the payment OF the
legal fees go. ,bat docs NOT
Nct credit on the thoroughness Of the WORK OF
-, co,troiIer's examiners. that under the van
Inc Soiti i'iojstration this Seventy ninth-st pier
& FOR the exclusive use of the lesses II ti Msis
was a 10 xurphy and Gaffney oyerstepped lhtF
that their claims To an eNciasIEt snip
~ the pier were investigates "s