the Health Department be authorized to permit the installation of a sewage disposal plant at Mohansic provided the proper provision was made for the treatment of such sewage by intermittent filtration, coupled with such preliminary processes as may be necessary. In view of the fact that the above mentioned authorities all agree that a sewage disposal plant can be put into operation at Mohansic which will not in any way endanger the Croton watershed, and in view of the overcrowding in existing institutions for the insane, which amounted on May 1, 1914, to 5,753, the Commission is of the opinion that the immediate necessity of commencing work on the Mohansic State Hospital is so great that the above mentioned bill, which would abolish this institution, should be vetoed. The Commission also finds there is no good reason why the State should suffer the large financial loss which the abandonment of Mohansic at this time would necessarily entail. The Commission would also respectfully call your attention to the provisions of Assembly Bill No. 13, introduced at the Extraordinary Session on May 20 by Chairman Macdonald, providing for the acquisition of a site for a new State hospital and providing for the construction of buildings thereon. This bill provides for the erection and completion of a new hospital at a total cost not to exceed the sum of one million dollars and for the purchase of a site for the same at a total cost not to exceed $25,000.00. The Commission is of the opinion that a satisfactory site of sufficient size for a State hospital cannot be purchased for the sum appropriated. The increase in the insane population has been so great during the last few years that it would not appear to be worth while to erect a new hospital which would ultimately provide additional accommodations for less than four or five thousand people. The completion of such an institution for the sum of one million dollars would be impossible. If the money appropriated by this act cannot be used for building on the Mohansic site, the Commission would accordingly respectfully suggest that this bill be vetoed and that the Legislature be urged to make provision at the earliest possible moment for the completion of the Mohansic State Hospital. The purchase of a new site and the commencement of work on a new hospital would necessarily result in a loss of several years' time. The necessity of providing accommodations for the rapidly increasing insane population is so great that no delay is justified. Very respectfully, THE STATE HOSPITAL COMMISSION, Chairman. The reference in the last paragraph of the Commission's communication to the Governor to another bill of Assemblyman MacDonald, appropriating $25,000 for the acquisition of a site for a new hospital, had its due weight with his Excellency, who after careful consideration of the entire subject, vetoed both of the bills referred to. LONG ISLAND STATE HOSPITAL The Commission is pleased to be able to chronicle the completion during the current year of negotiations by which the buildings at Brooklyn heretofore known as the Long Island State Hospital have been fully acquired by the State. The dilapidation of many of these buildings has been frequently referred to in the official reports of the Commission and of the local board of managers. Legislative appropriations for their repair have been withheld pending the perfection of land titles and the actual transfer of the hospital to the State. With the severe handicap of unsuitable buildings and equipment the task imposed upon the medical and nursing staffs of this hospital of giving adequate care to the patients has been most onerous, especially so in view of the fact that for many years past a very large percentage of the physically weak and helpless patients from the city of Brooklyn, a class requiring an unusual amount of care and active nursing have been received. Now that the title of this property has been vested in the State the Commission urges appropriations sufficient to construct a reception hospital designed especially for recent cases arising in the city of Brooklyn and requiring immediate and active medical care, nursing, rest and massage. Less expensive accommodations should also be provided in adjacent buildings for the senile and infirm. A start has already been made in this reconstruction work through an appropriation of $125,000 granted by the Legislature of 1913, for power plant conduits and equipment for the construction of which the Commission was able before the close of the year to close contracts. An item in the supply bill reappropriating $30,000, originally granted in 1912, was vetoed by the Governor. The items of first importance in the plan of reconstruction at Flatbush and its development as a reception hospital are: 4. For employees' cottage 5. For artesian wells 6. For staff house... 7. For bakery $70,000 $5,000 45,000 75,000 10,000 30,000 18,000 The development of the Creedmoor property has been abandoned and efforts will be made by the Commission when these seem justified by local real estate conditions to dispose of this property by sale or transfer, using the avails to acquire a suitable site for a hospital capable of extension as the needs of the future may require. For the purpose of reference the following copy of the deed transferring the Flatbush property to the State is inserted in full. THIS INDENTURE, made the 1st day of July, in the year nineteen hundred and fourteen, between THE CITY OF NEW YORK, party of the first part, and THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, party of the second part: WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of April, 1914, the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of the city of New York adopted a resolution, reading as follows: "Resolved, That, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 718 of the Laws of 1904, as amended by chapter 762 of the Laws of 1913 and chapter 799 of the Laws of 1913, the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund hereby authorize a conveyance to the State of New York of all the city's interest in the lands and buildings situated north of Clarkson street and extending from Albany avenue to Utica avenue in the Borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, as are now used for State Hospital purposes, under lease from the city of New York, or as a Potter's Field by the City of New York, upon condition that should such premises be ever abandoned by the State of New York for State Hospital purposes, the title thereto shall revert to the city of New York, and providing that in case the State of New York shall cease to use such premises for State Hospital purposes the city shall pay to the State the value at the time of such abandonment of all buildings that may have been erected and of all improvements that may have been made by the State on such premises; provided, however, that no compensation shall be made for any improvement which shall have been erected within three years prior to the time when title shall revert to the city under the provisions of said act, in consideration of a conveyance from the State of New York of all the title and interest of the people of the State of New York, if any, in and to the buildings and lands on Randall's Island and in and to the sunken meadow, so-called, in the East River, adjacent to Randall's Island. The conveyance from the State to provide that such quit claim and release to the city shall be without prejudice to any claim of title thereto or the assertion of any such claim or the defense thereof, by any person or persons asserting the same in any action or proceeding, and shall expressly reserve therefrom the land under water surrounding such sunken meadow, between the same and the pier or bulkhead line established by the Secretary of War in 1890, and if hereafter in any action or proceedings the city shall establish title to such sunken meadow superior to the title of any such person or persons, claiming title thereto, the Commissioners of the Land Office shall, upon satisfactory proof thereof and upon application by the City of New York, accompanied by an accurate map and survey of such land under water surrounding said. sunken meadow and between such meadow and the pier or bulkhead line so established by the Secretary of War, without further proceedings or consideration, convey such land under water surrounding said sunken meadow and within such pier and bulkhead line, by letters patent to the City of New York; and be it further Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Mayor to execute such conveyance from the city of New York to the State of New York, and the City Clerk to attest the same when prepared and approved as to form by the Corporation Counsel and the Comptroller to deliver the deed from the city upon receiving at the same time the deed from the State of New York hereinabove mentioned." Now, therefore, this Indenture witnesseth that said party of the first part for and in consideration of the conveyance to it by the party of the second part as provided for by said resolution does hereby grant, release and convey unto the said party of the second part, its successors and assigns forever all the estate. right, title and interest of said party of the first part of, in and to the lands and buildings situate north of Clarkson street and extend ing from Albany Avenue to Utica Avenue, in the Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York, as are now used for State hospital purposes under lease from said party of the first part, or as a Potter's Field by The City of New York. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the above granted and released premises unto the said party of the second part, its successors and assigns forever. Provided, however, and these presents are upon the express condition, that should said premises be ever abandoned by the State of New York for State Hospital purposes, the title thereto shall revert to the City of New York; and in case the State of New York shall cease to use such premises for State Hospital purposes, said city shall pay to the State the value at the time of such abandonment of all buildings and improvements that may have been erected or made by the State on said premises, but compensation shall not be made for any improvement which shall have been erected within three years prior to the time when said premises and the title thereto shall revert to the City under the provisions of the statutes above mentioned and referred to. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said THE CITY OF NEW YORK, party of the first part, has caused these presents to be subscribed by its Mayor and by its City Clerk, and its common seal to be hereunto affixed, the day and year first above written. JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, This deed was proved by P. J. Scully, City Clerk, and by John Purroy Mitchel, Mayor, and was recorded in Registrar's office, Kings County, August 11, 1914, 10:06 A. M., in Liber 3505, page 200, Blocks 4617, 4618, 4619, 4833, 4834, 4835, and 4836. |