the duty of the commissioner of public charities to keep and preserve a proper record of all persons who shall come under his care or custody and of the disposition made of such persons, with full particulars as to the name, age, sex, color and nativity of each, and in case of minors the names and residence of parents and their religious faith so far as ascertained, and the religious faith, and residence of the persons or families with whom or of the persons in charge of the institution in which they are placed, together with copies of any instrument or indenture or agreement executed by such commissioner. And it shall also be the duty of the commissioner to keep and preserve such records of all persons who are inmates of private institutions, who are accepted by him as proper charges upon the city.

§ 670. Temporary care in accident cases. Any person injured or taken sick on the streets or in any public place within said city, who may not be safely removed to his or her home. may be sent to and shall be received in any public hospital within said city, for temporary care and treatment, irrespective of his or her place of residence.

§ 671. Temporary care of the insane. The commissioner shall provide and maintain as may be necessary suitable rooms or wards for the reception, medical examination and tem porary care of persons alleged to be insane for the boroughs other than Manhattan and the Bronx.

§ 672. Alteration and repair of buildings. The commissioner, whenever the increase of inmates in or the proper care and government of the public institutions or establishments under his jurisdiction shall in his judgment render it necessary or expedient, shall have power provided an appropriation has been made therefor to enlarge or alter the buildings occupied by such institutions or establishments or any of them, and to make all needful repairs to buildings and property under his control.

§ 673. Potter's field; power to establish crematories. The commissioner shall have charge of the Potter's Fields, and shall, when the necessity therefor shall arise, have power to lay out additional Potter's Fields or other public burial place for the poor

and strangers, and from time to time to enclose and extend the same, to make enclosures therein and to build vaults therein, and to provide all necessary labor therefor and for interments therein. Provided, however, that the Potter's Field on Hart's Island shall remain under the control of the department of correction, and the burial of deceased paupers therein shall continue under rules and regulations as provided in section six hundred and ninety-five of this act. The commissioner of public charities and the commissioner of correction are respectively empowered to cause to be cremated the bodies of deceased paupers and criminals where relatives do not object to such cremation; and the board of estimate and apportionment, with the approval of the board of aldermen, may cause to be erected and equipped proper facilities for such cremation.

§ 674. Accounts; annual estimates; expenditures. The commissioner shall keep accurate and detailed accounts, in a form approved by the comptroller, of all moneys received and expended by him, the sources from which they are received and the purposes for which they are expended. The commissioner shall, on or before the first day of September in each year, prepare an itemized estimate of his necessary expenses for the ensuing fiscal year, which shall be submitted to the board of estimate and apportionment within the time prescribed by this act for the submission of estimates for the several departments of the city. The commissioner shall incur no expense for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated therefor; nor shall he expend any money so appropriated for any purpose other than that for which it was appropriated.

§ 675. Advertisements for supplies. The commissioner of public charities shall, from time to time, as may be necessary, advertise in the City Record and the corporation newspapers for not less than ten days for proposals for such articles and supplies as shall be necessary to be used in and for the relief and support of the poor of the city, and which cannot be supplied by his department or by the department of correction, and shall award contracts for the same to the lowest bidders, who shall give adequate security for the faithful performance of such contracts. In case

of an emergency or in the purchase of perishable articles the commissioner may purchase without calling for competition at a total expense not exceeding three thousand dollars during any one month. The commissioner shall in the case of each such purchase enter in a book to be kept for that purpose, a detailed statement of the facts which render purchase by contract impracticable.

§ 676. Expenditures for the relief of the blind. The commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to insert in his annual estimate of expenditures an item of expenditure for the relief of the poor adult blind not to exceed in all one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The commissioner shall distribute the sum so appropriated each year in uniform sums not to exceed one hundred dollars to each person, to such poor adult blind persons, not inmates of any of the public or private institutions in the city of New York, who shall be in need of relief and who shall be citizens of the United States, and shall have been residents of said city continuously for two years previous to the date of application for such relief. Such distribution shall be made in semi-annual payments within ten days after the first day of July and December, respectively. (As amended by chapter 299 of the Laws of 1913.)

§ 677. Detail of inmates of correctional institutions to work in department. The commissioner may, from time to time, in his discretion, request the department of correction to detail and designate inmates of the correctional institutions of the city to perform necessary work, labor and services in and upon the grounds and buildings which are under the charge of the said commissioner, and such inmates of such correctional institutions when so employed shall at all times be under the personal oversight and direction of a keeper or keepers from such correctional institutions as the department of correction may deem necessary; but no inmate of any correctional institution shall be employed in any capacity whatever in any ward of any hospital under the jurisdiction of the department of public charities while such ward is being used for hospital purposes. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to limit the power of said commissioner to make requisition upon the commissioner of correction as provided by section seven hundred and one of this act.

§ 678. Care of nonresidents in city hospitals. The commissioner of public charities is hereby authorized in his discretion to permit the reception and treatment in hospitals under his jurisdiction of persons who do not reside in The City of New York, provided that every person so receiving treatment shall be required to pay such sum for board and attendance as may be fixed by such commissioner, and provided that no such persons shall be received to the exclusion of patients who reside in said city. Such commissioner shall collect and pay over all such moneys to the chamberlain once every month, and the amount so collected shall be paid into the general fund. The commissioner shall upon making such payments to the chamberlain report the same to the comptroller of the city of New York.

§ 679. Requisitions of subordinate officers. Each superintendent, warden or chief officer of every institution under the charge of the commissioner shall make his requisition in writing on the commissioner for all articles deemed necessary by the said officer to be used in the respective institutions under his charge, and shall keep an accurate account of the same.

§ 680. Reports of subordinate officers. Each such superintendent, warden or other chief officer of every institution under the charge of the commissioner shall once in each week report in writing to the commissioner the number of persons who have been received or transferred, who are sick, who have died, and who are remaining in the respective institutions under his charge, the discipline which has been maintained therein, the punishments imposed, and the quantity and kind of labor performed, and such other information as the commissioner may require.

§ 682. Hours of labor; discipline. The hours of labor required of any pauper or other person committed to or placed under the charge of the commissioner of public charities shall be fixed by the commissioner. In case any such pauper shall neglect or refuse to perform the work allotted to him or her by the person in charge, or shall violate the rules and regulations of the institution, it shall be the duty of the superintendent of the almshouse to

report such insubordination or violation to the commissioner, who may thereupon direct the punishment of such pauper by solitary confinement and by being fed on bread and water only for such length of time as he may consider necessary. In case any pauper shall neglect to perform the work assigned to him or her, or be guilty of any such violation on three or more separate occasions, the said commissioner may cause such pauper to be brought before the proper court or magistrate, and such court or magistrate may commit such pauper to the workhouse or penitentiary as a disorderly person.

§ 683. Support of poor persons by relatives. The grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren of sufficient ability, of a poor person who is insane, blind, old, lame, impotent or decrepit, so as to be unable by work to maintain himself, and the grandparents and parents of a destitute child, must at their own charge relieve and maintain him in the manner to be approved by the commissioner. If the relative of a poor person of sufficient ability, fails to maintain and relieve him, as in this section provided, the said commissioner may apply to any city magistrate, or any court of record having jurisdiction of the defendant, for an order to compel such relief, and the proceedings to be taken to make such an order and the enforcement thereof, shall be the same and in like manner as those provided in sections six hundred and eighty-five and six hundred and eighty-six of chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and (As amended by chapter 362 of the Laws of 1904.)

one.

§ 684. Conduct of bastardy proceedings. All bastardy proceedings shall be conducted by and in the name of the commissioner, and the amount collected shall be paid to the commissioner, to be by him applied to the support of the child or of the child and its mother, and shall be accounted for by him in a manner approved by the comptroller. The commissioner shall have authority to compromise bastardy and abandonment cases.

§ 685. Maintenance of abandoned wives and children. Every person in the city of New York, as constituted by this act, who actually abandons his wife or children without