Total number of brass cannon and howitzers, mounted and dismounted, 274. Besides which there are 2 brass 10 inch morters; 1 brass 8 inch mortar; 1 brass 5 inch eprouvette, a machine to prove powder.

Of muskets the whole number is 48,473; of rifles 2,888; carbines 1,133; braces of pistols 685; swords 3,811; sets of infantry equipments, 16,958; artillery sword belts, 3,044; sets of dragoon equipments, 500; boxes of musket cartridges with 1,000 in each, 383; of cannon shot for 12s, 9s, 6s, 4s, and 3s, 1,513 fixed rounds; of 8 and 10 inch shell, 535; of howitzer shells for 12s, and 24s, 1,057. Besides the fixed ammunition above mentioned, there are large quantities of powder and ball in store, both for ordnance and small arms.

The ammunition issued to artillery companies during the year, was chiefly for 6 pounders, and amounted to 299 quarter carbs of powder, and 1,459 balls. The field pieces issued were 131 iron 6s; 23 howitzer 24s, and a very few other pieces.

The arms and accoutrements received during the year, from U. S. Ordnance Department, under the law of Congress for the annual distribution of arms among the States, consisted of 400 percussion cannon locks, at $7.50; 2,550 sets of infantry accoutrements, at $3.12; 1,700 artillery swords, at $4.25; 1,700 sword belts and plates, at $1.50; making a total value of $20,731.

The report recommends an appropriation by the Legislature, of $20,000 to put the arsenals in good repair.

ONONDAGA SALT SPRINGS.

These celebrated salines are the property of the State. The tract in which they are found, called the "Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation," is in the town of Salina, and embraces within its limits the Onondaga Lake, and the villages of Geddes, Syracuse, Lodi, Salina, and Liverpool. Many years ago the greater part of the reservation was laid out in village plats, and farm and pasture lots, and sold to private citizens, so that the grounds now belonging to the

State, constitute but a small portion of the original tract. The manufacture of salt is carried on at all the above named villages except Lodi. By means of shafts of small bore varying from about 90 to more than 300 feet in depth, tubed and fitted with pumps, the brine is raised and poured into reservoirs, from which it is distributed in pipes to the different works for making salt. Of this brine about 45 gallons furnish a bushel of salt; and the revenue of the State is derived from a duty of 6 cents on each bushel. This duty was originally fixed by the constitution at a shilling; but was reduced to 6 cents by an amendment of that instrument adopted in November, 1833.

Two modes of making salt are in use at these springs, one by the use of artificial heat, and the other by evaporation in the sun. The former process is much the less accurate of the two, and the salt produced by it is of an inferior quality; while the solar salt is purer than any other, and enjoys a high reputation. By those who are thoroughly acquainted with this subject, the duty paid by the manufacturer to the State, constitutes but very little less than half of the whole cost of production.

The interests of the State on the reservation, are put in charge of two principal officers, designated respectively the Superintendent of Salt Springs, and Inspector of Salt, in the county of Onondaga. The duties of the latter relate chiefly to the quality of the salt, its measurement, packing, and the character of the barrels in which it is sent to market. The Superintendent has the general oversight of the Reservation, the sinking of shafts, the regulation of the pumps, the supply and distribution of the brine to the different works, the care of the State lands to prevent intrusion and trespasses, and the leasing of lots for the erection of works for making fine salt. The granting of the lands set apart for the manufacture of the coarse or solar salt, is vested in the Commissioners of the Land-Office.

The Superintendent and Inspector make annual reports to the Legislature. From the last of these documents, dated at Syracuse, January 6, 1843, the following facts are derived:

During the year 1842, the quantity of salt made and inspected at these salines was 2,291,903 bushels, on which duty amounted to $137,514.18.

The following statement may serve to illustrate the effect of the duty on the manufacture. The duty, prior and up to 1834, was a shilling per bushel; and the quantity made in each year, from 1826 to 1833 both inclusive, was as follows:

The following statement shows the annual product since the reduction of the duty to 6 cents per bushel.

Of the total quantity of salt annually produced at these springs, about ninetenths are of the kind made by boiling, which usually goes by the name of "fine salt," on account of the minuteness of its crystals; and the other one-tenth, which forms in very much larger crystals, is commonly designated "coarse salt."

AN ACT to abolish the office of BANK COMMISSIONERS, and for other purposes.

Passed April 18th, 1843.

The People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

§ 1. Every Chartered Bank shall take an account of its notes for circulation on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and shall return to the Comptroller, under the oath of the president and cashier, a statement of all the notes of the bank which it has in possession, or in any way outstanding or in circulation on that day, specifying the amount of bills of each denomination, and the aggregate amount of the whole circulation, and shall at the same time deposite with the Comptroller their plates, and no bank shail after the time in that day to which the return of the president and cashier is made up, issue any of its own notes which have not been countersigned and registered by the Comptroller; but if the Comptroller shall be unable to supply any bank with countersigned and registered notes as fast as such bank may require on and after the first of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, such bank may be permitted by the Comptroller to re-issue so much of its old circulation within the limits prescribed by law, as may be necessary, not exceeding the amount returned to be outstanding on that day, nor shall any such issue take place until an application has first been made to the Comptroller for countersigned and registered notes, and refused; and provided also, that the stockholders of any chartered bank shall be individually liable for all the notes of its old circulation which shall be outstanding on and after the first of July, eighteen hundred and forty-four; and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-four, no bank shall pay out any note of any bank which has not been countersigned and registered at the Comptroller's office, as herein provided. And all the notes of any bank issued prior to first July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, not countersigned and registered, or delivered to the Comptroller to be countersigned and registered, shall on or before the first of July, eighteen hundred and forty-four, be redeemed and destroyed in the presence of the Comptroller, or of some person to be appointed by him for that purpose. And a certificate of the counting and destruction of the notes certified to be destroyed shall be signed and sworn to by the Comptroller or his agent, and an agent appointed by the bank, and deposited in the Comptroller's office.

§ 2. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller to receive and safely keep the plates, to be delivered to him by the banks, as prescribed in section first; and at all times to cause to be printed from said plates, and deliver to each bank such notes, and of such denomination as is now allowed by law, as the bank owning such plates may require, not exceeding, together with outstanding old circulation, and with the notes previously received, the amount of circulation now allowed to such banks by law; and it shall also be the duty of the Comptroller to employ suitable persons whose duty it shall be to countersign such bills in such uniform manner as the Comptroller may prescribe, and every note so countersigned shall, before it is delivered to the bank, be registered in a book to be kept by the Comptroller for that purpose; and the expenses of preparing, countersigning and registering such notes, shall be paid to the Comptroller by the banks receiving the same, in proportion to the number of notes received. And it shall be competent for the Comptroller, when the plates of any bank are worn or otherwise unfit for use, to require such bank to furnish new plates, or to procure them himself, at the expense of such bank.

§ 3. Every bank and banking association, shall make a quarterly report to the Comptroller, commencing on the first Monday in August next, to be continued on the first days of November, February, May, and August thereafter, in each and every year; which said report shall be made on the oath of the president and cashier, and shall contain a true statement of the following items on the morning of the said first Mondays of August before any business of that day. Loans and discounts, over drafts, due from banks, due from directors of said bank, due from brokers, real estate, specie, cash items, stocks and promissory notes, bills of solvent banks, bills of suspended banks, loss and expense account, capital, circulation, (distinguishing that received from the Comptrol

ler, from the old outstanding bills) profits, amount due to banks, amount due to individuals, amount due to Treasurer of State, amount due to Commissioners of Canal Fund, amount due to depositors on demand, amount due not included under either of the above heads. And it shall be the duty of the Comptroller to publish said reports together in the State paper, accompanied with a summary of the items of capital, circulation and deposites, specie and cash items, public securities, and private securities, and the separate report of each bank shall be published in a newspaper published in the county in which such bank is situated, at the expense of said bank.

§ 4. The Comptroller shall publish the reports and summary, required by the third section, together in one paper, on or before the twentieth day of August, November, February, and May in each year, and the expense of such publication shall be defrayed by a per centage assessed upon the capital stock of all the banks and banking associations of the State, and if any bank shall fail to furnish to the Comptroller its quarterly report, in time for such publication, it shall forfeit and pay to the Comptroller the sum of one hundred dollars, to be applied by him to the payment of the expense of publishing the quarterly reports; and if any bank or banking association shall neglect or refuse to make the quarterly report required by the third section for two successive quarters, it shall forfeit its charter (if an incorporated bank,) and its privileges as a banking company, if organized under the law of April, 1838, and may be proceeded against, and its affairs closed in any manner now provided by law, in case of an insolvent bank or banking association.

§ 5. Whenever it shall appear from the reports made by any bank, or in any other way, that the capital of any bank has become impaired and reduced, it shall be competent for the Comptroller to call upon such bank to redeem its circulation while its capital continues so reduced, so that the circulation of such bank shall not exceed that to which its reduced capital would by law entitle it.

§ 6. The office of bank commissioner is hereby abolished; provided however, that it shall be competent for the Comptroller, whenever he shall have good and sufficient reason to suspect the condition of any bank, or the correctness of its quarterly report, to appoint a special agent to examine the affairs of such bank, and who for that purpose shall have the same powers now vested by law in a bank commissioner. And the expenses of such investigation, if such bank shall be proved to have made a false return, or otherwise to have been guilty of a violation of law shall be paid by said bank; but if it appear that such bank has violated no law, then the expenses of such examination shall be defrayed in the same manner as herein provided for defraying the expenses of the publication of the quarterly reports.

§ 7. Any bank may at its pleasure, on paying its dues to the safety fund, and on depositing with the Comptroller an amount of money equal to the whole amount which any such bank would be liable to pay to the safety fund during the time of of its original charter, and all other debts and demands against it, wind up its affairs, distribute its assets among stockholders, and resign its charter, and close its business, by a resolution passed at a meeting of the stockholders, and approved of by a majority of stockholders in interest of such bank called for that purpose, a copy of which resolution shall be furnished to the Comptroller, and shall also be published for three successive weeks in the state paper: and if any outstanding notes or other demands are not presented within one year, such bank may deposite with the Comptroller or elsewhere under his direction, and subject to his order, on interest, a sum sufficient to meet such outstanding demands, which when presented to the Comptroller, shall be paid by him out of such sum, and such bank may distribute among its stockholders the surplus of its assets; and after six years from the day on which publication of dissolution was first made, the Comptroller shall return to the stockholders, to be distributed, the remainder of any of the sum so deposited. § 8. All acts heretofore passed that conflict with provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

COMMON SCHOOLS.

At the last session of the Legislature, an act was passed making some important and beneficial amendments of the Common School System. It takes effect on the 1st of June, 1843. Its leading provisions are as follow:

1. Abolishes the offices of Common School Commissioners and Inspectors. 2. Provides for the election in each town of a "Town Superintendent of Common Schools," to be clothed with the duties of the School Commissioners and Inspectors, and such other powers as may be conferred by law; he must give bond with sureties for the faithful application of the school moneys that come to his hands, and he is paid $1.25 per day for each day necessarily spent in his duties.

§ 3. Associates the Town Superintendent with the Supervisor and Town Clerk, in the erection and alteration of school districts.

§ 4. Provides that in every county having more than 150 School Districts, the Board of Supervisors may appoint two county Superintendents, and divide the county into two Superintendencies; and no share of public money shall be apportioned to any county in which a county Superintendent shall not be appointed, unless by the special order of the State Superintendent.

§ 5. Any County Superintendent may be removed by the State Superintendent for cause; and the vacancy supplied by him till the next meeting of the Board of Supervisors, before whom the order of removal with the cause thereof, and the appointment for the vacancy shall be laid.

§ 6. Provides that no public money shall be paid to a County Superintendent by the Comptroller, without the certificate of the State Superintendent, that the County Superintendent has complied with his instructions and made his annual report.

7. Provides that all appeals now made to the State Superintendent shall first be made to the County Superintendent, whose decision shall be final and conclusive, unless an appeal therefrom be made in fifteen days to the State Superintendent.

§ 8. Provides that certificates of qualification given to teachers by County Superintendents, may be either general for a county, or special for a town, and valid in each case till revoked.

§ 9. Enacts that the consent of a Town Superintendent shall not be necessary to enable a County Superintendent to revoke a Teacher's Certificate.

§ 10. Authorizes the State Superintendent to give certificates of qualification, on the recommendation of a County Superintendent, or other satisfactory evidence, which shall be available throughout the State, until revoked by the Superintendent.

§ 11. Authorizes the Boards of Supervisors to pay the postages of County Superintendents in their official correspondence.

12. Divides the District Trustees into three classes, one to go out and one to be elected, in each year.

§ 13. Authorizes the Trustees to correct errors in tax lists and rate bills, with the assent of the Town Superintendents.

§ 14. Requires the Trustees to deliver their annual reports between the 1st and 15th of January, to the Town Superintendents, to be by him filed with the Town Clerk.

§ 15. Authorizes the Town Superintendent to designate the proportions of school moneys to teachers and to libraries, and to pay the teachers on the written order of any two of the three trustees.

§ 16. Provides for continuing the distribution of public money for the increase of the libraries, except that in certain cases it may be applied to the purchase of maps, globes, &c. instead of books.

There are some other provisions of less importance. The first set of Town Superintendents, are to be designated on the 1st June, 1843, by the Supervisor and Justices of the Peace of each town, inasmuch as the town-meetings in the State had generally taken place before the passage of the law.