IN ASSEMBLY,

January 13, 1834.

REPORT

Of the select committee, on the petition of the inhabitants of Chautauque county for a new Courthouse therein.

Mr. Osborne, from the select committee to whom was referred the petition of sundry inhabitants of the county of Chautauque, praying for the passage of a law requiring the board of supervisors of said county to raise moneys for the building of a new courthouse therein,

REPORTED:

That the petitioners, numbering over a thousand, represent that a new court-house is much wanted, that the old one in which the old jail was located, is a poor decayed building and not worth repairing, and they therefore pray the Legislature to pass a law requiring the board of supervisors of the county to raise by tax, upon the real and personal estate of the county, the sum of five thousand dollars, in five equal annual instalments, the first of which to be raised in the year 1837; that the treasurer of said county be authorised to raise the whole amount, by loan, on the credit of the county, to be paid with interest as said instalments are raised, and that commissioners be appointed to appropriate said money in the erection of a new court-house, in Mayville, is said county.

The committee, in investigating the subject, are satisfied that the representations of the petitioners are correct. That at the first organization of the county, in 1811, a wooden building was hastily erected in the village of Mayville, the lower part of which has since been occupied as a jail, and the upper part thereof as a courthouse. That the prison inspectors, having reported that part of [Assem. No. 19.]

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the building occupied as a jail to be in a “miserably weak condition, totally unfit for the safe keeping of prisoners, and in fact a disgrace to the county," the Legislature, at their session in 1832, passed a law requiring the board of supervisors to raise moneys for the building of a new jail. The treasurer was authorised to loan, on the credit of the county, the whole sum necessary therefor, and which was to be repaid in annual instalments, as the same were required to be raised by the board. A loan was effected, and

a new brick edifice is nearly completed, after which the rejected building will be occupied as a court-house only. As the loan made for the jail is not yet redeemable, it was thought expedient not immediately to tax the county for a new court-house; yet, as the expense of repairs on the present decayed building would much exceed the interest on the sum necessary to erect a new one, it was deemed equally unadvisable to delay the commencement of such new erection.

The committee are not apprised of any opposition to the wishes of the petitioners, and as the measure seems to be necessary and just in itself, they are of the opinion that the prayer of the petitioners should be granted, and have therefore directed their chairman to ask leave to introduce a bill accordingly.

IN ASSEMBLY,

January 13, 1834.

PETITION

Of the officers employed in the State Prison at Auburn, and others, praying for the increase of the salaries of all the officers of said prison, except the Agent.

To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New-York: The undersigned, your petitioners, officers of the State Prison at Auburn, and inhabitants of the county of Cayuga,

RESPECTFULLY REPRESENT:

That the Legislature of this State, in the session of 1827, provided for the employment of the present number of officers of the State Prison at Auburn, and fixed the salaries of the assitant-keepers the same as they now are; that at that time there were confined there about 425 convicts; that but few branches of business were then carried on in the prison; and that the duties of the officers were comparatively few and light: And that at the present time there are about 700 convicts in the prison, employed in numerous and important branches of business, to conduct which with success and order, and to maintain the proper discipline of the prison, requires peculiar and diversified capacities and qualifications in the officers; that those duties are greatly increased, and of far more importance and value to the State than they then were.

Your petitioners further respectfully represent, that in consequence of the increased duties of the officers-the peculiar and unpleasant character of those duties and from the increased expenses of living and maintaining a family, from advanced house-rents, prices of fuel, and most of the articles of family consumption; we [Assem. No. 20.]

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deem the present salaries altogether inadequate as a compensation for their services, and as a means of supporting themselves with comfort and respectability.

Your honorable body are doubtless aware that the duties of the officers of the State Prison are such, that they require men in the prime and vigor of manhood to perform them; men of character, intelligence, and of good and sound judgment; and if not practical mechanics, they must at least possess a general mechanical talent and aptitude, in order that they may judge of the work, and instruct the convicts in the business under their particular care; that those duties are in their nature, necessarily repulsive to their better feelings in many instances, and always unremitted and arduous; that they require the constant personal attention of the officers every day in the year; and when is added to this the frequent night watchings; the unseasonable hours at which most of them obtain their meals; (from which duties no inclemencies of the seasons, nor any personal considerations, nor family duties can exempt them,) your honoarble body may reasonably perceive, that nothing but good constitutions, and the most determined purposes, enable them to perform them with advantage to the State and credit to themselves.

Your petitioners would respectfully further represent, that mainly through the efficiency, industry, and untiring exertions of the officers, the prison has been enabled to support itself, and become a source of revenue to the State since 1827; and that the excess of its yearly earnings over its ordinary expenses, will be more than sufficient to meet the increase to its expenses by the proposed addition to the salaries of its officers.

It is a matter of the first importance to the institution, that the services of officers of tried integrity, faithful in the discharge of their duties, and familiar with all the routine of those duties, and the different dispositions and characters of the convicts over whom they must exercise a discretionary, and in some measure arbitrary, power, should. be secured to the State by the prospect of a compensation for their services, suitable to the responsibilities of their stations, and that appointments should not be accepted, as they now too frequently are, merely as temporary expedients for a livelihood, producing constant changes, alike detrimental to the discipline and interests of the prison.