the said Mayor. It shall be lawful for any owner or consignee, at any time within twenty-four hours after the landing of such persons or passengers from any ship or vessel in the Owner or consignee may commute for the bondsport of New York, except as in the section hereinafter provided, to commute for the bond or bonds so required, by paying (to the Health Commissioner of the city of New York) the sum of two dollars and fifty cents[1] for each and every passenger Commutation moneyreported by him as by law required; the receipt of such sum (by said Health Commissioner) shall be deemed a full and sufficient discharge from the requirements of giving bonds as above provided. And fifty cents of the amount commuted for any passenger or passengers shall be set aside as a separate fund for the benefit of each and every county in this State, except the county of New York. The Commissioners of Emigration shall deposit the moneys of said fund, so set apart, in any bank that the said Commissioners may select, and the same, or as much of it as may be necessary, shall be distributed to the several counties, except the county of New York, once in every three months, and the balance that may be left after such three months payment shall be paid over to the Commissioners of Emigration for general purposes.
Condition of passengers to be examined into"§3. It shall be the duty of the Commissioners of Emigration, hereafter named, to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the port of New York in any ship or vessel, and for that purpose all or any of the said Commissioners, or such other person or persons as they shall appoint, shall be authorized to go on board and through any such ship or vessel; and if on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, maimed, or infirm persons, or persons- ↑ The original amount of the commutation money was one dollar (law of May 5, 1847). By the Act of July 11, 1851, §7, it was increased to one dollar and fifty cents, and to be paid directly to the Chamberlain of the city of New York. By Act of April 13, 1853, §13, it was further increased to two dollars; by Act of May 14, 1867, it was temporarily raised to two dollars and fifty cents; and by Act of May 10, 1869, it was unconditionally fixed at two dollars and fifty cents. As the commutation is paid in currency, while the shipping-merchants receive it in gold, it is evident that there is in fact no increase, and that the amount of $2 50 currency is actually less than the sum of $2, which, until the outbreak of the war, was paid in gold.
