Over 11,000 immigrants arrived in the harbor of New York today on board seven steamships from European ports. This number is the record for a single day which has been made thus far during the annual spring in rush of immigration. The arrivals include 750 Portuguese. Heretofore immigrants from Portugal have been landed at New Bedford, Mass., and from there have been distributed over the country. But it was stated today that arrangements have now been completed whereby the Portuguese, in common with the immigrants from any other countries, will make New York their landing port.

50 Years Ago, 1956

Uniformly pessimistic reports came from eastern farmers today about the 1956 maple syrup harvest.

The Vermont Department of Agriculture said less than one-tenth of a normal crop has been gathered in the Green Mountain State. The outlook, it said, is not good.

In New Hampshire, Clement A. Lyon, state marketing director, said continued wintry weather has almost wiped out the harvest.

Even if warm temperatures set in during the next 10 days, about 75 per cent of the annual yield already has been lost, Lyon said. He forecast that New Hampshire’s maple syrup harvest, normally worth $300,000, might fall to $75,000 this year.

25 Years Ago, 1981

Maine motorists pay one of the highest state taxes on gasoline in the nation, nine cents a gallon. Despite that fact, the Maine Department of Transportation, whose chief source of revenue is the gas tax, is in severe financial trouble. Conservation and high gasoline prices have reduced tax receipts tremendously.

The MDOT faces an expected shortfall of revenue of $32 million in the biennium beginning July 1. Even in the face of consistent opposition to a tax increase by Gov. Joseph E. Brennan, it will be little short of a miracle if the Legislature finds a financial solution without a tax hike.