ISLAND. 



683 



number of inmates at the different institutions was : 

 Men. !)!H>: women, 541 ; boys, 272 ; girls, HI ; total, 

 1,888. 



Twenty-five of the cities and towns maintain 

 farms of asylums for their poor. Others hoard 

 them in families. The sums expended or appropri- 

 ated for dependent persons by the eities and towns 

 amounted during the year to about $118,?!)?. 



.Militia. The Legislature appropriated for mili- 

 tia and military affairs $#7.500; for armory rents of 

 the militia. $<!,000 ; and for heating and lighting 

 armorie>. $2.-r>o. 



A special order was issued in January as follows : 



" It is the intention of the department during the 

 coming season to afford to a limited number of the 

 commissioned officers of the naval militia the privi- 



newporc, it. 1. me navai >\ ar ^onege uuurau is 

 from June 1 to Oct. 1, and consists of lectures and 

 practical exercises in the art of naval warfare, to- 

 gether with the study and preparation of war maps 

 and plans of different sections of the coast. The 

 torpedo course is for fourteen working days, and 

 consists in practical construction in the manipula- 

 tion of automobile torpedoes. Only six officers can 

 go through this course at a time, and it is the inten- 

 tion of the Navy Department to allow one, or at most 

 two. naval militia officers to take this course at any 

 one time. Officers of the naval militia will have to 

 bear all their own expenses.'' 



The naval militia in the State consists of two tor- 

 pedo companies, at Bristol and Newport, and an 

 artillery company recently formed in Providence. 



The State House. The report of the commis- 

 sioners in April showed that $77.545 had been ex- 

 pended for the new building, including the amount 

 paid on the site. By the end of the year the amount 

 had reached $676,691. According" to present esti- 

 mates the whole cost will be from $3,000,000 to 

 $3.500.000. The corner stone was laid Oct. 15, and 

 military, civic, and Masonic organizations took part 

 in a parade : ex-Gov. Ladd. president of the Board 

 of Commissioners, and Gov. Lippitt. made addr 

 Hon. Rowland Hazard delivered the oration, and 

 Rev. W. ('. Selleck pronounced a eulogy on Ma- 

 sonry. The stone was laid by the grand master of 

 Ma-niis of the State. 



Rivers and Harbors. Among the appropria- 

 tions by Congress for work in Rhode Island were: 

 For further improvement of Block Island harbor, 

 $5.000 ; for continuing improvement at Newport 

 harbor. $15,000 ; for the improvement of the har- 

 bor at Great Salt pond. Block Island. $40,000; 

 for improving the harbor at Wickford, $6.300 ; for 

 continuing the improvement of Providence river 

 and Narraganst-tt Bay, $25.000, and in addition to 

 this appropriation the Secretary of War is author- 

 i/ed to place the projected improvement under 

 contract at a total cost of $707.000. to be provided 

 for in future appropriation bills: for continuing 

 improvement at Green Jacket Shoal, $7,500: for 

 widening and deepening the passage at the draw of 

 the Stone Bridge over the Seaconnet river, $20.- 

 000; for continuing the improvement of Pawcatuck 

 river. $20.500. 



A preliminary examination for a channel through 

 Conanicut island, a survey of Seaconnet Point, a 

 survey for an easterly breakwater to the shore at 

 Point Judith Harbor of Refuge, and one for an in- 

 ner harbor at Point Judith pond have been ordered. 



The NarragansettS. These Indians petitioned 

 the Legislature in April to remove the commission 

 appointed a 1'e w years ago to consider their claims 

 to certain shore lands in the State, and for the ap- 

 pointment of a new commission, which should take 

 their claim into consideration. Their spokesman 



referred to the covenant of 1700, whereby tin 8 

 became guardian of the Indians, but that covenant, 

 !. had been violated. 



Senator Freeman called attention to the act of 

 the Legislature in 1880, whereby the State pur- 

 chased all the public lands of the tribe for $5,000 

 and the money was paid to the representatives of 

 the tribe, each member receiving an equal amount. 

 It was argued by some of the Indians present that 

 the shore claim was not reckoned, and that the 

 State had taken more land than was really sold to 

 it under the deed conveyed, and that the deed had 

 been interlined. 



It was thought best to continue the commission. 

 In May it was announced that the tribe had en- 

 gaged an attorney to conduct a suit for $4,000,000 

 damages for land taken by the State. 



The Legislature. The January session began on 

 the 21st, a week earlier than usual, the adjourn- 

 ment of the May session of 1895 having been taken 

 to the third Tuesday instead of the last. This en- 

 abled the Legislature to adopt the revised laws in 

 time for them to go into effect Feb. 1. The report 

 was received and the general statutes passed the 

 first day. 



The May session was held from the 26th to the 

 28th, and then adjourned to the last Tuesday of 

 September, in Providence. 



The Governor's message dealt chiefly with the 

 condition of the treasury. He recommended issu- 

 ing bonds to raise money for expenses. The matter 

 was referred to a joint special committee, which re- 

 ported Jan. 29. The report calls attention to the 

 fact that the revenue of the State has been antici- 

 pated by the unusually large appropriations of the 

 past three years, and say?: "These appropriations 

 embrace a new normal-school building, armories at 

 Pawtucket. Bristol, Newport. Westerly, and Provi- 

 dence, a jail for Providence County, a bridge across 

 the Seekonk river, the breachway at Block Island, 

 a new dormitory at the State Agricultural College, 

 courthouses at Woonsocket and at Kingston, the 

 taking of the census of the State, and a score of 

 others, which must be classed as extraordinary ex- 

 penditures, and yet which are undoubtedly needed. 

 The Constitution prohibits the General Assembly 

 from creating a debt in excess of $50,000 without 

 the consent of the people." 



A bill was passed giving the Treasurer authority 

 to make and sell for cash tax assignment orders, 

 payable to order or bearer, which should be nego- 

 tiable, of the whole or any part of the semiannual 

 installment of the State tax then next to become 

 due and payable from any town or city, the pro- 

 ceeds of such sales to be deposited with the general 

 funds of the State, and available in payment of any 

 appropriation lawfully made. They were to be- 

 come due at the date named in them by the town 

 or city at the office of the General Treasurer in 

 Providence; and in case of failure to pay by the 

 town or city at the specified date, to bear interest 

 from that time until payment should be made. 



At the opening of the September session, the Gov- 

 ernor sent in a message giving additional informa- 

 tion on the finances, showing that the income 

 already received in 1896 and that which would be 

 due before the end of the year amounted to but 

 $1.410.1 ?9.:)2. while the expenditures already made, 

 the estimated expenditures for the remaining four 

 months, and the deficiency from 1895 amounted to 

 $1.49?.5li5.s2. leaving expenses amounting to ss?.- 

 :>Hi..")0 unprovided for. On the subject of appro- 

 priations not included in these estimates, the mes- 

 - lid : 



'" The appropriation for the use of the State Board 

 of Agriculture will not be sufficient to pay the bills 

 of the present month, as an unusual number of dis- 



