536 



NEW HAMPSHIEE. 



State debt is $3,747,776.95. The total expen- 

 ditures of New Hampshire for war purposes 

 amount to $6,852,678. Of this amount there 

 has been paid for bounties, $2,889,025$ for the 

 reimbursement to towns of aid furnished fami- 

 lies of soldiers, $1,835,985. There has been 

 reimbursed to the State, by the General Gov- 

 ernment, for war expenses, $897,122, much of 

 which has been obtained after repeated rejec- 

 tions. The expenses incurred by cities and 

 towns on account of the war, including $985,- 

 512 United States bounties advanced, amount 

 to $7,250,541. The amount which has been 

 reimbursed by the United States, for boupties 

 advanced, is "$475,159. $410,107 has been 

 paid to the towns to which it belonged, and 

 $65,052 is now in the hands of the State 

 Treasurer, having recently been received. 



The Legislature of 1866 passed a resolution, 

 providing for the appointment of a commis- 

 sioner to edit and publish such of the early 

 provincial records and papers as should be 

 deemed expedient. This is a matter of great 

 importance to the future history of the State 

 and country ; and the example of New Hamp- 

 shire in this respect, if generally followed, 

 would lead to important results. In a very 

 few years it may be difficult or impossible to 

 obtain any reliable record of colonial times, 

 and the future historian will seek in vain for 

 material with which to furnish an authentic 

 account of those early periods. Eev. Dr. Bou- 

 ton, of Concord, was selected as the commis- 

 sioner, and promptly began his labors. One 

 volume, containing the earliest province papers, 

 has been published, and it is estimated thaf the 

 entire work will comprise seven octavos of six 

 hundred pages each. Dr. Bouton does not ex- 

 pect to be able to issue more than one volume 

 a year. The materials for the work have been 

 gathered from the office of the Secretary of 

 State, the library of the State Historical So- 

 ciety, the colonial records of Massachusetts, 

 and the early records of the first settlements. 

 When completed, it will prove of great interest 

 and value. 



It was found that the system of county 

 school commissioners did not meet the wants 

 of the people, and the last Legislature cre- 

 ated the office of Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction. The Superintendent is appointed 

 by the Governor and council, and holds his office 

 two years. He is ex officio a member and the 

 secretary of the Board of Education, and it is 

 his duty to suggest improvements in the sys- 

 tem of public schools ; to visit different parts 

 of the State for the purpose of awaking and 

 of guiding public sentiment in. relation to the 

 practical interests of education ; to collect in 

 his office school-books, apparatus, maps, and 

 charts; to receive and arrange the reports of 

 the school committees; and distribute State 

 documents in relation to the schools. The 

 school committee of each town is required 

 annually to report to the Superintendent rela- 

 tive to the appropriation of school money re- 



ceived, the studies pursued in the schools, the 

 methods of instruction and discipline adopted, 

 the condition of school -houses, and any other 

 subject relating to schools. A faithful dis- 

 charge of these duties will leave little to be 

 done for the cause of popular education in the 

 State, and render it in future, as it has been in 

 the past, the efficient handmaid of intelligence 

 and progress. The obvious advantages of this 

 organization are its economy, the superior 

 efficiency of one controlling mind, wholly de- 

 voted to the work, and the opportunity it 

 affords of readily obtaining and imparting 

 those fact?, methods, and ideas, which are 

 essential to the higher development of the 

 system of common schools. It was also pro- 

 posed to establish a State Normal School, but 

 certain facts indicating that the people at large 

 were indifferent to the enterprise, it has been 

 abandoned for the present, and its necessity in 

 a great measure obviated by the appointment 

 of a Superintendent of Instruction. 



To promote the interests of agriculture, 

 terms of agreement, in accordance with legis- 

 lative action, have been effected for a union of 

 a State College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

 Arts with Dartmouth College. The course of 

 instruction, which is intended to be liberal and 

 thorough, is now open for pupils. 



The State institutions are well managed and 

 in the main meet all reasonable requirements. 

 The humane ministrations of the Asylum for the 

 Insane, to the comfort and restoration of those 

 in its care, are eminently successful. To meet 

 the pressing demand for more accommodation, a 

 new building is in course of erection, which 

 when completed will be adequate for all imme- 

 diate wants. / 



The State prison is so well managed, that its 

 net earnings for the year amounted to about 

 ten thousand dollars. As the object of the 

 State is to reform as well as to punish, means 

 have been provided for the partial education of 

 the younger portion of the prisoners. 



The reform school for the correction of juve- 

 nile offenders has more than justified the ex- 

 pectations formed of it. The State manifests a 

 deep interest in its success and prosperity as a 

 means of saving wayward youth from an untow- 

 ard end, and elevating them to the honorable 

 walks of life, and, under the direction of a com- 

 petent board of trustees and an efficient super- 

 intendent, the work accomplished is satisfactory 

 to the philanthropist and creditable to the com- 

 monwealth. The buildings destroyed by fire 

 in 1865 have been replaced in a thorough and 

 substantial manner, and the educational depart- 

 ment, which for a time was suspended for the 

 want of proper facilities, is again performing its 

 important functions. New Hampshire has no 

 asylum for the deaf and dumb, or the blind, and 

 unfortunates of those classes are sent to the 

 institutions of other States for instruction. 



The subject of fish-culture has attracted a 

 due share of attention m this State, and called 

 forth legislative action. The entire feasibility 



