NEW JERSEY. 



adapted to all municipalities, leaving to each 

 the option of making use of the whole or por- 

 tiniis of the powers granted, or of passing 

 ciiiTVrent laws adapted to different classes of 

 municipalities. 6. The best mode of limiting 

 expenditures for municipal purposes within 

 proper bounds, and of securing a proper ac- 

 countability on the part of all officials. 6. The 

 expediency of prohibiting municipalities from 

 incurring debts or obligations not immediately 

 provided for by tax. 7. The best mode of deal- 

 ing with the existing debts of municipalities. 

 The propriety of providing for the payment of 

 existing debts by establishing a sinking fund 

 under the control of the State. The propriety 

 of creating a State Commission for the adjust- 

 ment of debts between defaulting cities and 

 their creditors. 8. The propriety of prohibit- 

 ing assessments for improvements based on the 

 special benefit derived therefrom. If the sys- 

 tem of assessments for special benefits be con- 

 sidered desirable, how to provide for the pay- 

 ment of the expenses of improvements and the 

 collection of assessments. 9. The best mode of 

 providing for the collection of taxes within 

 municipalities. 10. The best mode of provid- 

 ing for the control of public schools within 

 municipalities. 11. The proper extent of muni- 

 cipal regulations respecting matters of public 

 health. 



An act to provide for the establishment of 

 schools for industrial education passed the 

 Senate by yeas 34, nays 3. It had previ- 

 ously passed the House. The act provides 

 that the State Board of Education may in their 

 discretion establish schools for industrial edu- 

 cation upon the application of not less than 

 ten citizens of the State, who shall agree to 

 pay part of the cost of maintaining any such 

 schools ; and the Board of Education shall 

 have power to prescribe and cause to be en- 

 forced all rules and regulations necessary for 

 carrying into effect the provisions of the act. 

 That such schools, when organized, shall be 

 for the training and education of pupils in any 

 industrial pursuits now established in the State, 

 including agriculture, so as to enable them to 

 perfect themselves in the several branches of 

 industry which require technical instruction. 

 That there shall be a board of trustees of each 

 of such schools, to consist of five members, who 

 shall have control of the buildings and grounds, 

 and the power to prescribe the studies and ex- 

 ercises of the school and rules for its manage- 

 ment, and to grant certificates of graduation ; 

 they shall report annually to the State Board 

 of Education their own doings and the progress 

 and condition of the schools. That any city, 

 town, township, or county shall have the pow- 

 er to appropriate for the support of any such 

 school such amount as they may deem expe- 

 dient and just. That the said school shall be 

 supported (1) by the amount received from tui- 

 tion fees ; (2) by the money contributed by the 

 petitioning citizens ; (3) by the amount appro- 

 priated by the city, town, township, or county ; 



and (4) by the amount contributed by the State 

 Board of Education ; provided, however, that 

 the sum annually contributed by the said Board 

 for any one school shall not exceed the sum of 

 five hundred dollars; and the Treasurer is au- 

 thorized to pay upon the warrant of the Comp- 

 troller, approved by the Governor, such sum, 

 not exceeding the amount above specified, as 

 may be called for by the trustees. 



An act relative to tramps was passed. It 

 provides that any person going from place to 

 place begging, asking or subsisting on charity, 

 and for the purpose of acquiring money or a 

 living, and having no fixed residence or lawful 

 occupation in the county or city in which ar- 

 rested, shall be deemed a tramp and guilty of 

 misdemeanor, and on conviction sentenced to 

 imprisonment at solitary confinement at hard 

 labor in the county jail or workhouse for a 

 term not exceeding one year. It also provides 

 that one who enters a dwelling, or kindles a 

 fire on the highway or on the land of another, 

 without first having obtained permission, or 

 who is found carrying firearms, shall be liable 

 to arrest and imprisonment at hard labor not 

 exceeding three years. 



An act providing for the summary investi- 

 gation of county and municipal expenditures 

 was also passed. By its provisions, on the 

 petition of twenty-five freeholders of any mu- 

 nicipality to a Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 setting forth that they have reason to believe 

 that the public moneys are being unlawfully 

 or corruptly expended, such Justice may ap- 

 point experts to investigate such expenditures. 

 The public officers shall facilitate such investi- 

 gation, and the expenses shall be paid by the 

 municipality. 



After the Federal census was taken in 1 870, 

 it became the duty of the Legislature to redis- 

 trict the State for members of the House. In 

 1871 the Legislature, in which the Republicans 

 had a majority, passed an act which the Demo- 

 cratic minority asserted to be unfair in its award 

 of representation. In the session of 1878 the 

 Democrats repealed the act, and passed another 

 in accordance with their views of fairness. At 

 this session the Republicans, being again in a 

 majority, suspended the rules and repealed the 

 districting act of the previous session and re- 

 enacted that of 1871. The vote in the House 

 was yeas 32, nays 27. 



By an amendment of the State Constitution 

 the Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, 

 both law and lay Judges, are nominated by 

 the Governor and approved by the Senate. 

 Governor McClellan, in the exercise of this 

 duty imposed upon him by the Constitution, 

 nominated certain gentlemen as law Judges 

 for the counties of Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, 

 and Monmouth, and as lay Judges for the 

 counties of Burlington, Camden, Hudson, Huri- 

 terdon, Warren, Union, Bergen, Morris, Cape 

 May, Cumberland, and Gloucester. At the 

 same time he sent to the Senate with these 

 names the following letter : 



