MICHIGAN. 



547 



chinerj and apparatus, whole or in part, to- 

 gether with the rubber-belting belonging to 

 each machine, fuse for mine-blasting, the pre- 

 cious metals ground or in bars, machine pat- 

 terns and molds, United States gold and silver 

 coin, naphtha, tarred pasteboard for roofing 

 purposes, fodder, fresh fish, Venetian blinds, 

 whether painted or not, lithographic stones, 

 all plants and seeds new in Mexico, all metallic 

 pens except gold and silver ones, crude and 

 refined petroleum, slates for roofing and floor- 

 ing, blasting-powder, clocks, oars for boats, 

 sausage, all bags from Mexican hemp, earth- 

 enware and other shingles, printing-ink, 

 printing-type, etc., rags, green vegetables, iron 

 beams, iron supports for roofing, and anvils. 



MICHIGAN". The State officers elected in 

 November, 1882, and whose terms of office 

 commenced January 1, 1883, to continue for 

 two years, are : 



Governor, Josiah "W. Begole ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Moreau S. Crosby; Secretary of 

 State, Harry A. Conant ; State Treasurer, Ed- 

 ward H. Butler ; Auditor- General, William 0. 

 Stevens; Commissioner of State Land-Office, 

 Minor S. Newell ; Attorney-General, Jacob J. 

 Van Riper ; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Varnum B. Cochran.* 



Officers appointed by Governor Begole, to 

 hold two years from the first of January, 1883 : 



Commissioner of Railroads, William P. In- 

 nes; Commissioner of Insurance, Eugene Pein- 

 gle; Commissioner of Immigration (with his 

 office at Detroit), Henry N. Walker ; Commis- 

 sioner of Mineral Statistics (with his office at 

 Marquette), A. P. Swineford; Warden of the 

 State-Prison, Elihu B. Pond; Warden of the 

 State House of Correction, David R. Waters. 



The Supreme Court is constituted as follows : 



Term expires 



Benjamin F. Graves, Chief-Justice Dec. 31, 1883. 



Thomas M. Cooley Dec. 31, 1885. 



James V. Campbell Dec. 31, 1887. 



Isaac Marston.f Dec. 31, 1889. 



Charles C. Hopkins, Clerk; 

 Henry A. Chancy, Reporter. 



The court holds four terms a year, at Lan- 

 sing, opening on the Tuesday following the first 

 Monday in January, April, June, and October. 



LEGISLATION. Pursuant to proclamation by 

 the Governor, the Legislature met in extra 

 session February 23, 1882. The call specified 

 as subjects of legislation: "The condition of 

 the people in the Huron Peninsula of the State 

 who were sufferers by the forest-fires of the 

 autumn of 1881 " ; the consideration of the tax 

 system, and the bills reported by the commis- 

 sion appointed during the regular session of 

 1881 ; and the division of the State into con- 

 gressional districts, on the basis of the tenth 

 census, and the apportioning act of Congress. 



* Mr. Cochran resigned in February, and Professor H. R. 

 Gass, of Jonesville, was appointed by the Governor to fill 

 the vacancy. 



t Judge Marston has tendered his resignation since the 

 1st day of January, 1883, and his successor will be elected on 

 the first Monday in April. 



During the session other subjects were sub- 

 mitted by special message. The session con- 

 tinued until March 14th (the constitutional 

 limitation), on which day it adjourned sine die, 

 having enacted twenty-seven general and twen- 

 ty-one local laws. Appropriations were made 

 for the following purposes : For the erection of 

 shops, etc., at the State House of Correction, 

 Ionia, $10,000 ; for the completion of buildings 

 and other improvements at the State School for 

 the Blind, at Lansing, $11,300; for the relief 

 of the sufferers by the forest-fires of 1881, 

 $250,000, and the further sum of $15,000 for 

 rebuilding the school-houses destroyed by the 

 fires ; for new buildings at the State Reform 

 School, Lansing, including heating apparatus, 

 furniture, etc., $75,000; and for buildings at 

 the State-Prison, Jackson, $17,000. Of these 

 appropriations the last item was to be paid 

 from the general fund ; $140,000 of fire-relief 

 appropriation to be incorporated in the tax 

 levy for 1883 ; and all other sums to be levied 

 and collected on the tax-rolls for 1882. 



TAXES, ASSESSMENTS, ETC. The most impor- 

 tant act of the session was entitled u An act to 

 provide for the assessment of property and the 

 levy and collection of taxes thereon." The 

 machinery of the old tax laws was preserved; 

 property subject to taxation was divided into 

 three classes : real, personal credits, and per- 

 sonal chattels. Exemptions heretofore exist- 

 ing were substantially continued. Indebted- 

 ness continues to offset credits, with the pro- 

 vision that the tax-payer desiring such offset 

 shall make an itemized and detailed statement 

 giving the name and residence of each creditor 

 and the amount due each. A board of review 

 is provided, consisting of members appointed 

 by the township board, or city council, as the 

 case may be, and the assessing officer of the 

 township or city, and empowered to hear each 

 tax-payer, and increase or lower the valuation 

 as made by the assessing officer (supervisor of 

 town, ward, or district). The most important 

 change from the old law is in the method of 

 selling the lands upon which the taxes are not t 

 collected by the minor officers. Under the old ' 

 law the Auditor-General proceeded to adver- 

 tise such lands in some paper published in the 

 county in which they were located, and they 

 were sold at public auction, subject to redemp- 

 tion during one year from the date of said sale. 

 Under the new law : "As soon as practicable 

 after the first day of July in each year, the Au- 

 ditor-General shall prepare and file in the office 

 of the County Clerk in each county in which 

 lands are to be sold under the provisions of 

 this act, a petition addressed to the Circuit 

 Court for said county in chancery, stating 

 therein, by apt reference to lists or schedules 

 annexed thereto, a description of all lands in 

 such county upon which taxes have remained 

 unpaid for more than one year from the first 

 day of July after their return to the Auditor- 

 General, and the total amount of such taxes, 

 with interest computed thereon to the time 



