NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



567 



The aggregate amount of the tax assessed on 

 railroads in the State for 1884 is $30,724.98 

 larger than .for 1882, when it wi,s $170,003.85. 

 The excess is chiefly attributed to the increased 

 rate of taxation. 



Telephones. Following are the corporate 

 names of the telephone lines operating in New 

 Hampshire, the value of each line, and the tax 

 assessed for 1884 : 



Sayings-Banks. The savings-banks in opera- 

 tion June 1, 1884, numbered sixty-seven. The 

 depositors numbered 117,317; increase in the 

 year, 4,150. Their deposits amounted to $42,- 

 091,596.55; increase, $2,966,781.85; surplus, 

 more than one and a half million dollars ; guar- 

 antee fund, $1,699,000. In the matter of sav- 

 ings-banks, the last Legislature enacted some 

 important changes, the better to provide for 

 the interests of depositors, the principal one 

 relating to the commissioners. Their number 

 was reduced to two, and their compensation, 

 which was previously paid by the banks, is 

 now made payable by the State, at the rate of 

 three dollars a day, while in active service, be- 

 sides the allowance of mileage at ten cents a 

 mile. The new law imposes on the commis- 

 sioners a more exacting and responsible service 

 than formerly. 



Insurance. The total fire-risks in force in the 

 State, in 1883, amounted to $63,150,000. This 

 sum does not include the large risks taken on 

 many important manufacturing establishments 

 in the Associated Manufacturers 1 Mutuals, that 

 do not report to the State Commissioner. Life- 

 risks, $12,522,675. The present system of in- 

 surance supervision was established in 1870, 

 and it has worked advantageously to the State's 

 interest. The last report of the commissioner 

 says that there were twenty-two home fire- 

 insurance companies, ami fifty-nine fire-insur- 

 ance companies from other States and coun- 

 tries, authorized to insure property in the State 

 during the year. There were also twenty-two 

 life-insurance companies, one accident, one life 

 and accident, and two fidelity or guarantee 

 life-insurance companies authorized to operate 

 in this State. The commissioner says : " With- 

 in the last twelve or fifteen years the drift of 

 fire-insurance business has undergone great 

 changes. ... When I assumed the duties of 

 this department, it was understood that fire- 

 insurance companies secured their profits in 

 this State mainly in the rural districts. Farm 



risks were then in demand. The great bulk of 

 losses occurred in the cities and compact towns, 

 and the farmers complained of paying an un- 

 due proportion of the losses. Now this is 

 actually reversed." The cities have escaped 

 heavy losses to an unusual degree, reducing 

 the amount paid by insurance companies, to 

 the insured, $10,488.77. Great expenditures 

 have been made, in the cities and large towns, 

 in securing a water-supply, organizing fire 

 departments, and furnishing every appliance 

 for the speedy extinguishment of fires. In sup- 

 port of these statements the chief-engineer of 

 Concord reports, for 1884, the whole loss by 

 fire as only $1,660.05. The city underwriters 

 admit the annual amount of insurance premi- 

 ums paid to be not less than $70,000. For 

 twelve years, since an abundant hydrant serv- 

 ice has been furnished, the average insurance 

 recovered has been but $19,213.59. Excess of 

 premiums paid over that received, $50,000. 

 The annual assessment of the one per cent, tax 

 on premiums collected in this State, during 

 1883, amounted to $8,134.28. 



Education. The summary of schools for 1884 

 is as follows : Towns having organized schools, 

 235 ; different public schools, 2,698 ; graded 

 schools, 491 ; town and district high-schools, 

 46; average length of schools in the year, 20 

 weeks ; scholars boys attending schools two 

 weeks or more, 32,754 ; girls, 31,900 ; scholars 

 under six years of age, 4,905 ; between six and 

 sixteen, 53,945 ; over sixteen, 5,183; average 

 attendance of all scholars, 43,723 ; average at- 

 tendance to each school, 16J; whole number 

 of school-children reported to commissioner, 

 72,769. Number of children in the State of 

 school age, five to seventeen, both included, giv- 

 en by census of 1880 boys, 38,572 ; girls, 39,- 

 548. Teachers males, 443; females, 3,077. 

 Average monthly wages of male teachers, in- 

 cluding board, $38.41 ; female teachers, $23.14. 

 School-houses, 2,221 ; estimated value of land, 

 buildings, and furniture, $2,331,822 ; value of 

 school apparatus, $49,755 ; school revenue from 

 all sources, $630,085 ; total expenditures, $624,- 

 125, an increase of $18,238 last year. Teach- 

 ers' institutes have been organized and held in 

 each of the ten counties, which have been at- 

 tended by about 700 teachers. The Legisla- 

 ture of 1883 amended the school laws, pro- 

 viding that physiology and hygiene, including 

 special reference to the effects of alcoholic 

 stimulants and narcotics upon the human sys- 

 tem, should be taught in all public schools 

 sufficiently advanced to receive such instruc- 

 tion, and that all teachers should be examined 

 upon said topics as to fitness to teach them, as 

 one of the required subjects to receive promi- 

 nent attention in the schools the law to take 

 effect March 1, 1884. This is believed to be a 

 step in the right direction toward cultivating 

 and instilling habits of temperance among the 

 youth of the State. There appeared to^be no 

 opposition to the law, public sentiment in and 

 outside of the Legislature pushing it forward to 



