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LOUISIANA. 



General, M. J. Cunningham ; Superintendent 

 of Public Education, Warren Easton ; Register 

 of Lands, J. L. Lobdell; Commissioner of Ag- 

 riculture, Thompson J. Bird ; Commissioner of 

 Immigration, W. H. Harris ; Supreme Court : 

 Chief-Justice, Edward Bermudez; Associate 

 Justices, Felix P. Poche, Robert B. Todd, 

 Thomas C. Manning, and Charles E. Tenner. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 on May 10, and adjourned after a session of 

 sixty days. The following were the principal 

 acts of the session : 



Concurrent resolution asking for an appropriation 

 by Congress for the purpose of dredging and remov- 

 ing islands, sand-banks, and other obstructions of 

 whatever nature they may be, from the mouth of 

 Bayou Lafourche where it flows into the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



Concurrent resolution relative to establishing a 

 mechanical school, and memorializing the Congress 

 of the United States for the donation of the United 

 States Marine Hospital at New Orleans for that pur- 

 pose. 



An act for the relief of heirs of parties whose prop- 

 erty may have been confiscated by the United States, 

 in conformity with Article 57 of the Constitution. 



An act to authorize the Board of Liquidation to 

 contract with any bank or banks or capitalist to pay 

 the interest on the consolidated or constitutional 

 bonds of the State, and the warrants drawn against 

 the general fund and expenses of the General Assem- 

 bly. 



Requiring all stores, shops, groceries, saloons, and 

 all places of public business which are or may be con- 

 ducted under any law of the State of Louisiana, or 

 under any parochial or municipal law or ordinance, 

 except those herein exempted, to be closed on Sun- 

 days, and forbidding all giving, trading, bartering, 

 and selling on Sundays by the proprietors or em- 

 ploy 4s of such establishments ; declaring it a misde- 

 meanor to violate the provisions of this act ; and to 

 fix penalties for all violations of the same ; and to re- 

 peal all laws or parts of laws contrary to or inconsist- 

 ent herewith. 



An act providing for the appointment of police 

 juries through the State of Louisiana by the Gov- 

 ernor. 



An act for the protection 6f actual settlers on State 

 lands, denning the mode and manner by which such 

 lands, possessed, improved, or cultivated, may be 

 entered or purchased from the State, and regulating 

 the duties of the Register of the State Land-Office in 

 reference thereto. 



Joint resolution proposing to submit to the electors 

 of this State an amendment to Article 117, of the 

 Constitution of 1879, in relation to the terms of the 

 district courts (the parish of Orleans excepted). 



An act declaring the competency of witnesses in 

 criminal proceedings. 



An act to " regulate the employment of children, 

 young persons, and women in certain cases." 



An act making it a crime for any person to practice 

 or to offer to practice medicine or surgery in this 

 State, for pay, without having first complied with the 

 provisions of Act No. 31 of the acts of 1882, approved 

 June 26, 1882, relative to the practice of medicine 

 and surgery, and prescribing the punishment thereof. 



An act authorizing the Register of the State Land- 

 Office to advertise in newspapers, notifying all per- 

 sons holding claims against the public domain of the 

 State of Louisiana, or orders to refund, to file said 

 claims, with the evidences, in the office of the Regis- 

 ter of Lands on or before the first day of April, 1887 ; 

 to authorize the Register to file and receipt for the 

 same, and to report the same to the General Assembly 

 at its next regular session ; to recommend the appro- 

 priate relief thereof; to prohibit the Register from 



settling any such claim until the General Assembly 

 shall have passed thereon, and to appropriate a sum 

 necessary to defray the expenses of this procedure. 



An act to prescribe the manner in which special 

 elections shall be held in the parishes, cities, and in- 

 corporated towns of _ this State, for the purpose of 

 levying special taxes in aid of railway enterprises and 

 providing for their enforcement and collection, and 

 to carry into effect Article 242 of the Constitution of 

 1879. 



An act in relation to sureties upon official bonds of 

 the State, parochial or municipal officers, and making 

 provisions in case of death or withdrawal. 



Concurrent resolution relative to the erection of a 

 monument to the memory of ex-President Zachary 

 Taylor, to be located in the city of New Orleans, and 

 requesting the aid of the national Congress. 



An act to create the parish of Acadia, and to pro- 

 vide for the organization thereof. 



An act to protect and advance agriculture by regu- 

 lating the sale and purity of commercial fertilizers, 

 and the guarantees and conditions upon which they 

 are to behold, and the penalties incurred by violations 

 of such conditions ; by providing for practical and 

 other experiments in relation thereto ; by reorganiz- 

 ing the Board of Agriculture, increasing its powers 

 and those of the Commissioner of Agriculture, by 

 creating an official chemist, defining his duties and 

 powers, and by repealing laws in conflict herewith. 



An act for the protection of the alluvial lands of 

 the State, authorizing and instructing the State Board 

 of Engineers to survey, stake out, and make estimates 

 of the cost of certain levees, authorizing the board to 

 solicit and accept ^ aid from districts, parishes, mu- 

 nicipalities, or individuals interested in the construc- 

 tion of said levees, authorizing and instructing the 

 Board of Engineers to contract for the building of 

 said levees, under certain circumstances, providing 

 for payment for the same, and prescribing the fund to 

 be used in such payment, and providing under certain 

 circumstances that the lessees of the Penitentiary be 

 required to perform the work, and authorizing the re- 

 ceipt of these certificates by the Auditor and Treasurer 

 in payment of certain dues. 



An act to encourage, protect, regulate, and develop 

 the oyster industry "in the State of Louisiana, and 

 imposing penalties for the violation of the provisions 

 of this act. 



An act to levy, collect, and enforce payment of an 

 annual license-tax upon persons, associations of per- 

 sons, or business firms or corporations pursuing any 

 trade, profession, vocation, calling, or business, ex- 

 cept those who are expressly exempted from such 

 license tax by Articles 206 and 207 of the Constitu- 

 tion. 



An act to appropriate the sum of $14,000 to the 

 Southern University of New Orleans. 



An act entitled an act to suppress gambling with 

 dice on the public highways or streets of the towns 

 and cities within the State of Louisiana, or within 

 view of such public highways and streets, and to pro- 

 vide for the punishment thereof. 



An act making it sufficient for plaintiffs and owners 

 to recover in suits against railroad companies for loss 

 of stock killed or injured by the railroads to prove the 

 killing or injuring, unless it be shown by the defend- 

 ant company that the killing or injuring was not the 

 result of fault or carelessness on their part, or the 

 negligent or indifferent running or management of 

 their locomotives or trains. 



An act providing for commutation of sentences for 

 good behavior of convicts in the Penitentiary and 

 parish prisons of this State. 



An act in relation to insurance companies, corpo- 

 rations, association partnerships, and individuals of 

 foreign governments doing fire-insurance business in 

 this State, limiting publication or rendering of state- 

 ments, determining capital subject to taxation, col- 

 lection of same, penalties and requirements. 



An act to grant relief to the wounded and disabled 



