MASSACHUSETTS. 



529 



Militia. The militia is in good condition and 

 increasing in efficiency. The attendance of 

 officers and men on occasions of duty in 1886 

 was the largest for many years. The appro- 

 priation for the military department for the 

 year 1886 was $168,200, of which $154,241.06 

 was expended, $147,190.95 being properly 

 chargeable to the militia as pay of troops, 

 armory rents, supplies, and salaries of the Ad- 

 jutant-General and clerks, the balance having 

 been expended on war and naval records, etc. 



The Courts. The Justices of the Supreme 

 Judicial Court are much overworked, a natu- 

 ral result of their constantly increasing duties, 

 and, in many of the counties of the Common- 

 wealth, the business of the Superior Court, 

 both civil and criminal, is greater than can be 

 dispatched with its present facilities. 



" The Superior Court was established in 1859, 

 with ten justices. Since that time its juris- 

 diction has been materially enlarged, and the 

 population of the Commonwealth has increased 

 about eight hundred thousand, while in wealth 

 and valuation there has been an increase of 

 about one thousand million dollars; yet dur- 

 ing this period of nearly twenty-eight years 

 there have been added but two to the number 

 of its justices, and these twelve are industri- 

 ously striving to accomplish the impossible 

 task of clearing its necessarily overcrowded 

 dockets. 



" It doos not seem desirable," say^ the Gov- 

 ernor, " to increase the number of Justices of 

 the Supreme Judicial Court ; but as a partial 

 relief for that court I would renew the recom- 

 mendation of two of my predecessors, that 

 jurisdiction of divorce causes be transferred 

 from the Supreme Judicial to the Superior 

 Court. I also recommend legislation to pro- 

 vide for an additional sitting of the Supreme 

 Judicial Court for the decision of questions of 

 law. The increase of the business of the Su- 

 perior Court may be met, without any result- 

 ing disadvantage, by such addition to the num- 

 ber of its judges as seems to be demanded." 



Civil Service. The annual report of the Civil- 

 Service Commissioners says that on December 

 1 there were 5,956 persons in the classified 

 service, divided as follows : Clerks in service of 

 the State and cities, 523 ; the police, 1,691 ; 

 prison and watch service, 223; fire service, 

 681 ; draw-tenders and foremen of laborers, 

 145; in labor service of Boston, 2,693. The 

 annual compensation of those in this classified 

 service is $4,375,000, and the cost of the ad- 

 ministration of the civil-service act is less 

 than one quarter of one per cent, of this com- 

 pensation. There were 76 per cent, of those 

 examined for the first division, which includes 

 all but the labor service of Boston, who passed, 

 and 42 per cent, of these who passed received 

 appointments. The average age of all exam- 

 ined was about thirty- three years and six 

 months. Of those examined 926 were men 

 and 109 were women; of those appointed 338 

 were men and 17 were women. 

 VOL. xxvi. 34 A 



For the labor service of Boston, 983 were 

 registered; 866 laborers were certified, and 

 404 were employed. The commissioners say : 

 " The appointing officers of the Commonwealth 

 and cities having become familiar with the 

 system established by the civil-service act, 

 have generally recognized its utility, and it 

 affords them relief from personal importunity 

 for office. The public service has been bene- 

 fited by securing the employment of tested 

 and proved fitness, by taking partisanship and 

 personal favoritism out of our public offices, 

 by relieving the superior and appointing offi- 

 cers of the pressure of solicitation for office, 

 and by giving incumbents of office a more se- 

 cure tenure." 



The labor service classified by the rules in- 

 cludes Boston only. The system established 

 by the rules and regulations in 1885 has been 

 followed during the past year without material 

 change, and with good results. 



Great care has been taken to limit the ques- 

 tions put to applicants to those subjects which 

 prove the competency for the particular posi- 

 tion sought, and the commissioners describe 

 in detail how this care is exercised. In all ex- 

 aminations for promotion, the greatest weight 

 is given to the actual work in office of the 

 person examined. The evening-schools have 

 been of great assistance in enabling candidates 

 to make up deficiencies shown by a first exam- 

 ination, and it would be difficult to overesti- 

 mate their value to those who earnestly wish 

 to obtain an education. 



There have been eight special competitive 

 examinations for original appointments, 29 

 non-competitive for original appointments. Al- 

 though request is frequently made to the com- 

 missioners for special, or non-competitive ex- 

 aminations, they have been refused, unless the 

 office required peculiar knowledge and qualifi- 

 cations, which could not be tested by any 

 general examination, or unless there was no 

 one in the general list qualified for or willing 

 to take the position. In those cases the rules 

 allow the commissioners to order a special ex- 

 amination. The experience of another year 

 has confirmed the opinion of the commission- 

 ers that under the present statute preference 

 given to honorably discharged soldiers and 

 sailors secures to them every right that it 

 would be possible to enforce in appointment 

 to the public service. In the labor service, 24 

 per cent, of those registered were veterans, 

 of whom nearly 37 per cent, were certified 

 against 42| per cent, of civilians. In the lim- 

 ited examinations 110 veterans took part, of 

 whom 89, or 81 per cent., passed, and about 

 45 per cent, were appointed to office. The ex- 

 perience of the year shows again that a greater 

 percentage of veterans passed the examinations 

 and more than held their own in competition 

 with civilians. 



Hoosac Tunnel. After six months of investi- 

 gation and consideration, the State property 

 in the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield 



