NORTH CAUnl.INA. 



583 



Treasurer, Samuel McD. Tate; Auditor, Robert 

 M. Fiirman ; At innir\ -( lencral, Frank I. Os- 

 borne; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 John ( '. Scarborough; Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, John Robinson; Railroad ConimisMon- 

 ers, J. \V. Wilson, J. \V. Mason, and K. C. liiil- 

 din.i;tii'ld ; Chief Ju-tice of Ilic Supreme Court, 

 James K. Shepherd; Associate Justices, Walter 

 Clark, Alphonso C. Avery, James C. MacRae, 

 and Armistcad Hurwell. 



Finances. The following statement shows 

 the transactions of the treasury for I he fiscal 

 year ending Nov. 30, 1893: Balance, Nov. 30, 

 "isw educational fund, $88,668.88; public- fund, 

 $310,400.93; total, $338,909.76. Receipts edu- 

 c-.itional fund. $31,087.19; public fund, $1,181,- 

 ()tili.;{4; total, $1,212,153.53. Disbursements 

 educational fund, #26,909.77; public fund, $1,- 

 L ) S4,o-, > 4.41 ; total, $1,310,934.18. Balance, Nov. 

 30, 1893, $240,189.11. 



Valuations. The assessed valuation of prop- 

 erty in the State for 1893 was as follows : Land, 

 $1 14,328,255; town property, $40,755,459; per- 

 sonal property, $82,410,049; railroad property, 

 $23,654,345; Pullman cars, $82,568; telegraph 

 property, $193,352; steamboat and canal prop- 

 erty, $293,698 ; total, $261,717,726. 



Legislative Session. The regular biennial 

 session of the General Assembly met on Jan. 4 

 and adjourned on March 6. A new revenue law 

 and a new law regulating assessment of property 

 and collection of taxes were enacted. The rev- 

 enue law fixes the poll tax at $1.24 on each tax- 

 able poll, and provides that the proceeds shall be 

 devoted to education and support of the poor. 

 The ad valorem tax is fixed at 22 cents on each 

 $100 for State purposes, 3$ cents for Confederate 

 pensions, and 16 cents for public schools. License 

 and privilege taxes are imposed on a great variety 

 of occupations and business enterprises. An 

 elaborate law establishing and regulating State 

 banks was adopted, to take effect as soon as 

 Congress shall repeal the tax on State bank 

 notes. The time within which holders of State 

 bonds may comply with the law for readjusting 

 the State debt was extended to Jan. 1, 1895. The 

 laws governing the State Prison were superseded 

 by a new enactment, which provides for a board 

 of directors and a superintendent to be appointed 

 by the Governor, with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate. The superintendent shall, with the 

 consent and approval of the board, appoint all 

 subordinate officials. He shall employ all con- 

 victs within the prison wall, or on farms leased 

 or owned by the institution, and shall make con- 

 tracts on remunerative terms with persons or 

 corporations, in order to employ and support as 

 many of the able-bodied convicts on public works 

 as the interests of the State will permit. He 

 may. with the consent of the Governor and by 

 order of the board of directors, erect additional 

 shops at the prison, and lease and equip farms 

 whenever it becomes necessary to keep the con- 

 victs employed. 



A salutary law for the protection of accused 

 persons from mob violence provides that " every 

 person who shall conspire to break or enter any 

 jail, or other place of confinement of prisoners 

 charged with crime or under sentence, for the 

 purpose of killing or otherwise injuring any 

 prisoner therein confined, and every person who 



engages in such breaking or entering with intent 

 to kill or injure any prisoner, hhallbe guilt) of 

 a felony," and shall IM- lined not h--s thun $500, 

 and imprisoned not less than two nor more than 

 lift een years. It is made the duty of any prose- 

 cuting officer in the State \\lio h. .n- of the com- 

 niiv-i.in of such a crime to investigate the cir- 

 cumstances and bring criminal proceedings 

 against the guilty persons. The superior court 

 of any county adjoining that in which the offense 

 is committed shall have jurisdiction of the case. 



A State board of healtn was established. The 

 Governor was requested to set apart in the au- 

 tumn of each year a day to be known as Arbor 

 Day, and to recommend its observance. 



The sum of $35,000 for each of the years 1893 

 and 1894 was appropriated for the support, com- 

 pletion, and improvement of the School for the 

 Deaf and Dumb, and the sum of $5,000 for each 

 of these years for completing and furnishing the 

 building for the Agricultural College. 



Other acts of the session were as follow : 



Making it a misdemeanor for any person to leave 

 any child or children confined in any building and 

 unattended, BO as to expose such child or children to 

 danger by fire. 



Directing the removal of the Colored Normal 

 School from Wurrenton to Franklinton. 



Dividing the crime of murder into two degrees. 



Authorizing the State Railroad Commission to pro- 

 vide rules and regulations for the handling of bag- 

 gage. 



Authorizing the Railroad Commission to anscss 

 steamboat property. 



Establishing the words "Esse quam videri " as the 

 State motto. 



Repealing the act of 1891 requiring railroads to 

 redeem unused tickets. 



To establish a true meridian in the several coun- 

 ties for the correct retracing of surveys. 



Amending the insurance law. 



Authoring the acceptance of surety companies as 

 sureties on otficial bonds. 



Authorizing disabled ex-Confederate soldiers to 

 peddle without u license. 



Providing a new law for the government of the 

 State militia. 



Establishing a naval battalion to be attached to 

 the State militia. 



To prevent fraudulent assignments by debtors. 



To provide for the revocation of interests limited 

 to persons not in being. 



To prohibit the sale of deadly weapons to minors. 



Railroads. Since Dec. 31. 1891, 165 miles of 

 new road have been completed and put in opera- 

 tion in the State. Of this total, 114^ miles 

 were completed in 1892, and 51 miles this year, 

 before the end of the fiscal year. Several roads 

 have heretofore, by reason of the provisions of 

 their charters, enjoyed either partial or entire 

 exemption from taxation, and this fact has been 

 a source of continued dissatisfaction and strife. 

 Recently the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was 

 induced to surrender its chartered rights to ex- 

 emption from taxation. Subsequently the Wil- 

 mington and Weldon Railroad surrendered its 

 claims to exemption both from taxation and 

 from the regulation of its tariff rates by the 

 railroad commission. Finally the only remain- 

 ing exempted road, the North Carolina, through 

 the efforts of the Governor, has very lately sur- 

 rendered its rights without a contest, and will 

 be Mibject to taxation in 1894. 



