NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



561 



railroad, or that the public good will be pro- 

 moted by the proposed union." " An act to 

 establish a Board of Railroad Commissioners " 

 was also passed. 



Among the joint resolutions passed by the 

 Legislature of 1883 was tae following: 



"Eelating to a Constitutional Convention." It 

 provides that, at the November election in 1884, the 

 electors shall vote on the question, " Is it expedient 

 that a convention be called to revise the Constitu- 

 tion?" 



Fiianees. During the fiscal year ended May 

 31, 1883, the State revenue from all sources 

 amounted to $935,675.72, and the expenditures 

 for all purposes to $792,286.11 ; leaving in 

 the treasury, on June 1st, an available cash 

 surplus of $204,622.49 ; such surplus, on June 

 1, 1882, having been $61,233.48. This favor- 

 able result is due to the recently adopted sys- 

 tem of biennial sessions of the Legislature. 



The State debt on June 1, 1883, was $3,- 

 383,060.94. As to a portion of its principal, 

 amounting to $450,000, and falling due on 

 Sept. 1, 1884, the Governor observes that, un- 

 less large sums of the public money are ap- 

 propriated for extraordinary expenses in the 

 mean time, it may be paid at maturity with the 

 surplus of revenue over expenditures accumu- 

 lated in the interval. 



Railroads. The following is a list of the rail- 

 roads operating in New Hampshire, the value 

 of each road, and the tax assessed on it for the 

 present year : 



The aggregate amount of the tax assessed on 

 railroads in the State for 1883 is nearly $21,- 

 000 greater than for 1882, when it was $170,- 

 003.85. The excess is almost entirely attributed 

 > the increased rate of taxation. 



Sayings-Banks. The number of savings-banks 



in operation in the State, on June 1, 1883, was 



sixty-six; the two oldest were chartered in 



1823. The deposits amount to $39,124,000; 



VOL. xxni. 36 A 



the total assets exceeding $40,000,000, and the 

 number of depositors being 113,187. 



In the matter of savings-banks, the last Le- 

 gislature enacted some important changes, the 

 better to provide for the interests of deposit- 

 ors, the principal one relating to the commis- 

 sioners. Their number is 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 of act- 

 ual service, besides the allowance of ten cents 

 mileage. At the same time, the new law im- 

 poses on the commissioners a more exacting 

 and more responsible service than was required 

 of them before. 



Insurance. The total of fire- risks carried in 

 the State, during 1882, was $69,987,572, and 

 that of life-risks, $11,950,766. The system of 

 insurance supervision now obtaining in the 

 State was established in 1870, and the totals 

 of premiums which her citizens have paid 

 since then to the insurance companies of either 

 sort during these thirteen years are of an al- 

 most equal amount, namely : for fire insurance, 

 $5,993,286.90 ; for life insurance $5,978,545.- 

 24. The losses paid to the citizens of the 

 State in that time aggregate : fire, $3,172,802.- 

 45; life, $2,657,519.04. The aggregate pre- 

 miums collected in.New Hampshire by the fire- 

 insurance companies of other States in 1882 

 amounted to $470,484.22, and the losses paid 

 by them in the same year were $430,168.94. 

 The New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company 

 collected $60,176.67 of premiums in the State 

 during that year, and paid $30,344.21 of losses. 

 The life-insurance companies, all of other 

 States, collected in New Hampshire $288,- 

 317.03 of premiums, and the losses paid by 

 them amounted to $269,533.97. The fire and 

 life insurance companies of other States, for 

 the business transacted in New Hampshire 

 during the year 1882, paid into her treasury 

 $7,578.57 of taxes ; and the New Hampshire 

 Fire Insurance Company paid into it a tax of 

 $2,600 on its capital stock. 



Education. The State Normal School, in 

 operation since 1870, has since then graduated 

 400 pupils, a yearly average of 30. The pres- 

 ent number of pupils is 40. The location of it 

 is regarded as a serious drawback to its success. 

 The Governor recommends the establishment 

 of a second Normal School in the northern 

 section of the State. 



Eespecting public instruction in the State 

 generally, Gov. Hale points to the impediments 

 to its efficiency and diffusion resulting from 

 the district system, and decidedly subscribes to 

 the opinion of the ablest educators that the 

 change from that to the town school system 

 can not be too soon effected. 



State Charities. The Asylum for the Insane 

 during the year has been under a new superin- 

 tendence, whose management the trustees aver 

 to have been marked by ability and devotion. 

 The present number of its inmates is 254. 

 During the forty years of its existence, the 



