MISSISSIPPI. 



election on all or any of such questions in snch 

 election district ; and all laws for the registra- 

 tion of male voters shall apply in all respects 

 to women voting under this section, and also 

 to those voting under section eight (8) of this 

 article." 



The proposed amendment of section three 

 of article ten, so as to read, " Each stockholder 

 in any corporation shall be liable only for all 

 unpaid installments on stock owned by him, 

 or transferred for the purpose of defrauding 

 creditors," was rejected by 26,020 nays, to 24,- 

 415 yeas. 



In January, "William Windom was reflected 

 United States Senator for the term beginning 

 March 4, 1877. 



MISSISSIPPI. The regular session of the 

 Legislature of Mississippi, which began on the 

 1st day of January, adjourned on the 1st of 

 February. A large number of acts of a local 

 nature were passed. Among the more impor- 

 tant of these were several authorizing counties 

 and cities to fund their floating indebtedness. 

 The city of Vicksburg was authorized to com- 

 promise its bonded indebtedness by issuing 5 

 per cent, bonds with 50 years to run, to take 

 the place of the " ten per cent, improvement 

 bonds," and " the Vicksburg, Pensacola & 

 Ship Island Eailroad bonds," at a rate "not 

 exceeding 65 cents of new indebtedness for one 

 dollar of the old, computing for the principal 

 of the latter only, all interest being excluded." 

 Two new counties were created under the 

 names of Quitman and Sharkey. An act was 

 passed providing for a State Board of Health, 



composed of two " physicians of skill and abil- 

 ity " from each of the six congressional dis- 

 tricts of the State, to be appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor, "upon the recommendation of the State 

 Medical Association," and three others from 

 the State at large to act as Sanitary Commis- 

 sioners. The supervisors of the counties of 

 Harrison, Hancock, and Jackson were also au- 

 thorized to appoint local boards of health, to 

 establish a quarantine " at all ports of the 

 State in their respective counties." An act to 

 encourage the growing of grapes and the man- 

 ufacture of domestic wine allowed the sale of 

 such wine put up, in bottles or otherwise, in 

 quantities not less than one gallon, without 

 payment of license-tax. It also made provision 

 against adulteration of such wine. An act to 

 improve the State Penitentiary authorized the 

 superintendent to make necessary repairs at a 

 cost not exceeding $25,000, and transferred 

 from the commissioners to the superintendent 

 the authority to lease the labor of convicts. 

 An amendment of the registration law was 

 made, depriving county boards of registration 

 of the power to select one of their number to 

 register voters, and requiring the work to be 

 done by a quorum of the board in each case, 

 such quorum to consist of not less than two 

 members. Some unimportant amendments to 

 the school-laws were made, one of them re- 

 quiring assessors in the several counties to 

 make an enumeration of "educable children 

 in their respective counties " every two years, 

 designating age, color, and sex. An act to 

 revise the laws relating to swamp-lands pro- 



NATCHEZ-ON-THE-HILL. 



vides for the appointment of a commissioner 

 to dispose of such lands on behalf of the State. 

 The State tax, which in 1874 was 14 mills 

 on the dollar, in 1875 9J mills, and in 1876 

 6 mills, has been reduced to 5 mills. Taxa- 

 tion has also been greatly reduced in nearly all 

 the counties, and their indebtedness either ex- 

 tinguished or materially lessened. The State 



debt on the 1st of December, 1876, was $3,- 

 226,847.43, but, excluding the amounts due to 

 school-funds and other permanent State invest- 

 ments, the "debt proper" was $1,100,605.22. 

 On the 1st of January, 1878, it was less than 

 $900,000, of which $608,500 were represented 

 by bonds. These fall due as follows : January 

 1, 1878, $145,900; January 1, 1879, $149,250; 



