NEW JERSEY. 



551 



when the defendant resides within the city. 

 Any who choose may go before a justice of the 

 peace." 



The power of nominating and appointing 

 the judges who are to sit in the new courts is 

 vested in the Governor, by the advice and with 

 the consent of the Senate. 



In order to put the provisions of this law 

 into actual working, and thus realize its pur- 

 pose without unnecessary delay, Governor 

 Bedle issued a proclamation soon after the 

 final adjournment of the Legislature, conven- 

 ing the Senate for a special session at Trenton, 

 on the 27th of March, that he might present to 

 them for confirmation the names of those 

 whom he thought fit to occupy the seats of the 

 newly created courts. 



At the appointed time the Senate met and 

 effected its organization ; 19 Senators, or all 

 of them except two, being present. There- 

 upon the Governor sent to the Senate the fol- 

 io wing list of names for District Judges in the 

 several localities: Newark, Finley A. John- 

 son, George F. Tuttle ; Jersey City, B. F. Ran- 

 dolph, John A. Blair; Hoboken, Frederick 

 Ogden; Paterson, John Hopper; Elizabeth, 

 Joseph Alward ; New Brunswick, Charles J. 

 Rutgers; Trenton, Robert S. Woodruff, Jr. ; 

 Camden, Richard T. Miller. 



At the first sitting, and others held on the 

 same and the following day, the Senate con- 

 firmed all of the Governor's nominations, ex- 

 cept that of John A. Blair for one of the two 

 courts in Jersey City. Notwithstanding this 

 rejection, the Governor sent in the name of 

 Mr. Blair a second time, and it was again re- 

 jected. He then sent for the same place the 

 name of Isaac Romaine, which also was re- 

 jected nays, 11 ; yeas, 8; a strict party vote. 

 It was reported that both Mr. Romaine and 

 Mr. Blair were defeated because they are Re- 

 publicans; the Democrats, who are in a 

 majority of one in the Senate, being resolved 

 that the two District Judges in Jersey City, as 

 those elsewhere, should all be of their party. 

 On being apprised that Mr. Romaine also had 

 been rejected, Governor Bedle sent no further 

 nominations, but put an abrupt end to the extra 

 session, by sending to the Senate a written 

 message, dated March 30, 1877, in which, after 

 stating that a committee of three Senators 

 had called at the Executive Chamber on 

 the 28th of that month, and notified him 

 "that they were authorized to inform him 

 that a caucus of the dominant party of the 

 Senate had adopted a resolution, not to con- 

 firm any Republicans for District Judges, if 

 nominated," he sets forth the reasons why he 

 thought it proper and just that one of the t\vo 

 District Judges in Jersey City should be a Re- 

 publican, as one of them in Newark is of that 

 party, and concludes as follows : 



The action of the caucus, of which I was formally 

 notified, and the refusal to confirm, as stated, have 

 precipitated upon me the question whether the Ex- 

 ecutive of the State shall acquiesce in the previous 



determination of Senators to control his official duty 

 in order that a range of ten (10) courts, intended by 

 the Legislature to correct evils in cities under the 

 present elective system of justices of the courts for 

 the trial of small causes, shall bo established with 

 an unbroken party aspect, except in Newark, an 

 stated. To my mind there is but one answer, and 

 although regretting the fact of difference, I cannot 

 but conclude, very respectfully, that in view of the 

 policy adopted by the caucus and the consequent 

 action thereon, there is no further reason for the de- 

 tention of the Senate. 



Respectfully, J. D. BEDLE. 



The reading of this message produced a storm 

 of indignation on the part of the Democratic 

 Senators, and the document was not allowed 

 to be spread upon the journal of the Senate. 

 A motion made to that effect was lost. On 

 a motion to adjourn, the vote stood, yeas 11, 

 nays 8 ; and the special session was closed. 



The financial condition of the State appears 

 to be remarkably prosperous. Her assets for 

 property owned, real and personal, of various 

 kinds, including stocks, United States bonds, 

 United Companies bonds, real estate, uncol- 

 lected taxes, and money in bank, amount to 

 $10,381,315.05. She has no civil debt, prop- 

 erly so called. The whole of her liabilities is 

 reckoned at $2,796,376.08, made up by the fol- 

 lowing items: War debt, $2,296,800; tem- 

 porary loans, $150,000 ; and unpaid appropria- 

 tions, $830,076.08. 



The receipts into the State Treasury from all 

 sources during the fiscal year ending October 

 81, 1877, were $3,430,974.19. Of this sum, 

 $1,225,462.48 was school tax, and $901,806.24 

 State tax. The public expenditures for the 

 same year amounted to $2,816,649.88; leaving 

 a balance in bank to the credit of all the State 

 funds, except the sinking fund, of $214,954.81. 



The estimated receipts for the year ending 

 October 81, 1878, are set down at $1,812,550.- 

 23 ; the expenditures at $1,640,000. 



The whole amount of the taxable property in 

 the State, as shown by the ratables, has de- 

 creased $30,583,010.70 since the last assess- 

 ment. 



The total assets of the sinking fund on Octo- 

 ber 31, 1877, consisting almost entirely of loans 

 on mortgages, real estate at cost and expense, 

 and cash in bank, amounted to $1,871,911.09. 

 This fund is set apart for the payment of the 

 war debt, the bonds of which mature in install- 

 ments of $100,000 each year up to 1892, and 

 thereafter in unequal sums up to 1902, when 

 the last bonds become payable. The debt at 

 the present time exceeds the amount of cash 

 ready to pay it, by about $840,000, which 

 might properly be called the State debt on that 

 account. 



The sums expended for public instruction 

 during the year were $1,225,462.48 from taxes 

 levied exclusively for that purpose, and $100,- 

 000 appropriations from the State fund, mak- 

 ing a total of $1,325,462.48. 



The normal school, as also the model and 

 Farnum schools, is in most successful opera- 

 tion, and under excellent management. 



