758 



VERMONT. 



VIRGINIA. 



from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massa- 

 chusetts took part. New Hampshire and Mas- 

 sachusetts participated officially in the celebra- 

 tion ; and among the guests of the day were 

 the President of the United States, Mr. Evarts, 

 Secretary of State, Attorney-General Devens, 

 Chief Justice Waite, Governor Prescott of New 

 Hampshire, Governor Rice of Massachusetts, 

 and other prominent public men. The exercises 

 in the pavilion consisted of an oration by S. C. 

 Bartlett, President of Dartmouth College ; a 

 poem written for the occasion by William Cul- 

 len Bryant, of New York ; an original hymn 

 by Mrs. Maria Mason, and appropriate music. 

 About 15,000 people were present. At the 

 close of the exercises there was a banquet, and 

 in the evening an illumination and torchlight 

 procession. The celebration closed on the 1 7th 

 with a grand parade of the Vermont militia. 



A somewhat singular case of the reprieve of 

 a man convicted of murder, only a few min- 

 utes before the time set for his execution, oc- 

 curred at Rutland on the 6th of April. John 

 P. Phair was charged with the murder of Mrs. 

 Frieze, at Rutland, on the morning of June 

 9, 1874, and had been subsequently convicted 

 on wholly circumstantial evidence. A new 

 trial had been refused, and he was sentenced to 

 be hung on the 6th of April. On the morning 

 of that day a statement prepared by the con- 

 demned man was published in a newspaper at 

 Boston, Mass., which had the effect of bring- 

 ing out what was deemed to be new evidence 

 tending to show the man's innocence. A re- 

 prieve of four weeks was granted on telegraph- 

 ic information from Boston, in order to permit 

 an examination of the evidence. This was re- 

 garded of sufficient importance to justify a fur- 

 ther reprieve until after the next session of 

 the Legislature, which occurs in October, 1878. 

 As a new trial had been once denied there 

 was no power except that of the Legislature to 

 grant it. 



On the 30th of June, there were 20 savings 

 institutions in the State. The number of de- 

 positors was 31,528, an increase of 3,047 in 

 one year. The amount of deposits was $8,- 

 321,726.54, an increase of $263,173.51. The 

 disbursements in dividends amounted to $381,- 

 400.10. The total expenses of the banks, in- 

 cluding United States revenue taxes, were 

 $42,653.64. The resources and liabilities of 

 the banks were as follows : 



RESOURCES. 



Loans on mortgages of real estate $4,478,766 64 



Loans on personal and collateral security 1,689,229 29 



Real estate owned 87,871 52 



Invested in United States bonds . 770*845 83 



Loans on United States bonds 25,015 88 



Invested in bank stocks 235.552 50 



Loans on bank stocks 92,685 81 



Invested in railroad stock and bonds 79,289 28 



Loans to towns, villages, etc 100,852 49 



Invested in State, city, town, and village bonds. 821.273 67 



Miscellaneous assets 145.828 56 



Cash on deposit in national banks 866,19280 



Cash on hand 148,484 41 



Total resources $9,040,827 68 



LIABILITIES. 



Amount of deposits $8,821,726 54 



Capital stock (Trust Company's) 832.500 00 



Amount of surplus 856,274 19 



Miscellaneous liabilities 80,326 65 



Total liabilities $9,040,827 88 



As no election and no session of the Legisla- 

 ture took place this year, there was a total 

 lack of political action by the people, and an 

 absence of all official reports and information. 



VIRGINIA. The average annual receipts 

 from taxation for the last eight fiscal years 

 have been $2,401,726. The receipts from the 

 same source for the fiscal year 1876-'77 were 

 $2,505,387. The ordinary expenses of the 

 government for the last fiscal year were less 

 than for any year since the constitution took 

 effect, and less by $88,583 than the average an- 

 nual expenses of the last eight years on the 

 same account. The principal sum of the en- 

 tire debt proper of the Commonwealth, Sep- 

 tember 30, 1877, was $29,350,816.76. The ar- 

 rears of interest which have accrued since the 

 Funding Bill took effect, and which constitute 

 so much non-interest-bearing debt, amounted 

 to $4,188,141.33. Consequently the whole of 

 the public debt, including the principal and all 

 arrears of interest, is $33,538,958.09. The en- 

 tire debt assumed by the Funding Bill was 

 $30,478,646.49. The difference is the increase 

 of the debt during the six years which have 

 elapsed since the Funding Bill went into oper- 

 ation. 



The condition of the sinking and literary 

 funds, which are sometimes erroneously classed 

 as part of the State debt, but which constitute 

 no part of it, is as follows : Sinking fund : prin- 

 cipal, $5,145,271.90; interest, $931,996.26; 

 aggregate, $6,077,268.16. Literary fund : prin- 

 cipal, $1,428,245.25; interest, $176,271.64; 

 total, $1,604,516.89. 



The most important measure passed by the 

 Legislature of 1877 is known as the Moffett 

 Register Law, which imposes a tax, and pre- 

 scribes the mode of collecting it, on the privi- 

 lege of selling wine, ardent spirits, or malt liq- 

 uors. It was approved March 30th, and was 

 amended by an act approved April 2d. Its 

 chief object was to create a revenue to pay the 

 interest on the public debt. The law provides 

 that no person shall sell wine, ardent spirits, malt 

 liquors, or any mixture thereof, either by whole- 

 sale, retail, or to be drunk at the place where 

 sold, or in any other way, without first having 

 obtained a license. A license to sell by wholesale 

 includes only the privilege of selling in quanti- 

 ties of five gallons or more. A license to sell 

 by wholesale and retail includes only the priv- 

 ilege of selling in quantities of one gallon or 

 more. A license to sell by retail includes only 

 the privilege of selling in quantities not exceed- 

 ing five gallons at any time to any one individ- 

 ual, which shah 1 not be drunk where sold, but 

 shall be delivered to the purchaser in bottles, 

 jugs, demijohns, or other vessels, to be removed 

 therefrom. A license to sell to be drunk where 



