''The canal board shall consist of the com-
missioners of the canal fund, the state engi-
neer and surveyor, and the canal commis-
sioners."
Mr. DANIEL. I will say that the governor
does not vote; he appoints the directors, and
they vote.
Mr. STIRLING. He has to attend the meet-
ing of the company in order to do that. I
have a great notion to add the attorney gen-
eral to my amendment, as I hope the conven-
tion will provide for such an office.
The question was then taken upon the
motion of Mr STIRLING to add the lieutenant
governor and commissioner of the land office
to the board of public works, and it was not
agreed to.
Mr. BROWN. I move to amead that portion
of this section which provides the times of
meeting of this board, by striking out the
words, "on the first Monday," wherever they
occur. We are imposing additional duties
upon important functionaries of the State who
have already important duties to perform,
and I would therefore not confine them to any
particular day. I have belonged to bodies
where we were required to meet on particular
days, and we could never meet in July be-
cause the members were then busily engaged
in other matters.
Mr. DANIEL. The great object of putting
in these days was that everybody might know
the days when this board would meet.
Mr. BROWN. I will withdraw my amend-
ment.
Mr. BOND. I move to strike out the word
"has," and insert the words, "may have,"
in the clause which now reads, "in every
railroad or canal company in which the State
has the legal power to appoint the directors,"
&c. A portion of these works may be sold
hereafter; and I think the words "may
have" will be much more appropriate.
The question being taken, the amendment
was rejected.
Mr. SYKES moved to amend that portion of
the section fixing the times of meeting on the
first Monday in January, April, July, and
October, by striking out "Monday," and
inserting "Wednesday."
The question was taken, viva voce, upon
the amendment, but before the result was an-
nounced,
Mr. SANDS said: I do not think members
really understand the importance of the
amendment of my colleague (Mr. Sykes.) If
this board is to meet on Monday, those people
who desire to meet the board will have to be
here on the Saturday before, or else to travel
on Sunday. I think it would be much more
convenient to all concerned for the board to
meet on Wednesday.
The question was then taken on the motion
of Mr. SYKES to strike out "Monday" and
insert " Wednesday," and it was agreed to. |
No further amendment was offered to the
first section.
COMMISIONER OF THE LAND OFFICE.
The second section was then read as follows :
" There shall be a commissioner of the land
office, elected by the qualified voters of the
State, on the day of , in
the year , who shall hold his office for
the term of six years from the first day of
January next after his election. The returns
of said election shall be made to the govern-
or, and in the event of a tie between any two
or more candidates the governor shall direct
a new election to be held, by writs to the
sheriffs of the several counties, who shall hold
said election after at least twenty days notice,
exclusive of the day of election. He shall
perform such duties as are now required of
the commissioner of the land office, and shall
be keeper of the chancery records. He shall
receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars
per annum, to be paid out of the treasury,
and shall charge such fees as are now or may
be hereafter fixed by law. The said commis-
sioner of the land office shall make a semi-
annual report of all the fees of his office to the
comptroller of the treasury, and shall pay
the same semi-annually into the treasury.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I move to amend this
section by striking out the words—" the
day of in the year
," and inserting the words—
"Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
month of November, in the year eighteen-
hundred and sixty-nine."
The amendment was agreed to.
The PRESIDENT. T have been requested by
the commissioner of the land office to state to
the convention that the salary fixed in this
section does not amount to what he actually
receives at the present time. I think he said
the amount he now receives was not less than
two thousand dollars. 1 make this statement
for the consideration of the convention at his
request.
Mr. BRISCOE. Does that include the com-
pensation he receives for performing the da-
ties of keeper of the chancery records ?
The PRESIDENT. My. understanding was
that it applied to both offices.
Mr. DANIEL. He referred a petition to us
on that subject, asking that his salary befixed,
instead of giving him fees. I wish to say
further that I think the report of the commis-
sioner of the land office shows that some years
his compensation has gone down as low as
$1,500 or $1,600; on other years it has gone
up as high as $2,100 or $2,800. It shows
that his fees are now decreasing, and in a few
years they will doubtless not amount to as
much as $1,800. That consideration influ-
enced the committee to fix his salary at some
reasonable sum, and they considered that
$1,800 was about a fair compensation under
all the circumstances. |
