Mr. RIDGELY. I move to further amend
the last clause of section six, by adding the
following: " And in such case the compensa-
tion shall be at the rate of five dollars per
diem."
The clause, if amended, will then read :
" And when the General Assembly shall be
convened by proclamation of the Governor,
the session shall not continue longer than
thirty days, and in such case the compensa-
tion shall be at the rate of five dollars per
diem."
The question being taken on the amend-
ment, it was adopted.
No further amendment was offered to the
sixth section.
Mr. SCHLEY. I propose to depart from the
regular order somewhat; but it is so relevant
to the action we have just taken in this sixth
section, that I ask the consent of the Conven-
tion to take up section twenty-eight for con-
sideration. If that is done, I shall move to
strike out the first paragraph of that section.
The motion to take up section twenty-eight
was then agreed to.
Section twenty-eight was' then read as fol-
lows :
" The senators and delegates shall receive
a per diem of five dollars, and such mileage
as may be allowed by law, and the presiding
officer of each house shall be allowed an ad-
dition of one dollar per day. No book or
other printed matter not appertaining to the
business of the session, shall be purchased or
subscribed for for the use of the members,
or be distributed among them, at the public
expense,"
Mr. SCHLEY moved to strike out all of the
section down to and including the words,
"an addition of one dollar per day."
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. SCHLEY. I now move that the remain-
der of the twenty-eighth section—relating to
books and other printed matter—be added to
section six as amended.
Mr. MILLER. I think, if my friend from
Frederick (Mr Schley) will examine, he will
see that the subject matter of the twenty-
eighth section is entirely irrelevant to any-
thing contained in the sixth section.
Mr. SCHLEY. That may be true. I will
withdraw my amendment.
Mr. HEBB. I renew the amendment. I
think it. is relevant to the sixth section. Part
of the compensation to inembers is sometimes
in the shape of books which members vote to
themselves. I therefore move to add that
clause to the sixth section.
Mr. MILLER. The gentleman can effect his
object much better by adding that clause to
some section containing prohibitions upon
the action of the Legislature.
The PRESIDENT. This can be allowed to
stand as a separate section.
Mr. HEBB. It will look rather awkward
to have this stand as a section in this way :
3 |
" No book or other printed matter not ap-
pertaining to the business of the session,
shall be purchased or subscribed for for the
I use of the members, or be distributed among
them at the public expense."
I think that clause better be added to the
sixth section.
The question being then taken upon the
motion of Mr. HEBB, it was not agreed to,
Mr. SCHLEY. I move to amend section
twenty-eight by inserting after the word
"members" the words "of the General As-
sembly;" so that it will read "No book,
&c., shall be purchased or subscribed for for
the use of the inembers of the General As-
sembly," &c.
The question being taken, the amendment
was adopted.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would suggest to the
gentleman from Frederick (Mr. Schley) whe-
ther the broad expression used in this para-
graph may not interfere with the annual ap-
propriation for the library. I suppose it is
not designed to arrest such appropriations.
This is very easily capable of misconstruc-
tion, and I would suggest the propriety of
adding some provision so that it may not af-
fect the authority of the Legislature to make
an annual appropriation for the library.
Mr. SCHLEY, This is precisely the same as
section thirty of the article on the legislative
department in the present constitution. That
section has never been so construed that I am
aware of.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I merely desired to avoid
any misconstruction.
No farther amendment was offered to sec-
tion twenty-eight.
The Convention then resumed the consid-
eration of the report at the point where the
twenty-eighth section was taken up.
Section seven was then read as follows:
"No person shall be eligible as a senator or
delegate who, at the time of his election, ie
not a citizen of the United States, and who
has not resided at least three years next pre-
ceding the day of his election in this State,
and the last year thereof in the county or
city which he may be chosen to represent, if
such county or city shall have been so long
established, and if not, then in the county
from which, in whole or in part, the same
may have been formed; nor shall any person
be eligible as a senator unless he shall have
attained the age of twenty-five years, nor as
a delegate unless he shall have attained the
age of twenty-one years, at the time of his
election,"
Mr. MILLER. As the section now stands it
would seem to indicate that there might be
power in the Legislature to establish a city
as a geographical division of the State. We
have but one city in this State, and I do not
see the use of the words "or city" where
they occur the second time in this section.
therefore move to strike these words out. |
