278 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 24,.

The Committee on Finance to whom were referred the
annual report of the Comptroller of the Treasury, and so.
much of the Governor's Message as refers to the finances of
the State, report: That they deem it unnecessary to go into
a detailed statement which shall exhibit a minute account of
the various items which constitute the aggregate revenue of
the State and its disbursements, but will confine themselves
to such consideration of the general features of the financial
system of the State, and the condition of the Treasury, as
shall furnish information on which they propose resting their
suggestions for your action.

The statistics and tabular statements of the Comptroller
have relieved the labors of the Committee in the matter of
detail, and full information on this subject may be derived
from his annual report, which, under an order of your Hon-
orable Body, has been printed and laid upon the desks of its
members.

Past legislation has not been wanting in a spirit of rigid
determination to collect the revenues of the State, and from
time to time has made it the duty of the Comptroller, on
short notice, to institute suits for this purpose, and yet, large
amounts of arrearages are found standing on the books of
the Treasury in almost every department, from which the
revenues of the State are drawn. Without saying that an-
other system of collecting the revenues can be devised, which
shall be more effective, or that there is anything radically
wrong in. the present, it is evident that some stronger incen-
tive must be provided to secure the collection of the large
arrearages due since since eighteen hundred and forty-five,
and some portion long anterior to that peried, or in a few-
years all trace of many of the debtors of the Treasury will
have passed away, and the State be left without remedy for-
the recovery of large sums, which, if now in her coffers, would
go far to relieve this Legislature from the necessity of provi-
sion to meet her immediate wants.

The total receipts into the Treasury during the fiscal year
ending on the 30th of September, 1867, were $2,362,876.88,
which, added to the balance in hand on the 30th day of Sep-
tember, 1866, made the aggregate for the year $2,730,693,24.
The disbursements during this period amounted to $2,573,-
855.24, leaving a balance in the Treasury of $156,838. The
approximate receipts into the Treasury during the fiscal year
which ends on the 30th September, 1868, will be $1,822,000,
while the probable disbursements will exceed this amount by
$151,000, and discover a deficit to this extent.

To meet this deficit the very large amount of arrearages,
due from collectors, sheriffs, clerks and registers, might be
regarded as more than ample, but experience has taught