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and copies thereof forwarded to the Comptroller, immediately
alter the imposition of the tax, and the Clerks of County
Commissioners are required to forward to the Comptroller
within thirty days after the levy of the tax for the year,
statements showing the amount of tax placed in the hands
of each Collector, giving his name, &c.

By the law of Congress, approved July 1, 1862, all such
bonds are required to be stamped, and without the proper
stamps, the bond is declared invalid. The information re-
quired to be given by Clerks of Commissioners, early in each
year, is withheld beyond the time fixed by law for this duty
by almost all of the Clerks in the State ; and the copies of
Bonds are, in most cases, either not sent at all, or long after
the Collectors executing them, have commenced the col-
lection of the taxes; and during the year 1863, the Comp-
troller has had much difficulty, and been thrown into
embarrassment in consequence of the neglect alluded to, and
which he is clothed with inadequate powers to remedy.

When the Collector's bonds, or the copies of then are
received, they are found in a very large proportion of them,
defective and worthless ; and yet, they have been approved
by the local authorities ; many of them are not stamped, or
stamped with a stamp of too low a grade, and all such afford
no security to the State, for the revenues placed in the hands
of these officers.

There are light penalties, it is true, for the infraction of
the Stamp law, and the Clerks of the Commissioner's are
liable to indictment and a small fine for remissness in the
duties, above alluded to, to be performed by them ; but
before action can be taken to enforce the penalties, very
serious loss may arise to the State, whilst to enforce the
penalties, the Comptroller would be compelled tb be absent
much of the time from his office.

At this time there are Collectors of State Taxes having
large sums in their hands to collect, from whom the State
has no security whatever, and whilst I have urged upon the
Clerks to Commissioners, and in some cases the Collectors
themselves, the performance of their duty in this respect, in
certain cases, no attention, has been paid thereto.