tions have no doubt been attended with as- little expense as
Possible. It is clearly the interest of the State to sell this
property.
The receipts, during the fiscal year, from License to Catch
Oysters, issued under chapter 181 of 1865, amounted to
$1,430.20. A much larger sum will be realized befOre the
close of’ the license year, the 1st of June next, but it is not be-
lieved, unless some means be provided for the speedy and
effective punishment of’ the violaters of the law, that the re-
ceipts from this source will exceed, in any one year, $50,000.
A tax of two or three cents per bushel, if its collection be
practicable, would yield a much larger revenue.
The Act should be amended in several particulars. I re-
spectfully suggest that a Justice of the Peace be authorized to
administer the oath required of the applicant for dredging
license. The expense and trouble of a visit to this Office
may thus be saved to those who reside at a distance.
There have been no sales of’ the Land Scrip, amounting to
nearly two hundred and ten thousand acres, which was do-
nated to the State by the Act of Congress of July 2d, 1862,
for the benefit of’ agriculture and the mechanic arts. The
prices offered therefor were considered wholly inadequate.

It will appear by Statement "H,’’ that the assessed value
of the real and personal property in the State, liable to direct
taxation, is $278,507,519, being a decrease from the assess-
merit of last year of $7,234,836. This difference is caused
by the fact that all assessments on account of slaves were de-
ducted from the tax books, as required by chapter 113 of 1865.

The importance of a general assessment was urged upon
the General Assembly at its last session by my predecessor.
I respectfully, hut earnestly reiterate the recommendation.

According to the general assessment made in 1852, the
value of’ real and personal property was $261,243,660, exhib-
iting an increase of $49,667,825 when compared with the
year immediately preceding, and of $64,492,515, or nearly
thirty-three per centurn, when compared with the general as-
sessment of 1841, only eleven years before.

When it is considered that more than thirteen years have
elapsed since the assessment in 1852, and that the State has
rapidly increased in population. wealth and general prosperi-
ty, anti that the assessment of the present year exceeds the
general assessment of 1852, hut in the sum of $17,263,859,
or less than seven per centum; it is not unreasonable to sup—
pose that a new assessment t would insure a taxable basis of at
least $350,000,000, notwithstanding the large investments by
the people of the State in non—taxable Government securities.