COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY. 15

Should the revenue not exceed four hundred dollars, then
nothing additional need be paid. As the Law now stands, it
operates very unequally, requiring the same tax from a Com-
pany doing a business of twenty thousand dollars, as from one
whose policies amount to one hundred thousand dollars, the
price of the license being the same in each.

With due deference to the learned Commissioners, who, under
the appointment of the late Executive, drafted the General
Corporation Law .presented and adopted by the General Assem-
bly of 1868, I would recommend the repeal of Sections 102,
103,106, 209,210,211, 212 and 213 of Chapter 294, and their re-
enactment under Chapter 243 of 1868. They relate exclusively
to Foreign Companies, and should never have been incorporated
in a bill referring to Home Companies.

Experience has shown the propriety of filing certified copies
of charters, financial condition, and appointment of agents with
the Comptroller, instead of the Clerk of the Superior Court in
Baltimore City.

As all matters pertaining to this subject are in this Depart-
ment, it would be proper to have all documents on file here
for reference. The great increase of this branch of business
within the past few years, and the interest which, our citizens
have in a subject to them of such vital importance, will render
it necessary ere long for the establishment, of an Insurance
Department. Most of the States have an "Insurance Com-
missioner," who has a general supervision of all companies
engaged in Insurance. In ours,, with a small field of opera-
tions, it might be subordinate to this office, and reported
separate and distinct from the ordinary financial operations
of the Department.

AUCTIONS AND AUCTION DUTIES,

By reference to Table No. 4, it will be perceived that the
revenue from this source still continues to diminish. It also
exhibits the names and amounts paid by each individual. It
is a matter in which the State has no interest, except for
license, as the receipts go back to Baltimore City for the
improvement of the River and Harbor. It is therefore, to the