xx REPOKT OF THE

proper consideration of the opinion of the Court could be had,
a bill was prepared to levy a tax on the business of coal mining
in this State, for State purposes, which would be free from the
objections urged against the former Act, and was introduced in
the Senate, but owing to delays in that body, the bill, after its
passage there, did not reach the House of Delegates until with-
in the last two days of the Session, when, under the Constitu-
tion of the State, a concurrence of two-thirds of that body
was necessary in order to ensure its consideration and passage.
The requisite two-thirds vote not being attainable at that late
day, the bill failed to be considered by the House of Delegates,
and was thus lost. I propose to call the attention of the Leg-
islature to this subject at the next Session, and to urge its pas-
sage, believing that such an enactment is demanded by a large
majority of the people of the State.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

The Act of 1874, chapter 469, appropriated $100,000.00 for
the purchase of suitable grounds and the erection of suitable
buildings for the " State Normal School," and the Board of
"Public Works were directed to purchase the ground for the
site, and contract for the erection of the necessary buildings
thereon. The same Act authorized the issue of $100,000.00 of
bonds of the State, to be disposed of, to raise the means to
carry the provisions of the Act into execution. The Board,
after examining a number of properties offered to them for the
purpose, selected what they considered an eligible site at the
corner of Townsend and Republican streets, in the City of
Baltimore ; employed Frank E. Da vis, Esq., an architect highly
recommended, to make the plans and specifications, which,
when submitted to them, were carefully revised and completed,
so as to limit the expenditure to the amount appropriated, and
after advertising for proposals as directed in the Act, the Board
Have put the building under contract with a responsible builder,
William H. Alien, Esq., and the work is now in progress, and is
to be completed before the first day of September next. The
whole of the loan was taken at par for the Sinking Fund of the
'State, and the amount thus raised for completion of the building.