746 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 26,

67, belonging to said schools, but withheld last year, as per
report of the ex-Comptroller."

It is difficult for me to discover from the wording of the
order what its meaning is, or what particular information is
sought to be obtained by it. If by "the large reduction in
the March distribution to the Free Schools of the State," a
comparison is intended of the March distribution of this year,
with, the March distributions of previous years, I would
respectfully inform the Senate that I have instituted that
comparison with the years running back to 1870, inclusive,
and find a difference of only a few dollars, varying from
$701.00 to $11,285.00, between them, as will be seen by the
following details, to wit:

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1870.............................................$106,608.06

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1871............................................. 103,713.42

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1872............................................ 101,804.07

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1873............................................. 102,455.74

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1874............................................. 103,788.18

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1875............................................. 111,285.44

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1876............................................ 100,701.01

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1877............................................. 104,653.10

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

March, 1878............................................. 100,000.00

The fluctuation in the March distributions having been
thus ascertained to be so slight for a series of years, and in-
deed too slight to call for a serious explanation of the cause
or causes of it, I have compared the apportionment made by
me on the 15th of this month, with the apportionments made
by my predecessor for the two previous quarters of the pre-
sent scholastic year, viz., October 1st, 1877, and January 1st,
1878, and find "the large reduction" disclosed by that com-
parison to be $16,992.00, as shown below.
Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

October, 1st, 1877......................................$116,992.00

Apportionment to Free Public Schools, (white,)

January, 1st, 1878............................ ...... 116,992.00