1876.] OF THE SENATE. 793

Said bill was then returned to the House of Delegates.

Mr. Hepbron, from Joint Committee of the Senate and
House of Delegates, appointed under and by virtue of Article
3, Section 24, of the Constitution, submitted the following

REPORT.

To the Honorable the Senate and

House of Delegates of the State of Maryland:

The undersigned, the Joint Committee of the Senate and
House of Delegates, appointed under and by virtue of Article
3, Section 24, of the Constitution, and to whom was referred
amongst other subjects, the following order, adopted in the
House of Delegates, January 18th, 1876, viz : "And be it
further ordered, that they shall also examine into and fully
and searchingly enquire into the accounts and disbursements
of the Treasury Department, and the various departments
and officers doing business therewith, and ascertain whether
the expendituies and disbursements of said officers and de-
partments have been made in conformity with law," having
finished their investigations on his branch of their duty, beg
leave to report—

That they did, at n meeting of said Committee, appoint
five members of the same to conduct the said investigation,
to wit: Messrs. Walsh, Lee, Neal, Lewis and Farrow, who
have bestowed much time on the investigation of the books
and papers oi the Comptroller's Office, »nd at the instance
and request of the Comptroller, have gone over and carefully
examined all the expenditures from the 1st of January, 1870,
down to the present time. This 1ms been a work of much
labor to the Committee and has occupied much of the time
during the session that they could spare from their other
duties. The Committee found that all the expenditures have
been made strictly in accordance with law, They have also
examined the books of the Treasurer and find them to agree
exactly with those of the Comptroller. The account of re-
ceipts and expenditures in the office of the Comptroller is
compared every month with those of the Treasurer and the
utmost exactness in regard to amounts received and disbursed
is thereby attained.

In addition to this, quarterly statements are made by the
Treasurer and compared with the books of the Comptroller,
and these, after examination and comparison, are signed by
these officers. These comparisons are made under the Con-
stitutional provision for that purpose, and the necessity of
absolute agreement in the statements of both offices, makes
it easy to ascertain that no discrepancy cm exist between
them. The Committee required the production of the vouch-
ers in every case in which they have thought it necessary to