334 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

levy of taxes for the State, a return of the assessments of prop-
erty in the City of Baltimore, showing the amount thereof ; and
for neglecting or refusing to perform this duty the clerk so
neglecting or refusing shall be subject to presentment, and
upon conviction thereof in the Criminal Court of Baltimore
City, to a penalty of one hundred dollars, for the use of the
State.

163. The State's Attorney of the City of Baltimore shall
give information of such neglect or refusal to discharge the
duties prescribed in the preceding section to the Grand Jury of
the City, upon being advised thereof by the State Comptroller.

164. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and City Council of
Baltimore, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight and
in all succeeding years thereafter, annually, on or before the first
day of December, to impose the State taxes prescribed by law,
for the next succeeding fiscal year, and if the City shall fail to
impose the said taxes on or before said date in any year, the
City Register of Baltimore shall give notice thereof to the Gov-
ernor, within twenty days after such failure, and thereupon the
Governor shall appoint a tax board of three persons in the
City, a majority of whom shall have power to act, and whose
duty it shall be forthwith to levy said taxes, and place the same
in the hands of the City Collector. In appointing such board,
the Governor shall not be restricted, but may take them from
any part of the State. The clerk of the Appeal Tax Court or
the City Register of Baltimore shall lay before the said board
the returns of said assessors, with all corrections made thereto,
and if the clerk or City Register shall fail to comply with the
provisions of this section he shall be liable to indictment there-
for, and upon conviction shall be fined not exceeding one
thousand dollars. Nothing contained in this section shall be
construed to prevent the said City from levying said State
taxes in one year and providing that said taxes so levied shall
be the taxes for the next ensuing fiscal year, and collectible in
said next year, and provided that nothing in this section shall
apply to the State taxes levied after the passage of this Article,
for the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.