32                JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS           [Jan. 9,

The rules were suspended to enable him to offer the following
order:

Ordered, That a select committee of three be appointed by the
chair, with instructions to examine into the condition of the pub-
lic records in the Land Office and in the office of the clerk of the
court of appeals, and report to this House such steps as they
shall deem necessary and proper to provide for the greater secu-
rity and better preservation of such records;
Which was adopted,
And the speaker appointed Messrs. Merrick, Carper and Golds-
borough, said committee.

Mr. Wickes, from the select committee appointed to examine
the official proceedings of the Comptroller of the Treasury, offer-
ed the following report:

The committee appointed by resolution of the House of Dele-
gates to investigate the official proceedings of the Comptroller of
the Treasury, respectfully report—that they have bestowed that
consideration upon the subject submitted to them which its im-
portance demanded;

That, after a careful examination of the affairs of the office,
they are satisfied that the system adopted is one of an admirable
character, and that the details of the office have been so simpli-
fied that mistake or confusion, hereafter, in the official business
pertaining to the Comptroller's department is almost impossible.
The books of the department indicate the utmost precision, and
order, and reflect great credit upon Mr. Duvall, to whose care
his branch has been principally confided.

The careful arrangement of the official vouchers and the uni-
form precision in all of the details of the office evince not only
the wisdom of the constitution in providing this safeguard to the
Treasury but also show the successful manner in which the ob-
jects of the constitution have been accomplished; and the several
acts of assembly, referring to this department, have been observed
by Mr. Whyte, the late, incumbent.

                                J. A. Wickes,

Chairman of Committee. ,

Which was adopted.               

Mr. Dorsey, from the Anne Arundel county delegation, to whom
was referred the petition of James H. Iglehart, & co., and others of
Annapolis, to repeal the act of 1854, chapter 194, as far as re-
lates to said city, report favorably thereon, and ask leave to bring
in a bill to carry out the wishes of the said petitioners.

Mr. Rankin, from a Select Committee reported a Bill, entitled
an act to incorporate the Dulany's Valley and Towsontown
Turnpike Company in Baltimore county,