The Shasta courier., 1858-01-30
Mr.. Grifith's Attachment Bill.


We are obliged to Senator Griffith for copy
of this bill which he has recently introduced into
the Senate. Under the existing law, attachments
are allowed to issue against parties upon plain
tif's affidavit that defendant is indebted to him
upon contract expressed or implied, and that
said contract is not secured by any mortgage
upon real or personal property or that defend
ant is indebted to plaintiff, and that defendant
is nonresident of the State 1t also gives the
first attaching creditor preference over all other
creditors. These are serious defects, it will be
admitted, and the great wonder is that they have
been permitted to remain embodied in law so
great length of time. Mr. Grifith's bill, if en-
acted into law, will remove these defects. In
deed, his bill embraces pretty much all the
much-needed reforms in our unjust and onerous
attachment system. 1t requires the plaintiff to
make affidavit to one of the following obliga-
tions:
lst. That the debtor is not resident of nor
resides within this state, or,
I'd. That the debtor conccals himself, so that
the ordinary process of law cannot be served
upon him, orr
Sd. That the debtor has absconded, or absent
ed himself from his usual place of abode in this
state, to prevent the service of the ordinary pre-
cess of law upon him, or,
| 4th Tat the debtor is about to remove his
property out of this state with the intent to him
der, delay, or defraud his creditors or,
9Th, That the debtor has fraudulently convey
ed, assigned, concealed, or disposed of his pro-
perty, effects, so as to hinder, delay, or de-
| fraud his creditors, or,
9th. That the defendant is about frauduently
to dispose of, conceal convey or assign, his pro-
perty, so as to hinder. or delay, his creditors.
Thus, it will be seen that Mr. Griffiths bill
seeks to restore this process to its original pur-
pose-that of protecting the creditor against
fraud. We trust this, or some other bill combi-
ming the same general features, will become a
law during the present session.
TAXING MINING CLAIMs.-The friends Of this
measure claim Gov. Weller as favoring it. His
Los Angeles speech, in connection with por-
tion of his inaugural, certainly looks that way.
Nevertheless, whether he fivors or opposes it,
we are quite sanguine, if the attempt is made
during the present session to enact law for
this purpose, that it will meet with an over
whelming defeat. How absurd when seeking
to equalize taxes upon property, to talk about
taxing that which is not known to exist-which
is intangible-which may be but dream Of
ten have we, when following the life of miner
in old Ell Dorado, dreamed, with our eyes closed
in sleep, of finding big chunks and innumerable
small chunks, in our claim. Daylight destoyed
the delusion. Often have we during the same
time, with our eyes open, dreamed that our
claim would yield thousands of ounces of the
precious ore. The pleasing illusions of these
dream-hours were also destroyed by the time
daylight had penetrated the bottom of our claim
And yet it is this sort of dreaming that certain
men wish to impose tax upon. They wish to
tax the hopes of the miner.
| In this connection we observe that Attorney
General Williams has given his opinion, in obe-
dience to request of the Assembly, that pos
sessory titles were not properly-subject to taxa
tion though buildings and improvements upon
public lands were. Is not the miners clam
"possessory claim ~ OF course it is, and he
now pays taxes on all I" buildings and improve
ments" upon it. If Attorney General Williams
is correct, we may venture to predict that no
law will be passed this winter so cqualizing
/ taxation as to include mining claims among tax
able property, even though Gov. Weller may fa-
yor it.
| TRINITY JoURNAL.-The editorial columns of
this paper-one of the handsomcst and best edi-
ted papers in the state-is hereafter to be presi-
ded over by Calvin B. Mcdonald, formerly of the
Sierra Citizen and Sacramento Age, and, as We
have frequently said one of the most beautiful
writers connected with the California press As
the editor of a neutral paper $50 far as politics
| concarnadA ho has