The Shasta courier., 1864-09-10
SHASTA COURIER.
REPORT OF THE GRAND JURY.
County Court of Shasta County, September
Term, 1864.


Term, 1864.
COURT.
The Grand Jury, impannelled to inquire
into the body of the county, beg leave to
present the following as their report:
The amount of criminal business brought
before US has been very light; three COM
plants only, all for assaults with deadly wea-
pons, in two of which we returned true bills,
and in one discharged the accused
There are no prisoners confined In the
County Jail for any ofense whatever
During our sitting we have vlsited the
County Hospital, where we found three pa
tients ouly under treatment. All appear 70
be well cared for, and the institution ap-
pears TO be kept in cleanly and proper
manner.
We also called on the Clerk of the Board
of Supervisors for the Report OF the County
Physician for the Quarter ending lst OF Au-
gust. 1864. We were surprised not TO ma
the list of names of the patients admitted and
treated in the Hospital during the quarter:
Wa do not know that it has ever been usual
for onv list of names of the patients to be
furnished TO the Board of Supervisors but
the matter was brought before us IN such
,n.rner that we were bound to call for the
LIST of names: and we would suggest to the
Board of Supervisors the propriety of having
the list of names of patients furnished to the
Board every quarter in future.
We also called on the different county Off
GERS, for the purpose Of making such examin-
alton into the affairs of the county as our
limited time would permit.
From the County Treasurer we obtained a
statement showing the outstanding indebted
ness against each county fund, to wit:
General Fund scrip registered and
unpaid, exclusive of interest,". $50, ,302 81
Hospital Fund registered and un-
paid, exclusive of interest. t.........S5, 1893 81
Road Fund scrip, not registered,
about. .......................,..... So,UUO w
Also, the indebtedness outstanding against
the General Fund August, 1861, amounting
then to SAG, 900. Unfortunately, this shows
that the Indebtedness of the General Fund
has increased since that time instead of hay-
ing decreased.
We next visited the County Clerks Office,
and examined, as far as our time would
permit, the records of the Board of Supervi-
svrs. with a view to ascertain, if possible, the
cause of this enormous and increasing county
debt, We examined only few of the
counts rendered by the county officers at the
November term, 1868, February term, 1861 !,
and May term, 1861, referring to few of the
acts of the Board at their sittings previous to
the above mentioned terms. We find that
the Board of Supervisors, in their allowances
of claims against the county, previous to their
two or three last meetings, have either been
very negligent in their scrutiny of claims
presented for fees against the county, or they
have been badly advised as to the legal fees
against the county for We find accounts
amounting to several hundred dollars ren-
dered against the county by the County
Clerk, in 1868, that were allowed and order
ed to be paid in full by the Board. and then
similar accounts rendered by the same officer,
and composed of the same items of fees. in
1854, that were rejected almost entire as ille-
gal charges.
La our examinations of these records we do
not wish to be understood as inSinuating any.
thing against the integrity of the Supervisors,
or even any csnnivance on their part, to the
prejudice of the county Ga the contrary, we
did not expect to frd anything of the kind
But we have the right to presume that the
Board have it in their power to reject at once
every illegal and exorbitant charge made
against the county. This we think hey have
failed to do in many instances. The salary
of the Clerk of the Board Of Supervisors is
fixed by law at a sum not to exceed $500 a
year. Heretofore they have allowed the
Clerk his salary of $500 per year. and in ad-
dition to that they have allowed him the full
legal fees for what appears to us to be every
act that be performed rs their Clerk. the fees
charged and allowed amounting to perhaps
five times the amount of salary also allowed
to that officer. We will here mention one
other small item of charge which we find re-
peated very often, and, us we think, unneces.
sary. 1t appears to be the duty of the Aud
itor to issue scrip on the allowances made by
order of the Board, on the certificate of the
Clerk, under seal. for which the Clerks
charge is 81 so. In some instances we find
this item of charge made by the Clerk seve-
raj times during the same day, when we do
not see any reason why one certificate of the
record made by the Clerk to the Auditor at
the close Of the term should not be sufficient.
and thereby save many dollars to the county
in this single item of charge. This is only
one of many such items that we might refer
to as having been unnecessary fees, but at
the same time it may be shown that they are
legal. We regret to say that heretofore in
the proceedings of the Board it seems like
everything like system seems to have been
wanting. 1t is with much pleasure, though.
that we here state that in cur examinations
of these records of the Supervisors at their
last two terms, that they show a decided i'm
provement in their mode of scrutinizing ac-
counts presented against the county to what
the records heretofore will show.
We think we are warranted by the record
in assuring the tax payers of this county that
in future they will have a more economical
disbursement of the county funds than here
tofore.
Our kind and jealous District Attorney
remained with us during our examinations Of
the records, and he assures us that in future
every illegal allowance made by the Super
visors shall be stamped with his veto, and
that every exorbtant charge made against
the county shall meet his opposition before
the Board
In our examinations of records we received
from the County Clerk every possible aid
that was IN his power to give us, in enabling
as TO make our examinations as thorough as
possible.
We also visited the Office of the County
Reeefder. We find his records kept in a very
peat manner. and our attention was particu-
sariy called to his improved manner Of keep
i,ng the Indexes TO the records on any custom
heretofore adopted in this county that is,
where there are several names, either as
eran'ors or grantees, each name in the con-
seyanee, either grantor er grantee, shows in
iss proper place in the index.
All OF which is respectfully submitted.