The Portland daily press., 1867-02-01
DAILY PRESS,
PORTLA AND.
Friday Morning, February l. 1867.
Unpaid Taxes Of N.u.r..,se.,..

- VNOmsfGAn0emt0s
If there is any advantage or propriety in the
law requiring unpaid taxes of Nonresident
proprietors to be advertised in the State
paper, we shonld be glad to have that adyan-
tage or that propriety pointed out. There
were probably some reasons which procured
the enactment of the law, but whatever they
were they have faded out of memory and the
public needs to be again acquainted with
them. .-.-,-. g.
The disadvantages Of the present custom
are obvious. These lists of unpaid taxes all
over the State are required to be published in
"a weekly newspaper at the Capital. There is
delay and risk in transmitting the lists. There
are unavoidable delays in the publication.
There are unavoidable errors of the press,
with the Inconvenience of correcting them by
means Of correspondence. The business of
the State paper is managed with admirable
care, but human foresight cannot avoid these
inconveniences. 1t would be much better if
the publication of the lists could take place
under the more immediate supervision of the
town ,treasurers. t.t '.f .'t II .lf- b4G
e But delay and inconvenience are by no
means the only or most serious objections to
the present mode Of advertisement. The
object of advertising Is of course to notify
the parties interested. After the lists are du-
ly transmitted by mail, after the mails have
carried out the printed advertisements, after
the errors have been discovered and, notice
being duly given, have been corrected, after
the mails have again distributed the revised
lists from York to Aroostook, the fact remains
that the greater part of this labor has been
wasted. The parties who should be notified
are not notified at all. The notion of adver-
tising taxes due in Kittery and Houlton in
newspaper printed at Augusta is so preposter-
GUS, that the public never will get accustomed
to it. People who own property in Eastport
or Fryeburg will not learn to look in any
other direction for Information about their
property. r.t.e a,-,r,.. ~. ..,.,,....t., god
a The most natural course would be to leave
to the town treasurers the same discretion in
this matter of advertising, which is left to the
county commissioners, for example. Let
them select, each for himself, the newspapers
in their several counties which will be most
likely to apprise the absentees of the facts.
The State paper deserves all the patronage
which belongs to its position. 1t is and al
ways has been a credit to the State. We
should be unwilling to see any action taken
which could impair its legitimate and we'll
earned prosperity. But this is matter
which, we believe, concerns the public CON
venience we do not believe the publishers of
the State paper either need or would accept
any advantage inconsistent with the public
advantage. 's5IeAHoah NJ
This matter has been presented to previous
Legislatures, but has been neglected. 1t is
now in the hands Of the judiciary Committee,
and the session is rapidly wearing away The
newspapers Of the State have very generally
called attention to it. We hope the Commit
tee will report favorably, but if for salts
factory reasons they decide otherwise, we
hope they win at least do us the favor to pro
duce those reasons and not content them
selves with simply reporting further legisla-
tion inexpedient" ff al ~atsro f-4, l,--,