Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-04-01
THE WORK OF THE LEGISLATURE.


charge the duties of his Office without trying
in any way to hamper the administration.
THE WORK OF THE LEGISLATURE.
The session Of the General Assembly, which
closed on Friday last, was the longest of all
the long sessions that have been usual since
reconstruction; but it may be said in palia-
tion of its outrageous length-157 days, in
cluding the recess-that it has certainly been,
upon the whole, the least mischievous. The
work accomplished by the General Assembly
is embodied in about 175 acts and joint reso-
lutions, large majority of which are acts of
a private and unimportant nature. The
most noteworthy of the public acts which have
become laws by the approval of the Governor
are these The joint resolution to ratify the
amendment to the State Constitution relative
to the terms of Office of the Executive officers !;
the act to repeal the law relative to the pub
lication of legal notices; the act directing the
State Treasurer to publish monthly state
ments; the act to protect the rights of married
women and children under policies of life in
surance, taken out for their benefit; the act
relative to contracts for supplies for the execu-
tive and legislative departments of the State
Governments the act to amend the law in re-
lation to the place of trial of civil actions and
special proceedings in which the State is in
terested the act repeating the law requiring
deposits from insurance companies doing bus
mess in the State; and the act to amend and
extend the act to provide for the redemption
of forfeited lands
In addition to these, there is joint resolu
ton proposing an amendment to the State
Constitution, in reference to the disbursement
of the tax levied for free school purposes,
which has also been approved by the Cover
nor, and which will be submitted to the voters
of the State at the next general election. Un-
der the law as it stands at present. the school
fund is collected with the other public funds
paid into the State Treasury, and then ap-
portioned out among the several counties
The new law provides that the fund shall be
collected, retained and disbursed in the coun-
ties.
There are, besides, four acts in the posses
sion of the Governor, awaiting his approval
or disapproval, viz: The tax levy act, Of
which we shall have more to say hereafter !;
the act to reduce all acts and parts of acts
relating to county commissioners into one act !;
the act to amend the tax law and the act to
establish polling places in the several counties
of the State. These acts went to the Cover
nor on the last day of the session, and will
doubtless be retained by his Excellency until
he shall have had time to consider them care
fully.
Among the most important of the local
acts passed by the General Assembly are the
following: An act to regulate the manner Of
the payment Of all claims against the several
counties in the State; the act to regulate the
practice of dentistry the act to provide for the
specific appropriation of the revenue derived
from liquor licenses; and the act to repeal
the act to establish an Inferior Court in the
county of Charleston.
In the matter of taxation the Legislature
has been very reckless and extravagant.
The supply bill levies an aggregate State tax
of 13 mills. In addition to the county tax Of
8 mills, authorized in the general tax bill,
special taxes have been ordered in the follow
ing counties by special acts Chesterfield 2
mills, Chester mills, Spartanburg mills,
Colleton mills, Darlington mills, Marl-
boro' II mills Clarendon l. mills, Fairfield
II mills, Newberry u mills, Laurens mills,
Lancaster mills, Richland mills, York II
mills. The supply bill also authorizes special
taxes in the following counties: Pckens 2
mills, Aiken l. mills, Beaufort mill, Ker-
shaw 3 mills, Newberry l mill, Sumter 2
mills
The cost of the long session to the State has
been not less than s150,000; yet, all things
considered, it must be regarded as the least
expensive and least mischieyous session that
South Carolina has known for years. For
whatever measure of improvement there has
been, the taxpayers of the State are indebted
to the fearless attitude maintained by the
Governor, and to the prompt and intelligent
support given him by the Conservatives and
the better class of Republicans in the General
Assembly, Charleston Neus.