Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-03-04
Neglect Of County Officers to Perfect
Their Bonds.

The Comptroller General Of Georgia
addressed communication to Governor
Colquitt on the Esd of February. notify
ing him that the Tax Collectors and Tax
Receivers Of seventy-four counties, more
than half the counties In the State, have
failed to comply with the law which re-
quires such officers to file their bonds in
the Office Of the Comptroller within forty
days after their election This remissness
on the part of the officers elected seems
to have grown out of misunderstanding
Of the law on the subject, notwithstand-
ing that as soon as It was ascertained
who was elected in January last dldimus
and certificate was sent from the Execu;
tive Office to every county, and blank
bond to each Receiver and Collector. with
printed instructions about the execution
of the bonds
This failure to comply with the law has
raised very serious question as to what is
necessary OF can be done in the premises.
Is it necessary to order new election in
the counties where the officers have fail
ed to comply with the lawf or will
bond made after the expiration of the
forty days be q good statutory
bond? What still further aggravates
the case is the fact that in the event of q
new election those persons who have
failed to comply with the law will be
ineligible to the offices to which they
were previously elected. The COnstitu-
ton says:
"The Governor seems to dislike the
idea Of ordering another election, and
will not do so unless he can find no
other course to pursue. The law re-
quires the Tax Receivers to begin their
work Immediately after the first day Of
April. If an election is to be held it
will defer this work. The Comptroller
General says it will take all the time re-
quired by the law to prepare the tax
digest, and be thinks it is better not to
have any election if it can be avoided
in any way. The opinion is also ex-
pressed among the officers that when
the matter has been fully looked
into it will be found that the off,
GERS have made their bonds and that the
0rdinaries have failed to forward them
to be filed il the Comptroller Generals
Office. The Governor has referred the
legal questions involved to the Attorney
General of the State, and he is now con-
sidering them. In the meantime
the Governor is taking steps to find
out the true status in each county where
the Collectors and Receivers have failed
to comply with the law. The question
will be determined as soon as the Attor-
ney General delivers his opinion"
The counties that have failed to COM
ply with the law are: Appling, Baker,
Baldwin. Berrien, Bibb, Bryan, Butts,
Calhoun, Camden, Charlton, Cherokee,
Clay, Coffee, Columbia, Coweta, Craw-
ford, Dade, Dodge. Dooly, Dougherty,
Douglass. Echols. bingham, Emanuel,
Fannin, Forsyth, Floyd, Fulton, Glas-
cock, Glynn, Greene. Gwinnett. Haber-
sham, Hall, Harris, Heard, Hen
~. jackson, johnson, Lumpkin,
Madison, Marion, Mcintosh, Meriweth-
er, Miller, Milton, Mitchell, Morgan,
Newton, Oglethorpe, Paulding. Pickens,
Pike, Polk, Putnam. Rabun, Richmond,
Schley, Screven, Spaulding, Stewart,
Sumter, Taliaferro. Tattnall. Taylor,
Towns, Epson, Walker, Walton, War
rem, Wayne, Webster, Wilcox, Wilkes
and Worth.