Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-05
Affairs at the Capitol.
The tearing Concerning Horse Rai1roa q
Fares-The b. C. Northrop Investiga
Hion

Fares-The Ii. C. N0rthrOp InvestiSa-
ton.
HARTFORD, April 1, 1882.
Especial CORRESPONDENCE of JOURNAL AND CoURIER.1
A meeting of the Committee on Cities and
Boroughs was held this afternoon to consider
the matter of horse car fares in New Haven.
Those appointed by Mayor Robertson to APP
pear before the committee were there, and
stated their case. Messrs. Watrous, Wright,
Harrison and others appeared in behalf of
the company The hearing was not finished,
and another meeting of the committee will be
held tomorrow afternoon at O'Clock.
The special committee to investigate some
of the acts of Secretary Northrop, of the
State Board of Education, resumed its hear
ing this afternoon The investigation has al
ready gone beyond the limit warranted by
the resolution, and has now included in its
scope the whole field of Mr.. Northrop's Off
cial life. The secretary was represented by
Mr. Stanton, of Hartford, chairman of the
Judiciary committee in 1880, and the Messrs
Peck were represented by Judge Blyden-
burgh. There was long examination of Mr..
Northrop, extending to the details of the
| work of the Office and the Board. The prin-
| cipal points brought out were that Mr.. Nor
throp made no arrangements with Messrs.
| Gross and Judd as to how long the books in
| question should be kept in stock. In reply
to Judge Blydenburgh as to whether the dis
| tribution of the Babylonian willows was part
| of the secretary's duties, Secretary Northrop
| said it was not but was valuable in educating
| the people to love trees and flowers. Mr..
| Northrop was further questioned and said
| that he was in the habit of receiving in ad
vance the money for the bills of the Normal
school, and had the use of the money until
the bills became due He delivered last year
119 lectures in the State and 80 outside the
State, receiving for the latter fee of $25
per lecture. The Office work was in the hands
of Mr.. Baird his own duties being to visit
the towns of the State, lecture upon educa-
tional topics, and reply to correspondence.
| About 1, 500 letters answered per year.
He lectured upon thirty different topics. The
law allowed travelling expenses not to exceed
| $500 per year. He had been in the habit of
| collecting this amount, and although some
years his expenses did not amount to this
counts had not been audited for ten years.
The question of institu tes was then taken
! up Mr.. Northrop stating that the State paid
the expenses, the comptroller drawing the
orders upon Mr.. Northrop's vouchers.
1t was finally drawn out of Mr.. Northrop
that he had employed his wife and son to an
swer his correspondence, paying them 40
cents per hour and charging it to the ex-
| pense of Institutes. The hearing will be re-
| sumed to morrow afternoon.
The question of the Parallel road comes up
| in the Senate as the order of the day to-
day Wednesday, at II o'clock. 1t is not
| generally supposed that it will occupy much
sine. The vote will undoubtedly be a very
| close one and no one seems confident as to
the result Both sides as represented in the
lobby claim it.