The daily gazette., 1883-04-03
T., TUESDAY. April 8. 1883.

fee simple to the amount of at least $500, as
determined by the previous city assess
meDt." As amended the section was
adopted
When the sections concerning the Mayor
were reached Mr. Bates arose to explain the
changes which had been made so as to Gre
ate municipal court. He said the present
salary Of the Mayor was 81 200 year, but
the fees he collected have made his eompen-
sation for several years past ~ 900 y year
This fee system has made the office, In q
certain sense, degrading, and han lnterfered
with obtaining suitable candidates for the
Office Of Mayor. The whole business about
the Mayors Office has been accompanied by
abuses which have grown with each sue
ceeding administration. The salaries which
the city pays her peace officers are largely
increased and the result of the fee system
has been that we have In Wilmington most
perfect system Of protection against drunken
men and an absolute want of protection
from real crime. This was the case not
withstanding what the members had read in
yesterdays paper april y about remark
able exploit Of the policemen In arresting
band of burglars. His own house had been
successfully entered by burglars six times.
So noticeable has been this inefilciency on
part of the "models" that citizens are here
now asking the passage of law allowing
the arrest of thieves before they steal any
thing-arrests after they do 1t being almost
unheard of. All this is on account of the
unftness of the police force of Wilmington.
The officers look after drunken men and
thieves and utterly fail to protect property.
II had seemed to be high time to make q
change, and the change now made has been
contemplated and desired by leading citizens
for long time. That was to give the
Mayor purely executive powers and taking
away from him the judicial powers and vest
them In purely judicial officer. Such
change, he thought, would give a system of
government IN exact harmony with the
State government, which contemplates leav-
ing the executive and judicial functions
separate. The sections relating to the
Mayor had been amended simply to strike
out all relating to his power to try cases,
and instead provision had been made for
Municipal Court.
Section IS had been reached when the
committee rose. ALI parts acted on relate
to the Mayor. The committee sits again
to-day.
WORK IN BOTH HOUSES.
The sessions to-day were as long as usual,
but not great deal of public nature was
done, although both bodies were busy. The
House failed to get quorum at IL O'Clock,
but it got one at 8, to which hour 1t had ad-
journed. Mr.. Justis introduced bills for
the relief of the heirs of Lydia Ann Graves;
an act for the relief of infants (relating to
shelling the streets Of Dover); and Mr.
Lowe introduced bill to amend Chapter
| 442, Volume 10, Laws of Delaware.
The House bill divOrcing George and
Martha H. Gilbert was indefinitely post
poned. Bills passed House bills divorc-
| ing William T. and Mary G. Reed; divorcing
Thomas E. and Martha 7. Sharp to amend
the charter of Newport (with an amend
ment prohibiting the p, w. g. B. r. r. Co.
from obstructing Front street); Senate bill
in relation to the binding of children by
corporations in other States; House bills re-
pealing section z, chapter AZ, Revised Code;
regulating the practice of medicine and
surgery; Senate bills ch angling the names OF
Howard E. Montgomery, William G. Breed
| ing and Henry G. Adams and making them
heirs -atlaw Of certain parties; dividing
/ Wilmington into three assessment districts.
/ The vote by which the bill exempting j.
| Alexander Fulton's land from taxation was
killed, was reconsidered and the bill recon-
mitted.
In the Senate the following bills were in
| troduced and read /: By Mr.. Belts, to
| amend the charter Of the Perpetual Savings
and Loan Association of Wilmington; to in
corporate the Brooks Underground Con-
duit Company and the Electrical Construc-
tion and Maintenance Company; House bill,
to incorporate the st. Georges Fruit Pack
ing Company.
The House bill for the relief of Benjamin
f. G. Rothwell and others was reported
without recommendation and laid on the
table.
| LOCAL OPTION.
But little talk is heard about local option
in the House. The following letter has been
sent here:
ELKToN, MD, March 2s.-My Dear Sir: Your
| card of inquiry was handed me by Hr Whelan
at noon to-day. The time is too short for me To
| give you an extended account of the working
| of Local Option In Cecil. can only note the
following which the facts think fully substan-
tiate /. Though there are some violations Oi
| the law--as there are Of all laws divine as well
| as human yet such violations are rare and are
by the lowest class OF men, 2. Not one-tenth as
| much intoxicating liquor is sold now as before
| the law was in force. 8. There is not one-thrd
| us much drunkenness and intOxicatlon as
| before. L. In special instances men have
fully, or in others almost wholly, reformed.
S. Its effect In diminishing lawlessness is
| most sensibly felt. O. Merchants. butchers,
tailors, millners &C, testify of its benefits to
their trade. I. Cecil county gave 1885 ma
jOrity for the law, and to-day would do the
| same 8. Reports derogatory to the working
of the law come from former.bar-rOom hangers
on, and disappointed whiskey dealers o. One
| main reason why we have somewhat Of drink.
ing in Elkton is because whiskey Is sold Gd
hbitum in Delaware.
l am yours truly,
GEORGE A. BLAKE, Vice Pres.
| Maryland State Temp. Alliance, Cecil Co.