The daily gazette., 1883-01-23
/ OUR DOVER LETTER.
Mr.. BATES ON INCREASED
REPRESENTATION.
CAN IT BE EFFECTED BY A Law.
The Title of the old County Buildings at
New Castle - Regular Proceedings OF
Yesterdays Session.
Especial Correspondence Of the Gazette. ]

Especial correspondence Of the Gazette.l
DOVER, Jan. 22.--The subject ofrepresenta
tion according to population came up In
the General Assembly yesterday. The steI
taken was an important one, and the
unanirnity with which it was received ID
most favorable to the plan. In the House
soon after Speaker Bates had raped thai
body to order, he called Mr.. Justis to the
chair and offered the following resolution
Be II resoIped by the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives in General Assembly met, That the
Chancellor and Judges be and they are hereby
| requested to communicate to the General As.
sembiy their opinions 10 writing upon the fol
lowing questions, that is to say;
| 1. is 1t within the constitutional power of the
General Assembly by concurrent vote Of two
thirds of the members Of each branch thereof to
provide for the increase of the members OF the
/ Senate and House of Representatives In the
| General Assembly and TO apportion the men,
bers thereof equally among the several coun-
| q Is II competent for the General As
sembly to provide by law for the election of
| members of either branch or both branches of
| the General Assembly from anyor every county
/ from districts created by law within such
county in lieu of the election thereof upon gen.
eral ticket throughout the county.
| And be 1t further res0IDed as af0resaSd, That
| duly authenticated copy Of these resolutions
shall be forthwith transmitted to the Chan
| cellor, the Chief Justice and each of the Asso-
ciate Judges by the Secretary of State.
Mr.. Bates in support and explanation of
the resolution made an address in which he
| said that he did not think there could be on
the part of any member of the House a feel
ing other than that Of favor to the sugges-
tion to give increased representation. The
subject had been favorably mentioned In the
outgoing Governors message and In the
inaugural address of the present executive.
'sThis subject" said he, ''has for some
time past been on my mind, and / think /
speak for my colleagues from N"w Castle
county, when l say that we have been
glad to find in coming here that the
members from Kent and Sussex on the floor
of this House concur with US in the view
of this subject as one of the most pressing
and important in the State. 1t is time we
ahould address ourselves to 1t and get at
some means of meeting 1t which will be ac-
ceptable to the people of the State. The
question now before us is whether 1t can
best be accomplished by an act of the
General Assembly or by an amendment to
the constitution. My own mind, confess,
has only lately been called to it,
although In boy hood 1t was, as 1t is now
though now the needs are many times
greater--a much mooted subject. The
General Assembly in the minds of very
many legal gentlemen is perfectly able to
deal with this matter and settle 1t ade-
quately. However, 1t Is, of course, that we
should get the opinion of the Judiciary,
which Is the law, to guide US. The sole pur-
pose of the resolution is to obtain the
opinion of the judges and the chancellor on
these two general questions
"First, as to the power of the General AS
semblY to act directly In the matter, and"
s'Second, on the question If it Is practical
BILE or advisable to provide for an election OF
auy number of members from district less
than the whole body Of county. On no
one detail Ia my mind committed. / have
no plan. / am here as a representative of
the people of Delaware, to consult with my
colleagues and devise the best plan 10 change
the law on the question of representation
according to population. Ny mind is
not committed to any system of district
representation, but feel sure
it, as well as that of representation accord
ing to population, Is subject on which all
feel as deep an interest as myself As to
how to get at this matter, the General
Assembly, In my own opinion, has all the
powers to act In the premises, and / alone
am fully prepared to vote on bill giving
increased representation direct from the
Legislature, but | cannot make my opinion
law, and If 1t alone were followed there
might be interminable litigation to decide
the matter. Therefore we should get the
opinion of the judiciary which
that 1t might be possible and
would seem better to have the law
changed, or to have a combination of the
present system of electing,or combination
of both, the change to apply 80 as to make
a city Ike Wilmington a separate repre-
sentative district. But now | am not to
discuss this, but simply TO get at the consti-
tutionality of our action. 1t Is not desira-
BILE that we should depend on the opinion OF
a lawyer, and 1t Is best, as the resolution
says, to get the opinion of the Judiciary"
The resolution then, on motion of Mr..
Bates, was adopted unanimously, and was
subsequently adopted by the Senate.
THE NEW CASTLE BUILDINGS.
The bill of Mr.. Cooper to vest In a title
the old Court House property In New Castle,
which asted the Senate on Friday last, was
read In the House the first time yesterday.
Some hasty objection has been been made to
1t, and 1t has been limited at as
an underhand attempt on the part
of the city of New Castle to get control
of the old buildings. In view OF this it is
necessary to give clear statement of the
object of the bill, and of the facts surround
ing the case. The property on which the
old Courthouse stands, the public square,
the site of Emanuel P. E. Church and the
market and school houses were given TO the
town of New Castle by Penn, for public use.
The people commenced to feel the need of
improvements, ETC., and there was divi-
sion into four parts-one on which the
Emanuel church was erected, another for
the schools, another the town of New
Castle, for fairs, markets, ETC., and the
balance on which the Court House, State
House and Jail were afterward
erected. 1t seems that prior to the
act of 1772, which the pres
ent act proposes to revive, the county and
State buildings had been erected. Being
uncertain about the title, the act of 1772
was passed, and it provided that the land
should be given in trust to the county
and State, provided that the county should
pay :or putting up the buildings, and named
Thomas Mexican, George Read, John Me-
Kinley, Alexander Porter, George Monroe,
John Evans and David Thompson as trus-
tees. This being held in trust, as were the
other three parts, the property was to revert
back to New Castle county when 1t ceased
to be used for the purposes mentioned.
In the case of the her three parts the trust
has been kept alive, but In the case of the
Court House property it was allowed to
lapse. Now the present act simply revives
the act of 1772, and its wording is almost
Identical with the old one, aud the title is
the same as in the old bill. The only part
In which it varies is that In case the county
does not use the unoecupied building, 1t
shall be used by the city of New Castle. The
provision is made that It can be used by
the county at any time, or In case of diyi-
| sion of the county. The trustees named
Ty-t... L -. -