Morning journal and courier., 1885-10-02
A SPECIAL SESSION,

The SeIectmen Meet to Elect . Registrar, But Have 10 Postpone It-The Military Tax Under Dis- cuss1On. A special meeting of the Board of Select men was held yesterday morning at o'clock. All the members of the Board were present. The purpose of the meeting was to act upon the resignation of Dr. J. J. S. Doherty as
 registrar of vital statistics, but before consid- ering this matter they listened to what Ad- jutant General Smith and Assistant Adjutant General White had to say about New Ha- yen's military tax. The latter said to the Board that the adjutant general was not sat- isfied with the military enrolment of the believing that it was entirely too small. He stated that Hartford paid military tax on forty and one-quarter per cent. by the voting population, Meriden on forty eight per cent. and New Haven on thirty-seven per cent. only. These figures, the assistant adjutant general thought, proved oonclusively that New Haven was not paying military tax enough and he desired the Seleetmen to go oyer the enrolment list again. He added that in the First ward alone he had reason to believe that one hundred and seventy names had been stricken from the list as exempt when in reality the parties were not exempt. He did not think that any canvass had been made at all in that ward. The country towns, Colonel White said, which actually received no benefit from the military, were taxed much heavier than were the cities, which received whatever benefits there were to be derived from the National Guard. Between the years 1884 and 1885, he stated, there had been an increase in the voting population of 2, ,275, and in the same ing military tax, whereas thege should have been an increase of $50.
 General Smith said that in years past there have been inconsistencies which were passed over unnoticed because they were slight, but he thought that so glaring an error as was found this year should be looked into. Colonel White advocated that the Select men and the adjutant-general make joint l enrolment as the best way of adjusting the matter, General Smith suggested that the town hire such man to make the new en- rollment as would be satisfactory to both the town and State.
 Town Agent Reynolds said that there was no law authorizing the tpEF to make any ledge and ability the SeIectmen had complied with the law; the only thing to be done now, he said, was to effect a compromise of some sort.
 Selectnan Treat did not believe in @ com promise. He wanted new enrolment, and if it was found that the town Wss indebted
 
 lar, but he did not want to pay one cent more than was due.
 SeIectman Beecher moved that the returns to the State be increased by the addition of TOO names. The motion prevailed. The matter of the resignation of Dr. Doh erty was then taken up. Selectman Treat said that he had called on Attorney John W. {. filling, the counsel for Dr. Doherty, and had been informed by him that the resignation of the doctor, as written, was not to take effect until the first Monday in October. A discussion followed in which the mem bers of the Board united in the opinion that October was the time agreed upon for the resignation to take effect, Mir. Treat saying that Mir. filling had told him that he would
 hand in the resignation at that time.
 MT. Reynolds meYsd that there be no dis
 cussion on the matter until the SesigAation
 was handed Tn. After some little debate on
 the part of majority of the Board, who
 wanted the matter settled as quickly as pos
 sible, the motion was carried.
 It was then decided to let the further con-
 sideration of the matter go over until the
 next regular meeting of the Board on next
 Tuesday evening.