The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-06-04

made no returns, ard lately has returned
| the amountof his net fees, after paying
the current expenses of his office, which
| he says, are about half the gross receipts.
| His returns show for 1891, $19,2S5; for 1892,
$l8,226; for 1885, $1783S. He testifies that
| the gross revenues for the past nine
! years have been about $33, 900 per year,
and the net revenues are half as much
averaging perhaps 81, 200 per year for
keeping dockets.. ETC. These fees should
| abolished He also receives large, sums
from the State for his costs in the State $
| suits to enforce payment of taxes by de-
| linquent corporations. These fees should
be abolished he and ne should render ar these 9s
| still remaining would afford him hperai
| income.
/ We recommend also that the law be so
| changed that the clerks shall hereafter
| return not only the gross fees received
| by them, but also expenses of their
| offices, and that their returns be made at
| instead of quarterly.
SECRETARY OF STATE.
BY an act passed March 10, 1879, the
| Secretary of State. was paid an anIlsast1
| pensation, with an allowance of S4, 600 Tor
| clerical assistants, and it was PROVIDED
that thereafter all fees collected by him
| in whatever capacity should be for the
| use of the State.
| He collects. several classes Of fest
| Under act of March 10, 1879 (Sup. Rev.
| 1922 he collects for the use of the State
sions, etc. of these he IS 70 render TO
detail, under oath,, to be audited by the
| Comptroller and filed with the Treasur-
| er. Within ten days thereafter he must
penalty of $500 for each days neglect.
| These fees are from $4,000 to $4,000
per year. No report of these fees has
| Annually in October the Secretary of
| State has handed a check to the Treas
| urer, without particulars, but with a
| letter of transmission, stating. that the
| check covered the amount of fees re-
| ceived.
| :, II, Under, act of March, Il, 1880 (aev.
| Sup. $685. pl. 22, ct seq.), he collects for
| the use of the State the fees of the
| judges in the courts of which he is
clerk; of these he is to make quarterly
| up. No such return has ever been made.
| He has annually paid over a sum in
gross in the same manner as above, the
| amount being about three hundred dol
III, Under the supplement- to the Cor
| poration Act, passed 1888 (P L., page
so, he collects for the use of the State
| certain fees from corporations These
| have amounted to as much as $l25,
| the time of paying these monies over,
| hut the act of March "a, 1868 Rev.
| 1919, pl. 4O imposes on all public officers
| monies, the duty forthwith upon receipt
| of the money to report the same to the
Comptroller for audit before. any, ae-
| quittance is given. These fees have
| never at any time been reported for au-
| dit, but an annual payment has been
made to the Treasurer. without any de-
| tails.
| Under these three acts about nine
| hundred thousand dollars has been paid
| into the. States revenues by the Secre-
| tary of State. No examination of the ac-
| count has ever been made, and there is
no public record thereof. The only ac-
count seems to be in the private books
| also fees received by him and retained
| to his own use There is no public record
to show w, whether "a any particular cor
| 10 indicate from whom the State has re-
neiyed these vast sums Of money. The
| evidence shows that the Secretary of
We're ssss.; = ABSORBED IA his pGrsorai afraifs
| fact, they were all invested in his per-
sonal business enterprises, the money
not being kept on hand.
| At the end of the fiscal year he raised
| he necessary amounts and gave his
| heeks to the State 1t has been imprac-
| ticable for the Committee as yet to make
| counts, covering as they do a period of
| twelve years and involving a multitude
of items, but they are of opinion .el q, that aa
| rectness of the amounts paid to the
| State.
1
| If State as Clerk OF the Prerogative
| Court should thereafter record certain
| documents as surrogates were required
| o do, receiving the same fees therefor.
| He has construed this act to allow him
| 20 retain these fees for his own use It
this eonstructioq IVA Was ea
| by the Secretary for time. but after
| wards he took them. and still continues
% do so. They amount to from $4,000 to
| 1900 per year. We do not think the act
| was intended to supersede the law which
provided that the Secretary. of Of State
We recommend the passage of an act
Tpcity m tea reauFhng hass ae fhe he state
| Treasury at the end of each term
Whethof they belonged to the State or
| o the Secretary, a sworn statement
should have been made quarterly, as re-
puired by the acts of 1879. No statement
whatever has been made since 1891.
Secretary was allowed $4,000 per annum
or clerical assistants; by acts passed in
| ss3 he was allowed to pay certain cleri-
ations. out of the fees received by him.
The testimony shows that at the end of
each year in turning in the fees he de-
salaries to the clerks in his office. Ad-
ling these sums to the $4,000 paid to him
annually. it appears tht he has received
-,.ch '5aore thar, he has paid for cleri7
cal assistants. the excess being several
nousand dollars These sums should be
eturned to the treasury
Tt is to be noted that although the Ser
~etary has retained for his own use all
| fees from the Prerogative Office since
| 'S91 amounting as above to from 80 ono
| % $4,000 a year, yet. he has charged the
| state with the entire clerical expenses
If that office. 1t thus appears that the
| Secretary of State. instead of receiving
compensation of $4,000 a year, as pro-
vided by the act of 1879, has increased
| hat compensation to about s11, 900 to $12,-
| 900 per year, hesides the gains made by
| the use of the States moneys. These
gains should be ascertained according to
| law and paid into the treasury.
The moneys collected by the Secretary
| of State for the use of the State, al
| though large in amount. are made up
| of a great number of items and it IS
| therefore inconvenient to have each item
| reported and audited separately. We
recommend that the law be modified so
| as to provide for a weekly fteniZed re-
| port of all such fees and payment there
| of to the COMPTROLLER, except court fees,
| which should be reported and paid over
| at the close of each term of court.
! BANK DEPOSITS.
| large balances in bank This fact afford
! ed the opportunity for a clerk in his
| office to privately arrange with the banks
! of Burlington county to pay interest to
| the clerk for a series of years for politi-
| cal purposes. This irregular:ty was fully
| disclosed before the Committee. The
| Treasurers were not personally impli-
| Gated
| The law requires the Treasurer to keep
! his duty to lend any surplus on United
/ as POl1atpraj timing his