The new North-west., 1897-03-05
MONTANA LEGISLATURE.
ONLY -FOUR MORE DAYS TO CLOSE
THE WORK.
Several Important Bflls Cohsidere"-
But Many VIII Not BE Henched
This Session.

Helena Mont, Feb 2s.-The close OF the
eighth week Of the session sees put ioui
more days to work In. Inc sene
,s we'll up with it's work. Out OF lle oills
that originated in that body, all Dul iiiis
have been acted on by the senate es
whole those nine now being IN various
committees. But the house has not dohe
~ wall There have been 317 bills intro
duced. and more than 200 are still penolns
for final action. 1t is needless, ainlost' ~
saw. that the bulk of them Will pc iell oh
the calendar when the house adJoufns
Thursday night.
Several important bills were considered
this week. The inheritance tax passed the
senate, after going through the house,
Saturday afternoon. There is still pend
ing motion to reconsider the bill, but
that will be disposed of Monday. me plll
provides tax of one per cent on an pc
quests or inberitances to near relatives,
and of five per cent to bequests or dona-
tions to others than near relatives.
The senate maintained it's reputation Tor
conservatism during the week II sum
marily disposed of the O'Malley Dill Tor an
eight hour day in smelters oy Vote u
Is to 5. 1t also killed the house Dill pro
yfdine for a school apportionment that
would have mulcted the city districts to
sustain the country districts, the Dill OF
Representative Clew to provide for and
the apportionment first of 10 per cent OF
the school fund equally among the dis
triets, and then the remaining 81 per cent
among the districts according to the
school population. The house passed the
bill by good vote. 1t died in the senate.
The senate also killed the bill sent 1t by
the house to provide for free, tuition ana
books at the state school of mines Tor one
resident of each county. the scholarship
to be won by competitive examination
The county divisionists did not complete
their work early in the session, as was
once expected. The bill to take territory
from Broadwater, Cascade, Meagher and
Deer Lodge counties, and add to Lewis
and Clarke passed the house Friday, with
an amendment emitting the portion origl-
nally intended to be taken from Deer
Lodge county The bill to apportion the
representation of the new county of
Broadwater passed the senate Saturday.
1t gives the county one senator and two
representatives.
The game bill passed the senate and
went to the house during the week. The
house had amended it in many vital par
ticulars. The senate recommended it,
restoring many provisions that the house
had knocked out. A new section is added,
which permits the collection of specimens
for use in educational institutions and
which will help in the advancement Of the
study of natural history in practical
way. Another amendment made by the
senate restores the provision for the pac-
bitches, which should never have been
stricken out by the house. The meshes of
the screens, however are TO be an inch
square, and they need not be maintained
later than July Is.
The open season is heightened. Section
two in the original bill as it came from
the house makes it unlawful to kill moose
or ELK between October Is of one year and
September Is of the year following. The
senate changed October Is to November
Is. Section three made the open season
for deer from September / to Decembr 15
The senate made a change of December Is
to January L. The section also made it un-
lawful in the open season to kill more
than four deer The senate changed
-four" to "six.'' The senate also made
the open season for killing grouse, prairie
chickens, fool hens, pheasants, sage hens
and partridges from August Is until De-
cember Is. The bill as left by the house
made it lawful to shoot birds between
September until November Is only. The
amendment adds 45 days to the sports
mems allowance of sport. The minimum
fine for violation of the section is reduced
from $50 to $25.
The teachers examination bill, which
allows teachers to accumulate markings,
which was sought for by the teachers
throughout the state, passed the senate
during the week. The upper house also
passed Senator Hannah's bill limiting the
In county offices, and reducing their sal
aries. The senate amended the registra-
tion law so that a man need not register
oftener than once in eight years if he does
not change his residence
The work in the house was summarized
under four heads principally. Under the
policy of the steering committee the mu-
nicipal bills, relating to city government;
the revenue bills; the road law bills; and
the salary bills were disposed Of. The last
came from the senate. The upper body
reduced salaries pretty generally The
house raised them in several instances
again.
The sensational charge of bribery of
capitol building officials were referred to
another committee. Still another commit
tee to investigate bribery charges was ap-
pointed Saturday, joint committee of
three senators and four representatives.
The latter is the result of a resolution in
troduced by Senator Chandler, author of
the anti-gambling bill, which is leaden
matter on the calendar. The committee
will also, it is said. investigate rumors of
bribery in convention, with efforts to de-
feat the Inheritance tax bill and the rail
road laws that were proposed
IN THE MnMTAhA 1CHISI nrIIDr